The Bible can feel a bit like a disjointed historical narrative where the pieces don’t fit together at first. But as the pieces of Scripture come together, readers will understand that the faith and the Church are not about individuals. Rather, it all points back to the story of God’s Son. With his new book, Life in Christ: Rooted, Woven, and Grafted into God’s Story, author Adam Filipek pieces together how Christians’ lives today are grafted into Christ’s story, and how Christ’s story is interwoven throughout the Old Testament and New Testament.
“We must discover anew that the Christian faith, including the Church, does not revolve around us,” writes Filipek. “It revolves around and is all about Jesus, the Promised Child, who has come to crush the head of the serpent and restore the presence of God to His fallen creation. . . . More profoundly and eloquently stated, the life of a Christian, indeed your life, is firmly rooted and intricately woven into the unified biblical narrative of God’s presence in the person and work of Jesus Christ, into whom you were incorporated by Baptism, with whom you abide each week in the Divine Service, and under whom you and all believers will live at the resurrection.”
Readers of Life in Christ will start putting the Bible together chronologically and get an overview of some of the most important stories in the Bible. As the story is pieced together and put into perspective as the chronicle of Christ’s life, readers will also discover the real ways that God is working in believers’ day-to-day lives through the Gospel.
“With pastoral passion, Adam Filipek calls us to not abandon our first love, Christ,” says Kevin Golden, associate professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. “Life in Christ faithfully grounds its readers in the narrative of Scripture that then flows into the ongoing life of the Church that we might be blessed with life in Christ.”
Visit books.cph.org/life-in-christ for more information. Contact Erica Sontag to schedule an interview with the author.
Praise for Life in Christ
It’s a clever idea—really!—to tell God’s story from creation to the eternal joy of the resurrection, interweaving our own personal stories from Baptism through our funerals and beyond. It’s invariably the story of Christ, but we always read ourselves right in it. Dr. Filipek’s style is constantly speaking directly to the reader, a very inviting way to catechize those entirely new to the faith. The Six Chief Parts and Lutheran worship (even closed Communion) are presented in their biblical contexts!
– Dr. Carl C. Fickenscher II, professor of pastoral ministry and missions, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana; speaker and author; editor of Concordia Pulpit Resources
I have a friend who does drone photography. With a bird’s-eye view, what you thought you knew intimately unfolds in wonder from a wider, higher perspective. Dr. Filipek’s new book, Life in Christ: Rooted, Woven, and Grafted into God’s Story, grants readers such an experience with the Sacred Scriptures. Rather than “losing the forest for the trees,” this work enables readers to glimpse the grand sweep of the greatest story ever told. They’ll walk away marveling at how it centers on Jesus from the beginning and connects to us right here in our own world.
– William Weedon, assistant pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Hamel, Illinois
With pastoral passion, Adam Filipek calls us to not abandon our first love, Christ. The reason is not found in obligation but in the delight that God deigns to dwell with us. Life in Christ faithfully grounds its readers in the narrative of Scripture that then flows into the ongoing life of the Church that we might be blessed with life in Christ.
– Kevin Golden, PhD, associate professor of exegetical theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri
To know the entire Bible is a good thing for every Christian. Whether it is a lifelong Christian, someone new to the faith, or someone somewhere in between, they may discover that reading the Bible is challenging, especially when they want to find the connection between the stories and statements in the sixty-six books of the Bible. What helps in that situation is for the reader to be mindful of two things: First, that he looks to Christ and sees what Christ has done as central to Scripture. Second, as a reader, he does not read Scripture unaffected by Christ’s ministry but rather sees himself as someone who has been grafted into the Body of Christ through Baptism, who attends a church and worships the triune God. Reading Scripture is a theocentric endeavor looking outward toward what God has done in Christ for me; it is not anthropocentric in orientation—all about me and my personal desires. The Bible is also not only an accumulation of separate stories or doctrines. To that end, the author draws the reader into Scripture from Eden to Christ’s return and successfully builds a bridge from texts to the personal life of the reader so that Scripture speaks about my creation, my redemption, and my sanctification. This is a book written for a broad audience, pastors and laity alike, and it is written in an easily readable style.
– Klaus Detlev Schulz, professor of pastoral ministry and missions; dean of graduate studies; director of PhD in missiology program; and director of international studies at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana
About the Author
Rev. Dr. Adam T. Filipek has been pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lidgerwood, North Dakota, since October 2016. Previously, he was pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Black Jack, Missouri, and associate pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Hicksville, New York. He also serves as an online adjunct professor at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
