The question of all questions is “How can I be acceptable before an infinitely Holy and Awesome God?” When you become a new Christian, you know Christ died for our sins and gave us pardon and somehow many just settle down with this wonderful truth.

However there is more. The reality is not just full and free pardon, not “just as if not sinned” but amazingly, God provides for us the very righteousness of Christ by faith! We are now talking of a whole new glory: the doctrine of justification.

When I picked up this book, written by James Buchanan, I was captivated. This really is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. If Christian godli-ness flows out of gratitude then this doctrine is the very nerve center of that gratitude. The book is divided into two main parts, (1) the historical survey of the doctrine (2) detailed explanation of the doctrine.

If you ever thought that Luther discovered this Doctrine and overdid it, this book will trace this Doctrine right from the Garden of Eden to the Protestant era. God was going to provide a “seed.” And through Christ ultimately bless all the nations with the blessing of His righteousness which makes us acceptable to Him. The church fathers will pleasantly surprise you with some bold statements about this doctrine.

While reading about the detailed explanation of justification I came across these powerful and helpful quotes:

“If all the sinners in the world contributed together, their total sacrifice would be inadequate. Only God could satisfy an offended God.”

 

“Faith is not the same as the righteousness which provides justification but faith looks toward that justification.”

This book makes you ask: why through the years have people always wanted to make justification an infusion of righteousness into us rather than a declaration based on the finished work of the cross? Perhaps it is because our temptation is to look at our present growth as the basis for acceptance with God and feel good about ourself. But the gospel leaves us no scope but to boast in the God who gave us Christ.

This book indeed is a great encouragement because it reminds us that you never become less justified on those days of spiritual struggle and failure than when you first believed. It gives us the strength to pick ourselves up by His grace and run again.