Paul: An Outline of His Theology

by Herman N. Ridderbos

Book Overview

Now back in print in a beautiful new paperback edition, this study by one of Europe's foremost New Testament scholars provides a comprehensive exposition of the teaching of the apostle Paul. Firmly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802834388
• ISBN13: 9780802834386
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 587 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Clarity On The Biblical Paul

Eschewing biblical ambiguity Herman Ridderbos does not waste any words on feigned sentiment. Ridderbos critiques modern divergents of the biblical Paul, in the Hegelian Paul of the Tubingen School; the liberal Paul of the pneumatic school; the mystical Paul of the 'history of religions' school; and the existentialist Paul proposed by Bultmann and co. 'The gospel of justification by faith without the works of the law appeared anew to be the only and powerful means to liberate the burdened conscience and to replace the legalistic spirit of servitude with the certainty of reconciliation and of the adoption of children of God.' pg 14 'That Paul's preaching has again and again come to be determined by the religious and philosophical premises of the spirit of the time and continues to be so determined to the present day, is apparent in a very striking (and, we may say certainly, shameful) manner in a survey of this newer interpretation of Paul.' pg 15 Ridderbos' chapters on sin, righteousness, and reconciliation are original and excellent. 'It is the redemptive-historical transition, effected in Christ's death and resurrection, that is working itself out in this process. And it all rests on their being-in-Him, as the second Adam.' pg 64 'The contrast is therefore of a redemptive-historical nature: it qualifies the world and the mode of existence before Christ as flesh, that is, as the creaturely in its weakness; on the other hand, the dispensation that has taken effect with Christ as that of the Spirit, i.e., of power and imperishableness and glory.' pg 66

Breath-taking in its scope and depth.

This is the classic modern exposition of Paul's thought and theology. Topically arranged, Ridderbos exposes the structure and Paul's system and sheds a calm, thorough light on such matters as Paul's meaning of law/grace, flesh/spirit, present age/age to come. Ridderbos is in line with Geerhardus Vos' biblical theology without being dependent on the great Princeton theologian.

The perfect scholarly complement to E. W. Keyon's books.

I first read this book in 1980 as part of my Bible school curriculum. I bought another copy because my old one was deteriorating from so much use. This is the only book I've found that explains Paul's Revelation from a theological standpoint, but without making it stiff and difficult to understand. A must for any Christian who shares Paul's desire to "comprehend the One by whom he has been apprehended."