COUNTED RIGHTEOUS IN CHRIST
By John Piper
IVP. 141 pages. £6.99
ISBN 0 85111 991 3
John Piper looks at one of the central truths of Christianity - which makes this book relevant to every Christian's personal faith and experience. His subject is how God accepts us, the great biblical and Reformation truth of justification.
He took up this topic for several reasons. His preface gives the first: he accepts Martin Luther's estimate of justification as 'the chief article of Christian doctrine . . . If we know this article, we are in the clearest light; if we do not know it, we dwell in the deepest darkness' (p.13). Chapter 1 gives a second reason: pastoral concern for those who are not clear about it and whose Christian lives (including family life and evangelistic witness) will thus be impoverished. 'The full glory of Christ is at stake, as well as pastoral ministry to trembling sinners and imperfect saints' (p.51).
