Awaiting a Savior: The Gospel, the New Creation and the End of Poverty by Aaron Armstrong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Poverty is a topic that receives a lot of discussion these days. People are talking about the poor in their own cities as well as the poor in parts of the world that have been affected by wars and other disasters. What do we do about the problem of poverty? More specifically, how should Christians think about and address this problem? “Awaiting a Savior: The Gospel, the New Creation and the End of Poverty” by Aaron Armstrong seeks to get to the heart of the issue surrounding poverty as well as providing the best way to help the poor.

This book is written from a Biblical perspective which means that Armstrong locates “the root cause of poverty” in the fall of mankind into sin and rebellion against its Creator (Kindle Location 224) and because of this poverty "will persist as long as the heart of man is ruled by sin." (Kindle Location 238) Armstrong seeks “to show that the best way to help the poor is to minister to them as the Church, in both word and deed, to the glory of God” (Kindle Location 245). The rest of the book (8 chapters) draws out the implications of sin, the gospel of Jesus Christ as the solution to mankind’s sin, and the hope of a new creation where sin and poverty will be brought to an end.

It’s within this framework that the Christian response to poverty is found. Christians should avoid a utopian vision of eradicating poverty as well as a cold-hearted, do-nothing approach. Instead, Armstrong argues that the Christian response to the poor should be rooted in grace (Kindle Location 1221). Christians after all have been the undeserved recipients of God’s saving grace in Christ Jesus and so we know what it is like to be on the “receiving end of grace. We were the poor in spirit. We were lost and without hope. We were separated from God and enslaved to sin.” (Kindle Location 1244)

Not only should this lead one to give to the poor but more importantly (and this is why this book is so good) “as Christians, our agenda should be to see rebellious sinners reconciled to the Father. That includes doing what we can to minister to the poor amid their suffering, but it obviously goes well beyond it as well. Our ultimate desire should be to see God glorified as he becomes their Savior.” (Kindle Location 1355)

Overall I found this book very helpful. It is Biblical. It has the problem with this world, sin, and the solution, God’s grace in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, at the center where they should be. The less than generous Christian will be convicted by their lack of generosity and desire to help the poor both physically and spiritually (Chapter 7). The overly optimistic Christian who thinks poverty can be dealt a fatal blow because of their ministry will be brought back to earth with the stark realism of sin and Jesus’ own statements about the poor (Chapter 6). It directs our attention to the consummation of all things and a new heaven and a new earth (Chapter 8). I highly recommend this book to Christians who are wrestling with how to help the poor around them. In fact, the sections in Chapter 7 “Should I Give at All”, “To Whom Should I Give” and the Appendix are worth the price of the book for their practical advice on giving and helping the poor.

Five out of five stars.


View all my reviews