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I came away from this book deeply troubled. The doctrine that the church rises and falls on is justification and Comer's first chapter builds an unclear shaky foundation when it comes to how one is saved. While following Jesus is essential for a Christian, one does not become a Christian because they follow Him. According to Jesus Himself one must be born again, and salvation cannot come through one's obedience to God's holy Law because of indwelling sin. We needed Someone without sin who was able to perfectly obey or "follow" God's holy Law and that person is Jesus! For a Christian, following Jesus is the fruit of salvation, not what makes us born again or regenerated.

Here's a simple example of what I mean: I've been married to my wife now for close to 9 years. Let's pretend we were not married but we did all the things married people do. We "followed" the "practices" of marriage. We started living together, we merged our bank accounts, we slept together, we started having kids, etc. Doing those things by themselves wouldn't make us married. What made us married is when we stood before our church family and God did something supernatural in that moment. He declared and made two people become one in a marital covenant. It was AFTER as a result of being married under this covenant union that God brought together, that we followed those "practices" above.

Comer I believe means well but theologically in regard to justification and sanctification puts the cart before the horse, and as a result, makes salvation and the gospel unclear. This lack of clarity leads one to trying to obey or follow Jesus in order to be right with God; not following Him because we are declared right with God by faith in Christ. There is no mention of beautiful doctrines such as the active/passive obedience of Christ, no mention of the doctrine of union in Christ. These are essential in understanding why and how we follow Jesus as Christians. There are also no mention of beautiful creeds or confessions such as the Heidelberg Catechism or Westminster Catechism where the church throughout history has upheld the doctrines of salvation and sanctification in Scripture. Instead we get a lot of quotes from Comer from modern mystics and even Mother Teresa who on her death bed shared with her friend that there are multiple ways to get to heaven and that Jesus was not the only way.

Lack of sound doctrine in salvation and sanctification can only lead to a works-based salvation and works-based sanctification. In this case - my assurance of me being saved or a true follower of Jesus is dependent upon how well or disciplined I am in my "practices" for Christ; not in His obedience or "practices" (to use Comer's language) for me.

The Christian pursues holiness or "practices" holiness because they are already declared holy in Christ. They are sanctified and are being sanctified. They are already and not yet. This means for the Christian, there will be days when we follow Jesus well, and not follow Jesus well. We will obey and not obey and so it would be dangerous for the Christian to look at their personal sanctification as their assurance of salvation. Justification leads to sanctification and Comer seems to flip it in how he goes about wording things which then is sanctification leads to justification.

We've had several friends read this and come to us in tears anxious they were not "doing enough." Once again, if you take to heart what is being said in this book, you will be discipled to find assurance through your own personal obedience to Christ and not in His perfect obedience for you, which only leads to obeying out of fear, anxiety or self-righteousness. Whereas, when one confidently looks to the life of Christ as their standing for holiness and righteousness they obey out of joy, love and worship because they know that even on their worst days, their standing is based on Christ's perfect obedient life, death and resurrection.

Because historic doctrines were non existent in this book, it naturally made Comer's view of Jesus to come off as more of an influencer and not a savior. In my opinion, the whole book was essentially WWJD and do it. While of course we want to become more like Jesus and live as he did, Jesus did not strictly come to be an example as to how to live. If we followed His example apart from his obedient life, death and resurrection, we would still be eternally separated from God and our sanctification would be powerless. Scripture teaches that anything done apart from faith is sin. Therefore, for someone to sincerely follow the practices of Jesus apart from faith would be futile.

Reading this made me feel like this was the same posture the crowds who followed Jesus had after He fed them. They were literally following Him. They even wanted to make him king - none of their intentions were bad per se, but we end up seeing that they wanted to follow Jesus in order to improve their life. They did not see that they needed His life. Jesus told that crowd that the will of the Father was for them to believe in Him; not a list of practices or examples He set to follow. Again, the push-back I'm giving here is when it comes to salvation and how one is right before God. Practices and examples of Jesus are important but they do not save us. "Practices" and trying to be more like Jesus apart from faith in the finished work of Christ and the Holy Spirit indwelling in the believer is futile. The difference is this: Striving to be obedient through the flesh under the Law leads to death because this posture ultimately puts its confidence and assurance in man. While in contrast, one who puts their faith in the finished work of Christ seeks to obey the Law under grace by walking in the Spirit which reveals that this person is ultimately putting their confidence in Christ.

Comer has a lot of good things to say throughout his book, but because of an unclear foundation in regard to justification and how one is right with God (faith alone in Christ alone) and how that truth impacts every facet of sanctification; everything becomes shaky because the foundation must be solid.

All of it sounds so good, but it puts all the focus on man and not on Christ. Christ again is presented almost like He's an influencer to follow and if you follow his principles sincerely and with enough discipline, you're REALLY one of the true Christians out here.

If I am basing my salvation on how well I am following Jesus, I am doomed. I have no hope. Praise be to God that Christ is more faithful and more committed to me than I am to Him. It is because of this and His Holy Spirit that empowers and enables me to follow him, not out of fear that I am not His, but being fully confident that I am His based on the perfect obedient life, death and resurrection that Jesus lived for me.

One final note, I would be curious based on the whole argument and thesis of this book how Comer would interpret figures and passages such as the rich young ruler, Judas, the people Jesus warns about in Matthew 7, the pharisees, the judaizers, certain passages in the sermon on the mount, the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son, the book of Galatians, the guests who reject the king's clothes in the parable of the wedding feast, Cornelius before Peter shares the gospel with him etc.. These are just a few examples of sad stories of individuals in Scripture who sought to be saved or be made right with God by means of following the Law apart from faith in Christ. Judas quite literally followed Jesus and yet we know from Scripture he is eternally separated from God. Therefore, the warning for us that we see in Judas and others in Scripture is this: there is a way in which one can try to sincerely follow Jesus without actually placing their faith in Jesus. Another way of saying it to use Comer's language, one can practice the ways of Jesus all day long and not be born again. It is possible to do so and Scripture is filled with examples of people that fall into that category.

For the Christian, we seek to follow and obey God's Law as a means of worship. But it is important to remember that the Law is powerless in and of itself to transform us. The Law guides the Christian in their living, but the power to obey it comes by being filled with the Holy Spirit (which happens when one is born again) and walking in the Spirit. The Christian seeks to obey God's Law in their living not as means to earn God's favor or to be saved, but because they ARE saved and have God's favor because they are now in Christ by faith. When God sees the Christian, he sees the perfect righteousness of Christ covering them. Therefore, the Christian obeys FROM righteousness, not FOR righteousness.

Again, following Jesus is ESSENTIAL for the Christian. BUT it is a fruit of salvation, not the basis for it. The entire book of James is all about how faith is played out in good works in the life of the believer. But once again, our whole confidence is looking to Christ's life, not our life. Looking to our life to find assurance for our standing with Christ can only lead to two places: self-righteousness or despair.

Yes we examine our lives, but for the Christian we examine in confidence that our standing before God is secure because of Christ and Him keeping the Law perfectly in our place. Again the example of marriage is helpful here. If I am failing to love and serve my wife well, does that mean I am no longer married to her? NO! Yet I examine myself and identify areas where I need to repent and love her better and serve her better out of an assurance that we are one. I love and serve her not to stay married. I love and serve her because we are married. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love then obeys or "practices" without fear. Therefore, when a Christian examines himself as Scripture commands, we examine ourselves not under the Law but under grace. That leads us to ask God to help us to see where sin needs to be confessed so we can grow in deeper intimacy with him and serve and love others well. For the Christian, the Law guides our living and we seek to obey it, but never as a means for obtaining salvation. Yet even when it comes to sanctification, the Law is still powerless to change us. This is why Scripture calls us to walk in the Spirit. While Comer does say some good things in his section on walking in the Spirit, he still does so with a lack of clarity of justification.

Some better reads that I believe are more theologically sound and Christ-centered for what I trust Comer is trying to communicate in this book would be Dane Ortlund's "Gentle and Lowly", Dane Ortlund's "Deeper", Micheal Reeves "Rejoice and Tremble", Michael Reeves "Accidental Pharisees" and Michael Horton's "Christless Christianity."