Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?

by James Montgomery Boice

Our first review is one previously posted on our website but one that bears repeating. While not all our reviews will be this lengthy, we believe it is justified here.

On June 15, 2000, God took James Montgomery Boice home to glory. He left behind some great books. His final book, however, which was actually published after his promotion, could not have been more appropriate or a more fitting legacy. Titled Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? with the added subtitle Rediscovering the Doctrines That Shook the World, this book well addresses the contemporary church and how it has drifted far from its biblical and historical foundations. (Boice was also working on The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel, which was completed by Philip Ryken and which we will review in our next post.)

In Part 1, Boice outlines the problem in two chapters: “The New Pragmatism” and “The Pattern of this Age.” He masterfully demonstrates how secularism, humanism, relativism, materialism, and pragmatism have not only infiltrated the church but have now inundated it (my words). It is his contention, and I think it impossible to refute him, is that the church as a whole is, in virtually every area, embracing the world’s wisdom, theology, agenda, and methods (his words). That sets the stage for what follows.

Part 2, “The Doctrines That Shook the World,” is the heart of the book. In five chapters, Boice lays out in wonderful detail the five solas of the Reformation. Concerning “Scripture Alone” (sola scriptura), he writes:

The most serious issue [facing the church today], I believe, is the Bible’s sufficiency. Do we believe that God has given us what we need in this book? Or do we suppose that we have to supplement the Bible with human things? Do we need sociological techniques to do evangelism, pop psychology and pop psychiatry for Christian growth, extra-biblical signs or miracles for guidance, or political tools for achieving social progress and reform?” (p. 72)

Concerning “Christ Alone” (Solus Christus), after discussing three essential words for understanding what the Cross was about—satisfaction, sacrifice, and substitution—Boice then concludes:

It has been a popular idea in some theological circles that the Incarnation is the important truth of Christianity . . . and that the Atonement is something like an afterthought. . . . To focus on the birth of Jesus apart from the Cross leads to false sentimentality and neglect of the horror and magnitude of sin. . . . Any “gospel” that talks merely about the Christ-event, meaning the Incarnation without the Atonement, is a false gospel. Any gospel that talks about the love of God without showing that love led him to pay the ultimate price for sin in the person of his Son on the Cross, is a false gospel. The only true gospel is the gospel of the “one mediator” who gave himself for us (1 Tim. 2: 5, 6). If our churches are not preaching this gospel, they are not preaching the gospel at all, and if they are not preaching the gospel, they are not true churches. Evangelicalism desperately needs to rediscover its roots and recover its essential biblical bearing . . . (p. 105)

I was very glad for what I read in “Grace Alone (sola gratia) concerning Jonathan Edwards’ contribution to the “free will” debate in his book The Freedom of the Will, in which he actually proved it is not free. As Boice recounts, while most people think the will is its own entity and therefore free to make a choice, Edwards viewed the will as part of the mind, which means that we choose what the mind thinks is most desirable. Boice goes on to further report that Edwards discussed not only the mind but also motives, which drive the mind to choose the things that are best. The crux again, however, is that man’s mind does not want God or His sovereign rule because he doesn’t think that is better. He wants his sin and invariably chooses it because he thinks that is better.

Of “Faith Alone” (sola fide) Boice addresses today’s abandonment of the very essence of true, biblical faith:

For many evangelicals faith is only mental assent to certain doctrines. It is something we exercise once at the start of our Christian lives, after which we can live more or less in any way we please. It does not matter in terms of our salvation whether or not this “faith” makes a difference. Some evangelicals even teach that a person could be saved and secure if he or she possessed a dead or dying faith or, incredible as this seems, if he or she apostatizes, denying Christ. In contrast to such an eviscerated faith, throughout church history most Bible teachers have insisted that saving, biblical faith has three elements: “knowledge, belief, and trust,” as Spurgeon put it; “awareness, assent, and commitment,” as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said (pp. 137–138).

Concerning “Glory to God Alone” (Soli Deo Gloria), Boice writes:

No people ever rise higher than their idea of God. Conversely, the loss of the sense of God’s high and awesome character always leads to the loss of a people’s highest ideals, moral values, and even what we commonly call humanity, not to mention the loss of understanding and appreciation for the most essential Bible doctrines. . . . We deplore the breakdown of moral standards in the church, even among its most visible leaders. But what do we think should happen when we have focused on ourselves and our own, often trivial needs rather than on God, ignoring his holiness and excusing our most blatant sins? To listen to many contemporary sermons one would think man’s chief end is to glorify himself and cruise the malls (pp. 151–152).

Part 3, “The Shape of Renewal,” offers two chapters—“Reforming Our Worship” and “Reforming Our Lives”—that challenge us to renounce the “circus” atmosphere and the “what’s in it for me” attitude that pervades today’s churches and return to true Christian worship. While there are a couple of things in this section that bothered me—such as a praising of Brother Lawrence, for example—these do not diminish the pointed and powerful challenge for reformation. As for the individual Christian, Boice challenges in that last chapter that

the five areas in which the lives of today’s Christians most need renewal are: 1) a fresh awareness of God’s presence, 2) repentance, 3) an ordering of our lives by that which is invisible, 4) Christian community, and 5) Christian service. Significantly, these things will be developed in us as we begin to recover and actually live by the essential doctrines that I have been exploring in this book: [the five solas] (p. 192).

I cannot recommend this book highly enough and strongly encourage every Christian (especially leaders) to read it, heed its warning, and follow its counsel. As Boice writes, “I would like to see the beginning of a new Reformation in our day, and I hope you would like to see it too and are praying for it” (p. 65). Well, our dear brother did not live to see it. Perhaps we will. Are you praying for it?