Book Review

GETTING THE GOSPEL RIGHT, R.C. Sproul, [Grand Rapids, Baker, 2017] 234 pages.

R.C. Sproul is one of the popular Bible teachers today. He is strongly Reformed and Calvinist in his theology which influences his teaching. The reader must keep this in mind as he reads this latest work. He admits that the church is made up of three elements: the visible church (mere professors of faith), the invisible church (true believers), and believers outside of the visible church.

The book was written in reaction to the movement to reconcile Catholics and Evangelicals, which has a negative effect of compromising the Gospel and Christian unity. It critiques the work “The Gift of Salvation” declaration in 1998, which reiterated that both Evangelicals and Catholics believe in justification and salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. He shows that the two do not believe the same about the gospel. Catholics believe that sanctification comes before salvation, which is nothing less that salvation by works. Evangelicals believe salvation comes before sanctification. These approaches cannot be reconciled.

The release of the “Cost of Salvation,” it has caused a much debate within the evangelical world. He, therefore, evaluates the statement paragraph by paragraph as to its assertions and its omissions.  This is the heart of the book. His scrutiny of the statement indicates two fundamental observations of the two groups:

First, the Catholic church sees Protestants as separated brethren.

Second, the evangelical world views the Catholic church as apostate brethren.

This means that each view the other as outside, or apostate from the true church.  "The Gift of Salvation" does nothing to remove the doctrinal chasm between the Catholics and Evangelicals. It undermines the truth of the Gospel. 

Sproul is a strong proponent of sola fide (salvation by faith alone). He defends this sola fide in this work. He indicates that the Catholic and Evangelicals who signed this document have abandoned or at the lease compromise this truth. 

The book is reader friendly. It is concise and worthwhile to those who are interested in trying to unify the two. It does a good job showing the major differences between Catholics and Evangelicals. If there is a weakness it is that it deals more with unity than the contents of the right gospel. It is directed more to leadership than the layman. It is a call to arms against compromise of the gospel.

The book was sent to me from Baker Book House in exchange for my person review without obligation.