Tuesday, May 20, 2008

True Christianity

True Christianity

(J. C. Ryle, "What Is Needed?" 1895)


(1) True Christianity has always taught the inspiration, sufficiency, and supremacy of Holy Scripture. It has told men that "God's written Word" is the only trustworthy rule of faith and practice in religion; that God requires nothing to be believed that is not in this Word; and that nothing is right which contradicts it. It has never allowed reason, or the voice of the Church, to be placed above, or on a level with Scripture. It has steadily maintained that, however imperfectly we may understand it, the Old Book is meant to be the only standard of life and doctrine.

(2) True Christianity has always taught fully the sinfulness, guilt and corruption of human nature. It has told men, that they are born in sin, deserve God's wrath and condemnation, and are naturally inclined to do evil. It has never allowed that men and women are only weak and pitiable creatures, who can become good when they please, and make their own peace with God. On the contrary, it has steadily declared man's danger and vileness, and his pressing need of a Divine forgiveness and atonement for his sins, a new birth or conversion, and an entire change of heart.

(3) True Christianity has always set before men, the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief object of faith and hope in religion--as the Divine Mediator between God and men, the only source of peace of conscience, and the root of all spiritual life. The main things it has ever insisted on about Christ, are--the atonement for sin He made by His death, His sacrifice on the cross, the complete redemption from guilt and condemnation by His blood, His victory over the grave by His resurrection, His active life of intercession at God's right hand, and the absolute necessity of simple faith in Him. In short, it has made Christ the Alpha and the Omega in Christian theology.

(4) True Christianity has always honored the Person of God the Holy Spirit, and magnified His work. It has never taught that all professing Christians have the grace of the Spirit in their hearts, as a matter of course--because they are baptized, or because they belong to a Church. It has steadily maintained that the fruits of the Spirit are the only evidence of having the Spirit, and that those fruits must be seen! It has always taught, that we must be born of the Spirit, led by the Spirit, sanctified by the Spirit, and feel the operations of the Spirit--and that a close walk with God in the path of His commandments, a life of holiness, love, self-denial, purity, and zeal to do good--are the only satisfactory marks of the Holy Spirit.

Such is true Christianity. Well would it have been for the world, if there had been more of it during the last nineteen centuries! Too often, and in too many parts of Christendom, there has been so little of it--that Christ's religion has seemed extinct, and has fallen into utter contempt!

This is the Christianity which, in the days of the Apostles, "turned the world upside down!" It was this which emptied the idol temples of their worshipers, routed the Greek and Roman philosophers, and obliged even heathen writers to confess that the followers of the "new superstition," as they called it, were people who loved one another, and lived very pure and holy lives!

Let it never be forgotten, that its leading principles are those which are least likely to please the natural man. On the contrary, they are precisely those which are calculated to be unpopular and to give offense. Proud man does not like to be told that he is a weak, guilty sinner--that he cannot save his own soul, and must trust in the work of another--that he must be converted and have a new heart--that he must live a holy, self-denying life, and come out from the world.

Yet, this is the Christianity which is doing good at this day, wherever real good is done. The only religious teaching which can show solid, positive results--is that which gives prominence to the doctrines which I have endeavored to describe. Wherever they are rightly taught, Christianity can point to fruits which are an unanswerable proof of its Divine origin. There are myriads of professing Christians who have no life or reality in their religion--and are only nominal members of Christ's Church. Except for going to church on Sundays, they give no evidence of true Christianity. If you mark their daily life--they seem neither to think, nor feel, nor care for their souls, or God, or eternity. Men and women who crowd churches on Sundays--and then live worldly selfish lives all the week--are the best and most efficient allies of the devil.

True faith is not a mere "mental assent" to certain theological propositions--but a living, burning, active principle--which works by love, purifies the heart, overcomes the world, and brings forth much fruit of holiness and good works. Let us live as if we really believed every jot and tittle of Scripture--and as if a dying, risen, interceding, and coming Christ, were continually before our eyes!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!

Mr. J.C.Ryle didn't beat around the bushes or engage in much flowerey talk! He laid it right out there!

I agree with much of what Mr. Ryle said. I guess the only thing that didn't set right with me was the part about being able to point to the fruits and the performing of good works.

Being able to point to the good works of a Christian is a dubious endeavor for one reason and one reason only...we do not know the heart of man. We cannot know the motivations of a person for the thing that they have done.

While the good works of a Christian will be there, we cannot accurately discern which works are good and which are not. So we tust that in Christ, "all things work together for good for all who have faith."

One quick example of what I mean:

A man goes to religious services every Sunday and is at all the programs, events, and bible studies where he worships. The same man works at the shelter for the homeless and regularly visits the old folks at the convalescent hospital. Is this man exhibiting the good fruits that Mr. Ryle speaks of?

The man is a Mormon. The man is doing these things out of a sense of obligation and not true love for others. Indeed, the man does not know the Jesus of the Bible, but a different Jesus. Are these 'good fruits' or the filty rags of his own righteous deeds?

To take it one step further. The same man is now a Lutheran. Are the deeds now good works and fruits of the Spirit? No, not necessarily. Once again, the man may be doing these things to try and impress God with his efforts (filty rags) or to make a good impression upon the other members of his church, his pastor, his neighbors, etc. (more filty rags).

Jesus said that "the wheat and the tares grow together."

"Don't judge, lest we be judged".

So while Mr. Ryle is correct in saying that the Christian's life will bear fruit, it is the business of the Spirit of God as to which fruit will be borne and which fruit is authentic or not.

This is business in which the church ought not(in my opinion) to be engaged in.

Thanks very much Wayne!

- Steve M.

Dawg said...

Good point Steve. Just because someone does 'good' works and shows fruit that resembles Christian fruit,that does not qualify that person as a born-again Christian.

Fire will reveal all things in he end!

Doorman-Priest said...

Good works are about obedient discipleship.

I like this post and assent to MOST of it. (Come on, you wouldn't expect a radical Liberal like me to go for it 100% would you?)

About point 1: Does what one believes about scripture determine salvation in your view?