In the Beginning - God The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible The Sufficiency of Scripture The Holy Trinity The Deity of Jesus Christ The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit Creation The Covenant of Works The Fall of Adam The Covenant of Grace The Incarnation Jesus Christ the Covenant Mediator God's Attributes Divine Image Bearers Jesus as Prophet, Priest and King The Death of Christ The Law and the Gospel The Order of Salvation Election Justification Sanctification Good Works and the Christian Life Marks and Mission of Christ’s Church The Sacraments Baptism The Lord's Supper The Second Coming The New Heavens and Earth
Dr. Riddlebarger is a minister in the United Reformed Churches of North America and currently pastors Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, CA. He is also visiting professor of systematic theology at Westminster Seminary California and a frequent contributor to Tabletalk and Modern Reformation. He has written two books on the end times: A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times, and The Man of Sin: Uncovering The Truth About the Antichrist. For free resources on this subject visit his blog, The Riddleblog, where he has a plethora of free charts, manuscripts and audio.
Another really good book as far as introducing basic Reformed doctrine in a comprehensive yet concise way. Definitely from an amillennial perspective as far as eschatology, as well as more traditional Reformed (Presbyterian) perspective as far as the sacraments, which I'm fine with of course, but could potentially trigger "reformed" people who don't hold to that position, such as "Reformed Baptists." I was glad though that I basically was able to read through the book in a few days, and together with J.I. Packer's Introduction to Covenant Theology that I was able to read in a single day, makes for a simple introduction to Reformed teaching.
This was a very well written book, short concise chapters that pack a punch. There was nothing breathtakingly new (well there was for me I guess as I am still fresh into full covenantal, reformed theology) but I can imagine for those who know the basics already, there will be nothing knew in here for them, but if they want a reminder of what the reformed faith teaches, this is a good book. It also goes without saying, that for those who are not reformed and want to know what we believe, this would be the book for that too! It seems only fitting, Kim Riddlebarger was the one (through his book, The Case for Amilenniallism) that brought me to a place of accepting Covenant theology, this book has helped me understand more fully the reformed faith. Recommend.
If you are looking for a good summary or primer to reformed theology then this book is just the one for you. It is written in a way that is easy to understand and even for one with little to no knowledge of the basics of Christianity. In that sense it is well fitting it's title.
For the Baptist reading it, the realisation that the author is a Presbyterian only hits you in the last fifth of the book. This is no knock on the book but instead reason for commendation as it can be seen to be a representation of what the scriptures say rather than the toeing of the party line.
As someone who does not presently label himself a Reformed Christian, I was very interested in this book as a concise primer on the topic. Because reformed theology, in some aspects, has a stair-step feel to it (sanctification is built upon justification which is built upon predestination, etc.), I felt that the treatment of predestination was wholly incomplete and inadequate to prove the argument. However, the book’s treatment of other topics was helpful and engaging.
This is a great volume, although brief in length. I've enjoyed the accessible chapters. Since my mind is now becoming familiar with Reformed distinctives, I was able to follow all the subject matter, even able to skim a few parts that where really familiar to me. Would recommend this volume to those who are just coming out of modern day evangelicalism.