Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 94:374 (Apr 1937)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

BSac 94:374 (Apr 37) p. 247

Book Reviews

BSac 94:374 (Apr 37) p. 247-256

Department of Book Reviews

Faith in the New Testament. By Herbert H. Wernecke, Ph.D. Zondervan Publishing House. 113 pp.

Dr. Wernecke has written an invaluable thesis which is here published in book form. It is a complete analysis of one of the greatest Bible doctrines and presented in the simplest and most attractive form. What a blessing would be secured for the whole church of God if all the cardinal doctrines of the Bible could be set forth in specific form as this one is!

Dr. Werneeke is Professor of Church History in the Central Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of the United States of America, and the text of this book is a thesis by Dr. Wernecke submitted to the Faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It is the reviewer’s experience that few dissertations are presented in application for degrees that are as carefully worked out or that constitute as rich a contribution to theological literature.

The book is divided into six divisions aside from the Introduction and Conclusion: (1) Faith as a Secular and Religious Term; (2) Faith According to Jesus in The Synoptics; (3) The Pauline Conception of Faith; (4) Faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews; (5) The Johannine Conception of Faith; and (6) The Supreme Place of Faith in Christianity. Each division presents a thorough consideration of the theme in hand.

In his introduction to this volume, Dr. Charles R. Erdman of Princeton Theological Seminary says: “This volume presents an exhaustive study of the word ‘faith’ as it appears in the various books of the New Testament. This includes the use of the term by our Lord, as recorded in the Gospels, and also its significance in the writings of Paul, of John, and of

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the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. However, the discussion is designed not only to throw light upon the meaning of a single word but upon the passage and context in which the word appears. This involves a consideration of many of the most important problems of the inspired Scriptures. Among these are, the relation of believers to Christ, the nature of justifying faith, the harmonizing of the statements of Paul and James, the significance of the illustrations found in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Johannine conception of faith.”

The book is highly condensed, but not too much so. It is a handbook on this great theme which should be in every Bible student’s library and be read and reread. My recommendation of this book is both urgent and sincere.