Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 23:67 (Autumn 2019)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

JODT 23:67 (Autumn 2019) p. 225

Book Reviews

The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits by R. Albert Mohler Jr. Nashville: Nelson, 2019. 209 pp. + xxiii, cloth, $24.99.

Composed in the fourth century, the Apostles’ Creed is one of the first and most universally accepted and honored of the ancient creeds and confessions (pp. xxiii, xvii, 199). The creed is a summary of what the Bible teaches on many cardinal doctrines (p. xxii); however, it is not the embodiment of “the entire body of biblical truth” as Mohler claimed (p. 200). John MacArthur, in his foreword, correctly stated, “The creed leaves out essential doctrines like the authority of Scripture, the depravity of man, the deity of Christ, and the means of salvation: justification by faith. It also contains nonessentials like the role of Pilate and the descent to Hell” (p. xiii). Nevertheless, the Apostles’ Creed affirms fourteen core doctrines that all true Christians accept. Mohler devoted a chapter to each of these doctrines and offered seven reasons why the creed is useful (pp. xx-xxii). Included in these reasons are that the creed defines truth, corrects error, functions as a guardrail for teaching and instruction, and summarizes the faith. Mohler wrote, “These documents do not seek to replace Scripture. Instead, they accurately seek to summarize its content into succinct statements in order to equip Christians with brief yet crucial distillations of the faith” (p. xxii).

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, highlights the proclamations from the Apostles’ Creed, explaining and expanding each proclamation to capture its importance. As a result, this book is a helpful summary of what Christians believe in these particular areas of theology. As a conservative Reformed scholar, Mohler is primarily reiterating what Bible-believing Christians have embraced throughout the centuries. Thus The Apostles’ Creed serves as a helpful reminder of these essential theologies. Some examples include:

• God created the universe out of nothing and therefore the cosmos is the theater of God’s glory (p. 25);
• Only the Bible informs humanity of who Jesus is, therefore the so-called historical quests for Jesus are folly (pp. 33–36);
• The significance of the resurrection (pp. 99–101);

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• The importance of the ascension, a topic often ignored by Christians (pp. 103–08); and,
• The awfulness of sin: “The failure to grasp the horror of sin rests in the miniature god Christians have fashioned in their own image” (p. 173).

In a short 200-page book an author has to be extremely selective concerning the material he chooses to c...