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There were several areas that jumped out at me this week. Last week I discussed how relevant the book seems to our day, even though it was written long ago. This chapter only affirmed its relevance. Liberalism, perfectionism, a low value on personal holiness: all are evident in our day as much as they must have been in Ryle’s. It is good to read the classics and to see that they speak even today.
There were a couple of quotes that I highlighted (and wanted to highlight again and again). Yesterday I congratulated my friend Stephen Altrogge on the birth of his first child. Today I wanted to send him this (but perhaps I’ll wait a day or two). I’m know that he knows this, but it is good to reaffirm this truth often:
The fairest child, who has entered life this year and become the sunbeam of a family, is not, as his mother perhaps fondly calls him, a little “angel” or a little “innocent,” but a little “sinner.” Alas! As that infant boy or girl lies smiling and crowing in its cradle, that little creature carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness! Only watch it carefully, as it grows in stature and its mind develops, and you will soon detect in it an incessant tendency to that which is bad, and a backwardness to that which is good. You will see in it the buds and germs of deceit, evil temper, selfishness, self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, passion, which, if indulged and let alone, will shoot up with painful rapidity. Who taught the child these things? Where did he learn them? The Bible alone can answer these questions! Of all the foolish things that parents say about their children there is none worse than the common saying: “My son has a good heart at the bottom. He is not what he ought to be, but he has fallen into bad hands. Public schools are bad places. The tutors neglect the boys. Yet he has a good heart at the bottom.” The truth, unhappily, is diametrically the other way. The first cause of all sin lies in the natural corruption of the boy’s own heart, and not in public schools.
So often theology we know to be true is overcome by our emotional attachment to our children. Theology we would extend to others is discarded when we look at our children. This is particularly true in the case of depravity. But Ryle will not let this happen.
I also greatly enjoyed Ryle’s thoughts about original sin providing the only workable solution to the extent of human depravity. I’ve been reading God is Not Great, the anti-religion screed by Christopher Hitchens and he offers a slightly different take on depravity. “Evolution has meant that our prefrontal lobes are too small, our adrenal glands are too big, and our reproductive organs apparently designed by committee; a recipe which, along or in combination, is very certain to lead to some unhappiness and disorder.” When men consider the most fundamental truth of human nature and do so without God, this is the best they can do. Prefrontal lobes are too small, adrenal glands are too big, and reproductive organs are badly designed. These factors combine to explain all of the terror and warfare and evil that exists. What nonsense! Men may scoff at the account of Adam’s sin, but what else can explain the widespread problem? And what else can even begin to suggest a solution. Ryle gets it right. “And we say that nothing solves the complicated problem of man’s condition but the doctrine of original or birth-sin and the crushing effects of the Fall.” And again, “I know no stronger proof of the inspiration of Genesis and the Mosaic account of the origin of man, than the power, extent, and universality of sin.”
Finally, I loved his hopeful expectation when looking to the future. “Nothing, I am convinced, will astonish us so much, when we awake in the resurrection day, as the view we will have of sin and the retrospect we will take of our own countless shortcomings and defects. Never until the hour when Christ comes the second time will we fully realize the ‘sinfulness of sin.’ Well might George Whitefield say, ‘The anthem in heaven will be: What has God wrought!’” Oh, how I look forward to seeing the full measure of the greatness of the Savior and the mercy of God. And what better way to understand this, than to regard His purity in contrast to my imperfections. And this, of course, is exactly what Ryle has attempted to do in this first chapter. Now that we have considered our sin, we are able to move forward to the solution to that sin and to its eradication, both now in part, and in eternity in full.
I walk away from the book this week with a greater appreciation of my sin and a better appreciation of how I cannot even begin to understand just how awful my sin appears to such a holy God. Yet I trust that as I see more of the holiness of God I will see more of my own sin and then begin to understand, just a little clearer, how great a Savior it took to bring about forgiveness for a man like me. The anthem, indeed, must be “What has God wrought!”
We’ll continue the book next Thursday (September 13) with the second chapter (“Sanctification”). If you are interested in joining in, please do. There is still lots of time to purchase the book or to read it online. See this discussion (Read the Classics Together - Holiness) for information.
I am interested in hearing what you took away from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Don’t feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or gave you pause or confused you.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at and am a co-founder of