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“Not only was the late eighteenth century indebted to Caleb Evans, but I have found my own twenty-first century mind greatly stirred and edified by his work. Evans engaged the timeless truth and power of the atoning work of Christ in the context of a specific challenge presented by the Socinian English Dissenter Joseph Priestly. Priestly denied the Trinity and consequently the deity of Christ, and, in a horrific cascade of consistency, the doctrine of substitution and propitiation in the atoning work of Christ. Necessarily then justification by faith and all its attendant doctrines had to go also. Evans looked to the central doctrine of substitutionary atonement as the key by which to reconstruct the power and truly biblical dimensions of all these doctrines. His cogent, clear and powerful presentation of biblical texts and doctrinal and apologetic reasoning about the glory of the cross and the person whose life it took feed the heart and satisfy the mind. In our own theological context, when some wearing the badge of evangelical seek to remove the biblical theme of substitution from the cross, this argument is just as relevant and powerful as it was when Evans first preached–and then published–his answer to these serious perversions of the gospel.”
TOM NETTLES
Professor of Church History Emeritus
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY
“There are some doctrines of the Christian faith that must be re-articulated and defended in every generation until Jesus comes. Among these, perhaps none is more critical than the doctrine of the person and work of Christ as it comes to fruition in his atonement for sinners. In his generation, Caleb Evans, the Pastor of Broadmead Baptist Church and Principal of Bristol Baptist Academy, proclaimed and defended this great truth with eloquence and biblical precision. This republication gives us all another opportunity to profit from this important work.”
KIRK WELLUM
Principal, The Toronto Baptist Seminary, Toronto, Ontario
“Is there anything more soul-satisfying than the contemplation of Christ-crucified? Here is food for the hungry and rest for the weary. In the present work, Caleb Evans expounds the wonders of this glorious truth with biblical fidelity and pastoral sensitivity. Read it, and be encouraged in Christ our Savior.”
STEPHEN YUILLE
Pastor, Grace Community Church, Glen Rose, TX.
Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality,
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY
“In reading these four magnificent sermons by Caleb Evans from the 18th century on the achievement of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, one is struck with how relevant they are to today’s discussion! Throughout the ages, the cross has been a stumbling block to unbelievers but the power and wisdom of God to the church. Evans does a masterful job dismantling criticism of the cross in his day (which also applies to our own day) and simultaneously presenting our Lord’s work in all of its beauty, depth, and breadth. Take up and read these wonderful sermons, and more than that, rejoice in Christ crucified, and leave determined to know him who is life eternal and to make him known to the world.”
STEPHEN J. WELLUM
Professor of Christian Theology at
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary