‘Concern for the present life has over-powered that for the life to come’. So writes Paul Helm in the Introduction to this timely study of the four ‘last things’: death, judgment, heaven and hell. His purpose is ‘not to speculate, or sentimentalise, but to state as sharply and starkly as possible the plain facts of the matter as Scripture portrays them’.

Paul Helm writes with careful thought and serious purpose, but also with the humility and sensitivity of a Christian convinced that we must follow God’s word wherever it leads, and no further.

The Last Things not only clarifies our view of the future-it also provides a fresher, clearer perspective on the present life.

The Last Things completes Paul Helm’s trilogy on the Christian life, which includes The Beginnings and The Callings, also published by the Trust.

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Review

• Review by Gavin Ortlund

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‘Paul Helm’s Calvin and the Calvinists is by far the best and clearest response to Kendall’s essay on ‘Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649′. Helm demonstrates conclusively that Kendall has misinterpreted Calvin’s successors. Where Kendall claims an intellectualist approach for Calvin and a voluntarist view in the Puritans, Helm shows clearly that both Calvin and Puritans taught the interrelationship of intellect and will in the act of faith. Where Kendall claims a universalist view of atonement for Calvin over against his successors, Helm demonstrates a continuity of doctrine. One can only hope that the majority of those who have been subjected to Kendall’s work will look to Helm’s essay for a sound corrective.’
, RICHARD A. MULLER, Calvin Theological Seminary

Book Description

Many have taken it for granted that the Calvinistic theology which spread across the western world in the seventeenth century was substantially the theology of John Calvin himself. it was a considerable surprise therefore when Dr. R. T. Kendall attempted to show, in his Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649, published in 1981, that later Calvinism was in fact a departure from the theology of the Reformer.

In this pioneering study Paul Helm shows that the substantial claims that Dr. Kendall makes over the alleged theological departures from Calvin, about the relation between the death and intercession of Christ and the character of saving faith and conversion, cannot be supported from Calvin, but rest on distortions and misunderstandings. With the onset of the Counter-Reformation and the rise of Arminianism questions had to be faced which Calvin himself did not address. However, the Reformed theologians who tackled these issues did so in ways that were entirely consistent with the thought of Calvin himself.

Since Calvin and the Calvinists was first published in 1982 further scholarship has confirmed and developed its main claims. But this careful and clear exposition remains of abiding value, not only for the scholar but also for all Christians who are concerned to evaluate their own theological heritage.

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An unconverted Christian is an impossibility. This is the clear testimony of the Bible. Consequently it is of paramount importance for us to understand the beginnings of spiritual life, to know what God has said concerning conversion, what it is and what it is not. This book seeks to examine in some detail the essential strands: awareness of sin, faith in Jesus Christ and repentance. Other areas covered by Paul Helm include ‘legalism’, the relation of faith to assurance and the present need for accurate language in the church to maintain preaching and Christian experience within a thoroughly biblical framework.

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The Christian life begins when we hear and respond to the ‘call’ of Jesus Christ. Like the first disciples, we must ‘leave everything’ in order to follow him.

But does this mean we must enter what is often called ‘full-time Christian service’? How can we devote ourselves to witnessing to Jesus Christ if we spend so much time and energy doing an ‘ordinary’ job?

Paul Helm believes that many Christians’ lives have been harmed by thinking that the only worthwhile way to lives is in some kind of ‘Christian’ career. In fact, God ‘calls’ the vast majority of Christians to serve him where they are, on the factory floor, in the office, behind the counter or at the check out desk.

The Callings shows that instead of dividing life into ‘spiritual’ and ‘secular’ compartments, every moment of it can be lived fully to the glory of God.

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