Confident in Christ: Living by Faith Really Works

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Summary: True Grace!
Review: Confident in Christ is a wonderfule exposition of the Gospel, faith, assurance, and a consideration of some tough texts of the New Testament. The first chapter is truly a gem and should be required reading for every Bible and seminary student, and Christian. It slices through the confusion surrounding the Gospel today and clearly proclaims God's free gift of eternal life by belief in Christ. His section on assurance is equally great and the analysis not only helps in understanding what true faith is but should help every one become more confident in Christ. There are some wonderful challenges to Christian living toward the end of the book along with a helpful study guide for small group Bible studies or Sunday School classes. In summary Confident in Christ is a wonderful testimony to God's grace showing that man can bring nothing to God to gain eternal life other than belief in Christ. It honors the principle of Romans 11:6. I highly recommend the book.

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Summary: Wilken's book is a must read for ANY Christian.
Review: Dr. Wilken, founder of the Grace Evangelical Society effectively takes on the challenges of unclear gospels. Using the Word of God as the authority, Wilken shows the weaknesses in many of the arguments presented by some of today's leading theologians. Using many scripture references for each point, Dr. Wilken doesn't fall into the trap many contemporary authors do when they take a single verse and try to make it say what they want it to. There is no doubt that Wilken presents a clear gospel that is in accordance with Scripture. Confident in Christ is set up in an easy format making it both excellent reading, and a very important research tool as well. Any Christian who wants to be challenged with Scripture after Scripture truly must read this book.

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Summary: Some good points but sorely lacking in others...
Review: It's good to know that you can never lose your salvation once you get it. The contention of Mr. Wilkin is that one momentary expression of belief in Christ is all that is necessary for salvation regardless of future works or the lack thereof.

While I do not believe in a maintenance-based salvation model, Wilkin's "acquisition" of salvation is a little shy of evangelical thought in this area.

Wilkin makes no distinction between those who merely assent to the facts of the Gospel and those who take it to heart and believe it because of a heart change. Wilkin just lumps all believing into one pot as it were and concludes that no matter what, if a person just believes the Gospel, they will be saved.

Like all books, this has some truth and some partial truth.

Believing is much more than a head-knowledge faith. There are many people who know Christ lived and even believe that He died but it makes no difference in their lives--which leads me to my next point.

While Jesus said that believing in Him would result in salvation, the scripture also declares that a true believer will bear fruit. If just a mere intellectual belief in Christ were necessary, a lot more people would be saved according to Wilkin--and I disagree with his exposition of what it means to believe. While one can be fully persuaded as Abraham was, one can also willfully refuse to believe no matter how many facts are placed in front of them.

One other area that was misguided was the use of the Parable of the Sower to prove his point that those who believe for a little while are still saved. The focus of the parable was the Word of God and its ability to produce in the believer's life--not necessarily salvation. I don't think that Wilkin himself believes that some receive 30-fold salvation while others get 60- and 100-fold respectively.

He does bring out some good points but in the end, this appears to be a pet doctrine for him and his writing reflects this.

Rating:
Summary: You won't be able to put this book down
Review: One night I went to my mailbox to get my shipment of "Confident In Christ". I made the mistake of thinking I would just read the introduction or part of the first chapter before retiring that night. Well, about 3 hours and several chapters later I looked up to see what time it was. This book is so filled with biblically supported common sense on tough passages that it makes one think "Why didn't I see this before?" Dr. Bob Wilkin (the author), along with others such as the well known Dr. Zane Hodges, is trying to awaken the Christian community out of the dark lordship salvation way of thinking back into the refreshing simplicity of the Biblical Gospel again. Similar to what Martin Luther had to do in his time. Fantastic reading, instruction, and encouragement, whether you're a Bible scholar or a brand new Christian. Vince Deegan - Dallas, TX