Holiness - Ryle - II - Chapter 1

Required reading
Holiness by J C Ryle (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Read Chapter 1, 'Sin'.

My summary
Ryle begins his book by firstly digging low to build high.  To dig low he says we need to come to a right understanding of sin.

Ryle initially examines:
(i) the definition of sin - 'doing, saying, thinking or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God';
(ii) the origin and source of sin - 'the sinfulness of man does not begin from without, but from within...It is a family disease, which we all inherit from our first parents';
(iii) the extent of sin - 'sin is a disease which pervades and runs through every part of our moral constitution and every faculty of our minds';
(iv) the guilt, vileness and offensiveness of sin;
(v) the deceitfulness of sin.

Next Ryle gives two thoughts that rise out of the subject:
(i) Because of our sin we have deep reason for humiliation and self-abasement;
(ii) Because of our sin we ought to be deeply thankful for the glorious gospel of the grace of God.

Finally Ryle shows that a scriptural view of sin is a good antidote to:
(i) a vague, dim, misty, hazy kind of theology;
(ii) the extravagantly broad and liberal theology;
(iii) that sensuous, ceremonial, formal kind of Christianity;
(iv) the overstrained theories of perfection;
(v) the low views of personal holiness.

What grabbed me
To examine sin I thought was the perfect start to a book on holiness.  If we understand sin rightly, everything else does fall naturally into place.

I appreciated the reminder that we sin even when we don't know the law of God:  'But I do not think it necessary in these times to remind my readers that a man may commit sin and yet be ignorant of it and fancy himself innocent when he is guilty.  I fail to see any scriptural warrant for the modern assertion that: "Sin is not sin to us until we discern it and are conscious of it....We shall do well to remember that, when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and consciousness the measure of our sinfulness, we are on very dangerous ground.' 

Just as we can't say to a police office, 'I didn't know the speed limit' and expect to get off from a speeding ticket, we cannot claim to God, 'I didn't know your law', and expect to get out of hell.  We are sinners through and through, even if we don't know it.

Next week's reading
Chapter Two, 'Sanctification'.

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