Collect In Christ Alone: Living The Gospel-Centered Life Illustrated By Sinclair B. Ferguson Issued As Textbook

reminder of many of the basic Christian doctrines we need to be grounded in, There are fifty chapters, most of them not more thanpages long, so it was easy to sit down and read a chapter in very little time.
I especially liked the fifth section, "A life of wisdom", Some of his thoughts on contentment, the tongue, and Christian liberty really hit home, Great book. Fifty short chapterspages each in which Ferguson examines a passage of Scripture, and then draws the Christcentered implications from it.
He then makes practical applications from the text, The book is centered on our union with Christ, Suitable for fifty days of personal devotions, Highly recommended. I listened to this audiobook and when I was going through my Goodreads toread list, I realized I had never marked it as read.


This is an author that both the pastors of my church highly respect, I can see he might be a wise author, but I didn't care for this book, It was more a collection of articles and seemed to be more steeped in puritan authors than scripture.
I will try more by this author again, as I don't think that this was the best work.
Excellent Bird's eye View

Great survey of major biblical themes and theology, High!y readable and accessible, These are short easy chapters and could be a daily devotional read, I almost wished the chapters were a little longer and detailed, Would love to see these fleshed out and expanded even more, This was my second reading, This book is good for meditation, Ferguson looks at familiar passages in the Bible and invites you to look at them perhaps in a way different from what you are used to or to take a deeper look into something you feel you know quite well.
I found his words encouraging at times and challenging at others, I highly recommend it. Excellent book that truly lives up to the title, I will probably start using this book in discipleship as well as recommending it for new Christians, "seasoned" Christians, and everyone in between.
Definitely one of the finest books I've ever read on living the Gospel, It's deep,

yet very readable and accessible, Dr. Ferguson is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, I would note that if you are not a Calvinist, you might have some issues with his theological stance, but I would encourage the reader to investigate this closely.
He makes that issue almost a nonissue,

Great reading! Sinclair Ferguson is quite a wordsmith, I love his sermons and sat under him at First Pres in Columbia foryears, I haven't read all his books but quite a few and this is my favorite so far, The chapters are short and yet so full of wisdom, He explains many Reformed beliefs in a very readable and beautiful way, I know a family with high schoolers who used this for family devotions and loved it and the discussions that it launched.
There's not a lot of indepth theology here, you won't come away from this with a deep understanding of any one subject, or a few related ones.
This is a compilation of fifty articles, grouped together by topic, which will enable you to gain a refresher on a spectrum of topics, or an introduction to ideas, concepts and texts that you want to come back to and study in the future.
As such, it's a really strong compilation and one that I'm glad I spent an afternoon with,

Don't get me wrong it's not that I didn't learn anything, or gain a deeper understanding of anything.
But compared, say to his sitelinkThe Holy Spirit or sitelinkPundits Folly:, it's by design not as indepth.
I thought his framing the book of Romans as a series of exchanges e, g. , man exchanging the truth of God for a lie the gospel exchange of righteousness and justification instead of unrighteousness and condemnation was very handy and something I'm trying to internalize.
The chapters that followed it were a series of glimpses at the letter to the Hebrews, and now I want an entire book on that epistle by Ferguson.


In the section on "The Spirit of Christ," he has a chapter called "When the Spirit Comes," which is an examination of John:.
His thesis knocked me off my feet and I will have to set to work on correcting my thinking on these verses.


On the whole the book doesn't feel too much like a collection if unrelated articles, rather than a book he set forth to write and as such it doesn't really suffer from being a compilation though Part IV, "The Privileges of Grace," is the weakest and most scattered.
That said, the chapters from Part IV, "The Life of Faith" on "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
" and "'The Greatest of All Protestant Heresies'" on the doctrine of assurance were very helpful and thoughtprovoking, So even at its weakest, this book rewards the reader,

Part V, "A Life of Wisdom," is really a section on sanctification, But instead of the approach that is usually employed here, Ferguson focuses on the more internal sanctification that needs to happen to result in the external fruit.
All of which could use some extended treatment by this author, Particularly, I found the chapter on discernment rich and one that I need to return to for further meditation.
His extended look at Psalmto show how to cultivate contentment is, naturally, valuable Ferguson's always at his best when discussing the Psalter.


The final chapters center on the idea of spiritual warfare not the flashy, type that characterize so much evangelical writing on the topic.
But the quieter, more difficult, and dare I say more Biblical approach focusing on our sin, our need for mortification, or own worldliness.


There's a lot to be mined here for devotional use, as well as a springboard for future study.


An extended version of this review appears at: sitelink me/pzAHfZ Great collection of essays that caused me to reflect on Christ, What He did and the work He continues in me, I'm finding it difficult to review the last few books I've read, all devotional type Christian nonfiction books.
My main complaint is that many of these lack the depth that I crave from every book I have the opportunity to read.
I realize that not all books can dive deep into theology and serious issues, I just need to find the meaty ones that I can really sink my teeth into,
I thought at first that this book might come close, The early chapters certainly hinted at that, However, the later chapters got increasingly "fluffy" and less focused on Christ, When you choose a title like "In Christ Alone" you have set a high bar for yourself,
I can't positively or negatively recommend or review, . . thus the three this book for the reasons discussed above, This is a devotional book, with chapters ranging fromtopages, Its firmly biblical, doctrinal, and accessible to both new and more mature Christians, Similar in nature to some of John Pipers books, the basic thesis for the book is that Christ Himself is the impetus for daily Christian living.
This book is classic Ferguson, from what I know of him, It's like having a series of eloquent yet tothepoint pastoral conversations with a master of Scriptural exposition, His writing engages both mind and heart so well,

I enjoyed Parts I and II "The Word Became Flesh," on who Christ is, and "The Heart of the Matter," on what Christ does the most.
No particular nitpicks of the later sections, which focus on living the Christian life they were just more hitormiss for me, after highlighting practically every other paragraph in the earlier sections.


This book is made up of fifty short chapters that might be more effectively read as, say, a weekly devotional supplement, which is the way I might approach it if I were starting over again, and the way I'd recommend to a new reader.
Though Ferguson occasionally speaks to evangelical Reformed issues specifically, I don't think that should stop other Christians from taking it upI hope not, because on the person and work of Christ, his writing is hard to beat.
One of the rare books I'd feel comfortable recommending to new and seasoned Christians alike, Although the author and I disagree on the reformed view of grace, that is not the reason for my rating.
In Christ Alone seemed to be written to fill a niche that just isn't there, While overall doctrinally sound and adequately written, it just doesn't say anything that isn't already said elsewhere, It's content doesn't stand out, It pales in comparison to other similar works a series of articles compiled into a single volume, such as "A Godward Life, Volume One" by John Piper.
A Godward Life is a permanent fixture in my library, "In Christ Alone" will gather digital dust in the netherworld of the cloud, To be clear, it isn't "bad, " It's just bland. This book is broken down into small chapters that serve well as a daily devotional, I especially enjoyed this book because its focus is exclusively Jesus Christ, As Christ is pushed on the sidelines in these modern times while the church explores felt needs, life's purpose, mysticism, contemplative prayer, and so on, it is refreshing to be reaquainted with the Object of our faith.
This is an excellent book! Anything By Ferguson is worth one's time reading, Lucid and engaging in his theology Ferguson cuts through the 'Evanjellyfish' theology that plagues much of American Christianity to the doctrinal essentials.
I read it as a type of devotional because I found that I kept pausing to consider what Ferguson said and its implications.
It is not for the theologically narrow, or for those whose religious preference is vague and selfcentered, Put it on your nightstand and experience an enjoyable read, Fergusons latest is a collection ofbrief chapters that explore the person and work of Jesus Christ, Topics range from discipleship to spiritual warfare to the nature of Christ's deity and humanity, Each is handled with a combination of scholarship and brevity, serving as a ladder to let you slowly immerse yourself in deeper waters.
A helpful, muchneeded book that aims to keep our life and teaching centered on the good news of Jesus Christ.
This book offers short devotionals to read through at your own pace, I found the first half of the book good, but the second half excellent, This had nothing to do with the quality of the material or the ability of Mr, Ferguson to write well, but everything to do with where the Holy Spirit was speaking to me through it.
I was challenged, convicted and encouraged in my walk with Christ by reading this book, I can see it becoming a regular read and gleaning different Truths based on what I'm currently facing.
Short, simple chapters with rich, rich content on living in Christ, I was greatly blessed by this series of chapters, The book was good, but not great, Maybe it has to do with expectations, Turns out, the book isshort essays on various theological constructs, a sort of "systematic theology lite", if you will.
Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the book would be more suited to perhaps a daily devotional, with time given to studying all the inserted scripture references.
Ferguson does not go too deep on any particular topic, so it is up to the reader to continue the study with a study Bible and a good set of commentaries.


I thought the first third of the book was particularly strong, especially part I, which focuses on Christ made flesh, and the implications of that mindboggling event.
But the book cooled down for me after that, The book is highly rated on both Goodreads and Amazon, so it is possible that I was simply disappointed in the presentation based on the title and tagline, I was hoping for a deeper and more drawnout thesis on living the gospelcentered life.
So, take my review with a grain of salt,

Ferguson also interjects old hymns into most chapters when the lyrics coincide with the point he is making.
This may or may not appeal to you, as most of them are written in older prose,


This is an excellent book, We used it as a Study book in my adult Sunday School class, It provokes lots of discussion and the author brings so many things to mind that one may not even think of.
It helps of course that the Pastor of our church was the Sunday School teacher and brought many things to light.


Thoroughly enjoyed and will probably use through the years just to refresh things learned, I used this book as a devotional guide and it was great, The chapters are short enough to be used as devotional reading yet meaty enough that I didn't want to read more in one day so that I would have plenty of time to prayerfully consider and digest what I read each day.
I also loved the focus of living "In Christ Alone" and felt the Holy Spirit drawing me close with each chapter.
I plan to use this book as a daily devotional again and again, .