The Divine Purchase

by Douglas Vickers

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2015

Overview

The contemporary church exhibits an elasticity and diversity of doctrine that at times sits oddly with biblical foundations. The presuppositions that God is and that God has spoken too often give place to the assumed priority of the explanatory competence of human reason.

In that, the theology of the church is captive to the thought forms of an Enlightenment rationalism on one hand, or the looseness of postmodernist assumptions of individual autonomy on the other. In those respects, theological argument proceeds from man to God, and not—as in its biblically revealed contours—from God to man.

The Divine Purchase calls the church back to a clear commitment to the gospel of redemption. The kernel of the gospel resides in the apostolic statement that Christ “purchased the church with his own blood.” That divinely ordained accomplishment projects the only remedy for the human condition in the present decaying culture and its intellectual uncertainty and confusion.

Key Features

• Examines the covenantal nature of redemption
• Explores the nature and signifigance of the atonement
• Discusses the importance of God’s communication through Scripture

Contents

• The Human Condition
• In the World
• Covenantal Structure
• The Divine Personhood of Christ
• The Divine Purchase
• Partakers of Redemption |
• The Cosmic Significance of Christ
• The Christian’s Benefit in Christ
• Adoption
• The Imperative of Faith
• The Knowledge of God
• The Necessity and Canonicity of Scripture

Praise for the Print Edition

It is Vickers’ knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, enriched by his familiarity with historical and systematic theology, through which he has produced this condensed but content-rich exposition of a most wonderful subject.... [Y]ou have in your hands a primer of a Christian world view, which is a logical, cohesive, systematic, and thoroughly biblical unfolding revelation of God’s work in history.... This book warrants wide distribution.

—Lars Larson, Chairman, New England Reformed Fellowship, Leominster, MA

‘Who is man or what is his significance?’ and ‘What is the “chief end” of man?’ are two questions that form the premise for the study undertaken in The Divine Purchase. Man’s significance and ‘end’ can be rightly comprehended only in the full light of God’s plan of redemption. Cogent and Christ-exalting argument, logical exegesis, and theological precision—this is the promise of this volume. Dr. Vickers walks the restless reader, searching for significance and purpose, along ‘the old paths, where is the good way,’ and it is in the significance of the Savior, the believer’s union with Him and fellowship with the Father, where we will here ‘find rest for our souls.’

—Stephen M. LaValley, Organizing Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church, Longmeadow, MA

Product Details

• Title: The Divine Purchase
• Author: Douglas Vickers
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2015
• Pages: 154
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Topic: Soteriology

About Douglas Vickers

Douglas Vickers (PhD, University of London) is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts. Among his recent titles in theology are Discovering the Christian Mind, The Cross, Being and Belief, and The Christian’s Highest Good.