J. C. Ryle
1816–1900
First Anglican bishop of Liverpool and a plain-spoken evangelical; Holiness is his most enduring book.
In his own words
I fear there are many believers without an assured hope, whose case may too often be explained by causes such as these. (1) One most common cause, I suspect, is a defective view of the doctrine of justification. I am inclined to think that justification and sanctification are insensibly confused together in the minds of many believers. They receive the Gospel truth--that there must be something done in us, as well as something done for us, if we are true members of Christ: and so far they are right. But then, without being aware of it, perhaps, they seem to imbibe the idea that their justification is, in some degree, affected by something within themselves. They do not clearly see that Christ's work, not their own work--either in whole or in part, either directly or indirectly--is alone the ground of our acceptance with God; that justification is a thing entirely without us, for which nothing whatever is needful on our part but simple faith--and that the weakest believer is as fully and completely justified as the strongest.
Quoted verbatim from the library, as an answer would quote it.
What we hold of him
Holiness
Classic
Practical Religion
Classic
Ask what J. C. Ryle says
Amos Standard answers theological questions from a curated library and cites the work behind every claim. It is in a closed beta; leave your address and we will write when there is room.