The Naked Gospel
I recently finished Andrew Farley’s book, The Naked Gospel. For those of you that read my blog regularly, you are aware that I rate each book I read and give them a rating from 1 to 5. I considered giving this book a 5.5, or a 5+, or something to show how thoroughly I enjoyed it. But then I didn’t know what would happen if I broke my own blog rules…
This book addresses the “hybrid Christianity” that many Christians live by (a mix of the New Covenant and the Old Covenant). Farley approaches the topic by unpacking Scriptures in ways you likely have not thought about them. One of the strengths of the book is that he writes well, he supports his arguments with strong Biblical contextualization, and he has an ability to create helpful analogies that avoid being cliche yet allow you to see his point in another light. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. You can also click here to read an interview I did with the author that gives a good preview of the book.
Here is a taste of some of its goodness:
“The original sin was not Adam and Eve’s thumbing their noses at the goodness of God. Instead, it was their wanting to author their own system of right and wrong so they could make sure they did right and avoided wrong. Today, we can be deceived by the same offer. We may find ourselves pursuing the knowledge of good instead of listening to our heartfelt yearning for an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.” “Just as a will isn’t in effect without a death, a covenant doesn’t go into effect without a death. Meaning the New Covenant did not begin at Jesus’ birth but at His death.” “Jesus told Nicodemus that each human being’s real need is to be born a second time. He wasn’t urging the Jewish leader to turn over a new leaf, to try harder, or to polish his lifestyle. Instead, he was addressing the heart of the matter, namely, birth. While some regard Christianity as a behavior improvement program dressed up in religious clothing, Jesus revealed that God’s plan was actually an exchange of nature.” “There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do: you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel… There is this kind of dangerous element about the true presentation of the doctrine of salvation. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones”
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