Christ a Complete Saviour

by John Bunyan

The meaning of the word 'I N T E R C E S S I O N' The benefits of this intercession of Christ. Its perpetuity.. He ever liveth to make intercession The persons who are interested in it.

Genres: Theology, Christian

Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 1692

About the author

John Bunyan, a Christian writer and preacher, was born at Harrowden (one mile south-east of Bedford), in the Parish of Elstow, England. He wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, arguably the most famous published Christian allegory. In the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August.

Reviews

[Vanessa Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Bunyan's commentary on Christ's intercession for His children explored a glorious facet of the Savior I had never thought about in-depth. However, truly understanding Christ as Advocate on your behalf will bring about a wealth of peace and comfort. Bunyan goes into great detail, speaking to believers and unbelievers and explaining why every person needs Christ to intercede for them. While some parts of this book were quite thick and difficult to understand, there are many gems in here that speak to Christ's nature. One of my favorites was on Hebrews 7:25: "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Bunyan explains how Jesus is willing to save, and He is also more than able to save - save to the uttermost - all who come to Him! I would recommend this book to any Christian - for we all need to know the benefits of Jesus, our complete Savior.

[Jayna Baas]

DNF for now. Bunyan is a good writer and I enjoyed some of his points, especially toward the beginning, but it seems to be a book that is not resonating with me right now—even though I am so grateful that Christ is indeed our high priest and intercessor. He’s not just a Savior who did his work in the past, although redemption is complete. He is an active Savior who is working on our behalf even now. Despite that great theme in this book, I started getting a sense of some unbiblical extrapolations, namely, in Bunyan’s ideas of election and at the point where he began demarcating between “coming to Christ” and “coming to God by him.” I understand the distinction he was making, but he appeared to overlook Jesus’ promise that “he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (emphasis mine). We are not any less saved simply because we came to Christ out of fear or need and did not yet understand that God is, in himself, the ultimate reward and satisfaction. I think that is something we are constantly learning and will never fully understand until we awake with his likeness as it says in Psalms. Perhaps I misapplied Bunyan’s interpretation, but at that point in the book, I simply was not invested enough to sort through the rest of it. This in no way diminishes Bunyan as a writer or Christian forefather; it’s just not the book for me.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, I did not agree with everything in this book.  To be sure, there was a great deal I did agree with this book and much I appreciated about the author's tough-mindedness concerning matters of salvation and justification.  And, like most of my reading of the author [1], it demonstrated a clear-eyed look at the author's view of the process of salvation and his recognition that those who embark on seeking Christ's intercession for them are embarked on a task of much greater seriousness than is often viewed to be the case.  In reading this book, and others like it, it is pretty clear that a proper view of salvation and justification is vitally important in counteracting the appeal of false ragamuffin gospels as is popular within our own time, where salvation is divorced from any sense of understanding in the need for the nature of mankind to be transformed by the indwelling presence of God.  The author's dogged determination to present the whole truth about Christ's saving efforts, at least as he understands them, help preserve him from the sort of problems that are all too common in our own time, and which he was able to diagnose in his own time as being vain and unprofitable imitations of genuine Christianity.

This book is about 100 pages long, and it is very straightforwardly organized.  After an advertisement by the editor, there is a discussion of the key text for the treatise, namely Hebrews 7:25.  This leads to a discussion of the intercession of Christ and what it entails.  After this there is a lengthy discussion of the benefits of Christ's intercession and the fact that this intercession is not only needed by people looking for initial salvation but on an ongoing basis by those who believe but who still wrestle (often unsuccessfully) against our own fallen human nature, about which the author is definitely knowledgeable.  After that the author continues looking at the people who are interested in the intercession of Christ and how deep (or shallow) this interest can be, showing an admirable grasp of the tangle of motives that lead people to better understand their ambivalent feelings towards belief in and transformation by God through conversion.  Nevertheless, the author ends the treatise on a positive note by talking about the surety of salvation for those who approach God sincerely (and who are called by Him) as well as commenting on the use of this book in praying for and encouraging others that the reader happens to know.

I must state, in case someone reads this book, that I am not a fan of everything the author says.  I would think that the author would do well to look at John 6:44, for example, and be more clear about the way that God must call those who seek Him, for our own ability to approach God genuinely is limited by our own corrupt nature.  The process and complexity of the calling, though, is not the primary point of this treatise and so I will not fault the author for not commenting about it at length, as his focus was more on the aspect of justification and sanctification and pointing out that coming to God through Jesus Christ is a matter of the utmost seriousness.  The author and I differ concerning our beliefs on the soul--the author, like many people, sees the soul as immortal rather than seeing eternal life as something that must be given because we do not possess it on our own.  That said, this book does a good job at pointing out the need to come to God through Christ sincerely and to accept that this will involve drastic changes within ourselves that we may not always have in mind when we come to God seeking the intercession of Christ on our behalf.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There belongs to every true notion of truth a power; the notion is the shell - the power is the kernel and life.” John Bunyan, The Works of John Bunyan, Volume 1, Pg 239.

I read Bunyan because when I do, he proclaims the true notion of the truth he is speaking on, and time and again I have seen the Holy Spirit take these truths and communicate something of the power of it. This book is no exception, and has been a great ballast in a difficult summer. What a comfort and power there is in knowing in my imperfect living, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for me. And He will not fail to save fully those for whom He died.

[Mwansa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Really makes you come to terms with the intercessory role of Christ in the heavenly realms as well as the need for it. A major stand out point for me was that Christ gets glory in his intercessory role in that no matter what I do as a believer he is both more than willing and more than able to save me and that to the uttermost

[Josh Stowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the beginning of this work explaining the role of Christ intercession but some of the application dragged for me. John Bunyan is one of the greats so perhaps a second reading at a later time will do me some good.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books that Bunyan ever wrote.

[Lily’s Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up after seeing it quoted often in Dane Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly. It’s a deep dive treatise into Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
I found the 1600s grammar and run on sentences made for a challenging reading experience, so I didn’t get as much out of this as I had hoped. I enjoyed the last chapter & section the most Every Sincere Comer Certain of Salvation // Inferences From the Certainty of Benefit From Christ’s Intercession.

[Chad Grindstaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short work by Bunyan. It is an exposition of Hebrews 7:25 and draws out beautifully the glorious work of Christ to save his people to the uttermost. Bunyan, in good Puritan fashion, mines this one verse for the many riches that are in it. Well worth the read.

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great.

[Liz Cowden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me forever to finish because it is in near old English. Took away solid truths and good foundational points