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God With Us:  Knowing the Mystery of Who Jesus Is, Daniel R. Hyde, Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2007.  Paperback, 157 pages, $10.00.  Order here.   

In Philippians 3:10, the apostle Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death…”  “I want to know Christ” – that should be the cry of every Christian’s heart.  To that end, books like this one are very valuable.  We need books which lay out the Bible’s teaching about who Christ is so that we may rightly know him.   

Daniel Hyde (pastor of the United Reformed Church in Oceanside, CA) doesn’t buy the adage that “Doctrine divides, love for the Lord unites.”  Rather, “doctrine…is simply biblical teaching that is good for the soul.” (p.3)  An essential part of that Biblical teaching is the doctrine of Christ – who he is (his person) and what he does (his work).  In this book, Hyde focuses on Christ’s person.  He does that on the premise that unless we understand who he is, we will be left confused about what he does. 

This book is an excellent primer on the person of Christ, particularly dealing with his two natures.  Hyde points out and explains the Biblical evidence for the humanity and divinity of Christ.  He works out how the two are related to one another.  He rightly insists that knowing the doctrine of Christ is not simply an interesting intellectual exercise:  “We must not be involved with Christ as mere spectators or abstract questioners, but must personally be involved in studying who he is and what he did because he is the One who will affect our lives for eternity as our Saviour.” (p.96)  Finally, as in all his books, Hyde has an eye for history, bringing in the witness of the church through the ages.

A couple of appealing features of this book:  a chapter dealing with the differences between the Islamic view of Jesus and the Christian view; and four appendices which lay out the historical witness to the doctrine of Christ.  The book includes a Scripture text index, but would also benefit from having a subject index.  Some readers may find God With Us a challenging read, but all who read it eagerly seeking to know Christ better will not come away disappointed.