The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith?

by John F. MacArthur Jr.

Book Overview

What is authentic faith?

The Gospel According to Jesus challenges Christians to re-evaluate their commitment to Christ by examining their fruits. MacArthur asks, "What does it really mean to be saved?" He urges readers to understand that their conversion was more than a mere point in time, that, by definition, it includes a lifetime of obedience.

John MacArthur tackles the error of "easy-believism" by addressing...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310287294
• ISBN13: 9780310287292
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Even for a young reader.

I read this over the summer and I loved it. It gave me a better foundation for my faith. I'm 19, by the way. Even if you're a young Christian, this is very impact full. I sincerely believe that my generation can understand and should have a level of depth, that John brings in his teaching. Anyone, of any age, earnestly desiring to understand God's Word, should read Johns books and listen to his teaching. He isn't the absolute, but he desires to teach God's Word as it is and I believe God has gifted John MacArthur. He offers some of the best teaching I've heard and read. I highly recommend this book.

As The End Times Near

The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith? I don't always care for MacArthur's writings. He seems a bit full of himself. But on this topic he is right on the spot. The church is in the process of replacing the real Jesus with a made-up non-lord of the universe one. Buy this book, read it, and pray for us all

Life Wrought in Love

Tell you family that you love them and ... thats it. Go back to the TV and leave them alone. Right? WRONG! . . Thus faith is just the beginning of a relationship. Faith is not a singularity. It bonds with love and progresses toward yearning and action. It matures into discipleship. . . Thats exactly the point of this inspiring book. No it is not and does not claim to be a gospel as some dumbfounded reviewers have accused. . . Mr. MacArthur's beautifully laid out presentation invites one to allow their acceptance in faith to be the starting point of an eternal relationship. Faith enraptures the believer in righteousness and moves him into a repentant lifestyle. A new life filled with spiritual self-examination. A moving away from selfishness to selflessness. A communion with right and a turning from wrong. Any salvation through faith that does not alter a lifestyle of sin and transform the heart is not the salvation that God's word speaks. Yes faithfully accepting Jesus as your personal Savior is essential in salvation. But that is only the beginning of you soulfilled desire to voluntarily love and emmulate Jesus. Faith does not allow simple lip service and then a return to your darkened selfish world. He that practices life in faith comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Thus these are the challenges this book deeply and carefully presents and discusses. It is extensively footnoted to the New Testament. It expounds the major evangelistic messages of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Excellent book

This book demonstrates that the author has thought carefully about the issues involved. The book is inspiring, deep and gives much food for thought. I have a fresh appreciation and understanding for a number of Jesus's parables after reading this book. Highly recommended for those who like to grapple with meaning behind Christ's teachings and apply it to their life.

The Remedy to Modern Antinomianism

"The Gospel According to Jesus" is a modern-day theological masterpiece. With piercing discernment, Spirit-led exegesis, and Christian love John MacArthur exposes the error of the "cheap grace" theology that plagues the church today. His analysis of Christ's words is the much-needed cure for the common misinterpretations of Paul which have led to antinomian teaching. This book is a response to those who "distort [Paul's letters], as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction" (1 Peter 3:16). The passion and understanding of this book far outmatch any other modern theological work you will come across. MacArthur adheres to the plain sense of the scripture and refuses to allow the words of Christ, apostle and prophet to be trampled underfoot by the anti-lordship teachers. His gentleness and kindness in dealing with those he argues against is admirable (Paul, Luther or Calvin would have verbally torn them apart). This book has been used by God to awaken many to the truth of Christ's undivided person--that He is both Savior and Lord. I pray He will use it even more in the years to come.

A Vital Work, especially for the megachurch movement

In my opinion, John MacArthur has hit a homerun with this book. If it were up to me, this book would be required reading for every pastor in America, but particularly pastors of megachurches, since an increasing number of megachurches are slipping into the easy believism that MacArthur successfully refutes here.In a nutshell, MacArthur attempts to take on the concept that people can make allegedly sincere professions of faith in Christ and then be considered a Christian with certain eternal security even if their life bears no good fruit after their supposed conversion. This is an important question, both from a theological standpoint as well as from a Christian living perspective. An increasing number of churches, particularly a number of megachurches, have appeared to shy away from topics that remind people of the reality of sin, the need for repentance and forgiveness, and the important desire of being obedient to God and His Word because such sentiments are increasingly unpopular within the realm of comfortable Christianity. MacArthur argues that good works are not a precondition of salvation, thus affirming the historic Protestant position of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ and relying on His grace. But having affirmed this position, MacArthur then goes into fabulous Biblical detail concerning the FRUITS by which genuine salvation can be measured. Critics of MacArthur's book have argued that MacArthur is preaching a works based salvation, but I think it's clear that MacArthur is not doing that. What he is saying is exactly what the Bible says, and what the historic Christian church has long affirmed - that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ, and that genuine faith in Christ will produce good works via the influence of the Holy Spirit that is indicative of genuine salvation and the genuinely changed life that the Bible repeatedly speaks of for people who are truly converted. If critics want to call this a works based salvation, I believe this to be a serious oversight of the clear distinctions MacArthur makes between salvation by faith, versus the logical and Biblically outlined fruits of genuine salvation. MacArthur further demonstrates that those who affirm easy believism and decry this as a works based salvation stand on extremely problematic ground relative to their own position on salvation. MacArthur points out that it is highly dubious to offer an easy believism salvation that basically states that as long as we make some kind of supposedly sincere affirmation of Jesus, we can then claim we are saved while continuing to live an unsaved life and not worry about whether our salvation is certain or not. This is an extraordinarily cheap form of salvation as a matter of Christian living. And I also believe it is catastrophic as a matter of theology. If all are agreed that the Holy Spirit enters a person's life upon faith in Christ, and all are agreed that the Holy Spirit is fully divine, how do the proponents