Enjoyed this one but not my favorite by this author. Sometimes hard to get through and felt extremely long

David Paul Tripp is such a thorough and thought-provoking writer. He is wonderful at making seemingly difficult doctrines so simple. This is a book that every person seeking to know more about God should pick up and read. The title is perfect for it. Do you believe? Let Tripp take you through this journey of questions and answers. It’s worth the time!

This is an excellent book. Well done and touches on so many important doctrines and breaks them down into easy ways to understand them.

It’s not a quick read, but it’s not overly scholarly either, you just need to take your time and absorb all of the great information.

If you struggle with basic doctrines or just want it easily broken down for you, I highly recommend this book.


A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Tripp returns with a new book looking at 12 doctrines of the Christian faith. In this book, he challenges believers to not just intellectually understand these doctrines, but to live them out. The first part of the book is an explanation of each of the doctrines, and then the last part of the book is dedicated to painting a picture of what it looks like to fully live out the doctrines in practical ways.

I greatly enjoy Tripp's writing, and I've found a lot of value in each of his books. This book is no exception! As someone who grew up in the church, I was familiar with most of the doctrines--and have even studied some of them in great detail at different times in my life--but this was a good refresher and the application was challenging and helpful. This would be a great resource to have to reference as needed!

One small word of caution is that Tripp tends to be wordy, and he tends to repeat topic and themes over and over. The content of this book is really good, and I do like the eloquence of his thoughts, but I think there could have been some editing to tighten things up. Overall, this doesn't detract too much from purpose of the book, but it's just something to know before reading.

Thank you to Paul David Tripp, Crossway, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!

Tripp has a compelling way of putting things into words so that we can understand the glorious doctrines of God better. He devotes 12 chapters to explaining the doctrines of scripture, God, the holiness of God, God's sovereignty, God's omnipotence, creation, the image of God in man, sin, justification, sanctification, the perseverance and glorification of the saints, and eternity. He takes another 12 chapters to explain what it looks like to live in light of each of those doctrines. He writes to "narrow that troublesome gap between what we say we believe and how we actually live" (location 55).

Tripp starts out with the doctrine of Scripture because all of the rest hang from this one. We aren't going to believe what the Bible says about God's sovereignty or sin if we don't hold the Bible as the living words of God. I found the first two chapters on Scripture made me hunger to know the Word more as I saw all the benefits of Scripture afresh. At one point he talked about the word rescuing us. He gave this example. "If you are committing the sin of gluttony, you are so busy enjoying the pleasures of what you are consuming that you have little spiritual awareness of the danger of what you are doing. We need the rescuing function of the word of God not only because sin is dangerous but also because it masquerades as anything but dangerous" (location 473). So true. I needed to be reminded of that.

This is a very helpful book. It's one to read slowly and savor and ponder . I love that it has the chapters with practical implications for life. Many times I don't take the time to think through implications for my life and this book helped me. I'd highly recommend it.

Thank you to Crossway for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really appreciated everything about this book. I loved how he broke deep and heavy doctrines into smaller, easily digestible sections filled with scripture, personal stories and practical principles.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Crossway Books for the advanced read copy. .

I have read many of Paul Tripp's books and i consideren them all really good books. Do you Believe? Is not an exception. Paul Tripp wrote it based in his own needs and experiences as believer. Everything with a healthy Biblical view. So many times we preach or profess our faith with so much convicción but we are not really living it out. In this book Paul Tripp presents 12 doctrines which are important to every believer and also lead you how to really live in your daily day what you believe. Do you Believe? is a thick book but its very easy to read and definitely we can all relate to it. It would be great to read it in a bible study group.

A collection of ingredients lay scattered on the countertop; the recipe stands dutifully nearby. These items I've dug out of the pantry, on their own have distinct tastes and flavours, but when pulled together, in the right order and with the right process, result in a taste unlike each element on it's own.

The ingredients of our faith are our beliefs. The beautifully specific doctrines set out in scripture, about God, the Bible, creation, the church - truths many of us have grown up knowing and believing.

Foundational truths aren't limited to head knowledge, but for gathering together, processed in our hearts, to result in a confident display of outward actions as an overflow into our everyday life.

Our beliefs - our theology - are meant to be lived out.

James reminds us, "be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like" (Jam 1:22-24). It's the power of the Word to enlighten us and influence our choices, our relationships, and the desires of our heart.

But sometimes it's hard to figure out, isn't it? My beliefs impact my life, my real life - the one that's trying to fill little bellies, build connection in my marriage, and bear fruit in ministry. Putting the pieces together can be hard, as our lives unfold in real-time.

Here's where great resources can help us!

In "Do You Believe? 12 Historic Doctrines to Change Your Everyday Life," Paul David Tripp shows us very practically how what we believe changes our lives by highlighting the doctrines of scripture, of God, creation, sin, sanctification (and more). He takes a chapter to identify core beliefs about one topic, then follows with a chapter on how it relates our daily life.

He teaches us about the doctrine of God, defining it with these words:"God's glory is the greatness, beauty, and perfection of all that he is." Therefore, we're reminded that "because God is glorious, life is one big glory war." So no longer is our sin something we do against ourselves, it's an act of glorifying something other than the Lord. Because God is glorious, we find comfort that he never changes and humility in how it exposes our weaknesses. We discover his grace as he speaks, as we tune our heart daily to his Word, inviting us into relationship with him.

One of our biggest challenges in the Christian life, is the practice of living out what we believe - and discovering how our beliefs shape what we do. Truth be told, there's often a dichotomy that exists in many of us between what we say we believe and what we do. Pieces of this is our growing in sanctification toward the likeness of Christ. Sometimes along the journey, we can use tools and resources to help us learn and understand biblical truths, with practical ways to apply them - the sweet result.

I probably went my whole growing up life in church without hearing - or perhaps remembering - the words doctrine or theology. Yet, it came through in the catechism we studied before baptism, and in the preaching Sunday mornings.

If you're looking for a resource that provides you an overview of historic doctrines of the Christian faith and practical ways these truths impact your daily life, I'd say this is the one for you!! It's not a short book, but it's written in an accessible way for the regular believer to read and understand.

Quick Stats
# of pages:400 pages
Level of Difficulty: Easy (it's written for the average person, but it'll take some time and effort)
My Rating: 5 stars!!

*A big thanks to Netgalley and Crossway for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review!

First sentence: Writing this book has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.

One of the book's greatest strengths is the layout. Tripp first introduces a historic doctrine--twelve in all--in the next chapter, he then illustrates how a firm belief in that doctrine will impact/effect your everyday life. Each of the twelve doctrines has two chapters devoted to it. One looking at the doctrine up, close, and personal. These chapters tend to have a good, solid structure of biblical support. The other looking at practical application. These chapters tend to be a blend of FICTIONAL composite stories--think of it as equivalent to WORD PROBLEMS in math--and thought provoking prose.

The twelve doctrines are as follows:

The Doctrine of Scripture
The Doctrine of God
The Doctrine of the Holiness of God
The Doctrine of God's Sovereignty
The Doctrine of God's Omnipotence
The Doctrine of Creation
The Doctrine of the Image of God in Man
The Doctrine of Sin
The Doctrine of Justification
The Doctrine of Sanctification
The Doctrine of Perseverance and Glorification of the Saints
The Doctrine of Eternity

All twelve doctrines are important. They are not the only doctrines that are important, mind you. But they are not frivolous or secondary either. And the book never claims to be comprehensive and exhaustive. The book is four hundred pages as is. I think having more than twelve doctrines would have made it a more intimidating read.

The book stresses the need for believers--all believers--to live out their faith. It is not enough to assert belief in a doctrine if that doctrine doesn't really have a deeper connection to how you actually live your life. If your doctrine isn't informing, transforming, reforming, shaping, molding your life, then you may be more influenced by the world than you'd like to think. Doctrines aren't just for a couple of hours on Sunday.

Tripp writes, "The enemy of your soul will gladly give you your formal theology, if in your real daily life he can control the thoughts and motives of your heart and, in so doing, control the way you act, react, and respond."

Read that paragraph enough times, it will have a sobering effect.

The book is good at getting you to think and think carefully. In one of the early chapters of the books, he writes, "If I could listen in on and watch a month of your life, what would I conclude about the place of God's Word in your life? Other than our salvation and his presence now living inside us as his children, our Bible is God's most precious and valuable gift to us. The question is, in our everyday lives, do we act like it is?" and, "There is not a day in any of our lives that we don't need the ministry of the Holy Spirit to bring God's Word to us in convicting, grief-producing, and confession-resulting power."

But I think my favorite section is this one:

"I am afraid that many of us live God-forgetful lives. What I mean is that other than when we are participating in something that is obviously spiritual, like a public worship service, prayer, or our times of personal devotions, we live in a state of functional spiritual amnesia. In so doing, we fail to live with a consciousness of the incredible identity that is ours as children of God, the amazing reality that God actually lives inside of us, the storehouse of blessings that is ours, and the profoundly important redemptive process that is ongoing in our hearts and lives. Because we don't carry around with us a consciousness of God and his work on the ordinary day, we don't make his purpose our purpose and his work our work."

A few paragraphs later,
"I am convinced that spending time each day in spiritual meditation and worshipful prayer is a powerful tool of sanctifying grace in the hands of our faithful and loving Redeemer. Permit me to list how the regular habit of personal worship contributes to God's ongoing work of personal heart and life transformation. Daily study of God's word, worship, and prayer will result in the following:
*A deeper knowledge of the nature and character of God.
*A clearer understanding of how God works.
*An ever-deepening love for and trust in him.
*A deeper willingness and commitment to surrender your life to him.
*A deeper knowledge of yourself as a sinner, sufferer, and saint.
*A deeper understanding of the life you have been called to as a child of God
*A deeper and more practical grasp of the truths of God's Word.
*A clearer and more practical understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ.
*A deeper awareness of the nature of sin and temptation.
*More regular patterns of conviction of sin, confession, and repentance.
*Being better prepared for spiritual warfare and Satan's attacks.
*Becoming more and more thankful for God's presence, power, and promises and the blessings of being loved by Him."

The book has many, many strengths. It is easy to recommend this one.

I personally didn't love the fictional "word-problems" in the practical chapters. I found them distracting. Other readers may relate to them more???