STILL SOVEREIGN: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON ELECTION, FOREKNOWLEDGE, AND GRACE, edited by Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance

by Mark Baker

 

About the Editors

Thomas R. Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of many books including Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology, and the Romans commentary in the Baker Exegetical commentary series. Bruce A. Ware is the T. Rupert and Lucille Coleman Professor of Christian Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the author of many books, including two books on the issue of open theism and God’s sovereignty: God’s Lesser Glory and God’s Greater Glory.

 

Overview

This present work is an updated and condensed version of a previously published two-volume work, The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will. Its primary conversation partner is Clark Pinnock, who wrote or edited two key works from the other side of the theological spectrum: Grace Unlimited and The Grace of God, the Will of Man. Still Sovereign is divided into three parts: biblical analysis, theological issues, and pastoral reflections. The overall argument of the book is that the doctrines of grace are more exegetically sound, theologically accurate, and pastorally helpful than Arminian theology. Though all the contributors desire to engage Arminians with charity, they are also convinced that it is a worthwhile task to present a winsome case for God’s sovereignty seen through the lens of the doctrines of grace.

 

Table of Contents

 

PART 1: BIBLICAL ANALYSIS

1 The Sovereignty of God: Case Studies in the Old Testament (Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr.)
2 Divine Election in the Gospel of John (Robert W. Yarbrough)
3 Divine Election in the Pauline Literature (Donald J. Westblade)
4 Does Romans 9 Teach Individual Election unto Salvation? (Thomas R. Schreiner)|
5 Are There Two Wills in God? (John Piper)
6 Perseverance of the Saints: A Case Study from the Warning Passages in Hebrews (Wayne Grudem)
7 The Meaning of Foreknowledge (S. M. Baugh)

 

PART 2: THEOLOGICAL ISSUES

8 Effectual Calling and Grace (Bruce A. Ware)
9 Does Scripture Teach Prevenient Grace in the Wesleyan Sense? (Thomas A. Schreiner)|
10 Reflections on Assurance (D. A. Carson)
11 The Love of God: Universal and Particular (J. I. Packer)

 

PART 3: PASTORAL REFLECTIONS

12 Does Divine Sovereignty Make a Difference in Every Day Life? (Jerry Bridges)
13 Prayer and Evangelism under God’s Sovereignty (C. Samuel Storms)
14 Preaching and the Sovereignty of God (Edmund P. Clowney)

 

Summary

 

PART 1: BIBLICAL ANALYSIS

 

Chapter 1: The Sovereignty of God: Case Studies in the Old Testament
Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr.

This chapter affirms that the Old Testament teaches the sovereign freedom of God in his dealings with man. More specifically, the Old Testament celebrates that God’s sovereignty changes the life of the individual (not just corporate entities), it is salvific (not just historical), and it is effectual (not contingent on a free response). Take the book of Jonah, for example. “The book is a case study in sovereign grace triumphing over human defiance” (40). Though Jonah runs from God, “God has more ways of confronting Jonah than Jonah has ways of eluding God” (41). Jonah’s disobedience does not frustrate the fulfillment of the decrees of God. God’s sovereignty is not contingent on the free agency of man; rather, God’s grace sets people free to choose him according to their new will. Other important texts such as Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 1 add to this argument, providing paradigmatic examples of how God’s sovereignty relates to the individual’s salvation. . . .

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