The Lord Jesus Christ: The Biblical Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ

We Believe #3

by Brandon D. Crowe, John McClean (Series Editor), Murray J. Smith (Series Editor)

Christ, our Redeemer

Jesus is the divine Son of God who has taken on human nature in the incarnation. And as prophet, priest, and king, he leads his people in a new exodus. In The Lord Jesus Christ , Brandon D. Crowe reflects on Christ's person and work. Crowe traces christological concerns throughout the Old and New Testaments and church history and then presents systematic and practical implications. Through a combination of biblical, historical, and theological study, Crowe provides a fresh and robust statement of who Christ is and what he has done.

Written from a confessionally Reformed perspective in dialogue with the great creeds of the church, The Lord Jesus Christ provides a thorough and trustworthy guide to understanding Jesus and his salvific work.

Genres: Theology, Christian

400 pages, Hardcover

Published October 18, 2023

About the author

Brandon D. Crowe (B.A., Samford University; M.Div., Reformed Theological Seminary; Ph.D. University of Edinburgh) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary and Book Review Editor for the Westminster Theological Journal.

Reviews

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent intro. This would be great as a textbook for a systematic theology class on Christ. Sure to please both Biblical studies professors and systematic theology professors, which is no easy feat!

[Jeremy Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been looking forward to the We Believe series for some time now, and I was not disappointed!

This was excellent. Crowe covers scriptural foundations, historical development, dogmatic articulation, and some practical implications of the doctrine of the person and work of Christ. All from a confessionally reformed perspective. The footnotes are flooded with Bavinck, Owen, Turretin, and Van Mastricht... what else could you want in a dogmatic work?

I would also say that this would be a good intermediate introduction to Christology, Crowe writes in a way that is accessible with helpful repetition of definitions and a glossary.

[Ryan Storch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book attempts to successfully take on a noble task. Write about Christology from a biblical, historical, and theological perspective. I appreciate that Crowe roots all of what he says in his exegesis which is top notch. I’d highly recommend this book!

[Jimmy Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This inaugural volume of the WB (We Believe) series bespeaks the idea that a great set is coming. Here Christology, a most important doctrine of our faith, gets its due. I even like the look and feel of this hardback volume.

What is unique here amongst a world of theological series and systematic theologies? I can best describe it as taking an item from systematic theology and running it the filter of biblical theology. That means it’s not just a new book to get lost in the crowd.

You’ll see this immediately as the Doctrine of the Son takes a drive through the Pentateuch. It wasn’t what I expected, but I could have gotten that somewhere else anyway. Unique yes; esoteric no. The forest dwarfs the trees here. The footnotes were often referencing some of the best biblical theology out there while the synthesis into guidance on the Doctrine of Christ was on target.

Perhaps the reformed orientation will mold your final grade one way or the other. Covenant Theology is pushed at points, but the overall biblical theology overcomes most minor objections with ease.

The dogmatic development section isn’t quite as compelling as the biblical theology, but that’s a personal preference on subject rather than any writer fails. If you’re a history buff you won’t agree with me anyway.

The last part “Truth For Worship, Life, and Mission”, though quite brief, brings this great doctrine to the issues of today.

The scholarship here will please that crowd, the theology here will please that crowd, and the writing itself will please them all. It’s a good one here.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

[Evan]

✌🏼😄✌🏼

also, this was a good book. Not as technical as I thought it would be, but it did treat some more technical topics like the communicatio idiomatum.

[Scott Bielinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Brandon Crowe’s “The Lord Jesus Christ” is any indication of what’s to come, Lexham’s new We Believe series is going to be a stellar new series to help the Church come to a deeper love and understanding of scriptural teaching. Though there are many Christology books on offer, I think Crowe’s is unique for how it blends biblical-theological reflection with an attention to the historical development (especially in the early church and Chalcedonian Creed) of the Church’s understanding of the scriptural witness. In this way, Crowe’s book stands alongside Wellum’s excellent “God the Son Incarnate,” which also manages to do both.

It is fitting that Lexham’s new series would commence with a book on the person and work of Jesus Christ - for “Christology stands at the heart of Christianity” (xxxi). And so this book is an echocardiogram of the Christian Scriptures, aimed at mapping out the picture that we have of Jesus Christ, the prophet, priest, and king. As sonship is importantly tied up with the specific vocation of king, Crowe also draws our attention to how sonship in the Old Testament both points up to the Eternal God and out to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Crowe’s reading of Scripture is attentive not just to theological concepts, but to textual realities and the literary texture of Scripture. The great advantage of this is that it shows how Christ’s specific (read: covenantal) identity is anticipated in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament, and how each part of the Old Testament does so in its own way. To Crowe’s great credit, I think attentive readers of this book will walk away greatly helped in how to read their Bibles and see the significance of the person and work of Christ in the text.

Foregrounding the covenantal aspect of Christology accomplished a number of things, one of which gave significant clarity and shape to the book - namely, that with “covenant” we have an immediate synthesis between biblical and systematic categories, which allows for a relatively seamless transition between the first and second section. The Christ of the Scriptures is the Christ of the Creeds and the theologians - and Crowe’s theological sections draw our attention to “the Second Person of the Trinity . . . the Mediator of the covenant of grace” (207). It is from this angle that Crowe clearly and succinctly explains eternal generation, the hypostatic union, and Christ’s sinlessness. Along the way, Crowe very charitably weighs in all kinds of knotty theological arguments. For me, Crowe’s rebuttal of the popular-ish and modern reading of Christ’s incarnation requiring a fallen human nature was significant, as “Sinfulness does not belong properly to human nature, but is a result of the fall into sin” (234). And so, Crowe’s three chapters on the person and work of Christ (207-283) were richly exegetical, the kind of systematic theology that does not hover above the text. His background in biblical studies helped - rather than detracted from - his theological work, and Crowe is to be commended for drawing out the glories of the person and work of Christ in Scripture.

Two brief criticisms: The ending section is really quite thin, amounting to less than 20 pages. I think these books have a real opportunity to model thoughtful theological reflection upon the significance of theology for the practice of the Christian life. So I was a bit underwhelmed with Crowe’s rather straightforward and flat application of Christology for the Christian life. More specific application and reflection should be made - How does it change our preaching? Worship services on Sunday mornings? Discipleship? Etc. Another slight drawback of the book is that the chapter on Post-Nicene Christology mostly sets aside modern Christology, looking at The Historical Jesus instead, which I thought was a curious move. In so doing, Crowe leaves Barth, Schleiermacher, and Kenoticism aside to answer a few historical-critical questions. I think this gets in the way of a complete survey of Christology after Nicaea.

Brief criticisms aside, “The Lord Jesus Christ” is another gift in a great year of contributions to Reformed Christology (Petrus Van Mastricht’s fourth volume and Dan Treier’s “Lord Jesus Christ” immediately come to mind). Crowe holds this out for the reader: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is set forth in Scripture and defended in the church’s creedal traditions, is about the eternal Son of God who came to us for our salvation” (314). Crowe’s book helps us to better see the beauty and glory of this simple and profound sentence.

Lexham Press very kindly sent this book to me, asking only for an honest review in return.

[Hobart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ABOUT?
It's a work on Christology--from Scriptural, historical, and systematic theological perspectives.

That seems a bit too pithy, but the few times I've tried that paragraph before now have really gone on and on. So--as I so often do when I'm struggling to answer this question--I'm just going to borrow from the Publisher's description:

Jesus is the divine Son of God who has taken on human nature in the incarnation. As prophet, priest, and king, he leads his people in a new exodus. In The Lord Jesus Christ, Brandon D. Crowe reflects on Christ’s person and work. Crowe traces christological concerns throughout the Old and New Testaments and church history and then presents systematic and practical implications. Through a combination of biblical, historical, and theological study, Crowe provides a fresh and robust statement of who Christ is and what he has done.

Written from a confessionally Reformed perspective in dialogue with the great creeds of the church, The Lord Jesus Christ provides a thorough and trustworthy guide to understanding Jesus and his salvific work.

BREAKING THINGS DOWN A BIT
I think a glance at a Table of Contents really gives an idea what the book is like and what Crowe's approach to this is (I included page numbers for each part to show the weight he gives to each area)
Introduction: “Who Do You Say That I Am?”
Part 1: The Biblical Witness [pg. 9-146]
          I. The Son of God in Creation and the Old Testament
          II. The Son of God Promised in the Prophets
          III. The Son of God in the Gospels
          IV. The Son of God in Acts and Paul’s Letters
          V. The Son of God in Hebrews to Revelation

Part 2: Dogmatic Development [pg.147-294]
          VI. Pre-Nicene Christology
          VII. Creedal, Conciliar, and Modern Christology
          VIII. The Mediator of the Covenant of Grace
          IX. The Unity of the Mediator
          X. The Work of the Mediator
          XI. The Centrality of Christology for Christian Dogmatics

Part 3: Truth for Life and Mission [pg. 295-310]
          XII. The Gospel of Grace
          XIII. Pluralism and the Uniqueness of Christ

Conclusion: Seven Theses on the Person and Work of Christ

While Parts 1 and 2 are about even in page length, you will realize that the meat of the book is found in The Biblical Witness. The Dogmatic Development part is by no means lightweight, but it is easier to get through. I was a little surprised once I got there at how brief the last Part was--but it didn't need to be longer to wrap up and apply the previous Parts.

GOING BEYOND THIS WORK
Crowe is clear that this book isn't supposed to be an end to one's Christological reading, but it's a start. In addition tote helpful footnotes and citations throughout, he concludes each chapter with four or so recommendations for further reading (not all will agree with a lot of Crowe's arguments). I don't know that I'm going to follow up with all of them (narrator: he will not), but I am going to chase down some of those works.

Each chapter ends with a clearly designated conclusion, so you can be sure you're picking up on those parts that Crowe finds most important, which is a very handy little segment. As are the Seven Theses he ends the book with--undoubtedly for me and others, this is going to be the part of the book that gets referred to most often. You can get a quick look at a significant point to brush up on it or refresh your memory, before going back to the appropriate chapter (or chapter conclusion) to get the details you need.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?
This is presented in a text-book style but isn't quite as dry as one. But I can easily see it functioning as one (and being a favorite of the students using it because of that style).

It took me longer to get through than I anticipated--which is not a bad thing, it just wasn't what I expected. It is not a difficult read by any means (I can point to other words by Crowe that would fit that description better), but because of the comprehensiveness it's shooting for, you do have to exercise the gray matter a little as you read.

It's not polemic at all, and almost every controversy it tackles has been settled in the creedal tradition for centuries, so it won't rankle any Trinitarian as they read their way through it (although this book, like the rest of the series, is firmly within the Confessional Reformed tradition and demonstrates it). Crowe shows not only a familiarity with contemporary--and older--Biblical scholarship, but is just as adept at bringing in major writers from Church History through today to weigh in on the Dogmatic Development sections.

All in all, this was an outstanding book, one that I will return to as a reference (and likely re-read in a couple of years). It's also a great advertisement for the rest of the series, and I anticipate adding the rest of them to my shelves in short order (well, as short as I can--it doesn't look like Lexham Press is really rushing to put them out).

Whether or not you grab them all, if you want a solid and accessible stand-alone Christology you'd be well served to turn to Brandon Crowe.

[Joseph Bouchoc · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Fantastic overview of Christology. Crowe looks at biblical, historical, systematic, and practical theology of the person of Christ. Well rounded and thorough for what it is.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series layout/structure is great. Content here is solid. Good recapitulation of the Reformed faith. But a lot of rehashing and repetitive prose, and the author's writing is not my favorite. 3.5