Review of The Gospel According to Jesus by MacArthur
MacArthur’s Gospel According to Jesus is an interpretation that emphasizes the need for one to have authentic faith. It focuses on the fact that Jesus calls everyone to be born again in Him, meaning that it is not enough to try to address one or two shortcomings in one’s own life; rather, one must actually work to become new in Christ—a new person who is entirely Christ-centered, so that Christ can shine out through one’s own actions and expressions.
Some of the points that MacArthur makes are that God wants true worship—nothing half-hearted or that is as much man-centered and self-worshiping as it is God-centered and Christ-worshiping. One cannot be vainglorious or self-righteous and expect to be saved. Christ came to save sinners, and unless one sees how one is a sinner and wants to be made whole in Christ, filled with grace, there is no point to calling oneself a Christian.
Throughout, MacArthur emphasizes the need for Christians to repent, because that is the call that Christ makes throughout His earthly life. Repentance and sorrow for one’s sins in the eyes of God are what allow the grace of God to get through to one so that one can begin to come to God.
Overall, it is a book that is well worth reading and should be recommended to anyone interested in learning what it means to be a Christian. One can understand easily with this book what the message of Christ is throughout the Gospels. What MacArthur does is he brings out Christ in Scripture and presents Him as is, without any apology or attempt to dress Him up as something other than what He is.
Bibliography
MacArthur, John. The Gospel According to Jesus: What Does Jesus Mean when He Says" follow Me"?. Zondervan, 1994.
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