The purpose of this book is neither dogmatic nor academic, but is systemic in that it endeavors to provide a reading of Ephesians and a biblical perspective that issue out of the wholeness of the Bible. It labors to hold various themes, lessons, and aspects together in order to display the Bible's sustainable depth and breadth in the light of Christ in the twenty-first century. "Ephesians-Recovering the Vision of a Sustainable Church In Christ is a much-needed diagnosis of what is ailing the Church (universal), an illness brought about by not being self-consciously Christ-centric in our theology or our social engagement. Ross doesn't deliver a commentary (nor does he intent the book to be one); he supplies a corrective in the form of a narrative about the Christian life and our intersection with a world that refuses to understand." -Barry Sheets, Executive Director, Institute for Principled Policy ..".the best work is your coverage of Ephesians 4:11-14. Getting back to what is the real definition and calling of a Pastor is a problem in the American church. I have encountered this over and over as I have traveled from church to church. I find you spot on in your treatment of the text. I also think you capture a great picture in your explanation of the place of each member of the church as an attendant of Jesus." -Rev. Tim Lyzenga

Reading Peter's letters is quite different than reading Paul's. Paul was a scholar trained in biblical academics, which involves focusing in on meaning. It usually means looking at something with a microscope in order to clarify what sometimes appears to be minutia. Peter, who came to Christ as an uneducated fisherman (though he most certainly did not remain so), turns the microscope around, which turns it into a telescope. So, while Paul is often focused on the inner, personal realities of faithfulness, Peter is focused on the grand scheme of Christ's mission in the world. Where Paul was focused on particulars, Peter was focused on the whole. While understanding Paul involves the personal experience of the Holy Spirit through regeneration, understanding Peter builds on regeneration and takes in the whole sweep of human history in the light of Christ. Peter understood history as the Old Testament. He had nor needed any other history book. As such, reading Peter without more than a passing familiarity with the Old Testament will surely lead you astray. Peter brought his ordinary understanding and experience of Jesus Christ to the Old Testament and built upon it. In Paul's writing we find history brought to faithfulness, while in Peter's writings we find faithfulness brought to history. Paul was focused microscopically, while Peter was focused macroscopically. So, while reading Paul clarifies the details, reading Peter magnifies the vastness of Christ's mission to the world. This book reads Peter's first letter with the eyes of modern, post-resurrection faithfulness, as if Peter was writing to us. And inasmuch as he was writing to all the saints, he was. In these page we will see how Peter's vision of the progressive revelation of Christ in history fueled the scientific and technological revolutions that have already created a new world.

Human morality is an essential element of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. What Jesus says about human morality is that it issues from the reality of our simultaneous individual and social character. Humanity was created to be a kind of reflection of God's character, both as individuals and socially or corporately. And this is why Jesus focused on right worship, which issues out of the positional relationship with Jesus Christ held by the born-again, and the moral relationships between and among Christ's people. These are the topics that Jesus addressed in this Sermon. Yet, there is an additional issue or problem presented by the Sermon on the Mount. In order to understand what Jesus was talking about requires, in contemporary parlance, an understanding of both the context and the subtext of Jesus' words. In order to understand what Jesus was talking about, we must share to a convincing degree Jesus' perspective. We must have some understanding of where He was coming from in order to understand what He means by His words. In order to understand Jesus we must stand under Him. We must account ourselves to be His people, both individually and corporately. We must find and establish our identity as individuals in Jesus Christ and as a people in His church. To fail in this regard is to stand outside of Jesus Christ, not under Him. To fail in this regard is to not have access to Jesus' context, subtext and/or perspective, which will preclude people from seeing God's kingdom or even God Himself, as Jesus told Nicodemus (John 3:3, 5). This book unveils perspective and morality that Jesus taught in His sermon on the Mount.

Beecher's perspective and style very much reflect the best aspects of Nineteenth Century America prior to the Civil War. This does not mean that it comes from a time of great peace and tranquility, but rather that it is fraught with the angst that eventually resulted in the Civil War. The fact that this book is thoroughly modern, but not postmodern makes it a very interesting for anyone who truly wants to understand the world we actually live in today. Beecher was not a backwater hick or a Southern sympathizer, but represents the best of American theology and literature of his day. His sister was the famous Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Edward was widely recognized as the best scholar among the Beechers, and the Beecher family produced an amazing array of scholars. Interestingly, his scholarship landed him in conflict with the religious pundits of every stripe in his day. The two conflicting trends in Nineteenth Century America involved the consolidation of Reformation churches, which had become the American Establishment, and the rejection of religious establishment mentality that has been described by many as a continuation of the principle of the Reformation.

Paul continued the same thrust of his criticism and correction in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, apparently because the same problems continued to dog the church. Paul's Second Letter is more personal as he ramped up the tone and clarity of his criticism. At one point he thought that he may have overstepped the bounds of propriety and apologized for his curtness-but not for his correction. Personal attacks against Paul, against him personally and the style and content of his ministry, had continued. So, Paul addressed them with clarity and severity.

This is a dangerous book, dangerous because it deals with perhaps the most serious conflict in history, and I commend it with some trepidation. That conflict began in Genesis and has continued unabated through history. Beecher's book was originally published when America was deeply conflicted over the Great Awakenings and the New School/Old School controversies that set the stage for the American Civil War. Beecher wrote, ..".soon after the opening of the Reformation, the power of that system was so far broken, and consistent and free thought had so much more scope, that the whole system was so modified as better to accord with the fundamental principles of the Pelagian theory of human nature. The same was true in the case of Dr. John Taylor. The doctrine of the Trinity was dropped in each case. Yet, at first, the whole system was not reduced to its natural and consistent level. Socinus still retained the worship of Christ, and persecuted Davides for dissenting from his views. Dr. J. Taylor approximated as near to the Trinity as the Arianism of Dr. S. Clarke would allow. He also did not remove from his doctrine all the language which belonged to the orthodox doctrine of the atonement. It was not until the close of the last and the beginning of the present century that the principles of the Pelagian theory were fully and consistently developed in modern Unitarianism" (p. 272). The world and the Christian churches had turned toward Pelagianism and away from the Trinity, and Beecher sought a solution to this problem. Many people today have come to realize that something very fundamental or basic has gone awry in Christendom and in the world. There are calls for reformation and revival coming from nearly every corner of the church and the world today. Ross calls for Beecher's work to be reevaluated afresh and works to correct Beecher's infatuation with preexistence by sug-gesting a Trinitarian solution to the problem Beecher presented. Edward Beecher (1803-1895), a noted theologian, the son of Lyman Beecher and brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher, was senior editor of The Congregationalist (1849-1855), and an associate editor of the Christian Union from 1870.

This is a contemporary edition of Nevin's book, The Mystical Presence-A Vindication of the Reformed or Calvinistic Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist (J.B. Lippencort & Co., 1846). It's a sort of dynamic equivalence approach to editing in order to make it more available to contemporary people. I have simply tried to take his work and make it my own, in the sense of comprehending its significance and application. In doing so, I have taken broad license to edit, interpret, clarify and expand what I think Nevin is saying. My efforts will surely annoy Nevin purists, academics and intellectuals who are more concerned with form than content. Why have I approached The Mystical Presence in this way? Because I understand what Nevin said. His book, like no other I have ever read, has brought together various strands of my own life and pursuits in such a way that has astonished me. It is like he is already where I have been trying to go. I have been working over the past forty years to get where he was more than a century and a half ago. Nevin was the American voice of the German Reformed tradition. Having studied under Charles Hodge at Princeton, he accepted a position with the German Reformed Church to lead their only seminary. It is wonderfully curious that German immigrants would put an American in such a position, but that's what they did. Nevin then called Philip Schaff, a Swiss born, German educated, Christian historian to join him in this effort. They then made a huge splash in the American Christian scene, after which Schaff went to Union Seminary to support the cause of liberal Christianity. And Nevin slipped into obscurity and an early retirement. It is often thought that Nevin also fed the liberal Christian stream in America, but that's not what happened. Nevin simply held his ground and the world passed him by. But there has of late been a resurgence of interest in Nevin and the Mercersburg Theology. It seems that Nevin is at the center of what is still a little known controversy that has erupted in the conservative Reformed churches (the Presbyterian Church in America, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in America, and a few others). Other Christians and denominations will be completely unaware of these issues. That controversy is known as the Federal Vision.1 The Federal Vision is often confused with the "New Perspective on Paul," another current controversy, but the two issues are not the same and must not be conflated. Exactly what the Federal vision is and its impact on Christianity today is yet to be determined. My concerns here are not for or against the Federal Vision, but for Nevin's contribution to American theology.

Ross raises the standard of the uniqueness of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah in this work. He points out that this uniqueness; the "singularity of Christ," is enwrapped in the mind-boggling concept of the Trinity. Ross helps us struggle with this one-in-three and three-in-one contra human logic concept. Ross tells us, "The word singularity is defined as a trait marking a thing or person as distinct from others; a peculiarity."(pg. 12) Christ is unique in all the world, in all the cosmos. -- Ted Bradshaw

Paul had a problem with the Christians at Corinth. They were a large, successful church. They were growing leaps and bounds. They thought they were doing great. But not Paul. Paul found that they had substituted the wisdom of the world (the philosophy and culture of the Greeks) for the wisdom of Christ (the philosophy and culture of the Bible). This volume contrasts the folly of Greek (and ultimately modern American) worldly wisdom with the gospel of Christ. Stones are turned over and small-minded creatures that thrive in the dark scatter in the light of Christ. Ross brings Paul's struggle to light with clarity and passion that leaves the worldly no where to hide in this panoptic treatment to First Corinthians.

This book is not about love, courting or marriage. It is about establishing a relationship with Jesus Christ and a synopsis of the historic, Protestant Christian position. It is not a expositional Bible study, but is more of a topical study intended to speak to the needs of contemporary people by uncovering various biblical truths and at the same time revealing various contemporary misunderstandings about the Bible and salvation. Here you will find a synopsis of the historic, Protestant Christian position. If it seems unusual it is more likely because this theological position has been all but abandoned by the vast majority of contemporary Christians and their churches over the past 20, 50 or 100 years, depending on where you live and what circles you fellowship in.

This book is from the "street," down in the valley where people actually live. It is not sad or morose, but it is serious--and it's about sin, yours and mine. It is an invitation to think more deeply about things, the things we believe and this troubled world. Time is a funny thing. We all live in it. Most of us are slaves to it, driven by appointments and schedules that must be kept. Asking people to think about time is like asking a fish to think about water-with one important difference. As far as we know, fish can't think at all. Ross asks us to think about time, about how much time we have, how much we need, and about what we do with it. This book is about schedules and appointments-not ours, but God's, divine schedules and divine appointments. God is also on a schedule and has appointments to make, and a timetable to keep. He has appointments with you and with me. He'll eventually meet with everyone because He has some things to go over, some accounts to settle.

The body of law for any modern country, and in particular the United States-the most litigious society in history-is phenomenally large. So, how is it that we live in an age of increasing lawlessness? People don't like to talk about God's law. For the most part contemporary Christians believe that they have arrived at a time in history that is beyond the application of any Old Testament laws, and in many cases, a time that is beyond all biblical law. People have converted the gospel of grace to mean a gospel without law-without obligation or responsibility. The good news that is preached in too many pulpits today is lawlessness, couched in terms of a gospel of positive thinking, of upbeat moralisms intended to make life better. In order to justify the human distaste for biblical law, Christians no longer speak of God's law or the human obligation to it. However, the Bible is not a divided witness. It is a whole, a unity. God's Word. God's testimony is completely true.