Getting the Garden Right, Adam’s Work and God’s Rest in Light of Christ

This is an important book. The Bible tells the story of God’s salvation of sinners in Christ. But that story does not begin in Bethlehem. It begins, well, at the beginning, in the garden. Adam’s work and God’s rest set the stage for the rest of history.

Publisher: Founders Press
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781943539086

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Richard C. Barcellos, PhD, is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA, and Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology at IRBS. He is author of Trinity & Creation: A Scriptural and Confessional Account and Getting the Garden Right: Adam’s Work and God’s Rest in Light of Christ. He is also the Managing Editor and Book Review Editor for Journal of IRBS.

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“Pastors and theologians have been called ‘God’s water treatment specialists,’ protecting the churches from bad water and subsequent bad health. In the history of Christianity, faithful pastors and theologians who have engaged and critiqued bad theology were doing ‘polemical theology.’ All pastors and theologians are called to serve the churches in this way and protect them from both bad doctrine and wrong teachers. Sadly, in our postmodern culture, few pastor-theologians engage in polemics and even fewer still do it well. Dr. Richard Barcellos is a welcome exception. He puts the churches in his debt in this tour de force examination of how God’s revelation in the garden of Eden plays itself out through the rest of the Bible. Irenically, and yet firmly, the author examines New Covenant Theology and finds it wanting in regards to the biblical revelation and the history of Reformed theology. I find this a great example of Christian scholarship in service to the churches. It is methodologically sound, respectful to those with whom it disagrees, and clearly written. The chapter on hermeneutics alone is worth the price of the book. I highly commend this book to all Reformed pastors and theologians, especially Baptist and ‘New Covenant’ pastors and theologians. I pastored for over 30 years in Reformed churches and this book would have helped the people of my church wanting to know why we were different from the church down the road and it would have been great to give to my New Covenant brethren with whom I dialogued for over 25 years. If all works of polemics were done like this, there would be more light on problematic doctrinal issues and greater unity and joy in the churches.” Steve Martin, Coordinator of the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America (ARBCA)