the Cross of Christ

20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

JOHN R. W. STOTT

FOREWORD BY ALISTER McGRATH

An imprint of InterVarsity Press

Downers Grove, Illinois

InterVarsity Press

P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426

Internet: www.ivpress.com

E-mail: email@ivpress.com

© John R. W. Stott 1986, 2006

Published in the United States of America by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, with permission from Inter-Varsity Press, England.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a student movement active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at <www.intervarsity.org>.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. All rights reserved. “NIV” is a registered trademark of International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790. Distributed in North America by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Cover design: Cindy Kiple

Cover image: Image source/Getty Images

© Mike Bentley/iStockphoto

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ISBN 978-0-8308-6636-6

Dedicated to

Frances Wbitebead

in gratitude for 30 years of outstandingly loyal and efficient service

1956–1986

Contents

Foreword to the 2006 Edition

Preface to the Original Edition

Abbreviations

I. APPROACHING THE CROSS

1 The Centrality of the Cross

2 Why Did Christ Die?

3 Looking Below the Surface

II. THE HEART OF THE CROSS

4 The Problem of Forgiveness

5 Satisfaction for Sin

6 The Self-Substitution of God

III. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE CROSS

7 The Salvation of Sinners

8 The Revelation of God

9 The Conquest of Evil

IV. LIVING UNDER THE CROSS

10 The Community of Celebration

11 Self-Understanding and Self-Giving

12 Loving Our Enemies

13 Suffering and Glory

Conclusion: The Pervasive Influence of the Cross

Study Guide

Bibliography

Name Index

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Foreword to the 2006 Edition

In the twenty years since its publication, John Stott’s The Cross of Christ has established itself as the most respected and authoritative evangelical writing on this most important of subjects. It remains the standard work on its great themes, inspiring, challenging, encouraging and informing its many readers. It is, in my view, John Stott’s greatest and best work, written at the height of his career, when he was sixty-five years old. We see in its pages ...