Review: "The Naked Gospel" by Andrew Farley

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. Here he takes on several key issues that most christians believe in and shoots them down. One of these areas is the idea that christians are sinners. This is something preached and believed in by most christians. He lays an excellent groundwork for the work of Christ's sacrifice and how believers are a new creation. They are forgiven etc... He is not the first to declare this but he does it with a lot of clarity. Another key area that he deals with is the difference between the "old man" and the flesh and sin. Farley believes a christian's old man is no longer an issue but the issue is with the flesh and sin. He makes the point that this is very important as it affects how one views themselves. If our old man is present it means we are at war with ourselves so to speak. Again a very good explanation on our identity. He writes very effectively on how the law is not meant for the christian. This is perhaps one of the best points he makes.

The second half of the book Farley seems to start interpreting a lot of verses based on his redemptive theological lens which at times seems to be dancing around what seems to be obvious truth. A term he accuses others of doing. Well I suppose we all do it to some degree. Difficult passages are solved easily by saying they are applied to non christians. The seemingly difficult faith vs works passage in James is easily solved by saying it is referring toward salvation only. Another example is the overcomers in Revelation. These are according to Farley "all christians". His interpretation of 1John on confessing sin does seem however to fit rather well to this lens.

The end of the book was also a bit disheartening as he mentions the signs and wonders in acts were mainly for the lift off of the church and are not really meant for today. He does not go so far as saying he does not believe in them but merely that we now have the written word so we don't need them any more. His next book is also going to explain how those in Heb. 6 who tasted of heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost were really non believers which were enemies of God. Can anyone say more dancing. All in all though it is worth the read just for his excellent treatment of the identity of the believer.