Do You Believe?: 12 Historic Doctrines to Change Your Everyday Life

“In this useful and searching book, Paul Tripp does what we have come to count on him to do—take the great and glorious truths of the Christian faith and funnel them into our actual, real-time lives. This book makes wonderfully unavoidable what theology is for—buoyancy and hope and energy in my life today.”

“‘The Bible is a life book given for life purposes,’ Paul Tripp contends. Based on this premise, Tripp provides a fresh treatment of twelve major doctrines—many of them related to God and his character and work—and connects each of them to life. The connection between biblical doctrine and real life makes this a valuable, practical tool for the pursuit of greater godliness. Highly recommended!”

“Many people believe that biblical illiteracy is the primary cause of the church’s weakness today. And while learning more about the Bible is indeed good, merely knowing right doctrine isn’t enough. The remedy we need will be found only when we take God’s truth into our hearts and ask it to confront and transform us. It is meant to be ingested and lived out, not just studied and examined, and Paul David Tripp knows exactly how to help you do that. Do You Believe? will show you how the great doctrines of the Bible are meant not only to inform us but also to quench our thirst, direct our course, and invigorate us. I strongly recommend it!”

“Here is a book that stretches our minds and hearts to embrace big truths—and to secure those truths like a great tent sheltering us as we live and love, here and now. These chapters keep reminding us to look up and worship the God who is there—and so to better see what’s right in front of our eyes. In his honest, companionable, and still-awed voice of experience, Paul Tripp covers huge doctrinal ground with Jesus and the gospel at front and center. And, on this ground, we find our next small step more solid and sure.”

“One reason skeptics don’t take Christianity seriously is the disconnect they see between the beliefs and behavior of so many Christians. Do we really believe the doctrines we say we believe? If so, why are our lives so often unchanged—so often indistinguishable from the lives of unbelievers? Paul Tripp tackles this problem compellingly in Do You Believe? For twelve central Christian doctrines, he lays out not only what the doctrine is but how we should live in light of it. Doctrine is not just about knowing information, he says. It’s about transformation. This is an urgent and essential book—a treasure trove of wisdom for any Christian willing to take seriously the implications of belief for everyday life.”

“Doctrine comes from God, teaches us about God, and leads us back to God in worship. That is precisely what this book helps us to do—to know God that we might authentically love and worship God in all of life. This book is sure to become a widely used resource for discipleship in churches throughout the world. For far too long, doctrine and the application of doctrine have been separated, and this book rightly brings them back together. Doctrine is about knowing God and living for God in all of life. In this book, Paul Tripp beautifully shows us how to experience the joy of knowing God and living out that knowledge every day of our lives.”

“In this important book, Paul Tripp puts his finger on a live nerve in the body of Christ. He addresses the dangerous disconnect that often exists between sound doctrine and sound living. Tripp sounds the needed warning that knowing truth is never an end in itself but only a means to a far greater end. He reminds us that the goal of biblical instruction must be personal transformation. Here is made the inseparable connection between biblical indicatives and practical imperatives. What God has joined together, let no man separate.”

“How horrible would it be to hear the charge, ‘You profess to know Christ but deny him by your actions’? The apostle Paul saw it in the Cretans to whom he sent Titus, and no doubt he could spy such gaps, whether tiny or glaring, in all of our lives. I desperately want to close those gaps. Hopefully, you do as well. This is a remarkable resource for doing precisely that, by the grace of God: minding the gaps between what we profess to believe and how we live in tangible, everyday moments. Few in our day can speak so compellingly and accessibly on this topic as Paul Tripp. Let him win you back to the critical importance of what we in Christ believe, and how we who believe then live.”

“Whenever a fresh article or book by Paul David Tripp is released, I take note. I am an avid follower of his counsel, for no matter how many others might cut me slack—I am, after all, a lifelong quadriplegic—I know Paul David Tripp will insist that I interpret my difficult circumstances, as well as my response to them, solely through the lens of Scripture. Although we rarely cross paths, my friend knows my heart, and how prone I am to wander. It’s why I am especially excited about his new work, Do You Believe? Our life in Christ thrives only when we are rooted in the great doctrines of the faith, and Paul David Tripp does a stellar job of presenting the fundamentals. Whether you already have a grasp on Christian doctrine or are just getting started, this should be your next read!”