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Guarding against Backsliding and Apostasy in the Christian Life
Mark Jones addresses the uncomfortable topic of backsliding believers—and, to a lesser extent, apostasy—in a serious, hopeful, and pastoral work informed by wise theologians of the past and present.
The Pilgrim's Regress
Mark Jones
Mark Jones (PhD, Leiden University) is Senior Minister at Faith Vancouver Presbyterian Church (PCA) and Research Associate at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He has written and edited several books and most recently coauthored A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life.
Mark Jones addresses the uncomfortable topic of backsliding believers—and, to a lesser extent, apostasy—in a serious, hopeful, and pastoral work informed by wise theologians of the past and present.Title: The Pilgrim's Regress: Guarding against Backsliding and Apostasy in the Christian Life
Author: Mark Jones
Publisher: P&R Publishing
Pages: 240
Binding: Paperback
Size: 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
ISBN: 9781629959665“Each chapter is a wake‑up call providing clear spiritual medicine for Christians to progress and not regress in their faith. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It’s a must-read.”
—Rosaria Butterfield, author, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age
“Warning! Don’t read this book if you don’t want to be confronted with the danger of backsliding to which every Christian is constantly exposed. Warning! Don’t read this book if you don’t want to be encouraged by learning of the resources readily available to every Christian for countering the ever-present tendency to backsliding. Reading this book has been a searching experience for me personally, as Mark Jones carefully delineates the various regressive tendencies that plague the Christian life, explores the difference between them and irremediable apostasy, and unfolds in a deeply probing way the thoroughly sufficient and efficacious remedies that Scripture provides. Don’t heed my warnings. Read this book!”
—Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Emeritus, Westminster Theological SeminaryForeword by Tim Challies ix
Preface xi Acknowledgments xv
Introduction xvii
1. The Testimony of Scripture 1
2. The Pilgrim’s Progress 13
3. The Varieties of Christians 25
4. The Insidiousness of Sin 37
5. The Coldness of Love 51
6. The Resurgence of Pride 65
7. The Abandonment of Godly Fear 77
8. The Death of Mortification 91
9. The Neglect of Prayer 105
10. The Disregard for Scripture 119
11. The Abandonment of Church 129
12. The Folly of Backsliding 139
13. The Recovery of Backsliders 149
14. The Slide to Apostasy 159
15. The Victory of Weak Grace 169
Conclusion 181
For Further Reading 185
Bibliography 187
Index of Scripture 193
Index of Subjects and Names 201
