Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us

Is another book on grace really what the church needs? Grace has become what Preston calls a "Christianese buzzword" for Christians. Something that he wrote elsewhere, "is often buried in a pile of religious bumper stickers trying to keep the gospel strapped in a pew." And he's right. We say it before meals, we name our daughters after it, we ask our professors for it, we try do dance or sing with it, and we sometimes bestow it on our friends and welcome them into our "good graces". Yet that's the difference between our human, finite understanding of grace and God's divinely infinite, radical, and "stubborn delight in His enemies" (24). Enter "Charis".

At the very heart of "Charis" is a full understanding of the biblical story of God. Beginning in Genesis 1 and 2, Preston walks through the Bible, highlighting key figures and events, and forms a biblical theology of grace ("Charis" in Greek). Most of his time is spent chugging the Old Testament, leaving relatively very little time to sip the New Testament like a fine wine. But his hard work pays off. Instead of reading the Old Testament morally--or looking at character studies of Old Testament people as examples to follow--Sprinkle reads the Old Testament theologically. In all of it's blood, overbearing laws, steamy sensuality, and crazy prophets cooking their food over dung, the Old Testament showcases a God who deepest desire is a relationship with sinful human beings (Sprinkle's main example being famed killer Jeffrey Dahmer) even though we, like the Israelites at Mount Sinai, commit "adultery on our wedding night" (72). Looking at the lives of biblical "heroes" such as Abraham, Judah, Rahab, and Ruth, and even the twelve "thugs" Jesus spends time with, Sprinkle creates a massive case against works righteousness: "The good news isn’t 'God helps those who help themselves'; the good news is 'You’re wicked , your life’s a mess, and only God can fix it.' God helps those who realize that they can’t help themselves" (30).

It's time to get back to a biblical understanding of God's relentless pursuit of his most prized possession: Us. Preston manages to avoid a shallow prosperity gospel by humbling himself in front of the biblical text, making this a very accessible but deeply theological read. Although he does spend a few pages on it at the end, Sprinkle unfortunately speaks very little about obedience and abiding in Christ rather than using grace as a license to sin. But even still, he emphasizes that if you've read about God's scandalous love and grace in "Charis" and still aren't moved to obedience and service to Him, then you've clearly missed the point. And what was the point all along? Grace has often been "domesticat[ed]," calm[ed] down," and "stuff[ed] into a blue blazer and a pair of khakis." Oh yes, church, another book on grace is exactly what we need.

Whether you are a "Varsity Christian," "Continual Backslider," or simply unimpressed or unmoved by God lately, this book will be a deeply soul-refreshing, mind-satisfying book, that will refocus your heart to the most beautiful message in the world: God's grace to sinners. I am so grateful that God has gifted Preston Sprinkle the intellect, passion, and maturity, not to move on from the grace of Jesus, but to help us average folks dive deeper into it and walk away more in love with our Savior. Preston helps us see how the God of the Bible is not an angry God in the Old Testament and then a nice God in the New Testament, but a reckless pursuer and unconditional lover of wicked people throughout every page of the Scriptures.

There will be moments you will be forced to put the book down and simply thank God for His love. Not because Preston instructs you to, but because the message of grace is too beautiful not to cry out in thanksgiving to our kind God.

His chapter entitled, "Whore," is worth more than the entire book will cost you, I promise.

Many songs have been written that proclaim God's amazing grace. Sadly, "grace" is often misunderstood and/or explained according to a "decaffeinated definition" (pg. 23). Thankfully, God has graced us with this book Charis, which I believe sets the record straight.

From beginning to end, author Preston Sprinkle exalts God who grants grace to vile sinners. Sprinkle does this by highlighting key—and downright dirty—stories within the biblical narrative, in which God's stubborn delight for sinners magnifies His grace.

This is not your typical "Sunday School" teaching. Dr. Sprinkle does not hold back! He says it like the Holy Spirit says it in Scripture, which at times is pornographic ("Porno comes from porneia, which means 'fornication,' and graphic comes from grapho, which means to write.' Ezekiel 16 writes about fornication; it’s—literally—divinely inspired pornography," pg. 97). By telling it like it is, Dr. Sprinkle exposes the wonderful beauty and scandal of God's grace.

In the future, when I'm asked to recommend a book about grace, this is the book I'll recommend first.

"Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled."

("Grace Greater Than Our Sin" by Julia H. Johnston)

I had been "stalking" this book since I first heard about it through David C. Cook so was tickled pink when I won a copy of it. And, yes, I had my highlighter handy throughout. *wink*

In this book, Mr. Sprinkle goes through the Old Testament showing us God's grace and how, well, scandalous it really is. Often, we (collectively speaking) tend to not see the big picture of grace. At least, that's my observation (and I am guilty of this as well). But I saw the Old Testament in a new light. Don't get me wrong, some areas, I already saw God's grace. But in others, it was like "huh...never noticed that before!" I believe one of my favorite chapters was chapter 6 titled "Whore" (eyebrows raised yet?). Yep...think I had tears falling throughout that chapter. Now, Mr. Sprinkle doesn't sugar coat this stuff and he does warn you in the preface! But I think that's what some people need. This will be one I will read again...and probably again. :)

"So dust off your Old Testament, and let's take a journey - a familiar journey perhaps, but with fresh eyes. A journey into God's autobiography, where harlots are hugged, enemies are enjoyed, whores are made whole, and really bad people receive really good things from a Creator who stubbornly delights in undelightful people." -Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us by Preston Sprinkle

Rarely do I consider a non fiction book to be a page turner, but this one is tough to put down. It was even better given my familiarity with the characters and references Sprinkle uses. Great, great book. I'm jealous; should have written it.

Really changed the way I looked at the old testament. God is good! His free gift given to us is just amazing and never ending.

As a pastor's kid who's just kind of done the culture thing for a while (while sincerely pursuing Jesus), this shed a whole new light on how much God loves me and how any righteous acts I do really are filthy rags in comparison to the amount of love he has lavished on me. Definitely will be rereading again soon!

This book is amazing. I've read it TWICE already!!! Preston has captured the definition of Grace in a way that I can really relate to. I love the character backgrounds he does on many of the people mentioned in the Old and New Testiments. I HIGHLY recommend this book!!

I've read this several times and have sent copies to other people. A must read!

I got this book on Kindle, and I highly recommend it as a wonderful book on God's grace for us. Sprinkle does an excellent job of showing God's grace to the most undeserving...in the old and new testaments and shows exactly how God does the choosing. He shows how God picked the most flawed in many cases and didn't respond to "their" requests but instead initiated his "Scandalous Grace" to them. That applies to us as is shown in his writing. Sprinkle is very frank in his discussion, and this may or may not appeal to some, but to me, it was a fresh wonderful approach. This would make an excellent study guide for a bible class dealing with Grace. If I could give it more stars, I would gladly do it. Thanks Dr. Sprinkle for your thoughtful work and thank you Lord for the inspiration.