Author: Pentecost, J. Dwight
Genre: Theology - General
Tags: Doctrine / Theology
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
In my year of concentrating on reading more theology, some of these shorter books (See Ryrie, A Survey of Bible Doctrine in the January issue) serve as great refreshers and reminders of important doctrines. This is a 1965 edition from Pentecost, long-time professor of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary. Pentecost is well known for many books including Things To Come and The Words and Works of Jesus Christ. In this brief 159 page book Pentecost takes the reader through 14 doctrines: Depravity, Grace, Regeneration, Imputation, Substitution, Repentance, Redemption, Reconciliation, Propitiation, Justification, Sanctification, Security, Predestination, and Resurrection. Pentecost was an ardent dispensationalist and premillennialist. He was also a mainstream evangelical, even pastoring Grace Bible Church in Dallas during his teaching years. By today’s standards one might think such a position would allow for a certain slackness in Christian living. I find, however, that earlier evangelicalism promoted holy Christian living in a way often forgotten in many evangelical circles today. An example of this is his description of New Testament grace.
“In the New Testament, over against the principle of law, is the principle of grace, where God has taken us out from under the bondage of law, which no man could keep, and put us under the principle of grace. Grace makes no less demands upon the child of God than law made; grace set up as our standard the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ and says, ‘This is what grace expects; this is what grace demands.’ And we are not less obligated to holiness and righteousness because we are under grace than if we had been under law. Child of God, the law under which Israel lived has been removed as a dominating principle, and grace is the operating principle” (p. 26).