Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel

“I will reread, assign to my students, and give away Fred Zaspel’s book Warfield on the Christian Life, not because it is an excellent commentary on Warfieldthough it isand not because it is highly readablethough it isbut primarily because I am a better Christian for having read it. I was mentally and spiritually invigorated, and you will be as well.”

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“Scripture and history show that spirituality rests wholly on a foundation of revealed truth, cordially received and loved. The best theologians have always been the most profound, trustworthy promoters of vital piety and transformation of life. We look to Augustine, Anselm, Calvin, Bunyan, Edwards, and a host of Puritan pastor-theologians as determinative of the truth of this observation. Now we must include B. B. Warfield in that imposing list of those who make clear the path, not only to live by the Spirit, but to walk by the Spirit. Fred Zaspel has condensed the marvelous insight contained in The Theology of B. B. Warfield and served it up as foundational to a robust practice of piety analyzed in this present work. Zaspel has laid out both the doctrinal and exegetical expertise of Warfield in showing how seriously he pursued true worship as the summum bonum of life. From divine revelation to the imitation of the Christ and the consummation of Christian hope, the Christian finds substantive truth on his side and is assured by that truth that God himself is near, to protect, direct, and finally perfect all the sheep for whom Christ died.”

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“For Warfield the Christian life is but the outworking of the gospel.’ Thank you, Fred Zaspel for bringing back to us the rich, contagious life and work of Benjamin Warfield. It satisfies the thirst this generation has for an authentic Christianity that flows from the deep well of a strong and informed theology.”

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“As Fred Zaspel shows, the Princetoniansand Warfield in particularwere very far from arid scholastics. The Princeton theology was wedded to a Princeton piety that was warm, spiritual, and gospel centered. Warfield’s spirituality in particular grew from a profound encounter with Christ that was both personal and theological. Thank you, Dr. Zaspel, for showing us Warfield the christologian and man of God.”

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“B. B. Warfield is among the greatest theologians America has ever produced, and Fred Zaspel is among his greatest living interpreters. Comprehensive, insightful, and remarkably compelling, Zaspel’s Warfield on the Christian Life is a masterful presentation of an understanding of the Christian life that values Christian experience and at the same time is deeply and thoroughly theological.’ While Zaspel’s Warfield is a theological giant who enjoys the well-earned reputation as a theological army of one,’ he is also a theologian of the heart’ who recognizes that believers live unto Christ . . . not out of a vacuum but out of a mind and heart captivated and inflamed by an understanding of God’s . . . saving activity in Christ.’ This book is an important sequel to Zaspel’s systematic summary of Warfield’s theology, for it explains how Warfield could insist that truth fuels Christian living from beginning to end’ without falling prey to a kind of Enlightenment rationalism. Enthusiastically recommended.”

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“Following the publication of Warfield on the Christian Life, it will be impossible to continue to claim that Princeton theology was all head but no heart,’ or that Warfield himself was little more than an Enlightenment rationalist.”

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“B. B. Warfield was one of the great thinkers in the history of the church, and his writings are a gold mine of biblical truth. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of his writings makes them largely inaccessible to today’s busy reader. But now, Fred Zaspel has done us a great service by distillinginto one volumethe essence of Warfield’s writings on the Christian life. This book should prove to be a valuable asset to all Christians serious about growing in Christ.”

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“We are already indebted to Fred Zaspel for his work The Theology of B. B. Warfielda book that has introduced a new generation to the voluminous writings of a Princeton scholar who was both New Testament interpreter and systematic theologian. Warfield’s style feels a tad impenetrable to many contemporary readers, but through Zaspel, Warfield, though dead, still speaks. But can any devotional and practical guidance come out of old Princeton? Zaspel’s latest contribution, Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel, does not simply answer with a resounding affirmative, but again faithfully unpacks Warfield and shows him to be a theologian of head and heart. Above all, Warfield is an integrated thinker, so he is ideally equipped to show how that which is central to the Bible, the gospel of God, rightly shapes the Christian’s entire life. And Zaspel makes this accessible.”

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