Roy Ingle, “Book Review: *Your Jesus Is Too Safe* by Jared Wilson”

, , Comments Off on Roy Ingle, “Book Review: *Your Jesus Is Too Safe* by Jared Wilson”

Your Jesus Is Too Safe is a great book! I bought the book after reading several other reviews of the book and thought I would read it and see what the hype was all about. And this book is worth the read. While Jared Wilson writes from a Reformed position, his Calvinism rarely comes out in this book as Wilson exposes the many false views about Christ in this generation. Wilson wants to overthrow the drive-thru, feel-good Savior that he sees in the modern Church and in much of what is coming out in books these days. While Wilson writes with a certain postmodern edge to him (much like Mark Driscoll’s books), Wilson leaves no doubt that he fully embraces the biblical Jesus and not the created in our image Jesus that is being preached today.

The good thing about this book is that Wilson is able to do three things. First he is able to present the biblical teaching about Jesus as the Son of God. To do this Wilson travels through the Old Testament promises all the way to the New to present a true picture of who Jesus is, what He came to do, and what He accomplished for the glory of God. Second, Wilson takes on the many popular notions about Jesus that we find today in many seeker, emergent circles such as Jesus being tolerant, that He loves everyone no matter what, and that He is just like us. He shows us that the true Jesus of Scripture is not often loved but is in fact hated by humanity and if we could, we would kill Him again. Third, while Wilson points the finger at many, he does so in a very loving and sometimes comical way. I found Wilson’s writing style fun to read.

From an Arminian viewpoint, I found little to disagree with. Many of the other sources he quotes from are Calvinists, such as John Piper or pre-Calvinists, such as Augustine. Yet the quotes are not within the framework of the Arminian/Calvinist debate. Unlike Piper, Wilson doesn’t take the moment to throw Arminians under the bus nor to bring in Calvinism to prove his points. He simply comes to the Bible and presents, as best he can, the biblical view of Jesus. I think he did a good job and I recommend this book.

[Link to original post and comments at Roy Ingle’s website.]