Carl R. Trueman has given us a gem with this book because it allows us to sit at Dr. Martin’s feet and learn about the Christian life. This book has eight chapters that summarize Luther’s thought and experience all with a view to the Christian life. I’ll share a few highlights here.

In the first chapters, Trueman unpacks the significance of Luther’s concept of the Word, justification, and being a theologian of the cross for the Christian life. The cross alone is our righteousness. The Word creates us anew. For Luther, the Christian life is never a salvation project but a gift received and lived by the grace of God.

Two emphases in particular struck me in Trueman’s work. One was the liturgical aspect of the Christian life and the other was its simplicity. First the liturgy. The Christian life is fueled by receiving God’s gifts of salvation through Word and Sacrament. This takes place at church through being baptized, hearing the Gospel, and receiving the Lord’s Supper. Any talk of the Christian life apart from this liturgical context is nonsense. This contrasts sharply with popular books on the Christian life today which focus on having personal devotions, accountability partners, and small groups. These things may have their place, but they didn’t enter Luther’s mind. For him, to live the Christian life was to hear the Gospel and receive the Sacrament. Faith is born and strengthened through the means of grace, and such faith brings with it the fruit of the Spirit. The Christian life is the liturgical life.

The other emphasis that struck me was the simplicity of the Christian life. Trueman writes, “The basics of the Christian life were routine and ordinary: learning the Decalogue, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer . . . We may live in an age when everything has to be ‘radical’ and ‘revolutionary.’ For Luther the most radical thing one could do was to learn the basics of the faith with the simple trust of a little child.” This is reflected in Luther’s Small Catechism. Learn the basic tenets of the faith. Recite them, pray through them, and by God’s grace, believe them and live according to them. I found this approach to the Christian life refreshingly simple.

Trueman brings out many other aspects of Luther’s thought, such as the role of meditation, prayer, and temptation in the Christian life and the crucial understanding of vocation. This wonderful book has enriched my understanding of what it means to live each day as a child of God by grace through faith.

Pr. Jarrod Hylden
Skrefsrud Lutheran Church
Beresford, SD

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