Holiness - Ryle - V - Chapter 4

Required reading
Holiness by J C Ryle (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Read Chapter 4, 'The fight'.

My summary
Ryle now looks at what it means that the Christian life is a fight.

Firstly, he affirms that true Christianity is a fight.  Principally, the Christian must fight the flesh, the world and the devil.  Also, this fight is an absolute, universal and perpetual necessity for all Christians.

Secondly, Ryle teaches us that true Christianity is the fight of faith: 'In this respect the Christian warfare is utterly unlike the conflicts of this world.  It does not depend on the strong arm, the quick eye or the swift foot.  It is not waged with carnal weapons, but with spiritual.  Faith is the hinge on which victory turns.  Success depends entirely on believing.'

Thirdly, Ryle explains that true Christianity is a good fight.  The Christian’s fight is good because:
(i) it is fought under the best of generals;
(ii) it is fought with the best of helps;
(iii) it is fought with the best of promises;
(iv) it is fought with the best of issues and results;
(v) it does good to the soul of him that fights it;
(vi) it does good to the world;
(vii) it ends in a glorious reward for all who fight it.

What grabbed me
I appreciated Ryle's point that we need to have a faith that is grounded in something - in other words we need to know what it is we believe in: 'A religion without doctrine or dogma is a thing which many are fond of talking of in the present day. It sounds very fine at first. It looks very pretty at a distance. But the moment we sit down to examine and consider it, we shall find it a simple impossibility. We might as well talk of a body without bones and sinews. No man will ever be anything or do anything in religion unless he believes something. Even those who profess to hold the miserable and uncomfortable views of the deists are obliged to confess that they believe something. With all their bitter sneers against dogmatic theology and Christian credulity, as they call it, they themselves have a kind of faith. As for true Christians, faith is the very backbone of their spiritual existence. No one ever fights earnestly against the world, the flesh and the devil, unless he has engraved on his heart certain great principles which he believes.'

You won't fight with any kind of strength if you don't know what it is you believe in.

Next week's reading
Chapter 5, 'The cost'.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.