Bob Hendren - Sola Gratia

On Perpetual Timothy, I have sometimes written about similar things, or have occasionally updated something previously mentioned. I want to do my first series of a few articles related to the same thing. These are not my own, but are a series of articles written by Bob Hendren in the late 1970’s. My dad has always had several copies of this, and gave me one a few years ago. Every once in a while, I get it out and reread it.

These articles are on the subject of God’s grace. I think this is a fantastic picture of how God saves us, and what the true relation of grace and faith is. So in my upcoming posts, I intend to retype this series of articles by Bob Hendren. I don’t have anyone’s permission to do this, so I hope that if whoever does comes across these, they will take this as a compliment, not as my effort to take credit for something I didn’t create or to break copyright laws.

Originally, these articles appeared in the Fall 1979 issue of Alternative, a “non-profit publication printed and distributed for the purpose of promoting a return to primitive Christianity as defined in the Word of God.” I have not since come across Alternative, and have no idea if it is still being published. It lists Don Shackelford on the editorial board, who was my Hebrew teacher…I guess I should ask him.

As far as the author goes, Bob Hendren preached at the Donelson Church of Christ, where I grew up, for many years. He was there when I was born, and left around the late ‘80’s when I was still young. I certainly remember him better than he would remember me. People at Donelson still talk about his time there as the good old days. Attendance was the highest it has ever been. A wonderful scholar, he preached directly from the Greek, which probably explains some of why I have taken such an interest in biblical languages. He has fantastic insight and common sense. He is also a very talented observer of cultural trends. I don’t know for sure, but I think he’s now located in Texas. I wouldn’t know how to contact him if I wanted to (and I would actually very much like to). He is the same age as my grandfather, around his mid ‘70’s now.

I post these without his permission, and I hope it doesn’t get me in trouble, but I think these are good enough that it’s worth me taking the risk. If there are any typos or misspelled words, I will take the credit for those.

It is my hope that you, o reader, will really take the time to think about these, so I am going to post the sections in 5 parts. After that, I'll post the whole thing as a .pdf for anyone who wants it. Hope you enjoy.