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CROSSWAY BOOKS WHEATON, ILLINOIS DoctrinesOfGrace.11288.int.qxd 2/23/09 2:19 PM Page 4

The Doctrines of Grace Original edition copyright © 2002 by Linda McNamara Boice and Philip Graham Ryken Published by Crossway Books a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law. Cover design: Chris Tobias First printing, trade paper, 2009 Printed in the United States of America Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is from The Holy Bible: New International Version.® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society. Scripture references marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version. Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Scripture references marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. ISBN: 978-1-4335-1128-8 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-0946-9 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-0947-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Boice, James Montgomery, 1938–2000 The doctrines of grace : rediscovering the evangelical gospel / , Philip Graham Ryken. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-299-4 ISBN 10: 1-58134-299-3 (HC : alk. paper) 1. . 2. Grace (Theology) I. Ryken, Philip Graham, 1966– II. Title. BX9422.3 B65 2002 230'.42—dc21 2001007701

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Foreword 8

I have often wondered how my ministry would change if I were to hear a prognosis from my physician that I had a terminal disease and only months or weeks left to live. Would I retire from active ministry to care solely for my own needs? Would I try to continue ministry with a renewed sense of urgency? Would my messages be more bold? I don’t know the answers to these questions. But I do know what Jim Boice did when the above scenario became real to him. From the day he learned he was dying of cancer to his actual demise, the span of time was a mere six weeks. Forty-two days. The last two of those weeks he was bedridden and extremely weak. While the virulent disease was sapping his strength daily, Dr. Boice called upon a reservoir of strength in his own soul, a strength quickened and sustained by the grace of God, to continue writing hymns and this present volume. He did not live long enough to see this work completed but was encouraged by the assur- ance that his colleague Dr. would complete it for him. As familiar as I am with Jim Boice’s style and content, on a first reading I could not detect where Jim’s writing ended and Phil’s began. Of one thing I was sure: Jim did not write the last chapter.Yet in an ear- lier draft of chapter 2, in the midst of a treatment of Abraham Kuyper, reference was made to Kuyper’s famous Stone Lectures at Princeton University in 1898. This reference was followed by the comment: “We shall return to the subject of these lectures in our final chapter.” When I read this comment I wondered to whom the “we” and “our” referred. Was the plural used as a result of editing that occurred after Dr. Boice’s death, indicating the joint project with Dr. Ryken? Or was this me