11 September 2015 A.D. Dr. Carl Trueman on Prof. John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied
11 September 2015 A.D. Dr.
Carl Trueman on Prof. John Murray’s Redemption
Accomplished and Applied
Trueman, Carl. “CARL TRUEMAN INTRODUCES `MINIATURE
MASTERPIECE OF THEOLOGY.’” Gospel
Coaltion. 10 Sept 2015. http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2015/09/10/carl-trueman-introduces-a-miniature-masterpiece-of-theology/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+between2worlds+%28Between+Two+Worlds%29.
Accessed 11 Sept 2015.
Carl Trueman’s foreword to
a reprint of John Murray’s concise classic, Redemption Accomplished and Applied.
Because of this, I was
always hunting for good, basic books on Christian doctrine. A kind local pastor
gave me a copy of J. I. Packer’s God’s Words and that helped introduce
me to the basic elements of evangelical theology.
Then someone recommended I
obtain a copy of John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied. I
had never heard of Murray and neither had the manager of the local Christian
bookshop, but he dutifully ordered me a copy. When it arrived, I confess to a
little disappointment. Frankly, I had expected a weightier tome, not a
relatively brief paperback. Yet my disappointment did not survive even my
reading of the very first chapter.
What Murray did, and what
I had never really seen before, was demonstrate how my salvation connected to
the work of God in both eternity, as he planned salvation, and time, as he
executed it in the person and work of his Son and applied it to individuals
through the work of his Holy Spirit. Thus, Murray’s little book did three
things of major importance: it showed how eternity and time relate to each
other in salvation, how that salvation is a Trinitarian matter, rooted in the
very identity of God as Trinity, and how this makes sense of the whole Bible.
Of course, Murray was not
really doing anything exceptional. What he did was build upon a rich tradition
of thinking in the Reformed churches, which placed each of these three points
in the foundation of their testimony. As a minister in my own denomination, the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and as a key faculty member in the early days of
Westminster Theological Seminary, Murray loved the Westminster Standards and
the theology which they teach. What he sought to do was to explicate that
theology, particularly as it relates to salvation.
More specifically, Murray
was seeking to articulate the order of salvation (Latin: ordo salutis)
in a manner that also connected it to the history of salvation (Latin: historia
salutis). We might distinguish the two by saying that the order of salvation
pertains to the way in which the individual appropriates salvation. Election,
calling, justification, sanctification, and glorification are the basic
elements of this. The history of salvation is focused on the acts of God in
history, specifically as they culminate in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which provide the basis for the order of salvation.
Thus the work begins with
a careful analysis of the nature of the atonement. This is history of salvation
territory. Christ’s incarnation and death must be understood against the
backdrop of God’s love in eternity for those he has chosen to rescue from their
sin and its eternal consequences. Then the cross itself must be understood in
terms of God’s wrath against sin, of his imputation of our sin to Christ, and
of the Old Testament sacrificial system of which it is the fulfillment.
Murray’s view is profoundly particularist, whereby Christ’s death is not for
everyone but for those whom God has chosen.
Then, in the second half
of the work, Murray looks at the implications of Christ’s death for the
salvation of the individual believer, addressing the various elements of the
order of salvation. What emerges is a seamless move from eternity to time, and
from the work of God in Christ to the work of God in the believer.
Murray’s book has its
critics. His view of particular redemption is repudiated by those opposed to
what they call “limited atonement,” who see it as restricting God’s love and
standing at odds with passages in the New Testament which apparently speak of
the universality of God’s desire for all to be saved. Others within the
Reformed camp itself have taken issue with Murray, or at least with certain
traditions of reading Murray, for what they see as a failure to distinguish
clearly between justification and sanctification. I make no comment on those
debates here.
The book you have in your
hand is a miniature masterpiece of theology, dealing reverently on every page
with matters of great theological significance. Whether you end the book by
agreeing or disagreeing with its author, you will have found your own thinking
on these issues sharpened and clarified.
Carl R. Trueman
Paul Woolley Professor of Church History
Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA Pastor
Cornerstone Presbyterian Church (OPC), Ambler, PA
Paul Woolley Professor of Church History
Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA Pastor
Cornerstone Presbyterian Church (OPC), Ambler, PA
Carl R. Trueman, “Foreword to the 2015
Edition,” in John Murray, Redemption Accomplish and Applied (1955;
reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015), vii-ix. Posted with permission.
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