Jesus: Lord & Savior

by F.F. Bruce

F. F. Bruce re-examines the biblical evidence for who Jesus was, what his ministry was like and how he related to his disciples and other Jews. In fascinating detail he also considers Jesus' last meals, his arrests and trial, and his resurrection. Throughout the book Bruce looks at the implications for us in recognizing Jesus as Son of God, the incarnate Word, our Lord and Savior. We find him to be our eternal contemporary, as available to us as he was to his disciples to thousand years ago.

Genres: Theology, Christian Non Fiction

228 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1986

About the author

Frederick Fyvie Bruce FBA was a Biblical scholar who supported the historical reliability of the New Testament. His first book, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (1943), was voted by the American evangelical periodical Christianity Today in 2006 as one of the top 50 books "which had shaped evangelicals".

Reviews

[Scott Petty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Bruce does not set out to answer the question, "Who was Jesus?" but rather "Who is Jesus?" He begins by pointing out that one cannot separate the historical Jesus from the scriptural Jesus, an error which seems to arise in every generation. He then moves on to scripturally support the biblical claims for the person of Christ.

While I found the book informative, I also found it frustratingly flawed. The author would build a sound argument then proceed to weaken his own case by casting doubt upon the very scriptures used. He at times questioned authorship and chronological placement. He also attributed some portions to human political or religious motivation rather than Holy Spirit inspiration. His view of the Bible seems to place a higher value on the contributions of the sometimes anonymous and scheming human authors than on inspiration.

One would think this the kind of book to hand to an immature believer. It is not.

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine work of biblical Christology by a solid exegete and scholar; strikes me as a popular digest of Bruce’s other work. Has an ecumenical and conversational tone that I found at once endearing at times, and mildly annoying at points. The overarching theme of the Christ of faith being properly only the Jesus of history is compelling and reminiscent of J. Gresham Machen’s similar argument(s). I really appreciated the pairing of “the imminently coming Christ” with “the immediately/immanently and eternally personal Christ.” The book is organized well, but redundant at points.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a serious look at the Jesus of history. Although it has a scholarly tone, it is very readable. It looks at many of views of Jesus and modern revisionist theories, but finds the Jesus of scripture to be compelling, without need of revision. I find it to be a good companion of Cahill's book "Desire of the Everlasting Hills." It is part of the Jesus library which also includes F. F. Bruce's "Hard Sayings of Jesus."