Book Review: In Christ Alone

In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson

(2007, Reformation Trust)

I read In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson and loved every page of it. Each chapter is filled with meat. This book is not a book about Christ. It is not a book about the Holy Spirit. It is not a book about soteriology. It is not a book about the Christian life. It is a book about all of these and more. Ferguson takes the reader through the various facets of what it means to live the gospel centered life, as he calls it. The book consists of 50 chapters of around five pages in length. He has broken down the book into six sections entitled: “The Word Became Flesh,” “The Heart of the Matter,” “The Spirit of Christ,” “The Privileges of Grace,” “A Life of Wisdom”, and “Faithful to the End.”

As is usually the case with Ferguson, his theology is spot-on. What makes this book special to me is how he has taken solid theology cut it into small chunks, so that while you are not swallowing much at one time you are still being substantially fed. It is also a well balanced meal. It is nice to pick up a book where you can read a little bit and get so much.

To me, this quote toward the end of the book summarizes what Ferguson intends the reader to get from reading the book.

“The way in which we maintain ‘the expulsive power of a new affection’ is the same way as the way we first discovered it. Only when grace is still amazing – when we return to Christ and the cross where God’s love for us was demonstrated to us (Romans 5:8) – does it retain its power over us. Only as we retain a sense of our own profound sinfulness can retain a sense of the graciousness of God.” (p. 225)

This is a book for every Christian to read who wants to know his Lord better and how to serve his Lord better.