Useless Kinds of Religion
by J.C. Ryle
HERE are two ways by which a man may lose his own soul. What are they?
He may lose his soul by living and dying without any religion at all. He may live and die like a beast, prayerless, godless, graceless, faithless. This is a sure way to hell. Mind that you do not walk in it.
He may lose his soul by taking up some kind of religion. He may live and die contenting himself with a false Christianity, and resting on a baseless hope. This is the commonest way to hell there is.
What do I mean by useless kinds of religion? I will tell you.
The first thing I wish to say is this. A religion is entirely useless in which Jesus Christ is not the principal object, and does not fill the principal place.
There are only too many baptized men and women who practically know nothing about Christ. Their religion consists in a few vague notions and empty expressions. “They trust they are no worse than others; they keep to their Church; they try to do their duty; they do nobody any harm; they hope God will be merciful to them! they trust the Almighty will pardon their sins, and take them to heaven when they die.” This is about the whole of their religion.
But what do these people know practically about Christ? Nothing: nothing at all! What experiential acquaintance have they with His offices and work, His blood, His righteousness, His mediation, His priesthood, His intercession? None: none at all! Ask them about a saving faith – ask them about being born again of the Spirit – ask them about being sanctified in Christ Jesus. What answer will you get? You are a barbarian to them. You have asked them simple Bible questions; but they know no more about them experientially than a Buddhist or a Muslim.
And yet this is the religion of hundreds of thousands of people who are called Christians, all over the world.
If you are a man of this kind, I warn you plainly that such Christianity will never take you to heaven. It may do very well in the eyes of men; it may pass muster very decently at the church vestry-meeting, in the place of business, in the House of Commons, or in the streets: but it will never comfort you; it will never satisfy your conscience; it will never save your soul.
I warn you plainly, that all notions and theories about God being merciful without Christ, and excepting through Christ, are baseless delusions and empty fancies. Such theories are as purely an idol of man’s invention as the idol of the Hindu Juggernaut. They are all of the earth, earthy: they never came down from heaven. The God of heaven has sealed and appointed Christ as the one and only Saviour and way of life, and all who would be saved must be content to be saved by Him, or they will never be saved at all.
I give you fair warning. A religion without Christ will never save your soul.
But I have another thing yet to say. A religion is entirely useless in which you join anything with Christ in the matter of saving your soul. You must not only depend on Christ for salvation, but you must depend on Christ only and Christ alone.
There are multitudes of baptized men and women who profess to honour Christ, but in reality do Him great dishonour. They give Christ a certain place in their system of religion, but not the place which God intended Him to fill. Christ alone is not “all in all” to their souls. No: it is either Christ and the Church; or Christ and the Sacraments; or Christ and His ordained ministers; or Christ and their own goodness; or Christ and their own prayers; or Christ and their own sincerity and charity, on which they practically rest their souls.
If you are a Christian of this kind I warn you also plainly that your religion is an offence to God. You are changing God’s plan of salvation into a plan of your own devising. You are, in effect, deposing Christ from His throne, by giving the glory due to Him to another.
I care not who it is that teaches you your religion and on whose word you build. Whether he be Pope or Cardinal, Archbishop or Bishop, Dean or Archdeacon, Presbyter or Deacon, Episcopalian or Presbyterian, Baptist or Independent, Methodist or Plymouth Brother – whosoever adds anything to Christ, teaches you wrong.
I care not what it is that you add to Christ. Whether it be the necessity of joining the Church of Rome, or of being an Episcopalian, or of becoming a Free Churchman, or of giving up the liturgy, or of being baptized by immersion, whatever you may practically add to Christ in the matter of salvation, you do Christ an injury.
Take heed what you are doing. Beware of giving to Christ’s servants the honour due to none but Christ. Beware of giving the Lord’s ordinances the honour due unto the Lord. Beware of resting the burden of your soul on anything but Christ, and Christ alone. Beware of having a religion which is of no use, and cannot save.
It is an awful thing to have no religion at all. To have an immortal soul committed to your charge, and neglect it, this is dreadful.
But it’s no less an awful thing to be content with a religion than can do you no good.
Wise and true words. Thank you for standing up for the truth and to not be afraid to speak about it.
God bless!
WOW this is excellent!! Thank you!
Hey Stewart,
Your God is mean. Would you treat your own kids with so little forgiveness? Only accepting (not excepting) them if they thought and felt about things exactly as you would have them think and feel about things? I thought God was supposed to be more loving than us. I’d treat my kids way better than how you depict God’s consideration of us.
P.S. Your wife has a really good blog all on her own. Maybe you should start your own blog.
Ixnay on the snarky “excepting” comment. I misread.
But really— I know I’m a hellbound heathen and all that — But come on: To say that all the faithful are just not good enough is a really sad state of spiritual abuse in my opinion. Fear, fear, failure, and more fear! Christ was supposed to have absolved us from our original sin of being an imperfect human (not our fault — the creator made us kind of crappy). But according to this, everything is offensive to God. So whatever. May as well throw in the towel. I think it would be exhausting to spend eternity at the feet of some guy with such impossible standards anyway.
Hi Melissa,
I think the difference we are having is our definition of “good”. The scriptures say that there is none good. None of us has kept the 10 commandments in thought, word, and deed. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, as criminals standing before a holy God we are guilty of transgressing. If God were to judge you by the standard of the 10 commandments on judgment day would you be innocent or guilty? You’ve jokingly said “I know I’m a hellbound heathan and all that” but ask yourself honestly if you are a good person. I’m not judging you… I’m asking you to judge yourself before the day of judgment so that you will flee from the wrath to come against all ungodliness. If you are guilty (like we all are), if you have lied, stolen, lusted, taken God’s name in vain, or violated any of the other commandments what are you going to say to the judge of Heaven and Earth? Will you continue to mock at Him in that day? Will you say to His face, “…it would be exhausting to spend eternity at the feet of some guy…” like you?
The Catholic Church teaches a false gospel. They teach works based salvation. You and I have no merit. We cannot earn salvation. We are completely dependent on the grace of God and blood of Christ to atone (make payment) for our sins. Not just original sin, but all of the sin’s that each of us commits. For those that see themselves as guilty, condemned sinners there is hope. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” These are the words of a merciful and gracious God…
May the Lord bless you Melissa.
Your answer was very kind. I honestly don’t know what I’d do or say faced in person with divinity. I agree that we can’t earn salvation, which also would mean we can’t lose it. In infinite love, I feel there is room for all of us to rest our souls after this human experience is over, no matter what we think or do while we’re here. Blessings to you and yours as well.
These r words of an old author not the husband. And they are true. And they are words filled with grace because they say we can do nothing on our own. It is totally to rely on Christ. What a relief that there’s no performance that I must measure against. Amen.