The Truth About Grace by John MacArthur

The Truth About Grace is short and yet incredibly dense with scriptural references. The book covers the concept of grace from all angles. While MacArthur has a reputation for being a hard hitting preacher this book is incredibly, well, gracious. The claims he makes are firmly rooted in the Bible and he provides the evidence right in the text. Because of this, the book takes on a more conversational style as the reader joins with the author to search the Bible for truth about grace.


Growing up I viewed God as a rather vindictive character. I had no trouble understanding God's wrath but I really did not get God's grace. I still do not fully comprehend it, but this book has really helped me to locate some key scriptures that have to do with grace. While the book does get repetitive at times, it is ultimately a very helpful tool. 


I began trying to understand grace more after reading the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. One of his essays in that book really challenged my ideas about God and his character. While I am a huge fan of Donald Miller, I have become somewhat disenchanted with the hype that seems to have arisen around the idea of Jesus as "my buddy." (I am not saying that Miller states this, I am simply trying to illustrate how some people have a more relaxed view of God and others have a more strict view). I think that might be why I had such a hard time accepting grace for so long; because it seemed like it was not viewing God with proper sincerity. It almost feels as if one is taking advantage of him and thus it just can't be right. 


Anyway, all that to say, that on the spectrum of viewing God's grace I see books like Blue Like Jazz to be on one side and more conservative individuals like MacArthur to be on the other. If you have that mindset in approaching this book you may be equally surprised with me to see the way in which MacArthur deals with the topic of grace. I think MacArthur does a great job of speaking grace, truth and love in this book that will be beneficial for anyone.


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