Blood Work

Um, yeah. This was okay. This is a brief survey of the New Testament's usage of Christ's blood – both literal and metaphorical – essentially looking at the question, what does the Atonement do for the believer?

Carter's answer would be: quite a lot. The blood of Christ purchases, propitiates, justifies, redeems, cleans, sanctifies, ransoms and frees the believer who is brought near to other believers by the blood, are given peace by it and are elect in it. In addition to looking at key texts supporting or explaining each of these aspects of the atonement, Carter brings in historic catechisms and confessions to help understand his point, and then invokes song lyrics to demonstrate (in part) that this is what people have believed for generations – or to help the reader apply the lessons to themselves.

Carter writes with a very personable style and obvious passion – it is easy to “hear” a lot of this book being preached, and done so with great efficacy and application to the individual. It's this that kept me going through the book after it became pretty clear that this was going to be a survey at best, and not an in-depth examination of anything. While I did admire his ability to quote a historic catechism in one breath and hip hop lyrics in the next, I wonder if he wasn't too reliant on quoting lyrics (rap or hymnody) to seal his points. A minor quibble at best, but one that stuck with me.

Ultimately, I was a little disappointed, I wanted more. I can't put my finger on anything and say “This could've been made better, here.” But there were several places that could've been true. It's certainly not shallow, but it's nowhere near deep. Nor particularly insightful. But it is solid, it is passionate, it is focused on the essentials – and for many people that's exactly what they need. Maybe if I'd read this a week or so later (or earlier), I'd have had a different reaction.