The Church that John the Baptist Prepared

The Church that John the Baptist Prepared: A Study of the Life, Ministry, and Theology of the Messiah’s Forerunner (2nd Edition, Revised) Joel R. Grassi, Cromwell, CT: Bible Baptist Theological Press, 2021.

The author, Joel R. Grassi, is pastor of Commonwealth Community Baptist Church in Bronx, New York. The book The Church that John the Baptist Prepared is a revised edition of Joel Grassi’s doctoral thesis at Emmanuel Baptist Theological Seminary in Newington, Connecticut.

In the “Foreword,” Thomas Strouse explains “The organization of the book follows the words of Mt. 3:1-2a made into Four Sections: I. ‘In Those Days;’ II. ‘Came John the Baptist;’ III. ‘Preaching in the Wilderness of Judaea;’ and IV. ‘And Saying.’ Within these Four Sections are twenty-three chapters with 841 pages and 1542 footnotes” (p. 12). In addition to the meat of the work, the book includes a Foreword, Preface, Overview, and Bibliography. No index is provided.

Grassi’s work accepts the high esteem that Jesus Christ places on John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11). This accepted, the author mines the Scriptures to develop the proper view of John’s baptism and theology in relation to New Testament theology and ecclesiology. “Christ’s church did not fall out of heaven to Him. Rather, the disciples of Christ were passed to Him via the hands of John the Baptist, who preached the Lamb of God unto them and immersed them upon seeing the fruits of their repentance” (p. 19). He is rightly convinced that the “Biblical record must be the final authority for assessing the significance of John the Baptist” (ibid).

I am uncertain whether there is any other in-depth development of the theology of John the Baptist as what is found in this work. Grassi looks at John’s bibliology, theology proper, Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Most readers – even Baptists – will likely be forced to consider John in detail far beyond what they have previously considered.

A detailed review of a book this large would take more time than I have, and more words than my readers might read. Suffice it to say, for students interested in Bible study, ecclesiology, and Baptists, this will be an instructional and beneficial read that I recommend to you.

Other works by Grassi include

• A Critical Analysis of the English Standard Version of 2001

For more information, see also:

• New Bible Baptist Church Books
• Second Edition of John the Baptist Book is Now Available
• The Church that John the Baptist Prepared

Baptismal Anthem, by B. F. White

First published in The Sacred Harp, 1844