Author CHRISTOF GESTRICH
Publisher Wm. B. Eerdmans
ISBN 0-8028-4164-3
It was the title of this book that caught my eye. Its contents are quite a challenge to read. First published in Germany in the 1980’s in the German language it was written by the then professor of Systematic Theology at Humboldt University in Berlin. In the nineties it was translated into English by Donald Bloesch and is still in print. “The Christian Doctrine of Sin and Forgiveness” is the subtitle of this substantial treatise and, as you would expect it is heavily theological, more so than doctrinal, and certainly not a devotional. I suppose we could say it is a complex exposition of two verses from the book of Romans. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”(Romans 3:23), and, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by Whom we have access into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1&2).
The connection between sin, what it really is and the loss of glory, of splendor is something not considered very much, the degradation sin brings in every area of the creation, the renewing power of God’s substitutionary work in Christ and the bringing of all things to the glory for which they were always intended is the meat of the book. Developments of thought through the centuries, as to the nature of sin and guilt, what does the Bible say about it. What is the real work of the ‘keys’ given to Peter and the church, the binding and loosing to which Jesus refers, these issues linked with the nature of substitution and how much the church is to live in a substitutionary way towards everyone are some of the issues examined (sometimes in considerable detail that taxes the mind to grasp what is being said). The book moves towards a climax concerning the church renewed in the state of living in the forgiveness of God and ministering to others from that blessed state of returned glory.
So, a challenging read to say the least, and, since its first publication a number of other books have been written on the heart of the gospel of Christ but this one is worthy of a thoughtful read by those able to handle its somewhat complex and exhaustive approach.
