The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters

by Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2016

Overview

Since the days of the early church, Christians have wrestled with the relationship between law and gospel. If, as the apostle Paul says, salvation is by grace and the law cannot save, what relevance does the law have for Christians today? By revisiting the Marrow Controversy—a famous but largely forgotten eighteenth-century debate related to the proper relationship between God’s grace and our works—Sinclair B. Ferguson sheds light on this central issue and why it still matters today. In doing so, he explains how our understanding of the relationship between law and gospel determines our approach to evangelism, our pursuit of sanctification, and even our understanding of God himself. Ferguson shows us that the antidote to the poison of legalism on the one hand and antinomianism on the other is one and the same: the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ, in whom we are simultaneously justified by faith, freed for good works, and assured of salvation.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Legalism is simply separating the law of God from the person of God. Eve sees God’s law, but she has lost sight of the true God himself. Thus, abstracting his law from his loving and generous person, she was deceived into ‘hearing’ law only as negative deprivation and not as the wisdom of a heavenly Father.” (Page 83)

“Thus the essence of legalism is rooted not merely in our view of law as such but in a distorted view of God as the giver of his law.” (Page 83)

“antinomianism and legalism are not so much antithetical to each other as they are both antithetical to grace.” (Page 156)

“Boston is stressing that Christ is to be offered to all men everywhere without exception or qualification.” (Page 39)

“almost imperceptibly, Christ himself ceases to be central and becomes a means to an end” (Page 49)

Product Details

• Title: The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters
• Author: Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson
• Publisher: Crossway
• Print Publication Date: 2016
• Logos Release Date: 2018
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Law and gospel › History of doctrines; Law (Theology); Grace (Theology); Fisher, Edward, active 1627-1655. Marrow of modern divinity; Antinomianism; Assurance (Theology); Church of Scotland › Doctrines--History; Reformed Church › Scotland--Doctrines--History
• ISBNs: 9781433548000, 9781433548031, 9781433548017, 9781433548024, 1433548003, 1433548038, 1433548011, 143354802X
• Resource ID: LLS:WHLCHRSTSTMTTRS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T03:45:24Z

About Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson

Sinclair Ferguson (born 1948) is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen and was a minister in the Church of Scotland from 1971 to 2005, when he transferred to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He has served as an editor with the Banner of Truth Trust and worked as a minister at St George’s-Tron Church, Glasgow.