Usually, I enjoy John MacArthur’s books. I have many of his works in my library, and I have read and enjoyed them immensely. However, I was not that impressed with The Gospel According To Paul. I found it to be mediocre at best, and generally unengaging and hard to enjoy.
The premise behind this book is to take a look at many of the succinct and focused summaries of the message of the Gospel in Paul’s writings. He often summarizes the message of the Gospel, and does so in unique ways, depending upon who he is writing to. Each of these are worth looking at and examining in light of the four Gospels, and the teachings of Christ himself.
Each time Paul does this, he gives some bit of insight that reveals more of what the Gospel is and why it is so essential for our lives. MacArthur strives to seek out the intricacies of each of these Pauline summaries, and do so in a thorough and easy to understand manner.
I don’t disagree with MacArthur’s purpose in any way whatsoever. Where my critique lies is in the manner in which he does this.
I primarily found two elements of this book that I had a difficult time with. First of all, this is one of the few books by MacArthur that I didn’t fully engage in and enjoy. It felt stilted and hard to read. It kind of felt rushed, as if he didn’t take the time to finesse it to a polished finish, like so many other of his books.
The other element that I found difficult to enjoy is the stiff, academic language that MacArthur employed. With most of his books, I can easily follow his train of thought. This one, however, felt more like a thesis statement. I found it to be dry and professorial in nature. That made it hard to read, and I really didn’t want to continue very enthusiastically after the first couple of chapters.
Overall, I found The Gospel According To Paul to be disappointing and lackluster. It’s not a book I can highly recommend, in contrast to many of MacArthur’s other books. I was somewhat disappointed in what could have been an excellent resource.
Ratings & Details For The Gospel According To Paul:
- Genre/Style: Christian Living/Theology
- Purpose/Premise: 9 of 10 stars
- Spiritual Content: 7 of 10 stars
- Readability/Flow: 3 of 10 stars
- Cover: 8 of 10 stars
- Overall Rating: 4 of 10 stars
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I received this book free from Harper Collins Christian Publishing as part of their BookLook Bloggers review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.