The Deity of Christ, edited by Moran & Peterson

I want to thank Crossway Books for sending me a copy of this wonderful book to review for those who follow my reviews and blog page.

I usually go through a book fairly quickly, but must admit that this book I have taken more time to go through and find myself going back over sections at a time.  It’s not because the book is difficult to read, it is because the material is so valuable and there is much to digest.

The book is a compilation of short Essay’s on the topic of the Deity of Christ.  Each Essay is well done and touches on a different aspect of the Deity of Christ.  Chapters include the following;

The History of the debate on the Deity of Christ

Christ in the Old Testament

Christ in the Synoptic Gospels

Christ in John’s Gospel

Christ in the Apostolic Witness

Christ in John’s Letters and Revelation

Towards a Systematic Theology of the Deity of Christ

The Deity of Christ and the Cults

The Deity of Christ for Missions, World Religions and Pluralism

While the book is going to delve into the reasons that we can believe in the Deity of Christ we need to understand an underlying principle that was used in bringing this volume together.  That principle is this, “We are writing from the perspective that we believe the Bible is the authoritative Word of God, inerrant and useful for teaching.”  If you doubt the inerrancy of scripture or that it is truly the Word of God then you will need to tackle that subject in another text before going through this book.

That said, this book is well done, easy to understand for both laymen and clergy.  There are a huge number of Biblical references that you can use to develop good teaching outlines for Sunday School classes as well as small groups.  Pastors will find this a good resource book for sermons they plan to preach on the Deity of Christ.

My favorite two chapters are Chapters 3 and 4 on The Deity of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John.  They caught my attention and I read each of those chapters two or three times each and kept my Bible handy to be cross-reading as I went through the text.  It was a wonderful study experience.

With today’s culture debating whether Christ was truly the “Son of God” this book is a treasure trove of information to help you develop your understand of Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  Some of the information will be old news that you have heard before, but it is presented in a fresh way that will stimulate your thinking about the topic and push you to be more pro-active in sharing the truth about Jesus Christ.

This book can be read in different ways.  You can read it straight through one chapter after another, or you can pick and choose chapters based on discussions you may be having with people regarding Christ. 

But whatever way you read through this text you will be happy you purchased this book and took the time to thoughtfully work your way through it.

Enjoy!