“Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue, but of the life” (Calvin). The best of the Christian tradition has always believed doctrine to be vital for life. With this latest reprint of his classic work, Ferguson reminds us of his place among the Christian greats who have laboured to show that doctrine is indeed quickening and nourishing.

The title says it all: though the Christian life is lived, Ferguson is committed to the idea that it is fundamentally doctrinal. As he states in the introductory chapter, “…we cannot obediently hear our Lord (surely the most practical Man who ever lived), if we turn away from his doctrine” (4). In other words, life is Christian only when it is doctrinal and doctrine is Christian only when it is life-giving.

One of this book’s strengths is the way it traces the contours of the Christian life as we ordinarily experience it. In crisp non-technical prose, Ferguson systematically introduces the broad steps of the experientia salutis, or the way we experience salvation. This serves a twofold benefit: first, we see how every step of the Christian life possesses a doctrinal content, and second, we see how doctrine verbalises and articulates each stage of the Christian life.

Across 18 chapters, he covers doctrines that are familiar (eg new birth, faith, repentance, justification), unfamiliar to some (eg adoption, sanctification, glorification), or otherwise unheard of by many (eg election, union with Christ). Each chapter is unashamedly theological, yet unbelievably pastoral (unsurprisingly, for those who know Ferguson’s work).

A sign of Ferguson’s pastoral instinct is the inclusion of two topics that most theologies these days rarely treat: the Christian’s war against sin (ch 14-15) and the experience of death (ch 17). Through these chapters, Ferguson reminds us of the glorious doctrine that neither sin nor death shall have the final say and that life in Christ is life in victory, since it is life in the Victor. Given the sheer universality of these two enemies, their inclusion is a balm to the weary soul. He reminds us that whatever happens here, in heaven, “the presence of the Son of God will be no disappointment” (175).

Each chapter is succinct and can be finished within an hour. While it is not for those who desire more robust theological elaboration, most readers will have no excuse for not picking up and reading. It is, after all, an introductory text. Ferguson wears his immense learning lightly and though he drinks deep from a rich artery of theology, he gives only the purest marrow in this book.

Sufficiently intellectual and eminently practical, Ferguson has provided a gold standard of doctrine wedded to life that Calvin, perhaps even Christ, would be proud of.

(I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.)