It is arguable that evangelical Christians in Australia today are as well taught and informed on the basic truth of justification by faith in Christ alone as believers anywhere at any point of time in the Church's history. But often an intellectual and academic understanding of this core Gospel truth fails to grip the heart and lead to inner peace of conscience and joyful closeness to God. Freedom and spontaneity in a life of obedience, witness and service is often missing or only spasmodically experienced.
The knowing of God's forgiveness which John Dunn leads us into in this book goes beyond the grasping of truth with the mind. The book is direct and personal. It encourages us to find, maintain and live out, an awareness of God’s total forgiveness of us and unqualified acceptance of us through Christ because of the Cross.
Knowing God’s Forgiveness is thorough, covering the ground from our lostness in Adam through to the freedom and renewal that is found in Christ. It focuses on the Cross and on what was done for us there to purge our sin and guilt. Each chapter is packed with Scripture, fully printed out rather than simply referenced. There are extensive quotes from the writings of Romaine, Haldane, Bonhoefer, Koberle, Spurgeon, and more recent writers such as Geoffrey Bingham. Many chapters finish with a "real life' account of the practical outworking of the truth expounded. The book could be valued for these alone and for the bringing together of relevant Scriptures for the subject matter of each chapter.
But the best feature of the book is that every chapter (there are 26 in all) covers a clearly defined area of the essential Christian Gospel and concludes with a series of questions that can be used either as a comprehension check or as a basis for discussion, thus making the book valuable for use in Reading groups or Bible Study groups. That is not surprising, as it was in the context of such a group that the contents came to birth and over a period of time were developed and refined.
The Rev Ken Churchward is part-time Associate Pastor at St Aidan's Hurstville Grove. Prior to retirement from full-time ministry he was for 8 years Senior Pastor at St Paul’s Chatswood where John Dunn is a member of the congregation.
