Today I am beginning a series of posts on the J C Ryle book, Holiness. I have recently listened through it 2-3 times and noticed just how important its contents are to anyone who is striving to live a genuine Christian life; to anyone who is struggling against sin and desiring greater holiness.
I am going to copy and paste a significant point or two from the introduction and as many of the 20 chapters as I am moved to include in this series.
The chapters of Ryle’s book originated in essays that he later compiled and ordered to create the book in the late 1800s.
The introduction is 37 minutes long in Audible [Amazon’s audiobook app]. The quotations I include in this post will only amount to a 5-10 minute excerpt. Also, the excerpted material may lack transitions and other beneficial stuff.
My goal is to give readers a biblical perspective of the Christian walk / race. In my studies of the Bible, I have clearly seen that contemporary Christianity is very unbiblical. This entire blog it intended to make that point clear and to provide a biblical perspective.
I highly recommend Ryle’s book on Audible. Your phone is likely with you most of the day and you will have more opportunities to listen through than to read through. While driving (if you have Bluetooth capability on your car stereo); eating breakfast, at appointments…. In a week or so, you will be through it and will know if you want to review, buy it on Kindle, buy the book….
The information in this book is foundational; I would classify it just after The Pilgrim’s Progress, as books that aid one who has already read the Bible. But if you haven’t read through the Bible, it will certainly impress upon you the value of doing so; because concern for such topics is largely absent from mainstream Christianity.
POINTS FROM RYLE’S INTRODUCTION [bracketed statements are my words, inserted to explain; I also created some paragraph breaks]:
…I have had a deep conviction for many years that practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not given adequate attention by modern Christians in this country. Politics, controversy, party spirit, or worldliness have eaten out the heart of lively piety in too many of us. The subject of personal godliness has sadly fallen into the background. The standard of holy living has become painfully low in many places. The immense importance of learning to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior (Titus 2:10) and making it lovely and beautiful by our daily habits and character has been far too much overlooked.
Worldly people sometimes rightly complain that “religious” people are not as kind and unselfish and good-natured as those who make no profession of religion. Yet sanctification, in its place and proportion, is quite as important as justification. Sound Protestant and evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse than useless: it causes harm. It is despised by insightful and perceptive men of the world as an invented and empty thing, and it brings Christianity into contempt. It is my firm impression that we need a thorough revival of Scriptural holiness….
[For those who aren’t clear on the definitions of justification and sanctification, click the link at the end of this post to learn what these terms mean.]
I feel it is a duty, in writing this book, to offer a few introductory hints to those whose attention is specially directed to the subject of sanctification in the present day.
I ask, in the first place, whether it is wise to speak of faith as the one thing needful and the only thing required, as many seem to do nowadays in handling the doctrine of sanctification. Is it wise to proclaim in such a direct, blatant, and absolute way, as many do, that the holiness of converted people is by faith only, and not at all by personal exertion? Is it in harmony with God’s Word? I doubt it.
*That faith in Christ is the root of all holiness . . .
*That the first step toward a holy life is to believe on Christ . . .
*That until we believe we have not an ounce of holiness . . .
*That union with Christ by faith is the secret of both beginning to be holy and continuing in holiness . . .
*That the life that we live in the flesh we must live by the faith of the Son of God . . .
*That faith purifies the heart . . .
*That faith is the victory that overcomes the world . . .
*That by faith the elders obtained a good report . . .
. . . all these are truths that no well-instructed Christian would ever think of denying. Certainly, though, the Scriptures teach us that in pursuing holiness, the true Christian needs personal exertion and work as well as faith.
The very same apostle who says in one place, The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20), also says that he fights, he runs, he keeps his body under subjection (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). The Scriptures also say, Let us cleanse ourselves (2 Corinthians 7:1), Let us therefore make haste (Hebrews 4:11), leaving behind all the weight (Hebrews 12:1).
Moreover, the Scriptures nowhere teach us that faith sanctifies us in the same sense and in the same manner that faith justifies us!
Justifying faith is a grace that does not work, but simply trusts, rests, and leans on Christ (Romans 4:5).
Sanctifying faith is a grace of which the very life is action. It works by charity (Galatians 5:6), and like a driving force, it moves the whole inward man.
After all, the precise phrase sanctified by faith is only found once in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus said to Saul that He was sending him to the Gentiles, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by the faith that is in me (Acts 26:18). Yet even there I agree with Alford, that by faith belongs to the whole sentence and must not be tied to the word sanctified. The true sense is that by faith in Jesus they can receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified. (Compare Acts 26:18 with Acts 20:32.)
As to the phrase “holiness by faith,” I find it nowhere in the New Testament.
Without controversy, in the matter of our justification before God, faith in Christ is the one thing needful. All who simply believe are justified. Righteousness is imputed to him that does not work, but believes (Romans 4:5). It is thoroughly biblical and right to say that “faith alone justifies,” but it is not equally biblical and right to say that “faith alone sanctifies.” This saying requires much explanation and refinement.
Let one fact suffice. We are frequently told by the apostle Paul that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Romans 3:28), but not once are we told that we are “sanctified by faith without the deeds of the law.” On the contrary, we are expressly told by James that the faith by which we are visibly and demonstratively justified before man is a faith which if it does not have works, is dead in and of itself (James 2:17).
I might be told in response that no one, of course, means to belittle works as an essential part of a holy life. It would be good, however, to make this plainer than many seem to make it these days.
I ask, in the second place, whether it is wise to emphasize so little, comparatively, as some seem to do, the many practical exhortations to holiness in daily life that are found in the Sermon on the Mount and in most of Paul’s epistles. Is it in harmony with God’s Word? I doubt it.
No well-taught child of God will dream of disputing that a life of daily self-consecration and daily communion with God should be aimed at by everyone who professes to be a believer, or that we should strive to attain the habit of going to the Lord Jesus Christ with everything we find a burden, whether great or small, and casting it upon Him. But surely the New Testament teaches us that we need something more than generalities about holy living, which often affect no conscience and give no offense.
The details and specific ingredients of which holiness is composed in daily life ought to be fully set forth and urged on believers by all who profess to care about the subject. True holiness does not consist merely of believing and feeling, but of doing and living. It involves a practical exhibition of active and passive grace.
Our tongues, our natures, our natural passions and inclinations, our conduct as parents and children, masters and servants, husbands and wives, rulers and subjects, our clothing, our use of time, our behavior in business, our attitude in sickness and health, in riches and in poverty – all these are matters that are fully written about by inspired writers. They are not content with a general statement of what we should believe and feel and how we are to have the roots of holiness planted in our hearts, but they dig down lower. They go into specific details. They specify in great detail what a holy man ought to do and be in his own family and in his own home, if he abides in Christ. I doubt whether this sort of teaching is sufficiently attended to in the present day.
[He wrote approximately 150 years ago, since then, the gospel message has undergone many additional perversions.]
[These quotations came from the initial 25% of the introduction; he said many more significant things that I cannot include. The next post will be on Sin, the first chapter of his book on Holiness.]
Ryle, J. C.. Holiness [Annotated, Updated]: For the Will of God Is Your Sanctification – Hebrews 6:1 . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition.
Link to post that defines faith, repentance, justification and sanctification via 1-4 minute videos:
https://sheeplywolves.com/study-helps-a-checklist/
The following post explains what it means to be born-again; but it explains repentance and faith in the process. See videos 2, 3, and 5. You will likely understand video 3 most easily, so begin with it:
https://sheeplywolves.com/decisionism-vs-the-doctrines-of-regeneration-and-faith-repentance/