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I’m just starting and I hear where your critique is coming from. I’ve had similar musings, along with some really challenging introspection, as I’ve gone through the first 30 pages or so. Just curious why you stopped so quickly? Don’t you think it would actually be more fair to him to give the book a full reading before you draw conclusions about his teaching? I plan to finish the book myself.

It would be more fair which is why I was upfront to say I wasn’t finishing. I have so many books on my want to read list to currently I wasn’t wanting to spend the time. Glad you are finishing it!

Don't review a book you only read a part of.

I would not finish reading it either and reviewing a book and giving a reason for not finishing it is ok. It gives a person a heads up. Thank you.

I disagree with this view after reading over half of the book so far. I think that comes from reading beyond just one chapter. It's easy not to get the full picture or context in the first few pages.

Totally fine if you didn't enjoy the book or even if you don't want to finish it. I personally just disagree with your conclusion (for anyone who may be swayed not to read it based upon this review).

But hey, everyone has a right to read (or not read) and choose for themselves :) I understand your wanting to warn others based upon your conclusion. I just wanted to say I disagree with that conclusion and feel others may want to read and decide for themselves.

Rayna as someone who read the whole book. I'm with you. While Comer says some good things in the book, his view on justification is very unclear and I was greatly troubled by how he interpreted certain passages. In fact he never explicitly unpacks the doctrine of justification. He talks about salvation but the way he chooses to word his critique of those that are truly saved and several other bold statements he makes; he ends up making his views on salvation and justification unclear.

An example of how Comer does this is when he chooses to word and write statements like: "we are often told, It's not about what you do; it's about what Jesus has done for you." But that's a false dichotomy, and that language is never used by any of the New Testament writers." (pg. 40)

Statements like this are deeply troubling. His comment or statement is like when a middle schooler once walked up and said to me "the Bible says nothing about vaping or smoking pot." Statements like these are immature and deeply misinformed. You won't find words like "abortion" or "pornography" literally written in the Bible, but as Christians, we know that Bible has tons of passages that explicitly address those things.

Just because the literal phrase " It's not about what you do; it's about what Jesus has done for you" is not literally spelled out exactly word for word that way doesn't mean the Bible doesn't say that. There's so many passages that reveal the truth of that gospel statement without using that exact wording. Just to name one of hundreds examples of passages just look at Ephesians chapter one and then ask yourself "what part did I play in this?" I'll go ahead spoil the answer: its' NOTHING! Christ has done what we could not do.

Now to assume the best, I believe and trust that Comer really does believe that Jesus has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves based on some messages I've heard him preach. So for the sake of making a critique, let's say he really does believe that. Him choosing then to word or phrase statements like the example above is unhelpful. Choosing to word statements like that make what he believes about salvation and the gospel unclear and confuses the reader. The statement/wording above is just one example of many other statements/word choices he makes throughout the book in regard to foundational doctrines.

The church rises and falls on the doctrine of justification and when it is not clear, it will always put the cart before the horse. It will always lead to a works-based justification/sanctification view and places the focus on self (law-keeping through the flesh under the law) and not on Christ (who fulfilled the law which leads to Christians obeying the law by and through the power of the Holy Spirit, not being under the law but now under grace as a means of worshiping God and loving neighbor). In the case of this book I came away with the message (to paraphrase in my own words): Look to the quality and sincerity of your "practices" (you keeping the law and following the examples of Jesus) in sanctification for assurance in justification. Rather than, look to your justification and Christ fulfilling the Law in your place as your continual confidence and means through the Holy Spirit in growing in sanctification.

No where does Comer mention or unpack doctrines such as the active & passive obedience of Christ or the doctrine of union in Christ. Doctrines like these are essential when it comes to one's understanding obedience and pursing holiness in a right posture. Jesus didn't just die in our place, he obeyed in our place.

If a person does not know or believe that, they will obey as a means of earning salvation or proving themselves, which also causes one to obey out of fear, anxiety, shame or self-righteousness. They will not obey as a means of joy, peace and true worship because even though they may be obeying "for Christ" they are ultimately placing their confidence and assurance in themselves and not in Christ. This produces the very types of people Jesus warned against in Matthew 7 that come to Him boasting in the lives they lived for him as the basis of their salvation. Jesus turns these people away saying he does not know them. When the gospel becomes inverted as it does in this book, Jesus strictly becomes an example to follow and not a Savior to believe in. For the Christian, we obey or "practice" the ways of Jesus from being justified in Christ, we don't obey or "practice" the ways of Jesus in order to be justified in Christ.

That said, I'm with you Rayna in regard to your initial post. After reading this book, I'd be curious how Comer interprets a book like Galatians where judaizers who seemed sincere in "following" God were coming to the Galatian church and essentially were saying to its members that yes, Jesus died for them, but they needed the "practice" of circumcision (which they were looking to their interpretation/hermeneutic of Scripture as their reasoning for their belief, but their interpretation completely missed Christ and him fulfilling the Law altogether which led them to look to the Law or their "practices" as a means of obtaining right standing and closeness God) to be true followers of Jesus. We see that Paul strongly rebukes this teaching and holds back no punches when he even asks the Galatian members "who has BEWITCHED you?" (Galatians 3:1)

Anything that seeks to add to the finished work of Christ as a means of justification is no gospel at all and will lead to faulty motives and faulty "practices" in everyday living no matter how sincere or holy the actions may be.

In my personal opinion, some books that I believe that address the same issues that Comer attempts to address in this book, but are more theologically sound in their approach are Dane Ortlund's "Gentle and Lowly" & "Deeper", Sinclair Ferguson's "The Whole Christ", Michael Reeves "Rejoice and Tremble" & "Accidental Pharisees", Michael Horton's "Christless Christianity" and Trevin Wax's "Counterfeit Gospels."

These books in my opinion do much better at unpacking how and why a Christian "practices" the ways of Jesus in a way that is more theologically whole, Christ-centered and crystal clear on the doctrines on Christ, justification and sanctification.

Thank you, Rayna. I've made similar observations of Comer in another book. For those who don't like this review, it's more useful than this herd praising all the authors they ever read. When it comes to "Christian" authors, everyone should beware: if they aren't preaching The Word, it's the author's own gospel, and therefore NOT Christian.

Definitely don't rate a book you only ready a chapter of lol 😂

Faith without works is dead.

Too many Christians want to be saved, but not transformed. When you're transformed- you become a disciple of Jesus and your role is to expand the kingdom by creating more disciples.

Yes, that's work. But that's work out of love, not work for salvation. There's a difference

@Tiffany couldn’t have said it better! So many people taking what he’s saying out of context here.