Book Reviews Grace and its Fruits Selections on the Pastoral Epistles By John Calvin, Prepared by Joseph Hill (Darlington, England; Evangelical Press) 318 Pages; $18.99 Reviewed by Craig M. Kibler April 2003

“Has not Jesus Christ appeared to show the truth, the substance and the perfection of the things prefigured by the law?” John Calvin asks in “The One Mediator.” “And yet Satan strives to darken our minds so that we may not perceive this mediator that was given. We see in the beginning of the gospel that there were many heretics who believed the angels to be advocates. St. Paul, speaking of such people, says, ‘Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind’ (Col. 2:18). St. Paul gives such honour to Jesus Christ that all other intercessors and advocates must give way, and he must be received as the only Saviour.” Truth spoken plainly and with the authority of Scripture is a message that is needed today in a culture that, in many ways, has lost its bearings and is searching for the solace that only is possible in the Word, incarnate and written. “Faith,” Calvin says, “is never without a fight … My fiercest battles must be against my own inclinations.” And who better to spread that truth than Calvin through these sermons on Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. Their theme, as Hill tells us, is the “grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ and bestowed upon God’s children by the Holy Spirit.” This theme, this food for the soul, strikingly is relevant today – an age of relativism, societal decay and shifting standards. Hill aptly describes it: “The issues facing evangelical churches today are obviously different from those of the medieval churches. The need for preaching that expounds the doctrines of the evangelical faith, however, is as pressing now as it was in the time of Luther and Calvin. If we remember that ‘A church reformed is always reforming,’ we may cherish the hope that as the evangelical world moves beyond its fascination with modernity and reclaims the truth of God’s grace and glory revealed in Jesus Christ – so passionately proclaimed by Calvin – we may witness a reformation of the church in our time.”

Home · News · PLC Publications · The Layman Online Reviews · Archives· History of the Lay Committee · Feedback · Links