Three Reasons to Read J. C. Ryle

So far on this blog I have talked about three books by J. C. Ryle, Holiness, a commentary on Matthew and Walking with God. I have enjoyed working through all these books, so here are three reasons to read J. C. Ryle.

1. He is very readable 

Reading his books is like having a conversation with the man himself. He might be writing from a different time but the language of the nineteenth century does not take anything away from the friendly tone with which he writes. His ideas are not just intellectual, he believes what he writes and the way he lived his life proved that. What is even better is that his writing shows that he cares about the people who read his books. He is not there to show off his knowledge but to help people see the truth about Jesus

2. What he has to say is relevant to you whether you know Jesus or not

Most of the chapters in Ryle's book end with a practical conclusion. There is something for everyone to be doing in response to what he has just written. If you don't know Jesus then Ryle wants you to know that getting to know Jesus is the most important thing that you can do. For those that do know Jesus and are following Him then Ryle will want to push you on to know Jesus more and to not stop following Him.

3. His books show that the good news about Jesus does not change

Because Ryle is writing for readers in the nineteenth century some of the situations that Ryle discusses were relevant for those readers but not for us. The church then was at a different stage to what it is now. However, what doesn't change is the need to follow Jesus nor the way to do that. The battles that Ryle and the Christians of his day are the same battles that Christians face today, and it is the same Jesus that helps us to fight them.