The God Who Justifies

Rating:
Summary: Shows the L-RD high and lifted up, exalted!
Review: As I carefully and prayerfully read this book, I could not help but marvel at how far so-called Christendom has strayed from the "faith that was once delivered to the saints."

More qualified reviewers who are better versed in the theology of the doctrine of justification,so I will not repeat what has already been well written. Suffice to say, though,this book is a soul-searing examination of an essential, but neglected doctrine. One can't help but wonder what the church would have been like if we had just held to the Word established by the early reformers. Today, amindst much hype, show-biz, and superstion, Dr. White's book is a breath of fresh air for those who long for Biblical Christianity.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Presentation of the Gospel
Review: For those who want to understand the historic Protestant (and Biblical) understanding of justification this book should be the first place to start. White does an excellent job presenting the Gospel in its purity and wholeness without compromise. The structure of the book is well organized and easy to follow through. The first half of the book (pp. 17-123) deals with important themes related to the concept of justification. This includes topics like man's total depravity, sin, transgression, the meaning of justification, the reason for justification by faith alone, the grounds for our justification, and imputation of righteousness. The second half (pp. 125-374) is an exegetical defense of the historic Protestant understanding of justification. White goes over passages in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, James, 2 Corinthians, and Titus. He makes a convincing and exegetically sound argument for the historic Protestant view of justification by faith alone. Though White gets very technical and detailed in his exegesis of these passages, even a layperson will have no trouble understanding what White is saying. Particularly valuable is his exegesis of James 2:14-26. Roman Catholics and pseudo-Protestants have often used this passage to attack the traditional Protestant understanding of justification by faith alone. However, White does an excellent job explaining what James REALLY meant to say in this passage (e.g., true faith is demonstrated before men by actions). This book is refreshing considering that in recent years the doctrine of justification by faith alone has not only been attacked by Roman Catholics, but also by those who claim to be evangelical Protestants! Yes, pseudo-Protestants are everywhere these days. This book, however, should set the record straight on what the Bible really teaches regarding justification. In fact, after reading this book one will realize that many groups who claim to be evangelical Protestants are actually NOT at all (e.g., Wesleyans, Holiness people, neo-Reformed groups, etc.). White has done the Body of Christ a great service by writing this book. This is an invaluable work that needs to be in every Christian bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: Very articulate, but ultimately unconvincing...
Review: In "The God Who Justifies" James White does an admirable job of trying to rally Evangelicals behind Sola Fide (whether any of them were there in the first place, from the Reformation onward, is another interesting question... but I digress...). In typical Reformed fashion he beats to death the Pauline corpus and virtually ignores the rest of the New Testament. James is tossed on stage, briefly, summarily brutalized, and then hastily tossed away. Possible alternate explanations of Paul are largely left unaddressed. Dozens of references in the Gospels and the rest of the NT to "... and they will be judged according to what they have done" or verses explicitly saying that salvation depends on obedience (ex. Matt 16:27,Rev. 20:12, Jesus' words to the Rich Young Man or the entire Sermon on the Mount) were ignored. The author has loudly in several places complained about various people who don't agree with Sola Fide "not interpreting the context" of various passages, but I can't help but wonder if a group of theologians who so consistently ignore unambiguous passages with frightening regularity are examples of the pot calling the kettle black.

I was also throughly disappointed with White's failure to interact in a meaningful way with some of the most important arguments in Robert Sungenis' book "Not By Faith Alone."

For example, the "explanation" for why no one believed Sola Fide for such a long time also failed to convince me. He virtually admits that no one believed Sola Fide from Paul until Luther in the opening sentence of this explanation, saying: "There are only a few valid contextual citations ... that can be mustered in reference to justification by grace through faith alone in the writings of the early church." Then his first "valid contextual citation" divorces a quote from it's context in Clement's Epistle (in the Epistle he maintained that people were "justified by works, and not words"). It only goes down hill from there and one is left wondering how anyone got to heaven before the 16th century.

His supposed answer to the "Phineas dilemma" (Phineas is the only other person in the OT that was "credited" with righteousness, and it was based on his works, Psalm 106:31) doesn't even address the fact that his "answer" makes Paul yet another one of those people who don't "interpret in the context" (in Paul's case, he would be guitly of selectively quoting the OT to fit one's theology). Morevoer, Dr. White makes a laughable error by saying that Phineas' "crediting of righteousness" was not his initial encouter with God, unlike Abraham in Genesis 15:6 (I guess Genesis 12-14 is not in Dr. White's Bible). This leads to one of three uncomfortable conclusions: either Dr. White made an error that any good Sunday School student could point out (which is unlikely, since he cites Genesis 12 and Hebrews 11:8 elsewhere) or he is being purposefully deceptive (which I hope would not be the case) or something else(?!?).

The one positive thing I enjoyed about the book is that it was better in every concievable way to the Soli Deo Gloria publication "Justification by Faith Alone."

In conclusion, while Mr. White can be very forceful and articulate in many places when arguing for the Reformation principle of Sola Fide, on the whole, I found his analysis unconvincing.

Rating:
Summary: The doctrine that separates evangelical Xtianity from others
Review: James White gives a comprehensive study on the doctrine of justification, the one doctrine that was at the heart of the Reformation. In the first half of the book White covers such issues as justification by faith alone, imputation, and the cross of Christ. He then heads into exegetical studies of the first half of Romans and a variety of other passages, including James 2:14-26.

There were places where the book does bog down; it is not a book to skim. I felt that, at times, White was crystal clear in what he was saying, and then other places where I had to stop and reread to make sure I understood his point, where perhaps a little rewording would have been very helpful. For those laypeople who have no elementary knowledge of Greek, there will be places in the exegetical section (2nd half) where additonal confusion could ensue. NonCalvinists may also want to debate points made by the Reformed White and the men he constantly quotes (i.e. Hodge, Calvin, Murray, etc.), though his position will not surprise those who are familiar with the prolific White.

Overall, though, this is a book well worth reading and then having on the shelf to look up passages that are certain to be brought up by such groups as Catholics and Mormons, both of whom belong to churches that add works as a requirement to the doctrine of justification.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Exegesis, Wonderful Work, Lots of Info
Review: James White's work is definitely the best treatment on this subject I've read in a long time. It is indeed two books in one. The first part is an explanation of the evangelical doctrine and its importance. The second part is thorough exegesis of relevant passages.

James White, in the first part, has hit the nail on the head with this issue. Error on this doctrine is an extension of another doctrine. When we misunderstand the holiness of God (please, please read the Sproul book of the same name), we misunderstand how to get right with God. That's what justification is about. How we get right with God. When we understand God is holy, we understand that He must judge sin. We understand that God He can't overlook our bad deeds. Then we should realize that good deeds won't overcome our past bad deeds, since we already owe God good deeds. I won't keep going on this tangent. Suffice it to say, that this is the key issue to understand which undergirds the rest of the issue.

The second part of the book capitalizes on James White's strength, very complete exegesis. He does not have the space to do this for every passage that pertains to the topic, Acts of the Apostles and the four Gospels have been left out for instance. However, a lot of Romans and James 2 are in there. They are the main passages that pertain to this topic. White clearly shows that justification by faith alone is taught by Paul. He touches on "works of the law." I've seen better James 2 commentaries (Matthew Henry comes to mind), but White does a very good job. The second part is a lot like his treatment of John 1 in "the Forgotten Trinity." He will use a lot of Greek. I do not know coine Greek, but I was able to follow along quite well. He discusses any issues with textual variants along the way. This is a most rewarding treatment of Scriptures!

All in all, it is an excellent resource. Once I got to the second section, I started using it as a Bible study. You would go through a section of Scripture, and then James White would be your commentator.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Kept Me Up
Review: Like Jay Adams, who reviewed this book, stated, "In lost sleep over this book."
Once again, James R White delivers us an incredible examination of theology, this time with treatment towards the doctrine of justification.
From almost the start I found myself exploring and ruminating on what Dr. White was saying. The exploration into the depravity of man ("Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God") and why justification ~must~ be forensic broke me a thousand times over, and preached the Gospel to my heart anew. From beginning to end, we see sound Biblical exegesis, and a heart and passion for the truth from this great man of God.
I have been recommending this book to just about everyone who would listen, and do so here. If you buy no other book this year, get The God Who Justifies.

Rating:
Summary: Preaching to the Choir
Review: Like most of James White's books, if you already start with the notion that reformed theology is true than you will be happy with the book. This book, like his others, starts with the assumption that reformed theology is true and proceeds from there. Great if you already are a believer, not so good if you are searching for truth.

I gave it two stars for its nice format.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Presentation of the Gospel
Review: Maybe I expected to much of this book which is why I was dissapointed. I was expecting a concise exposition on reformed theology in light of scripture but the first seven chapters were more of a diatribe on God's hatred of man.

Chapters 1 and 2 are a sort of pep talk on reformed theology without specifically getting into its details. Chapter 3 starts out with a long quote of Johnathan Edwards describing how much God hates us and Mr White resolutely standing behind the idea of the total depravity of man. The problem however is that Mr White never Biblically establishes this reformed concept of total deptravity. Even under the heading of "Dead in Sin" Mr White doesn't deal with the topic. He does a fine job of stating that mankind is seperated from God but seperated from God and the reformed position of total depravity are two very different positions. You could be Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Anglican and get along just fine with what Mr White states in Chapter 3. Although you can not expect Mr White to deal with the entire Bible in a 394 page book I would have expected the key passages on total depravity and against total depravity to be dealt with but they are not. Chief among the passages that are left out is Hebrews 2:14 which is no where at all to be found in the book. I found that quite disheartening.

Chapters 4 through 7 follow a similar pattern. For example: On page 85 Mr White states that "God is, by nature, the Judge of us all..." to defend his position on imputed righteousness but doesn't deal with the equally factual point that God is, by nature, a Father. This has to be dealt with for the reformed position to make sense but it is skipped over.

Chapter 8 on Luther's Dunghill is the biggest disappointment. Mr White says,"I have found the best way to defend Luther on this issue, aside from biblically demonstrating the nature of justification via the imputation of Christ's righteousness and the non-imputation of sin, is to turn the illustration around." I wish he would have demonstrated it Biblically. He doesn't anywhere in the book. The problem with turning it around is that it is a bad analogy no matter which direction it is looked at. His responce tends to sound as though he can't defend it although he acts as though he can. He certainly doesn't give the reader of the book any ammunition to defend it.

Although there is a very impressive list of Scriptures sited in the Scripture Index (I was impressed at first)the actual use of most of those listed Scriptures is extremely limited. The overwhelming focus is on the book of Romans with a limited interaction with the book of James and Galatians. Certainly this seems at first impressive from a 394 page book but again the foundational issues of reformed theology are assumed as true then the arguement is picked up from there. That doesn't do anyone much good in understanding or defending reformed theology. Interacting with other positions would be even harder.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: While Reformed Christians will undoubtedly be foaming at the mouth over Dr. White's book, it really is a very unbalanced presentation of the scriptural teachings on salvation. I recommend that you buy Robert Sungenis' book "Not by Faith Alone" which takes a much broader (and better) examination of the scriptural passages relating to salvation than Dr. White's book does. As an Orthodox Christian I of course have a number of serious problems with Sungenis' book, nevertheless it is generally very good.