A Faith to Live By

Written by D. MacLeod Reviewed By James McIntosh

‘In a society that is increasingly undermining the necessity, or even the expectation, that what we say will equate with what we do Donald MacLeod’s A Faith To Live By is a welcome and timely reminder that the Christian faith must be proclaimed by both word and action. MacLeod’s lucid presentation of The Westminster Confession of Faith is sensitively combined with contemporary application in a way that both instructs one’s mind but also motivates hands and feet to hold out the word of truth to a generation that is both without God and hope.

As word and action are presented as an indissoluble whole, so theology and worship, often experienced as estranged partners within divinity faculties, are reunited. One senses here an author who desires that we both learn and apply, but more than this: that what we learn should be the substance of our worship. In this respect one cannot help being reminded of the similar approach taken by Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology.

Such fundamentals of the Faith as ‘The Inspiration of Scripture’, ‘The Deity of Christ’ and ‘The Atonement’, for example, are all presented in a thought provoking and faith building way. Not everyone will be convinced by MacLeod’s arguments for a Presbyterian method of Church government, Infant Baptism or his conclusions with reference to the Second Coming. However, the gauntlet is respectfully laid down and readers are quietly invited to analyse their own positions and search the Scriptures.

It is suggested that such a sensitive and respectful approach will do much to engender understanding of differing positions over these traditional ‘hot potatoes’ and contribute to informed debate rather than the all too common knee-jerk reactions. Any book that encourages Christians to think through why they believe what they believe must be seen as a welcome addition to the Church’s resources for discipleship. Perhaps A Faith to Live By would be most fruitfully read by those Christians who have recently begun their time as students and are meeting those who hold ideas and beliefs that previously had been merely words on a page. In an atmosphere so often characterised by debate and searching for answers, one can imagine this book being used again and again as a reference tool and hope that, whether in whole or part, it is used by Christians for times of discussion with their non-Christian friends.

Such comments pre-empt another emphasis of MacLeod’s. He is keen that we no longer drive a wedge as a Christian community between theology and evangelism. This desire manifests itself most clearly in his final paragraph of his final chapter ‘Heaven’. ‘There is work to do. Go! Gather God’s elect. We’re not looking for one in a million or even one in a thousand. We’re looking for a multitude too great to number.’ By the conclusion of A Faith to Live By one was reminded of the repeated refrain in the final pages of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, ‘Come further up and further in, the inside is bigger than the outside’. Here is a book motivated by a desire that its readers begin to explore the unsearchable riches of Christ in order that they may be obedient to Romans 10:14, 15 and 1 Peter 3:15, 16.


James McIntosh

Aberdeen