God's Grace Shining through Law (Beeke)

Christians throughout the centuries have struggled to understand the relationship between God’s law and His grace. Sadly, many have inadvertently neglected either the law and fallen into antinomianism or they have neglected grace and run amuck into legalism. God’s Grace Shining through Law will help Christians young or old to navigate through these two errors and live in joyful obedience to the Word of God. May this volume be both a warning signal and a welcome sign, challenging each of us to examine our standing before a holy God and encouraging our hearts to rest in the grace of God that is ours in the gospel.

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Table of Contents:

Historical Perspectives on the Grace of Law

1. The Puritans on the Grace of Law – Joel Beeke

2. Augustine of Hippo on Law and Grace – William VanDoodewaard

Experiential Implications of the Grace of Law

3. “Law Death – Gospel Life”: Erskine’s Vision for True Gospel Living – Gerald Bilkes

4. The Convicting Power of the Law – Stephen Myers

5. Freedom of the Law in the Heart – Clarence Simmons

Practical Implications of the Grace of Law

6. The Civil Law: Outdated but Relevant – Michael Barrett

7. Christ in the Law – David Murray

8. Freely and Cheerfully, Part 1 – Michael Riccardi

9. Freely and Cheerfully, Part 2 – Michael Riccardi

10. Law and Mission: A Neglected but Foundational Biblical Pair – Daniel Timmer

Contributors

MICHAEL BARRETT is Vice President for Academic Affairs/Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He is a minister in the Heritage Reformed Congregations. Formerly, Dr. Barrett served as president of Geneva Reformed Seminary. He earned his doctorate in Old Testament Text with a special focus on Semitic languages. Dr. Barrett and his wife Sandra have two sons and five grandchildren. His hobbies include hunting and thinking about hunting.

JOEL R. BEEKE is President and Professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, editor of Puritan Reformed Journal and Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, president of Inheritance Publishers, and vice-president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society. He has written and co-authored one hundred books (most recently, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life; Knowing and Growing in Assurance of Faith; Prepared by Grace, for Grace: The Puritans on God’s Ordinary Way of Leading Sinners to Christ; and Debated Issues in Sovereign Predestination), edited another one hundred books, and contributed 2,500 articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. His PhD is in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology from Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia). He is frequently called upon to lecture at seminaries and to speak at Reformed conferences around the world. 

GERALD M. BILKES is Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He completed a PhD (2002) from Princeton Theological Seminary. He was recipient of the United States Information Agency Fellowship at the Albright Institute (ASOR) in Jerusalem during the 1997–1998 year. He has authored several books and preaches and speaks at churches and conferences worldwide. His areas of special interest include hermeneutics, the history of interpretation, and conversion in the Bible. He and his wife Michelle have five children: Lauren, Seth, Zachary, Audrey, and Joshua. 

DAVID MURRAY (D.Min., Ph.D.) is the pastor of First Christian Reformed Church of Byron Center in Byron Center, Michigan. Formerly, he served as the Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He has pastored three previous churches in the UK and the USA over the past two- and one-half decades. His Ph.D. on Matthew Henry’s apologetics was awarded by the Free University of Amsterdam. He is the author of a number of books, including Christians Get Depressed Too, Jesus on Every Page, Reset, and Exploring the Bible, and he blogs regularly at Head Heart Hand blog and Christian Man Academy. David is married to Shona and they have five children. 

STEPHEN MYERS is Associate Professor of Historical Theology for the PhD program at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi; and the University of Edinburgh. Prior to his appointment at PRTS, Dr. Myers served as the pastor of Pressly Memorial Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Statesville, North Carolina. He also served as a visiting professor of theology at RTS Charlotte and a professor at International Biblical Seminary in Kiev, Ukraine. Dr. Myers is the author of Scottish Federalism and Covenantalism in Transition: The Theology of Ebenezer Erskine, “The Theology of the Marrow Controversy” in Oxford University’s History of Scottish Theology, and (with Dr. Joel Beeke) co-author of Reformed Piety: Experiential and Covenantal. 

MICHAEL RICCARDI serves as the Pastor of Local Outreach Ministries at Grace Community Church, which includes overseeing Fundamentals of the Faith classes, eight foreign language outreach Bible studies, and evangelism in nearby jails, rehab centers, and in the local neighborhood. Mike earned his BA in Italian and his MEd in Foreign Language from Rutgers University, and his MDiv and ThM from The Master’s Seminary, where he is currently pursuing his PhD while teaching as a Faculty Associate in the Theology Department. He also has the privilege of serving alongside Phil Johnson as co-pastor of the GraceLife fellowship group at Grace Church. Mike and his wife, Janna, have two sons and one daughter.

CLARENCE SIMMONS is an elder of Mount Zion Bible Church located in Pensacola, FL. He helps to oversee the ministry of Chapel Library, which sends God-centered literature worldwide. He is married to Candace, and they are the thankful parents of eight children.

WILLIAM VANDOODEWAARD is Professor of Church History at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He has held appointments as Visiting Research Fellow in the School of History and Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast and Visiting Scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. VanDoodewaard has written for numerous journals and magazines and is the author of three books: 1 & 2 Peter: Feed My Sheep (Welwyn Commentary Series), The Quest for the Historical Adam, and The Marrow Controversy and Seceder Tradition. He is an ordained minister who has served as a church planter in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

DANIEL TIMMER is Professor of Biblical Studies for the PhD program at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He is an ordained ruling elder in the Reformed Church of Quebec and serves at the Faculté de théologie évangélique in Montreal. Prior to coming to PRTS, Dr. Timmer taught at Farel Reformed Seminary in Montreal, Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS, and the University of Sudbury in Ontario. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Institute for Biblical Research, and the Society of Biblical Literature, and has published several articles and books exploring various aspects of biblical theology. He and his wife Andreea have two sons.

Endorsements

“Books on the law of God are rare today; even rarer are good books on God’s law that have strong pastoral, biblical, and historical insights. This edited volume is such a book! One might not be immediately drawn to reading a book on God’s law, but this is a book on much more than that. Readers will come away not only with fresh views on the law of God but also on sin, grace, and Christ.” — Mark Jones, senior minister at Faith Vancouver Presbyterian Church (PCA)

“In a time when evil is called good and good slandered as evil, we have great need for the clear light of God’s law to guide us. In God’s Grace Shining through the Law, we hear wise pastoral voices teaching us how God uses the law to clarify, cut, consecrate, and comfort the conscience, for the law is an instrument in the hand of Jesus Christ our Savior.” — Paul Smalley, co-author of Reformed Systematic Theology