A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
A true Bavinck classic is back!
Selected Quotes
- “There is, indeed, no more important question than that of the ground of our faith, the certainty of our salvation, the firmness of our hope for eternal life. For what does it profit us to have all knowledge, power, fame, and honor, if we have no answer to the question of our only comfort?” (4-5)o
- “What do the subjection of nature, the blessings of culture, the triumph of science, and the aesthetic enjoyment of art benefit me at the hour of pain and in the face of death? What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (10)
- “Certainty is the complete rest of the mind in an object of knowledge.” (16)
- “Faith convictions are the deepest, most intimate, dearest, and most tenacious of all.” (26)
- “The object of faith must be perfectly reliable, infallible, eternal truth, so that I can abandon myself to it in distress and death, for both time and eternity. For most earthly matters, we can make do with lower or higher degrees of probability.” (53)
- “All the truths of the Christian faith, therefore, come to man from outside; they are known to us through revelation alone, and only become our possession when we accept them with a childlike faith.” (74)
- “A faith truly deserving of its name also brings with it its own certainty.” (89)
- “These fruits in their turn reveal the authenticity, health, and power of faith. Inner experiences and good works can never demonstrate the truth of faith ahead of time. For every genuine experience and every virtuous work is not the root but the fruit of faith.” (96)
Endorsements
B.B. Warfield
[In these pages] extensive learning, sound thinking, and profound religious feeling are smelted intimately together into a product of singular charm.
Stephen Wellum
This is must reading for all Christians as they think through the importance of saving faith and how it results in an unshakeable confidence in our covenant Lord in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Sinclair Ferguson
The Certainty of Faith is a multum in parvo (much in little). It is a book I usually included on seminary class reading lists on the doctrine of assurance, even though it was no longer in print.
Guy Waters
Two of the most important questions that a Christian believer can ask are, ‘How can I be sure that Christianity is true?’ and ‘How can I be sure that I am a Christian?’ In The Certainty of Faith, Herman Bavinck guides non-specialists through these questions with disarming simplicity and clarity.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Sinclair Ferguson
Introduction by Daniel Schrock
Preface to Second Edition
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3