What passes for “tolerance” in our day is a far cry from the protecting of persons it used to be. We are now mired in a worldview that claims everyone is equally right – except for the person who disagrees with that worldview! Such inconsistency and self-delusion pervades the modern culture. With clarity and candor Carson examines the state of present-day tolerance and exposes where it is found lacking. This is an imminently helpful and timely book.

Observe that under the aegis of this new tolerance, no absolutism is permitted, expect for the absolute prohibition of absolutism. Tolerance rules, except that there must be no tolerance for those who disagree with this peculiar definition of tolerance. [13]

The word “discrimination” takes on the rhetorical power of “intolerance,” without any rational reflection on the fact that most human beings discriminate a dozen times a day, and the entire culture is awash in discrimination: we do not hire pedophiles as school principals, we do not appoint a functional illiterate to head up NASA, and so forth. [22]

Genuine pluralism within the broader culture is facilitated when there is a strong Christian voice loyal to the Scriptures – as well as strong Muslim voices, skeptical voices, Buddhist voices, atheistic voices, and so forth. Genuine pluralism within the broader culture is not fostered when in the name of tolerance none of the voices can say that any of the others is wrong, and when this stance is the only ultimate virtue. [35]

The new tolerance thinks of itself as intrinsically neutral, free from any ethical, moral, or religious system of thought, yet this is not so. The problem is worse than mere inconsistency, for the new tolerance regularly smuggles into the culture massive structures of thought and imposes them on others who disagree, while insisting that the others are the intolerant people. [96]

When Christians make exclusive claims about Christ as the only way to salvation and are therefore condemned as a group for being intolerant, then those who are doing the condemning are of course marginalizing Christians by declaring them to be among the unenlightened, and so are displaying their own intolerance. [166] 

TOP

Two long-standing evangelical voices each discuss the dual nature of pastors as scholars (and vice versa). Those original lectures were combined into this brief, but helpful book. Both Piper and Carson recount segments of their own journeys, highlighting their understanding of these areas and offering practical ways they should function in today’s climate. Recognizing inherent differences, the general exhortation is that all pastors must be scholars to some degree, and the converse is true as well.  

Whether you are talking about the exegesis of Psalm 110 or examining the tail feathers of a pileated woodpecker, you are to offer the work to God and see such intellectual endeavor, such scholarship, as part and parcel of worship. [75]

Biblical warnings about how knowledge puffs up but love builds up (e.g. 1 Corinthians 8) do not condone anti-intellectualism; conversely, biblical mandates to love God with our minds do not grant scholarship an elevated status that exempts it from adoration, faith, obedience, and love. At some level, scholarship without humility and obedience is arrogant; talk of knowing and loving God without scholarship is ignorant. [77]

On the last day, we stand or fall on the approval on one person, one master, the Lord Jesus. [90]

What is virtually never justified, however, is never reading anything slowly, seriously, analytically, and evaluatively, for such reading of good materials not only fills our minds with many good things, but teaches us how to think. [98]

In all our legitimate concern for the innovative, what is of greater importance is the changeless—and this is what has dominant pastoral importance. Let the main thing be the main thing. [102]

TOP

Carson and Keller serve as editors of a new series of booklets from The Gospel Coalition, a group designed to clearly define and execute the Christian message in our modern-day world. These men also co-wrote this initial book, which explains the basis of the gospel and the impetus it has in creating lives centered on Christ-honoring doctrine and conduct. While necessarily brief, they explain how gospel-centered ministry is biblically mandated and absolutely indispensable for God’s people.

Without knowledge of God we cannot know ourselves, our world, or anything else. If there is no God, we would have no reason to trust our reason. [6]

Expository preaching fails if it does not tie every text, even the most discursive, into the great story of the gospel and mission of Jesus Christ. [9]

Since Jesus had to die to appease the wrath of God, we know that God is a God of justice, and therefore we should be highly sensitive to the rights of the poor in our communities. They should not be mistreated because of their lack of economic power. And because we were spiritually bankrupt and received the riches of Christ undeserved, we should never look down on the poor and feel superior to the economically bankrupt. We should be willing to give our funds even to the ‘undeserving poor’ since we are the spiritually undeserving poor who receive the free mercy of God. [10]

We cannot deal with what Genesis says about creation as if it were mere datum or mere sanction for ecological responsibility or mere establishment of our embodied existence, though all those things are true and have some importance. Within Genesis, creation grounds the responsibility of God’s image bearers toward God and sets the stage for the anarchy and idolatry of Genesis 3 that in turn produces the drama of the entire Bible. [13]

Gospel-centered ministry is biblically mandated. It is the only kind of ministry that simultaneously addresses human need as God sees it, reaches out in unbroken lines to gospel-ministry in other centuries and other cultures, and makes central what Jesus Himself establishes as central. [15]

TOP

This collection of addresses from the 2010 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology focuses on the ‘last days’—a period that began with the resurrection of Christ and will continue until His return. Specific emphasis is put on the Christian hope amidst this present age of evil. Featuring contributions from a wide range of authors, this book has some strong chapters and others that fall a bit short of the mark, but the overall effort is helpful.

The gospel is more than justification. Justification declares our standing before God. But the gospel is also the wonderful news of what God has done by pouring out His Spirit, causing us to be regenerated and then transformed. [34]

Satan comes to accuse us psychologically or tries to vent his voice before God, saying, ‘How can you let that Don Carson walk away? He is a sinner, for goodness sake! You claim to be so holy, God, yet you let him go free.’ What do we say? My plea is not, ‘I am not as bad as all that.’ My plea is the blood of the Lamb—that is what silences the accusations. This is gospel freedom and this is why Satan has been cast out. The cross stands at the heart of everything. [35]

We cannot be mature Christians unless we are future oriented. By future oriented, I don’t mean merely the next ten minutes or even the next ten years. I mean eternity oriented. [96]

All of us are, in Christ, seen as one new humanity. This is secured by Christ, and already it is started. That is what the church is about. It is also why racism is so repulsive in the New Testament; we are a new humanity: men and women drawn from every tongue and tribe and people and nation, born again with a common anchoring in Christ on the cross. [100]

In the fullness of time, God has disclosed the mystery in Christ. So when the apostles preached, they did not say, ‘Well, you have to wait around and have a private revelation,’ What they did say was, ‘Go back to the Scriptures. If you understand them properly, you will see that it is actually there.’ Again and again, they point to the Scriptures. The whole Bible has a deep continuity, embedded right in the structure of everything. [104]

TOP

With 66 books, the Bible can be daunting, and connecting what you read in its pages can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned reader. To help unpack the Bible’s main ideas, Carson has constructed a commanding introduction to the major themes and concepts revealed in Scripture. Although this approach is couched in introductory terms, there is a richness of content that will encourage anyone who opens it. This is a book you ought to read.

The first doctrine to be denied, according to the Bible, is the doctrine of judgment. In many disputes about God and religion, this pattern often repeats itself, because if you can get ride of that one teaching, then rebellion has no adverse consequences, and so you are free to do anything. [32]

You cannot make sense of the Bible until you come to agreement with what the Bible says our problem is. If you do not see what the Bible’s analysis of the problem is, you cannot come to grips with the Bible’s analysis of the solution. The ultimate problem is our alienation from God, our attempt to identify ourselves merely with reference to ourselves, this idolatry that de-gods God; and what we must have is reconciliation back to this God, or we have nothing. [41]

What any people must have is the presence of the living God. It is not enough in any church simply to have the right rituals and the right sermons and the right kind of music. If God does not manifest Himself in some way, if He is not present, then what is the point of the whole exercise? [67]

You can trust a God who not only is sovereign but bleeds for you. Sometimes when there are no other answers for your guilt or your fears or your uncertainties or your anguish, there is one immovable place on which to stand. It is the ground right in front of the cross. [162]

At the end of the day, what hell measures is how much Christ paid for those who escape hell. The measure of His torment (in ways I do not pretend to being to understand) as the God-man is the measure of torment that we deserve and He bore. And if you see that and believe it, you will find it difficult to contemplate the cross for very long without tears. [210]

TOP

Although designed as a companion book to Carson’s larger work, The God Who Is There, he includes enough unique content and new observations to warrant a separate review. In addition to discussion questions on each chapter, Carson also recommends extra resources and gives practical helps to those who plan to lead discussions of the material in his book. As usual, his piercing insight and pastoral candor remain edifying for any who take the time to read.

Christians hold that God alone stretches back into eternity past. He made everything else. That truth is foundational; it grounds our understanding of the creation’s dependence on God, but it also establishes human significance. We are more than the product of molecules conveniently bouncing around in the primordial ooze. We are creatures made in the image of God, abounding in privilege, with an eternal destiny, accountable to the wise and good Creator who made us. [26]

What makes sin so heinous is not that is flies in the fact of some abstract moral order divorced from God but that it flies in the face of God Himself and of all He has ordered. What makes sin so irreparably ugly and guilt-streaked is that it defies God. [31]

Sadly, we want good advice more than we want good news. A steady diet of WWJD (What would Jesus do?) provides more dos and don’ts, more law. This is followed in turn by either pride or despair, depending on how well an individual thinks he or she is conforming to the prescribed pattern. But the gospel focuses less on what Jesus did, so that we may imitate Him, than on what Jesus has uniquely done, so that we may trust Him. [43]

For those with antisocial habits of life, the external changes brought about by being born against will be observable and profound; for those trained in conventional morality, superficial observers may not initially detect a huge change, but the transformation of the heart brought about by the new birth changes how and why things are done or not done, and it cannot finally be suppressed. [63]

Empowered by the Spirit, Christians become God-centered. They learn to forgive one another because they know they have been forgiven; they know that God accepts them freely because of what Christ has borne for them, so they strive less to be accepted (as so far as they succeed in this regard, they escape the twin chains of pride and fear) and become more eager to accept others. [78]

TOP

This book contains the messages presented at the 2009 Ligonier Ministries National Conference: ‘The Holiness of God.’ Each of the contributors approaches that topic from varying angles. Some of the chapters likely flowed more smoothly as oral messages, but the content is solid (which is to be expected when the list of authors reads like a ‘who’s-who’ of Reformed theology). We too often neglect God’s holiness, thus this collection is especially helpful in refocusing our thoughts.

God insists that He loves the Israelites not because they are mighty or powerful, or because they are wiser or holier than others, but simply because He set His affection on them. He loves them because He loves them. They are a chosen people, not a choice people. [75]

God help us when Christians today start saying, “Well, it’s all right for the pastor to be holy, but I don’t really have to be.” All of us are God’s priests. All of us have been set aside. All of us have access, now that the veil has been torn, into the very presence of the living God. To start introducing a double-tier standard or holiness or of consecration makes no sense this side of the cross and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. [79]

Because we have been made by this God and for this God, because our very self-identity when we are right with God is to love Him supremely, to adore Him and to worship Him, it is a supreme act of love on His part to keep demanding it—because it is for our good. [85]

TOP

Carson examines Paul’s final words in 2 Timothy 3 & 4, showing how his admonition to Timothy is also an admonition to those of us who live in these ‘last days’—the time between Christ’s resurrection and His return. Carson pointedly speaks of the necessity of holding fast to Scripture and wisely choosing our mentors in the faith. Though edifying, there’s hardly enough material here to constitute a book, which causes the overall effort to suffer.

The coming of Christ is so world transforming, now that the kingdom has already dawned, that the old world is petering out; it is coming to an end. We are now, already, in the last days. [12]

Whatever we do that is wicked demonstrates that we do not truly love God. The antithesis of loving God is worse than not loving God: it is loving something else supremely, most commonly ourselves or things that we covet. We become idolators: we do not love God supremely. [13]

What is astonishing is that after the bloody century we have just come through, so many people think that if we simply sit around a table and talk we will sort it all out. This attitude is astonishingly naïve. [35]

In a world where there are many false ideas—many deceptive, selfish and anti-God ideas—what must we do to get orientated toward God Himself? We go to God’s Word—we hold on to the Bible. We desperately need to think God’s thoughts after Him. [42]

Begin to see how your ministry in your homes, how your handling of this Word as you hold it up to others, how your teaching of a Sunday school class, constitutes part of this massive chain that connects us all the way back to the New Testament, and prepares the people of God for the return of Jesus Christ at the end. [47] 

TOP

Some of Carson’s previous conference messages have been adapted into written form, and these five chapters do a remarkable job of highlighting the irony and scandal of the cross of Christ. The cross is the center of God’s redemptive plan and the focal point of human history. As Carson details, no other event is greater, for no other event accomplishes what Christ did on that cross: atonement for our sin and reconciliation between God and man.

It is in Jesus’ death, in His destruction, and in His resurrection three days later, that Jesus meets our needs and reconciles us to God, becoming the temple, the supreme meeting place between God and sinners. To use Paul’s language, we do not simply preach Christ; rather, we preach Christ crucified. [23]

Those who know who Jesus is are fully aware that nails and soldiers cannot stand in the way of Emmanuel. The truth of the matter is that Jesus could not save Himself, not because of any physical constraint, but because of a moral imperative. He came to do His Father’s will, and He would not be deflected from it. [30]

Jesus says that the first commandment is to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength. It is the first commandment because it is the one we always break when we break anything else. Always. It is awful. If you cheat on your income tax, the party most offended is God. If you cheat on your spouse, the party most offended is God. If you indulge in racism, the party most offended is God. If you nurture bitterness, the party most offended is God. That is what makes sin sin, and we must be reconciled to this God. [63]

Do you want to see the greatest evidence of the love of God? Go to the cross. Do you want to see the greatest evidence of the justice of God? Go to the cross. It is where wrath and mercy meet. Holiness and peace kiss each other. The climax of redemptive history is the cross. [70]

Sadly, many of us act like very young and immature children when we deal with God. We, too, want specific blessings now, now, now. But God takes the long view, and He understands that sometimes delay is what’s best for us. [121] 

TOP

The apparent contradiction between human suffering and God’s goodness is tackled in this revised edition of Carson’s work. While not comprehensive, this book neither shies away from theological quandaries nor ignores their practical implications—an important balance. Although his book may be too weighty in places for the casual reader (and Carson himself does not recommend it for those already in deep suffering), it stands as one of the best overall handlings of this universal question. 

There is no attempt in Scripture to whitewash the anguish of God’s people when they undergo suffering. They argue with God, they complain to God, they weep before God. Theirs is not a faith that leads to dry-eyed stoicism, but a faith so robust it wrestles with God. [67]

Pain tends to make people better, or bitter. If we find it is developing in us a pattern of bitterness, we are in desperate straits. And one of the first steps to reverse such bitterness is to come before the Lord, broken and confused and hurt as we may be, and read His Word, seek His face, and ask Him to provide the comfort that only He can. For in a fallen world, pain and suffering can be God’s megaphone, to an individual or to a nation, distracting our attention from the selfishness of a life that functionally disowns God, no matter what we say in our creeds. [108]

Thinking through the theology of suffering, and resolving in advance how you will respond, however praiseworthy the exercise, cannot completely prepare you for the shock of suffering itself. It is like jumping into a bitterly cold lake: you can brace yourself for the experience all day, but when you actually jump in the shock to your system will still snatch your breath away. [141]

God is not malicious. He does care for His people. Therefore the proper response to suffering we cannot fathom is faith and perseverance; the response to avoid is bitterness. [150]

We must help people know God better. Too many answers we give are merely intellectual, merely theological, merely propositional. We must so teach and counsel and pray with people that we deepen their experiential knowledge of God. We must so get them into meditative and rigorous reading of the Word of God that they draw vast comfort from its pages. At the deepest level, men and women must learn, with Job, that God is very great, and it is an inexpressible privilege to know Him, to be satisfied with Him, even when—especially when!—we do not have all the answers. Then men and women will learn to rest in His love, and will return again and again to the cross, where their vision of that love will be constantly renewed. [224] 

TOP

Combing through numerous sources, Guthrie has composed a book containing a wide variety of instruction concerning suffering. Using voices both ancient and contemporary, Guthrie shows how the problem of pain has been addressed by Christians who have not only dealt with this academically but personally as well. Although most chapters are far too brief to get into any real depth, this also serves to make for bite-sized reading that may be easier to digest for some.  

Well-intentioned, but poorly informed brothers and sisters who try to deflect people from thinking about death, or who hold out the constant hope of healing, keep them so occupied with matters in this world that they have neither the time nor the energy to think about the next world. They succeed only in robbing their loved ones of the enormous comforts of the gospel as they step into eternity. [115]

Is not some of the pain and sorrow in this life used in God’s providential hand to make us homesick for heaven, to detach us from this world, to prepare us for heaven, to draw our attention to Himself, and away from the world of merely physical things? [116]

For the believer, the time of death becomes far less daunting a factor when seen in the light of eternity. Although death remains an enemy, an outrage, a sign of judgment, a reminder of sin, and a formidable opponent, it is, from another perspective, the portal through which we pass to consummated life. We pass through death, and death dies. [117]

TOP

Although some doctrines may seem more ‘difficult’ on the surface—such as the Trinity, or free will, or the millennium—Carson explains that rightly understanding the love of God requires more than we might expect. With deftness, Carson explores five aspects of God’s love that Scripture reveals, and explains why focusing on any one of those five (to the exclusion of the others) leads to doctrinal misunderstanding. Though too brief, Carson’s work is a worthy introduction.

Today most people seem to have little difficulty believing in the love of God; they have far more difficulty believing in the justice of God, the wrath of God, and the non-contradictory truthfulness of an omniscient God. But is the biblical teaching on the love of God maintaining its shape when the meaning of “God” dissolves in mist? [12]

What the Bible says about the love of God is more complex and nuanced than what is allowed by mere sloganeering. [24]

If the Son acted in line with the Father sometimes and did His own thing on other occasions, we would not be able to tell which of Jesus’ actions and words disclose God. But it is precisely His unqualified obedience to and His dependence upon His Father that ensure that His revelation to us is perfect. [35]

Jesus makes a distinction between slaves and friends. But the distinction initially surprises us. We are Jesus’ friends if we do what He commands. This sounds rather like a definition of a slave. Certainly such friendship is not reciprocal. I cannot turn around to Jesus and thank Him for His friendship and tell Him He is my friend, too, if He does everything I command Him. Strange to tell, not once is Jesus or God ever described in the Bible as our friend. Abraham is God’s friend; the reverse is never stated. [40]

Where God in His holiness confronts His image-bearers in their rebellion, there must be wrath, or God is not the jealous God He claims to be, and His holiness is impugned. The price of diluting God’s wrath is diminishing God’s holiness. [67]

TOP

Reading the Bible and understanding it requires a certain degree of effort, which compounds as one strives to get to the heart of a text’s original meaning and present-day application. Sadly, many fallacies are perpetrated in this pursuit, resulting in proof texting at best and heresy at worst. While the content is far too academic for most general readers, Carson does provide a helpful survey of common errors and admonishes his audience to diligently avoid them.

We are dealing with God’s thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly. It is all the more shocking, therefore, to find in the evangelical pulpit, where the Scriptures are officially revered, frequent and inexcusable sloppiness in handling them. [16]

Persistent negativism is spiritually perilous. The person who makes it his life’s ambition to discover all the things that are wrong—whether wrong with life or wrong with some part of it, such as exegesis—is exposing himself to spiritual destruction. Thankfulness to God both for good things and for His sovereign protection and purpose even in bad things will be the first virtue to go. It will quickly be followed by humility, as the critic, deeply knowledgeable about faults and fallacies (especially those of others!), comes to feel superior to those whom he criticizes. Spiritual one-upmanship is not a Christian virtue. [22]

As a general rule, the more complex and/or emotional the issue, the greater the tendency to select only part of the evidence, prematurely construct a grid, and so filter the rest of the evidence through the grid that it is robbed of any substance. What is needed is evenhandedness, along with a greater desire for fidelity than for originality in the interpretation of the Scriptures. I dare say that many of the fundamental disputes dividing Christians, such as the manner in which to integrate God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, could be substantially and happily ameliorated if Christian leaders were to improve in this area. [93]

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with emotion, of course. Indeed, it is scarcely proper to preach and teach about heaven and hell, justification and condemnation, and the forgiveness and retention of sins without expressing any emotion whatsoever. But emotive appeals sometimes mask issues or hide the defectiveness of the underlying rational argument. An emotional appeal based on truth reflects sincerity and conviction; an emotional appeal used as a substitute for truth is worthless (although unfortunately often successful in winning the gullible). The fallacy lies in thinking that emotion can substitute for reason, or that it has logical force. [106]

Even when an argument is valid, it may not be conclusive. Some arguments are intrinsically weak. [119]

TOP

Examining several key passages from 1 Corinthians, Carson deftly explains why the cross of Jesus Christ is not only the main defining characteristic of the church but must also remain the constant focus of all we are. With his typical exegetical thoroughness, Carson shows how the cross relates to preaching, Christian leadership, and the work of the Holy Spirit. A concise book in terms of length, yet it is full of powerful insight and thought-provoking helpfulness.

Our self-centeredness is deep. It is so brutally idolatrous that it tries to domesticate God Himself. In our desperate folly we act as if we can outsmart God, as if He owes us explanations, as if we are wise and self-determining while He exists only to meet our needs. [15]

The problem is not only that God is much greater than we are, but that we are so rebellious that we distort much of the information about Himself that He has graciously provided. [53]

It is idiotic—that is not too strong a word—to extol the world’s perspective and secretly lust after its limited vision. That is what we are in danger of doing every time we adopt our world’s shibboleths, dote on its heroes, admire its transient stars, seeks its admiration, and play to its applause. [60]

Do not think that you can adopt the philosophies and values of the world as if such choices do not have a profoundly detrimental impact on the church. Do not think you can get away with it. Do not kid yourself that you are with it, an avant-garde Christian, when in fact you are leaving the gospel behind and doing damage to God’s church. [84]

The wisest course of action in a particular crisis may largely be determined by this question about the aim and effect of the options: how will this course of action contribute to, or hinder, the work of the gospel? [132]

TOP

Carson works through the prayers of Paul, paying careful attention to both the tone and content of what he prays. Thankfully, he does not feel the need to rush through these prayers or avoid thorny areas that require further discussion. The result is profoundly exhortational. Simply put, this is one of the most helpful books on prayer I have read—in both its encouragement to pray and its instruction on how to do it. Highly recommended.

We will not grow in prayer unless we plan to pray. That means we must self-consciously set aside time to do nothing but pray. What we actually do reflects our highest priorities. [19]

Christians should pray long enough and honestly enough, at a single session, to get past the feeling of formalism and unreality that attends not a little praying. We are especially prone to such feelings when we pray for only a few minutes, rushing to be done with a mere duty. To enter the spirit of prayer, we must stick to it for a while. If we ‘pray until we pray,’ eventually we will come to delight in God’s presence, to rest in His love, to cherish His will. Even in dark or agonized praying, we somehow know we are doing business with God. [36]

It is folly to pretend to seek God’s will for your life, in terms of a marriage partner or some form of Christian vocation, when there is no deep desire to pursue God’s will as He has already kindly revealed it. [102]

It matters little whether you are the mother of active children who drain away your energy, an important executive in a major multinational corporation, a graduate student cramming for impending comprehensives, a plumber working overtime to put your children through college, or a pastor of a large church putting in ninety-hour weeks: at the end of the day, if you are too busy to pray, you are too busy. Cut something out. [114]

Many of us do not want to pray because we know that disciplined, biblical prayer would force us to eliminate sin that we rather cherish. [119]

TOP