Grace in the Church

The teachings of Scripture respecting the grace of God stress the fact that God distributes His blessings to men in a free and sovereign manner, and not in consideration of any inherent merit of men; that men owe all the blessings of life to a beneficent, forbearing, and long suffering God; and especially that all the blessings of the work of salvation are freely given of God, and are in no way determined by supposed merits of men. This is clearly expressed by Paul... Eph2:8,9... He strongly emphasizes the fact that salvation is not by works, Rom. 3:20-28; 4:16; Gal2:16


Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pg. 428

The edition of this text that we all had when I was in seminary had a nice blue dust jacket. This quote on grace is surprisingly engaging for Berkhof. The text is 782 pages. We called it the big blue sleeping pill. Theology can be very lively and is very important to search out and find clarity, but systematic theology can be a bit dry. So, if you ever have a bout of insomnia, I've got an extra copy. What more could you ask for in a book- rest for you soul (via theological, Christ centered growth) and rest for you body (via systematic theology induced sleep). It's a winner!