Grace by R.T. Kendall is an excellent book which helps us understand how God’s grace and God’s law work together. The book begins with looking at Jesus’ stunning claim that he had not come to abolish the Law but fulfil it. This is a surprising claim when we consider that Jesus was a person of grace who showed grace even to the least deserving.
Kendall goes on to write about the role of the Law and God’s purposes in giving it to his people. He then moves onto discussing the Ten Commandments (I’ll write a post with chapter summaries next week). Sometimes, his writing has the tone of a preacher and there is some repetition of thought, but this didn’t distract from the book’s effectiveness.
Kendall was brought up a strict legalistic Christian environment and came to a deep understanding of grace when he was nineteen. However, now and then, snippets of his past legalistic thinking seem to slip into the text. Nevertheless, I found the book very helpful in understanding how law and grace fit together. This quote sums up Kendall’s position: “If we walk in the Spirit, we will fulfil the Law ‘accidentally,’ even if we have never heard of the Ten Commandments.”
Overall a helpful and insightful read.
Book Review : Grace
