As the title implies, this book is a careful and most helpful treatise of the two great soteriological doctrines of justification and regeneration. The volume is solid, biblical and in-depth without being indiscernable by the average reader. The author, therefore, accomplishes what is difficult to do—communicate great doctrinal truths in a readable format.
Leiter explains justification in his first three chapters, then turns to regeneration which takes up the bulk of the book. Many great themes are developed, including the fact that we are new creations with new births and new natures. In addition, the essence of our lives as believers has changed from flesh to spirit, from earth to heaven, from sin to righteousness, from law to grace, from Adam to Christ. While I would not be in agreement with the author’s use of Ezekiel 36 to describe the Christian’s new heart (pp. 63-65) or that Matthew 7:15-20 is a picture of true and false believers (pp. 77-80) or that the New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ (p. 64), I found this whole section to be of great help as well as challenging.
Some bonuses in Justification and Regeneration include a marvelous listing of all we have in Christ (pp. 176; 157-164), correct teaching on 1 John’s “cannot sin” passage (pp, 143-145), and an excellent overview of Romans 6 and 7 (pp. 147-155).
I highly recommend Justification and Regeneration to any serious student of Scripture and theology.