James Montgomery Boice - Whatever Happened to The Gospel of Grace?: Rediscovering the Doctrines that Shook the World

Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?

Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?

Original edition copyright 2001 by Linda McNamara Boice

Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Chris Tobias

First printing, trade paper, 2009

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture references are from The Holy Bible:New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4335-1129-5
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-0962-9
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-0963-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Boice, James Montgomery, 1938-2000
Whatever happened to the gospel of grace?: recovering the doctrines that shook the world / James Montgomery Boice; foreword by
Eric J. Alexander.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-237-6
ISBN 10: 1-58134-237-3
1. Grace (Theology) I. Title.
BT761.2.B655 2001
230'.04624dc21

00-012245

VP 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To HIM
who loves us and has freed us
from our sins by his blood,
and has made us to be
a kingdom and priests
to serve his God and Father
to him be glory and power
for ever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 1:5-6

Contents

This is an extraordinary kind of book. It is in fact the last written message of an extraordinary, perceptive, and godly man, Dr. James Montgomery Boice. As such it has a timeliness and urgency that the evangelical church today so critically needs to hear and heed. Stated simply as his last word, Jim Boice has given us a three-fold message, calling us as Christians: 1) to repent of our worldliness; 2) to recover the great salvation doctrines of the Bible as the Reformers did five hundred years ago; and 3) to live a life trans-formed by the essential truths of the gospel.

The urgency of our situation is seen especially in the first section of the book, where Dr. Boice shows how deeply evangelical Christians have been compromised by a thoroughgoing worldliness. In a manner remarkably parallel to the liberal church a generation ago, evangelicals today have embraced the worlds wisdom,the worlds theology, the worlds agenda, and the worlds methods. The result is an evangelical church that has lost the power and the real-ity of the gospel.

Though it is essential that we understand the urgency of our situation, the heart of Dr. Boices message is a call to the recovery of the gospel (as found especially in the doctrines that shook the world five centuries ago) and a call to live out the gospel in every area of life. Thus Dr. Boice asks, Can we have that power again in our day? We can. But only if we hold to the full-orbed Reformation gospel and do not compromise with the culture around us.... How does it happen? It happens by the renewing of our minds,... by study of the life-giving and renewing Word of God... empowered by the Holy Spirit [so that] we will begin to take on something of the glorious luster of the Lord Jesus Christ and will become increasingly like him.

We would do well then to hear and to heed this last message from Dr. Boicea prophetic word to us, but equally a message of confident hope in the power of the gospel. As Dr. Boice wrote in the closing words of the book, There are times in history when it takes a thousand voices to be heard as one voice. But there are other times, like our own, when one voice can ring forth as a thousand. So lets get on with our calling, and let those who say they know God show they actually dofor his glory and for the good of all.

Lane T. Dennis, President
Crossway Books

At one oclock on Friday, June 23, 2000, a vast company of people filled Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. They had come from all over the world to honor the memory of Dr. James Montgomery Boice, pastor of the church for more than thirty years. The keynote of the service was heartfelt thanksgiving to God for such a remarkably fruitful life and ministry.

Eight weeks previously, the church was also crowdedfor the opening service of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformation Theology (PCRT). During that conference, Dr. Boice shared with me the medical report he had received on Good Friday: He was suffering from cancer of the liver and the prognosis was very bad. He was planning to tell the congregation the following Sunday. This he did, with astonishing calmness, courage, and selflessness. Many said it was the most moving occasion they had ever shared in.

From his earliest days, Jim Boice was a leader among men. He distinguished himself at Harvard University, Princeton Seminary, and the University of Basel in Switzerland. His academic ability and scholarly nature were to become the foundation for a life dedicated to preaching, teaching, and defending the gospel.

His passion for reformed theology led him to found the PCRT in 1974. Similarly his concern for the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura lay behind his crucial influence in planning and convening the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, from 1978 to 1988. In 1996 he was instrumental in forming the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

Yet I do not think he would wish to be remembered mainly for these landmark conferences and their widespread influence. More than once he said to seminary students, to whom he frequently spoke, I am first and foremost the pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church. Thats where my heart is.

Consistent with this, he spent more than thirty years as Tenths senior minister, to its eternal benefit. Early in his ministry he wrote of the Puritans, They were steeped in the Word of God. They were diligent. No work was too great or mountain too high for them to tackle. They were pious men who spent long hours in study and on their knees. They were not looking for promotion to positions of greater and greater prominence. Rather, they were willing to stay in one place, so the work of bringing the Word fully to that place might be completed.

Theologically and personally, James Boice was himself in that true Puritan tradition. No man I have known has more fully than he exhibited and expounded in his life and ministry the five solas of which he writes in this book. They were the foundation stones of his thinking and the substance of his preaching.

Writing in these pages of the sufficiency of Christ for the believer, he says, We need no other prophets to reveal Gods word or will. We need no other priests to mediate Gods salvation and blessing. We need no other kings to control the thinking and lives of believers. Jesus is everything to us and for us in the gospel.