IS THEOLOGY REALLY A BURDEN?

By Matt Perman

Is the Bible important? If you are a Christian, I'm sure you answer this with a resounding yes. But let me ask the same question in a slightly different way. Is theology important? Tragically, many Christians do not think that it is. And even if they think that it is, they act as if it isn't. Many of us might say theology is important, but how many of us actually live this out by putting forth the intellectual effort necessary to diligently learn it? The problem is that we simply fail to recognize that theology is the pursuit of understanding the Bible. Therefore, since the Bible is important, theology is important.

Before moving on, let me ask one more question. Is God important? Of course! He is the most important Person in the universe. But theology is the quest of gaining knowledge of God. How, then, could anyone who thinks that God is important ever say that theology is not important?

It seems clear that since theology is so closely connected with the importance of the Bible and the importance of God, theology is also very important. And obviously this means that we ignore theology at our danger--for by ignoring theology we are cutting ourselves off from many rich and wonderful blessings of the Christian life. What exactly are we missing by neglecting theology? Perhaps the importance and blessings of theology will become more clear if we seek a greater understanding of what theology is.

We may define theology as knowledge of God, ourselves, and how to live, gained by personal interaction with God through His word, fueled by our earnest quest for joy in Him, leading to strong affections for God that overflow into worship, obedience, and love. Clearly theology is no mere academic game! And clearly it is not just for pastors and scholars. It is for all Christians. Let us take a closer look at this definition.

"Theology is knowledge..."
First, recognize that theology involves knowledge. We must use our minds! God wants us to use our minds because He wants us to understand His word (2 Timothy 2:7, 15) and He wants us to understand Him (Isaiah 5:12-13; Jeremiah 9:24). And clearly you cannot understand God or God's word without using your mind.

It is not unspiritual to think deeply about your faith! Rather, it is unspiritual not to think about your faith: "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature" (1 Corinthians 14:20). Proverbs 4:5 commands us to "Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!" Proverbs 9:10 tells us that this wisdom we are to acquire is specifically the fear of God, and this understanding is specifically the knowledge of God: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." We also read in Proverbs 10:14 that it is the mark of the wise person to learn about God: "Wise men store up knowledge..." In contrast to this, Proverbs 1:22 asks, "How long, O naive ones, will you love simplicity? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?" Likewise, we should learn from God's words to Israel Isaiah 5:12-13: "But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, nor do they consider the work of His hands. Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge." "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).

The church of God is in great danger today through the neglect of our minds. As William Lane Craig has said, "Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral. As Christians, their minds are going to waste. One result of this is an immature, superficial faith. People who simply ride the roller coaster of emotional experience are cheating themselves out of a deeper and richer Christian faith by neglecting the intellectual side of that faith."[1] J. Gersham Machen said back in 1913 that "The Church is perishing today through the lack of thinking not through an excess of it."[2] I fear that the same is true today. Be part of the solution to the problem! Honor God with your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37)!

I think that we will be much more diligent in the life of the mind if we recognize that knowledge of God is very valuable. Proverbs 3:13-14 says that it is much more valuable than money: "How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, and its gain than fine gold." Many people work really hard to make money. How many of us are motivated to work hard to learn about our faith, which is much more valuable then money? One reason it is so valuable is that theology, when rightly pursued, is not a burden, but a source of life: "She [wisdom] is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast" (Proverbs 3:18).

"...of God, ourselves, and how to live..."
Having seen that we need to acquire knowledge, wisdom, and understanding through theology, we need to ask ourselves what is the content of this knowledge? It is common today to focus completely on application, or how to live. This is not good theology. Yes, application is very important. In fact, all theology should lead to application. But unless your attempt to be practical is founded upon a deep knowledge of who God is and who you are, it will fall flat. Theology involves application and doctrine. Sound doctrine is useless if it doesn't result in right living for God, but that doesn't mean that we are to separate sound doctrine from sound living. Application that is not based upon doctrine will fall flat.

So if you are going to engage in good theology, you must engage in knowing God's commandments and seek to live by them. Theology is intimately concerned with "how we are to live." But it is also intimately concerned with "what are we to believe"--that is, good theology is concerned with good doctrine. Doctrine, however, is not separated from practice because (as we will see later), doctrine is one of the main things the Holy Spirit uses to support and produce strong obedience to God's commandments.

What specifically is the content of good Christian doctrine? The grand subject of Christian doctrine is God. His greatness, His supremacy, His majesty, and His ways with men. But this is not to say that doctrine has nothing to do with knowledge of ourselves. It is intimately involved with knowledge of ourselves. But in theology, everything is to be understood in the context of how it relates to God. We are to know about ourselves so that we can understand God and His ways with us better, and so that we can understand how we are to please Him. God is the center of it all.

If we, as Christians, are to become more theologically minded, what specifically does this mean we will learn? First, we will need to recognize that limiting our Christian reading to a bunch of inspirational stories, how-to books, novels, or books that concentrate more on entertainment than teaching is not good theology. Why? Because it leaves profound, concentrated teaching of doctrine on the sidelines. This kind of approach to Christian learning will at worst leave us ignorant of the great Christian doctrines, or at best will leave us with only a superficial knowledge of them.

What we need to do is seek a great understanding and appreciation of the great Christian doctrines such as the Trinity, the two natures of Christ (how He is fully God and fully man in one person), original sin, imputed sin, total depravity, justification by faith alone, the atonement, particular redemption, predestination, the sovereignty of God, heaven, hell, Christ's return, God's attributes, and many others.

First, we must understand the Trinity. How many of us can explain how God can be both three and one? How many of us can show where is this taught in the Bible? The Trinity is important because it directly deals with who God is. How can we ignore it as "insignificant" without also ignoring God as insignificant? Don't we recognize that there is a terrible problem when most Christians don't even understand, and aren't able to defend biblically, one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith?

Second, we must understand what is called the "hypostatic union"--that Christ is fully God and fully man in one person. This doctrine is essential for nurturing a strong love and appreciation for our savior because it deals with who He is and why He became man. How many of us can defend from the Bible that Jesus is God? That He is man? If a Jehovah's witness came to your door and tried to tell you that Jesus was an angel and not God, could you defend your beliefs? Do you know why it is so important to acknowledge that Jesus is both fully God and fully man? Do you know the comfort and strength that comes from understanding these truths?

Third, we need to understand the doctrine of justification by faith alone. This is considered to be "the doctrine by which the church and the individual stands or falls." Yet most of us don't even know what it means. We are perhaps good at explaining that one is saved by faith alone, but we will fumble over the question, "What does it mean to be justified?"

Fourth, we need to understand what Christ did when He died. This is at the heart of our faith. The Bible gives a wealth of rich teaching on this subject--Christ took away the wrath of God from us (He was the propitiation for our sins), He restored good relations with God to us (He reconciled us to God), He took away our sins (He was the expiation for our sins), He died in our place (He was our substitute), He bought us back from our captivity to sin (He ransomed us). We also need to understand the doctrine of particular redemption, which answers the qustion "Did Christ die for all humans, or only those who would come to believe?" How can we appreciate our salvation if we do not understand these key biblical teachings in more depth?

Fifth, we need to understand the sovereignty of God. What does it mean for God to be in control? Can God's plans fail? Does this entail that God even controls evil? This is an issue the Bible deals with in great depth. It can be a rock of strength in suffering, a source of patience in adversity, and a source of great joy in worship as we marvel at God's great power and wisdom.

Sixth, we need to understand predestination. Does God determine who is saved? Or does He leave it up to us? Often times people say that this isn't important. But if predestination isn't important, then neither is Romans 9, Ephesians 1, or the hundreds of other passages that teach it. If we don't understand this truth, we are missing out on the great experience of knowing that we are loved with a special, unfailing, electing love of God that distinguishes us from those who finally go to hell.

Seventh, we need to have a greater appreciation for the attributes and character of God. How does God display His love throughout the Bible? His mercy? His power? Wrath? Compassion? Holiness? We need to know these things to know our God better.

We also need to know that people are totally sinful by nature (total depravity), the effects that Adam's sin had on the whole human race (original sin and imputed sin), and what heaven and hell are like--together with how this should affect our life on earth. So I could go on and on, but I think this is enough to show us our great need to press on in understanding Christian doctrine. I think it is also enough to point us in the right direction of where to begin. And if we dare say that these things are unimportant, we are saying that God and His word are unimportant.

You might be thinking to yourself, I could never learn all of this on my own! I think you are probably right. But that's why God has given teachers to the Church (Ephesians 4:7-16). We need to learn from them, in addition to our own time in the Bible, if we are going to progress in deeper knowledge of God. This means that we must read good books that will teach us the Bible in-depth and guide us in our studies. This will take us much farther than we could go on our own. As Ephesians 4:7-16 points out, learning from Christian teachers is one means that makes the church grow to maturity.

"...gained by personal interaction with God through His word..."
There are two things I said in the very first paragraph that might appear contradictory. First I said that theology is a matter of understanding the Bible. Then I said theology is a matter of gaining knowledge of God. Did I contradict myself? Not at all, because the way we gain knowledge of God is through His word. Do not seek to learn about God through mystical impressions or a special word from heaven directly put into your mind. If you do this, you will be setting yourself up for deception. God is not giving new revelation today. Everything that He has revealed is in the Bible (Jude 3; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Timothy 3:16). This doesn't mean that the only book we should read is the Bible. As we saw earlier, God has given teachers to the church to help us learn the Bible better. But they are to assist our understanding of God's word, not replace our understanding of God's word. And the authority by which we are to judge all things is the Bible alone.

The sufficiency of Scripture (that it is the only place God speaks) also means that you can't base your knowledge about God on your experiences. I am not denying that God is active in our lives to answer prayer, rescue us from danger, and show His love and power. What I am saying is that we can only interpret experience correctly if we interpret it by God's word. Do not base your beliefs on experience. Rather, base your beliefs on God's word and then judge your experience by that.

Our knowledge of God is not only gained through His word, but it is gained through a special way of reading His word. This means that theology isn't just a matter of merely studying God's word, but personally interacting with God through our study of His word. We must have communion with God in our studies. This doesn't mean that we should look for God to speak apart from His word. It means that as we read and study God's word, we should keep ourselves aware that God is truly speaking to us personally today, in the words of Scripture, and that we are in His presence. Our response to God's speaking to us should be to believe and cherish what He says. And we turn the knowledge that we learn about God into knowledge of God by taking the things we learn about God and turning them into a matter of meditation, prayer, and praise before God. Don't read the Bible as if God doesn't know and care that you are reading it. Meditate about God, with God. Further, we must pray that He would give us understanding through the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit. "For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 2:6). Wisdom is in God's word, but we can't understand God's word on our own; we need the Holy Spirit to make us understand it. In these ways, studying the Bible becomes a matter of personal interaction with God.

"...leading to strong affections for God..."
As should be clear by now, theology involves the serious engagement of our minds. There is no room for intellectual laziness in the Christian life. But don't take this to mean that theology is only a matter of the mind. Theology is also a matter of the heart. Theology is not a matter of gaining dry, academic head knowledge about God that doesn't affect our happiness or the way we live. Instead, emotions are an essential aspect of doing theology. If your theology only stays in your head, you are doing it wrong.

What is commonly overlooked in our day is that the way we feel about God is based upon what we know about God. It is a terrible error to disconnect the head from the heart--either by thinking we can have true joy in the Lord that is not based upon truth about Him, or by thinking that it is appropriate to know great truths about God without taking great delight in them. Jesus said true worshipers worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Both are essential, and true emotions towards God must be rooted in truth.

John Piper explains this: "True worship does not come from people whose feelings are like air ferns with no root in the solid ground of biblical doctrine. The only affections that honor God are those rooted in the rock of biblical truth. Else what meaning have the words of the apostle, they have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge' (Romans 10:2)?...and did not [the Lord] say, you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free' (John 8:32)? Holy freedom in worship is the fruit of truth. Religious feelings that do not come from a true apprehension of God are neither holy nor truly free, no matter how intense."[3]

Beware of strong emotions that are not rooted in biblical truth! Profound reflection does not dry up intense affections--it fuels them! As we learn wonderful things about God and our salvation, our hearts will be caused to overflow in joy and gratefulness. Take a look sometime at the great doxology of praise Paul breaks into after carefully and logically arguing three chapters of heavy doctrine (Romans 11:33-36). Contemplating God's character and ways not only humbles the mind, but expands the heart.

"...leading to strong affections for God that overflow into worship, obedience, and love..." But our feasting upon God--the joy that results from seeing Him in His word--does not only express itself in worship. It also expresses itself in obedience to God and love to others. This is one reason why doctrine is so practical: it causes us to have such great joy in God's supremacy that we want to spread a passion for His supremacy to others so that they can experience this joy too. And our delight will not only be in telling people about God, but in showing them what God is like by serving them, loving them, and helping them.

"...fueled by an earnest quest for joy in God..."
I have tried to show that deep joy in the Lord is the result of theological understanding. But there is also a sense in which theological understanding is fueled by a joy in the Lord. As Christians, we have tasted some of God's greatness from the moment He converted us, and therefore we have an earnest desire for experiencing more and more of Him. We don't just want to settle for a snack, we want to feast on God! And therefore we will seek to know theology for the sake of having more of God to feast on. We are fueled by the joy of the Psalmist who said "O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day...Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Thy words. I rejoice at Thy word, as one who finds great spoil" (Psalm 119:97, 161-162). We pray "give me understanding according to Thy word" (Psalm 119:169). So joy is both the fuel and result of our theology. This means that theology is not pursued as an end in itself, but as a means to feasting upon God and sharing this feast with others.

Having seen more clearly what theology is, the benefits should be clear. But let's take a closer look at the question, "Why should we study theology?"

You cannot believe what the Bible says unless you understand what the Bible says. Therefore, we must purse understanding of the Bible--that is, we must pursue theology. If, for example, you don't understand Romans 9, then you can't believe Romans 9. If you can't believe Romans 9, you are missing out on the great joy that comes from the truth God has taught in that chapter. Further, you cannot apply these truths to your life if you don't understand them. But if perhaps after reading this article you do study Romans 9, trying to understand it, you will see that understanding Romans 9 will lead you to having to make up your mind about the doctrine of predestination. And this will probably lead you into studying many other passages throughout the whole Bible on this subject. So our quest to believe the Bible requires us to seek to understand the Bible, and this search to understand the Bible flowers into a great pursuit of understanding the whole Bible as a systematic unity.

Everybody has a theology--the issue is whether it is a good one or a bad one. Everybody has a theology, simply because everybody believes something about the Bible. If you think the Bible teaches the Trinity, that is good theology. But can you defend your theology? Can you explain it? If you think that the Bible teaches "evolution by the hand of God," then that is bad theology. If you don't know what you believe about the sovereignty of God, then your theology on that issue is "I don't know." Clearly, all Christians are theologians. Therefore the question is not, "Do we need theology?" Theology is inescapable. The issue is, "Would you rather have a good theology, or a bad theology?" I think the question answers itself. Theologian R.C. Sproul goes so far to say that theological mistakes are sins.

Theology fuels worship
If you don't know who God is and what He is like, how can you worship Him? And if you don't know very much of what He has revealed, how can you worship Him as deeply as you are capable of? John Piper offers this analogy for worship. The furnace of worship is our heart. The fuel of worship is the truth we know about God. The one who ignites the fire in our hearts is the Holy Spirit. And the resulting heat of our affections is the worship. The more fuel of truth that we have in our hearts, the greater fire of affections we will have for worship! So build up lots of fuel in your heart for worship!

Theology is the foundation of joy.
If we don't understand theology, we are missing out on the joy that comes from having a "big view of God." Christian joy comes from beholding the supremacy of God. What great joy comes from knowing that God rejoices to do good to Christians! What great humility there is that comes from knowing that by nature you hated God and would never come to Him on your own, but in spite of this He chose you and changed your heart so that you would come to Christ and be saved! What great wonder there is that comes from the knowledge that God is the sovereign controller of all things--always! Don't cut yourself off from the joy of an ever-growing wonder at God's supremacy! William Lane Craig has said, "...rigorous and earnest effort to understand Him is richly rewarded with deeper appreciation of who He is, more confidence in His reality and care, and a more intelligent and profound worship of His person."

Theology fuels obedience.
If we have a great view of God and deep joy in Him, we will have strong motivation to obey Him. For example, striving to be holy because God is holy is a much stronger motive for obedience than simply "it's the right thing to do." Further, the kind of behavior that pleases God depends upon the kind of Person He is. Therefore we must strive to know God rightly if we are going to strive to obey Him rightly. And as we saw earlier, one main part of theology is knowing the commands God has given us. If we do not know them, we cannot do them.

Second Peter 1:3 says that everything we need to have a strong faith and to lead holy lives is found in the knowledge God has revealed of Himself: "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:2-3).

Someone has once said, "If we think that we may be excused from knowledge in Christianity, we may as well think we are excused from love and obedience, for these depend upon knowledge. We act as if love and obedience come natural to us, but why should we think this? Before Christ we were sinful by nature and sin came natural. Therefore now we must always be `transformed by the renewing of our minds' (Romans 12:2)."

The church today seems to be lacking much of the power and holiness it ought to have. I think that one reason for this is the neglect of theology. The problem today is not that we fail to live up to our doctrines. The problem is that we are living up to our doctrines--a reduced, superficial, self-centered religion that makes obedience optional, man the ultimate cause of His salvation, and God one who tolerates sin instead of conquering it.

Theology unites Christians.
There is powerful fellowship and unity among a group of believers that share the same vision and beliefs. It provides great encouragement that is hard to find elsewhere.

The Scriptures command us to seek understanding of God and His word. The Bible teaches that theological doctrines are very nourishing. "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding" (Jeremiah 3:15). "In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following" (1 Timothy 4:6).

Christian preaching is to be focused upon the Scriptures and its doctrines, even though many people will not like this: "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine..." (2 Timothy 4:1-3). In fact, Paul says that the teaching of the Scriptures is so important that pastors and teachers are to take pains in them, continually learning more, and that salvation itself is at stake in what we teach: "Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things; for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you" (1 Timothy 4:14-15). Since Paul gives such serious instructions to those who teach the word, he must also expect the remaining Christians to put themselves in a position to learn from these teachers and pay close attention to their teaching. Galatians 6:6 seems to assume that those who do not teach the word will be learning the word from those who do teach it: "Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches."

All Christians are exhorted to "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). This requires good theology--and hard work! But if God's word is our joy, this work will be a joy.

Theology is one means through which we are sanctified (made holy). Second Corinthians 3:18 says that as we behold God's glory, we become more like Him: "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." As Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). We are sanctified by the truth of God's word. Therefore we must know the truth of God's word!

Finally, lest we think that some subjects are not important, the Scriptures are clear that we are to seek understanding in everything God's word teaches. In Acts 20:27 Paul says that he "did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God." Earlier in verse 20 he had said "I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable [helpful], and teaching you publicly and from house to house."

What shall we do?
Engaging our mind to better understand the Scriptures and thus gain knowledge of God involves many things. Let me close with two important applications.

First, put time and effort into studying the Scriptures for yourself. Start by picking one of the central doctrines of our faith (which we discussed above under the section on knowledge of God) and seeking out all of the verses that you can discover that deal with it, get to know them, and summarize what they each teach and how they fit together. Or you may want to start by studying a whole book of the Bible, seeking to understand the flow of thought and message that it is trying to convey. But as you do this, make sure that you also bring in passages from all over the Bible that deal with the various teachings in the particular book you are studying. This will help you have greater depth and breadth in the Bible's teachings. Or, perhaps you want to read 6 chapters a day in order to get through the Bible in six months. This will give you a good overview of the Bible and give you a strong foundation for digging in with one of the other two ways I listed above. No matter how you do it, increase your time and focus in God's word.

Second, take action to start learning more from the teachers God has given to His church. We need teachers to point things out we that wouldn't otherwise see, answer difficult questions, explain and defend the great doctrines of the Bible in a clear way to us, and direct us in our understanding. One of the best ways to be taught in this way is by reading and studying good books. Don't make easy, entertaining books about Christian issues the majority of your reading diet. Read substance books that teach doctrines and apply them to life. It may be hard work, but it is well worth the effort. To get started, refer to the list of recommended reading.

If we give to reason, memory, study, and books their proper place--in subjection to Christ--we will find, as the Puritan Richard Baxter has said, that "they are so far from being quenches of the Spirit, that they are necessary in their places, and are such means as we must use, if ever we will expect the Spirit's help."[4]

May we have a passion for God's supremacy through theology!


Notes
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation.

1. William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics (Illinois: Crossway Books, 1994), p. xiv.
2. J. Gersham Machen, "Christianity and Culture," Princeton Theological Review 11 (1913): 7. Cited in Craig, p. xv.
3. John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Oregon: Multnomah Press, 1996) 2nd edition, p. 90.
4. J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Illinois: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 282.


Recommended Reading
The Pleasures of God, John Piper. Visit Piper's Notes, which has many God-centered sermons by John Piper and links to many other theological pages.
Knowing God, J.I. Packer.
The Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul.
Chosen by God, R.C. Sproul.
Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, R.C. Sproul.
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, by Wayne Grudem.
Desiring God, John Piper.
Amazing Grace, James Montgomery Boice.
Faith Alone, R.C. Sproul.
Justification by Faith Alone: Affirming the Doctrine by Which the Church and the Individual Stands or Falls, edited by Don Kistler.
The Sovereignty of God, by A.W. Pink.
Our Triune God, by Peter Toon.
Sin and Temptation, by John Owen.
Future Grace, by John Piper.
Redemption Accomplished and Applied, by John Murray.
The Supremacy of God in Missions, by John Piper.
The Supremacy of God in Preaching, by John Piper.
The Glory of Heaven, by John MacArthur.
The Love of God, by John MacArthur.
The Gospel According to Jesus, by John MacArthur.
Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment, by Robert Peterson.
The Person and Work of Christ, by B.B. Warfield.
The Existence and Attributes of God, by Stephen Charnock.
How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil, by D.A. Carson.
The Glory of Christ, by Peter Lewis.
Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World, by Jonathan Edwards.
Concerning Satisfaction for Sin, by Jonathan Edwards.
Justification by Faith Alone, by Jonathan Edwards.
The Religious Affections, by Jonathan Edwards.
The Excellency of Christ, by Jonathan Edwards.
Communion with God, by John Owen.
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen.
The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, by Loraine Boettner.
The Invisible Hand, by R.C. Sproul.
The Imputation of Adam's Sin, by John Murray.
Decision Making and the Will of God, by Gary Friesen.


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