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books, christianity, God, hell, holiness, J. C. Ryle, Jesus, Larry Norman, Love Wins, Religion and Spirituality, Rob Bell
We’re studying J.C. Ryle’s book Holiness in my Sunday School class. Last week (providentially) we read the chapter on Lot’s wife. Ryle closes the chapter with a sobering discussion of hell. He mentions that some in his day were uncomfortable with a God who would consign someone to an eternity in hell.
I probably don’t have to tell you that’s a hot topic at the moment. It’s amazing how relevant a 130 year old book can be. In fact, as the great philosopher Larry Norman once put it, “Nothing really changes, everything remains the same.” In places Ryle sounds as if he had just finished reading Rob Bell’s new book, “Love Wins.”
I feel constrained to speak freely to my readers on the subject of hell. Suffer me to use the opportunity which the end of Lot’s wife affords. I believe the time is come when it is a positive duty to speak plainly about the reality and eternity of hell. A flood of false doctrine has lately broken in upon us. Men are beginning to tell us “that God is too merciful to punish souls for ever, that there is a love of God lower even than hell and that all mankind, however wicked and ungodly some of them may be, will sooner or later be saved.” We are invited to leave the old paths of apostolic Christianity. We are told that the views of our fathers about hell, and the devil, and punishment, are obsolete and old‑fashioned. We are to embrace what is called a “kinder theology,” and treat hell as a pagan fable, or a bugbear to frighten children and fools. Against such false teaching I desire, for one, to protest. Painful, sorrowful, distressing as the controversy may be, we must not blink at it, or refuse to look the subject in the face. I, for one, am resolved to maintain the old position, and to assert the reality and eternity of hell.
Ryle doesn’t mince words. He labels the equivalent of Bell’s view of hell as “false teaching” and a departure from “apostolic Christianity.” However, his next paragraph is even more pointed and perceptive.
Believe me, this is no mere speculative question. It is not to be classed with disputes about liturgies and church government. It is not to be ranked with mysterious problems, like the meaning of Ezekiel’s temple or the symbols of the book of Revelation. It is a question which lies at the very foundation of the whole gospel. The moral attributes of God, His justice, His holiness, His purity, are all involved in it. The necessity of personal faith in Christ, and the sanctification of the Spirit, are all at stake. Once let the old doctrine about hell be overthrown, and the whole system of Christianity is unsettled, unscrewed, unpinned, and thrown into disorder.
Although he died almost a century before Rob Bell was born, Ryle brings the real issue in the current debate into sharp focus. It isn’t about Rob Bell at all. It’s not even ultimately about the nature or existence of hell. It’s about God. As Ryle saw it, nothing less than the character of God and the integrity of the gospel were at stake in a right understanding of hell. I think Ryle saw it right.
Andy Coticchio said:
Barry:
There really is nothing new under the sun, is there? Thanks for sharing this, I am amazed that something written so long ago is so fresh and pertinent today. I thought that was only true with the Bible, but it does happen time to time outside the text of truth.
Some cannot get comfortable with a God who sends people to an eternal hell. I could not get comfortable with a God who killed His only Son when He did not have to.
It is His justice, His mercy and His grace that made Him in His love willing to allow the sacrifice of His Son. It is His integrity as the Sovereign in creation that gives us the comfort we can have in His promises.
It truly is all about Him, and the blessedness that He wants us with Him.
Barry Wallace said:
You make an excellent point, Andy. The cross makes no sense at all if there’s no hell. In reality, it’s Bell’s reasoning that makes no sense. I have to let Ryle have the last word. Right after the excerpt I quoted, Ryle says:
kristina said:
stole the last ryle quote for FB, good post, there really isnt anything new under the sun.
Barry Wallace said:
Steal all you want! I think I could fill this blog with good, steal-able Ryle quotes. “Holiness” is probably one of the best books ever written on the subject of Christian living.
Kathy McClellan said:
No man can claim perfection; not even Rob Bell. God can be given this description, so we do well to follow Him, not a man with a novel or even a not-so-novel idea.
“This God–His way is perfect.” 2 Sam. 22:31
“Every word of God proves true.” Prov. 30: 5a
“He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” John 12:48
Barry Wallace said:
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Kathy. John 12:48 should be sobering for those who claim to follow Christ but don’t receive His sayings. No one spoke more often or more pointedly about hell than Jesus. I can’t resist quoting Ryle again, from the same chapter of the book:
Derek Ashton said:
Barry,
Thanks for sharing these quotes. Hell is hard truth, but real and necessary Truth nonetheless. I’m grateful that Rob Bell’s book has prompted many sincere believers to seek out what the Bible really says on these matters, and to take it seriously. Heterodoxy always serves the Church in an ironic way because it presses us to go back to the Word and find out what God really said. And in this case He was very clear, in spite of postmodern speculations to the contrary.
A good refutation of Bell’s main exegetical argument can be found here:
http://reformedrebel.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/playing-fast-and-loose-rob-bell-and-koine-greek/
Blessings,
Derek
Barry Wallace said:
Hey, Derek. It is a hard truth. It grieves me. But I bow my heart before God’s word. “Let God be true though every one were a liar” (Romans 3:4). Thanks for the link; I’ll check it out.
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Andy said:
This is a fabulous post. I remember reading Chrysostom’s defense of eternal punishment and thinking, “The has always been someone in the Church trying to soft serve Christian doctrine in a form that is more palatable to the unregenerate.”
Barry Wallace said:
Thanks for the quote from Chrysostom, Andy. One of the things I appreciate most about Ryle is that he doesn’t soft serve anything.
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