Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

Written by Barbara Duguid

Narrated by Pam Ward

Why do Christians-even mature Christians-still sin so often? Why doesn't God set us free? We seem to notice more sin in our lives all the time, and we wonder if our progress is a constant disappointment to God. Where is the joy and peace we read about in the Bible?

Speaking from her own struggles, Barbara Duguid turns to the writings of John Newton to teach us God's purpose for our failure and guilt-and to help us adjust our expectations of ourselves. Her empathetic, honest approach lifts our focus from our own performance back to the God who is bigger than our failures-and who uses them for his glory. Rediscover how God's extravagant grace makes the gospel once again feel like the good news it truly is!

• Language: English
• Publisher: ChristianAudio.com
• Release date: Nov 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781545919736

Reviews for Extravagant Grace

[ludiegrace · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In many ways this book was a balm to my soul. It is an exploration of John Newton's teaching on sanctification, which stands as a rebuke to triumphalistic claims of victory over sin. By contrast, Newton advised the recipients of his pastoral letters that the purpose of sanctification is not that we sin less and less in this life, but that we increasingly see our absolute need for Jesus.

This has a lot of implications for one's daily walk. It means taking a high view of the Holy Spirit's sovereignty over our sanctification. There is not a "Holy Spirit switch" we can flip to aid us in our fight against sin, when we can muster the willpower for it. He has us right where he wants us at every moment, appointing different circumstances and allotments of faith to each person throughout their lives. It means recognizing that repentance for sin and the ability to change do not always, or even often, arrive in tandem. It frees us to be gentler with ourselves and with others, meeting them where they are.

There were other aspects that were more troubling to me. For instance, I was disappointed that Duguid refers only in passing to the role of the sacraments and means of grace in our sanctification. More broadly, although she does not discount the scriptural exhortations to strive toward holiness, it was never clear to me how that striving fits into the overall picture of our learning to revel in grace . . . only that our gratitude will naturally overflow into desiring to obey more and more. I wished she would have spent more time "showing her work" exegetically.

I have struggled with this topic over the past few years, and at times it isn't clear to me how the "resting more and more" approach doesn't just throw weak consciences back onto the treadmill of doubt and frustration. I would love to have a conversation with someone like Barbara Duguid or Tullian Tchividjian about that. In the meantime, I do recommend this book, but it should be read with discernment, of course, and one should be prepared to wrestle with it.

[mandy42990 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Wherever you have sinned and continue to sin, he has obeyed in your place. That means that you are free to struggle and fail; you are free to grow slowly; you are free at times not to grow at all; you are free to cast yourself on the mercy of God for a lifetime.” Extravagant Grace Ch 9 pg 153

Do you believe that sanctification progresses in the measure you cooperate with God’s work in you? Do you believe that you should sin less, and be perfect more, the longer you’ve been a Christian? Do you believe experiencing addictive, habitual sin means there is something wrong with your Christianity? Barbara Duguid, in her book Extravagant Grace: God’s Glory Displayed In Our Weakness (P&R, 2013) answers with a resounding and shocking “NO!”. Instead, she re-defines what is typically understood by the “victorious christian life”. Painfully transparent pastor’s wife and counselor, Duguid deploys the writings of John Newton (former slave trader, pastor, and author of the hymn “Amazing Grace”) to argue that joy in Christ is not about growing in perfection, but recognizing that God’s purposes and sovereignty include even the Christian’s continuous failure in the face of sin. She argues that sanctification is not about sinning less, but depending on Christ more, and urges us to relinquish the delusion that we can move towards perfection through our own efforts.

Read the full review at Book On a Crag