Classic Christianity

Continuing in the vein of my "How have you not heard of this book?" theme, a beloved family member read Classic Christianity by Bob George and recommended I check it out and let them know what I thought.  This is a very popular book that was originally published in the late 1980's.  On the back cover it says "you'll see the way back to the life Jesus provided - a life free from the bondage of the law, lived in the newness of His Spirit, and secure in His love."  Now, please understand that I am all for freedom in Christ, but I am a Type A personality who enjoys rules and guidelines and the stability they provide.  I see laws, and more specifically, the Law as way to know how we are supposed to be and how to live peaceably together and with God.  When someone starts talking about being in 'bondage' to my beloved Law I'm starting to get concerned.  But I still went in with a very open mind and wanting to get whatever nuggets God had for me from this work.  
One aspect of the book I really appreciated was the focus on the Cross and how it is enough; we can't add to it or take away from it.  "Christian maturity is not starting out with Jesus, then graduating to something better.  The Christian life is starting with Christ, then spending the rest of eternity discovering more and more of what we already have in Him, more and more of the wonders of this Person 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' (Colossians 2:3)" (p. 55).  Part of this is trusting that when we are forgiven, it is done.  "A failure to recognize and trust that the sin issue between you and God is over will effectively stop your spiritual growth in Christ....The process of spiritual maturity is simply our learning to turn more and more areas of our lives over to Christ through faith" (p. 56).  
Bob George then goes into a discussion on self-image and identity and how we, as believers, need to realize who we are 'in' Christ.  'For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive' (1 Corinthians 15:22).  God has "left us his name, his nature, an inheritance, and a destiny" (p. 82).  Our identity in Christ needs to be the central issue in our life and as that increases we will experience more and more of the real Christian life.  We need to be moving forward in the confidence of our complete acceptance by God and come to God with that mindset (Hebrews 4:16).  
I enjoyed a chapter entitled 'The Great Exchange', The author says "You will never have a changed life until you experience the exchanged life...Christianity is not a self-improvement program.  It isn't a reformation project.  It is resurrection! It is new life!" (p. 101).  The exchange come when we trade our old life for a new life and, with that, a standing of total acceptance before God (ie. justification).  Here's a few paragraphs that made me make a little star in the margin,

It has always hit me as very strange that in many Christian groups the good news of Jesus Christ seems to be reserved for the lost man, while Christians are living in guilt, insecurity, and fear of God's anger.  You could be an ax murderer or a Mafia hit man, and the message will be, "God loves you, and Jesus Christ died for your sins.  All you need to do is receive Him by faith and you'll be saved!"  That's right!  Any man who comes to Jesus Christ will be saved, regardless of his past.  However, the believers are getting a message like this: "You dirty, rotten backsliders!  You'd better clean up your act, or God's punishment will fall on you!"  First you get the good news, then after you're a Christian you get the bad news.

Romans 5:6-10 is trying to answer this very error.  Paraphrased, it says: If God demonstrated the greatness of His love toward you in that - even when you were helpless, ungodly sinners, and His enemies - Christ died for you, how much more - now that you are members of the family! - are you secure from fear of His judgment! (p. 102)

A bit further on, he says, "We ought to see each other with an invisible sign on our chests reading, 'Under construction'.  It would make us more tolerant and forgiving toward one another" (p. 104).  Now this I agree with; we need to give each other the benefit of the doubt and endless amounts of grace.  But, the larger quote started to make me a little nervous because I am very leery of heading down the slippery slope of saying that once we have made the 'decision' for Christ our job is done.  I'm a big proponent of sanctification and believe that it is strong evidence of a true believer and the work of the Spirit in someone's life.  When we see someone wandering from the truth, we are called as their brothers and sisters in Christ, to bring them back from that (James 5:19-20).  This is not judgment on them or calling them a backslider, but rather a loving act - this is not bad news!  
Bob George continues on this thought with the statement "The goal of the Christian life is not to stop sinning!...[Knowing Christ] is the real goal of the Christian life!" (p. 127).  He does say that as we grow in our knowledge of Christ, sin should lose it's appeal and we won't want to settle for "anything less than experiencing Jesus Christ Himself every minute" (p. 127).  He says that the Law exposes the core problem - being obsessed with sin.  "Law and grace cannot coexist" (p. 136) was where I started to get a little more concerned about what I was reading.  We know that Jesus came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17-19) and is also our example of true grace so they must be able to coexist. 
As I was reading, I made a note 'this is not sitting right with me somehow'.  I didn't know it at the time, but I was learning about antinomianism.  I spent some time researching it and gleaned a lot.  As it would happen, and often does, in God's perfect timing, the week after I finished reading Classic Christianity, The White Horse Inn did a broadcast on the subject and even mentioned Bob George.  This helped me enormously and I would encourage you to click on the 'Program Audio' in the link and take the time to learn more about it.  
So, my feeing about Classic Christianity is that it has some great encouragements and reminders about who we are in Jesus and how to keep ourselves in that frame of mind as we journey with Him.  Alas, I would not pass it on to just any believer, and especially not a new believer.  It could be a great danger to someone who is looking for license to continue in their sin patterns and claim there is no requirement for them to desire or make a change.  Someone who has a strong level of spiritual maturity and could sift out the chaff from the wheat in the book may enjoy it for the nuggets it does contain.