Living by Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

by Thomas J. Nettles

Tom Nettles has spent more than 15 years working on this magisterial biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous 19th century preacher and writer. More than merely a biography it covers his life, ministry and also provides an indepth survey of his theology.

Genres: Biography, History, Theology, Church History, Christian, Nonfiction

700 pages, Hardcover

First published August 22, 2013

About the author

Tom Nettles (see also) is Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

Reviews

[Matt Pitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living by Revealed Truth is a monumental biography of a mammoth figure in church history. But do we really need another book about Spurgeon? Yes, and I'll tell you why.

First, Spurgeon is almost inexhaustibly interesting. Even those who have read Spurgeon's Autobiography, Dallimore's A New Biography, and Murray's The Forgotten Spurgeon will not find this new work overly repetitive. Spurgeon's life and ministry were so full they have yet to be exhausted.

Second, Nettles' treatment of Spurgeon is doubly unique. To begin with he draws his material primarily from The Sword and the Trowel, a monthly magazine edited by Spurgeon and full of information. To my knowledge no one else has taken this approach and the result confirms its wisdom. In addition he emphasizes Spurgeon's pastoral theology (as the subtitle indicates). I have read a biography of a great preacher that left me thinking, 'but how did he shepherd his church day to day? What was their church membership practice like? How did he lead the church practically?' But this biography does not leave those kinds of questions unanswered and for that I am extremely grateful.

This is perhaps the most comprehensive work on Spurgeon to date (with the Autobiography taking a close second). And now that we have it, we are much the richer for it.

[Landon Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most remarkable biography I've ever read - one, because of the subject - two, because of the scholarship involved. The amount of material written by Spurgeon is only rivaled by the amount of material written about Spurgeon. In this 700 page book, Nettles has presented the world with the most thorough, balanced, honest, and helpful account of the Prince of Preachers.

[Timothy Denning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Which details the life a theology of CH Spurgeon. A devoted family man, a pastor, who served the Lord faithfully in revival times. The downgrade controversy certainly was a difficult time for him because people he knew and trusted did not follow his line. No doubt was a sadness to him. He was ill for a time in his ministry, which was covered in a detailed way, showing how the Lord is with his people through good and bad times.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nettles’ massive intellectual biography—more than six hundred, double-columned pages—emphasizes Spurgeon’s theological beliefs; and for that reason, this book is a “preachers’ biography.” Laymen who have a substantial interest in theology will enjoy it too; but certainly others will be intimidated by a volume that must be in the neighborhood of 350,000 words. I freely admit to flipping pages when I thought the author had made his point or when all the cumulative detail reminded me of a nineteenth-century “life and letters.”

Nettles has thoroughly immersed himself in Spurgeon’s almost incomprehensibly vast corpus (he apologizes for not having read every sermon), and he writes sympathetically and with lucidity, if not flair. This biography will remain definitive for many years to come. We are in Nettles debt. But the prospective reader is warned.

[Joonas Laajanen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most thorough biography of the life and theology of C. H. Spurgeon.

A gigantic volume. 700 double column pages, meaning that in a normal format this would easily be over 1100 pages. It took me well over a year and a half to finish this. Abridged version is needed for the lay man.

The content is rich, valuable, and very much needed today. Must for pastors who have the wisdom and modesty to want to learn from the greatest preacher that England has produced.

Sometimes the book repeats itself, giving the same quotations from Spurgeon in different chapters. Other than that, the book is very well written.

[Philip Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a mission. This was a slog and a half. Super robust, thoughtful, undoubtedly the most thorough modern work on Spurgeon. Its strength was also its weakness: I didn't find this book to be a page turner. Since I've been in isolation (I'm writing this in April 2020), I've basically forced myself to do 20 pages a day until I was done. Heaps of gold in there, but can get tedious at points. Shot to Dr. Nettles for putting this together. He literally spent decades of life working on this. Really useful work.

[Seth Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spurgeon’s views on theology and practice were governed and guided by Scripture alone. Barely a third of this book is strictly biographical or chronological. It is more a study of his positions and conclusions more so than a study of the events of his life.

The story is not as moving as the actual words of this great man on a great variety of topics from his view of prayer meetings, expositional preaching, alcohol, politics, church membership, and many others.

[Jonny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I had read about Spurgeon, most of it was very interesting but I felt like in some places the author was getting bogged down in statistics or details which I personally was not interested in...

[David Bruyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Everest for only the most determined of biography-climbers.

[Luke Schmeltzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolute treasure trove pastoral and theological analysis of Charles Spurgeon. My only complaint is the massive size and the occasional repetition.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly-written tome on the life of Spurgeon. One of the first to include research done on the "The Sword and Trowel" Spurgeon's monthly magazine.

Not for the faint-of-heart. This book is a beast, at ~400 pages with double columns in probably 10-point font. Well-worth the effort, but it will take effort.

[Dr. David Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Researched with precision and passion, Dr. Nettles has bestowed a gift upon the gift. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the dead preacher is very much alive and is influenced continues to inspire, challenge, and convict. The bar has never been raised higher.

Highly recommended!

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been an interesting read, but I think that the definitive work on Spurgeon's theology is yet to be written. Iain Murray came closest in The Forgotten Spurgeon, but it was too short for a thirty-eight year preaching ministry with such a massive theology. Overall I was disappointed!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Nettles knows Charles Spurgeon's life inside and out. This book reflects that deep knowledge. However, this isn't really a biography of Spurgeon so much as a thematic treatments of areas of Spurgeons theology and ministry, in roughly chronological form. For someone doing research on Spurgeon, these chapters would be an invaluable source. For someone hoping to come away with a feel for Spurgeon as a man, this book as a whole will be somewhat disappointing.