Book Review: Contending for Our All

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Two weeks ago I read John Piper’s Contending for Our All . It was an historical outlook on the lives of three defenders of the faith and the challenges they faced. I study History and I thought Piper did an extraordinary job presenting his argument which was more or less academically seasoned with salt.

Athanasius was the bishop who was against the whole world. He lived in a time when the heresy of Arianism that taught that Christ was a lesser god that the Father much like present day Jehovah’s Witnesses. While everyone in his time seemed to be flocking towards the camp of Arianism, he defended the truth of that Christ was indeed God-incarnate of the same essence and substance as the Father. As a result, we have today the Nicene Creed.

John Owen was a Puritan preacher in England contending for the truth of holiness and God’s sovereignty against the resurgence of “free-willism” as a result of the Remonstrance. He was heavily involved in the political life although his personal life was continually ravaged by the consecutive deaths of his children.

John Gresham Machen was the founder of Westminster Seminary. He battled against the heresies of Liberalism in the 20th Century. There were those who denied the Virgin birth, the Resurrection and the miracles of the Bible.

Today, there are many in the church that would sacrifice doctrinal truth for the sake of unity. There are those who do not want to offend. But the lives of these three Contenders teach us that truth is such a precious jewel that we cannot simply kill it in the streets for the sake of unity. Here’s a few quotes from the book.

When you believe that soul-saving truth (our all) is at stake in a controversy, running away is not only cowardly but cruel. These men never ran. pg 20

For Owen, virtually every confrontation with error was for the sake of the contemplation of Christ...He held the view that such contemplation and communion were only possible by means of true views of Christ. Truth about Christ was necessary for communion with Christ. pg 21

Bibliography:
Piper, John. Contending for Our All. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006.