A deep study on the doctrine of eternal security Does one moment of faith secure a person's eternal destiny with God--even if that person later stops following and trusting in Jesus? Or does a person have to keep on trusting and following Jesus to remain in a saving relationship with God? Now expanded with new chapters and research, this landmark book continues to offer one of the most penetrating studies on the controversial doctrine of eternal security, perseverance, and apostasy in the New Testament. Calling into question the popular "once saved, always saved" belief, internationally respected pastor and scholar Dr. Robert Shank reveals that the question we should be asking is not, "Is the believer secure?" but rather, "What does it mean to be a believer?" Straightforward, thorough, and grounded in biblical understanding, this book warns Christians about dangers that could potentially lead a believer to become an unbeliever (falling away from faith) and share in the unbeliever's eternal condemnation.

A wide-ranging study of the interpretation of Paul’s letter to the Romans throughout history, from Origen to Karl Barth. In anticipation of his Illuminations commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans, Stephen Westerholm offers this extensive survey of the reception history of Romans. After two initial chapters discussing the letter’s textual history and its first readers in Rome (a discussion carried out in dialogue with the Paul-within-Judaism stream of scholarship), Westerholm provides a thorough overview of over thirty of the most influential, noteworthy, and representative interpretations of Romans from nearly two thousand years of history. Interpreters surveyed include Origen, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Peter Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Locke, Cotton Mather, John Wesley, and Karl Barth. Bearing in mind that Paul did not write for scholars, Westerholm includes in his study interpreters like Philipp Jakob Spener and Richard Baxter who addressed more popular audiences, as well as an appendix on a remarkable series of 372 sermons on Romans by beloved British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones. A further aim of the book is to illustrate the impact of this New Testament letter on Christian thought, supporting Westerholm’s claim that “the history of the interpretation of Romans is, in important areas and to a remarkable extent, the history of Christian theology.”