Review - The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul


My review of Sproul's latest work - The Truth of The Cross

Bias disclaimer: Though I received this copy of the book as a gift from Nathaniel, I will be receiving another Reformation Trust book for free in exchange for reviewing this one (as part of their Blog for a Free Book promotion).

There is probably no other author who has had such a profound effect on my theology as R.C. Sproul (to be honest, this may present a more serious bias than getting the book for free). His Essential Truths of the Christian Faith was a formative book for me - my first real introduction to the world of theology. R.C. has a way of taking some of the more difficult theological concepts and explaining them so that anyone can not only understand, but see how exciting and wonderful it is to learn more about the amazing God we serve.

This latest book, as one would expect, is no exception to that. It is a very typical R.C. Sproul book - in a good way - in that its direct, concise, and easy to read. I finished off the entire book in about a week and a half, and that was with highlighting and note taking. The Truth of the Cross examines Christ's death on the cross from several different biblical angles - God's Justice, Christ as our Ransom, Christ as our Substitute, the exchange of Christ's blessedness for our cursedness, etc. In each he explains why the Cross is a necessary part of Christianity, and expounds the glory of the Atonement.

This book seems to be an answer to the ongoing controversy over penal substitutionary atonement. There are many in our age who find the idea that God punished His Son on our behalf repellant. They claim it makes God sound primitive and petty - that He would need to be placated, or that He would unjustly punish someone else in our place. While the Truth of The Cross definitely answers these charges, you need not be aware of the modern debate to enjoy it (I'm only tangentially aware of it, and yet I still enjoyed the book).

It also should be somewhat clear from the subject matter, that people who are more well-versed in theology will find this book mostly a review. That is not to imply that its not worth reading or that you won't find new insights, but if you've studied theology at length and don't know anything about the Cross.... well, "UR doin it wrong" (as the lolcats say). If, however, you or someone you know is new to Christianity or hasn't really studied the Cross in depth, then this would be a perfect introduction.

For me, it was mostly a review, but one very worth the time it took to read. There is truly nothing more important than the Cross, and we can never have studied it too in depth. It's also a great asset to have such a succinct summary of biblical categories for the Cross in my library. I'm sure this book will serve as a nice reminder if I want to review a specific aspect of redemption (to that end, I do wish he had included an appendix or something of Bible verses for future study on each topic).

However, one insight in chapter 7 (The Suffering Servant) really jumped out at me, and I don't think I had thought about it before. R.C. first talks about how we often get things wrong by focusing on the externals - man looks at a person's actions, but God looks at his heart. He notes the many incorrect assessments of the Cross by the people who were there as eyewitnesses - the soldiers view Him as another criminal, the Pharisees and the thief mock Him by saying that He saved others but can't save Himself, the people see Him as being punished by God, even the disciples see this as the crushing defeat of their Lord. Clearly, looking at the Cross from the outside, or from the simple historical details, doesn't lead to understanding its cosmic significance.

But then R.C. takes a close look at Isaiah 53, and specifically v. 4-5: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." (emphasis mine) The interesting thing here is that the crowds that saw Christ as being punished by God actually got it right! He WAS being punished by God, and even for the sake of sin. What they missed was that Christ was not being punished for HIS sin - He was being punished for THEIR sin. This is precisely what Isaiah is teaching in this verse - a remarkable example of how the Old Testament taught the Atonement (including precise specifics) hundreds of years before Christ was even born.

Apart from the content of the book, the printing of the book is high quality which is encouraging since its the first book I've seen from Ligonier's new Reformation Trust imprint. It's a hardcover book, sort of like the old Soli Deo Gloria ones where it has no dust jacket, but the cover is printed with all of the nice artwork and such. I MUCH prefer hardcovers like this, as I always find dust jackets so easily lost/torn/etc and yet these hardcovers look nice (sometimes dust jacket hardcovers are so ugly and plain w/o the dust jacket). It's also a surprisingly small book - a little over 7" tall, which isn't clear from the photos online.

All in all, its a quality book and a good overview of the essentials surrounding the Atonement and the Cross. I recommend it - 4 out of 5 stars.

Posted: Thu - March 27, 2008 at 07:53 AM | | | | | | |

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