One Perfect Life

One Perfect Life, by John MacArthur is a harmonious compilation of NKJV Scripture, mainly of the Gospel accounts, of Christ's life with Matthew serving as the base text. MacArthur begins in Genesis with the creation and the necessity of mankind for a Savior; he then transitions through Old Testament prophecies before continuing into the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He finishes his massive (516 pages) work with New Testament reflections on the purpose of Christ's resurrection and how it relates to the believer. Although it is a large book, it reads like a story, with a copious amount of footnotes on each page (the footnotes are taken from the MacArthur Study Bible).

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it. I appreciate chronological and harmonious Bibles, but their side-by-side accounts (or repeated sequential accounts) can become tedious to read. MacArthur did a phenomenal job of blending the Scripture so that it not only read easily, but it made me desire to continue to read it, as I saw how the dates and events corresponded with each other. Using superscript, he annotates for the purpose of his footnotes, as well as to differentiate when he is jumping from one gospel author to another. In addition, each chapter is titled and includes Scripture references to the pertaining section. These sections are also organized into an outline form, thus dividing up Christ's life, so that you can distinguish the words and events of his life in time periods (eg- Passover to Passover during his ministry years).  What results is a narrative that is not only a "pleasurable reading material", but can also be used as a reference and resource on your bookshelf. MacArthur's objective was "to bring into full view the One who is Immanuel", and I believe he accomplished this goal.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze® book review  program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255