Warren Wiersbe is well known to the evangelical public, partly through his popular series of ‘BE Commentaries’. He has gained a reputation for accurate, simple and practical expositions of every book of the Bible.
Here, he turns his gift for explaining things to the meaning of Bible words and of theological terms. He starts by reminding us all of the power of words. This is illustrated by drawing attention to the publication of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. While many ignored and laughed at Hitler’s autobiography, for every word contained in Mein Kampf 125 people died in World War 2. We are never to underestimate the power of words.
For the Christian, words mean a great deal; or, at least, they should do. After all, our knowledge of God, Jesus Christ, salvation, heaven, hell, how to live in this world and have hope of the world to come are all conveyed in words — words from a book called the Holy Bible. We are people of the Book.
God has chosen to reveal himself through the pages of the Bible. If we want to get to know God, we had better have a good grasp of it. God commands the storing up of his Word within our hearts and minds, as can be seen from Psalm 119:9, 11: ‘Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy Word … Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee’.
Wiersbe takes his readers through some major theological words. These include terms every Christian should understand and be able to explain to others: justification, adoption, regeneration, propitiation, imputation, sanctification, redemption, predestination, and others.
The great ignorance of foundational truths found among today’s evangelicals is surely to be lamented. We can all correct our lack of understanding by reading this readable and helpful Little book of big words.
Stephen Holland
Westhoughton
