Five Guiding Principles

J C Ryle (1816-1900) was convinced that not all principles are of enormous value.  But some are.

The question to ask, then, is: Which?  Which principles should we see as being exceedingly good and useful?

Some shy away from talk about principles.  They think it is just for deep thinkers, academics or philosophers.  But that is to miss something very important.

We all have ideas.  We all have views about how things ought to be done.  We think we know how to distinguish between right and wrong.  In other words, we all have principles.

But some ideas, thoughts, and rules are bad.  For example, to think that it is all right to tell lies is not a helpful principle.  Why not?  Because it would mean that people were unable to trust each other since they would never know if a person was telling the truth or a pack of lies.  We therefore define such a principle as evil or bad.

By what principles are you to live your life?  Which principles can you describe, to quote Ryle, as being of “enormous value”?

In the sixteenth century a new way of thinking swept across Europe.  The ideas were not new.  They had been taught for at least 1500 years.  What was taught by prophets before Jesus Christ was born, was taught by him and his followers.

Men like Paul, James and John travelled far and wide making known what God had done.  They taught that He had made himself known to mankind.  He, out of undeserved love to rebels, had provided a Saviour.  The way by which an individual may be reconciled to God and adopted as  His child, was what they spoke and wrote about.

Happily many believed the message.  And, happily, many people who followed them received it gladly.  In every generation there has been, and will be, people who come to see who God is and what He has done.  They rejoice in Jesus Christ and the fullness of the salvation provided in him.

Sadly, though, some who claim to be followers of Christ, get the message wrong.  They misunderstand it, distort it, and corrupt it.  That can (and does) happen in any age.  As a result churches can end up preaching another message which is not the gospel of God.  That is what had happened by the year 1500AD.  But in the 16th century God did something amazing.  He raised up men like Luther, Calvin, Cranmer and Knox.

These men saw clearly what the message of the Bible is.  As a result they challenged the teaching of  some of the church leaders of their day.  They had to do it.  Why?  Because the real gospel was not being taught.  What people heard was a false message that offered a false hope.

It was not long before people wanted to put in summary form the difference between the false and the true.  And thus it was that principles of ‘enormous value’ came to be taught.

Three hundred years later J C Ryle discovered them.  And he came to  encourage his children, and all who would listen to him, to embrace them.  They are often summarised as being five in number.  What are they?The first principle of enormous value is this:  Mankind is created to glorify God.  Sadly, that is not what we naturally and spontaneously do.  By nature we are inclined to put ourselves first.  We do that which we think will make us happy.  So we pursue pleasures and engage in activities which suit us.  And God is ignored or forgotten.

The Reformers, their successors, the Puritans, and others taught that church leaders did not have a proper focus on God.  They were church or man-centred.  God was not properly respected, honoured, or worshipped.

Why was that so?  The next four principles will help you see why.

The second principle of enormous value is this: Christ Jesus alone can save sinners.  It is in him alone that an individual can come to enjoy forgiveness, be adopted as a child of God, be assured that he will go to heaven, and be a person within whom the Spirit of God dwells.  Those privileges can be had in no other way.  It is through and in Christ Jesus alone that they are to be had.  Sadly, that was not the prevailing message in many churches in the 16th century.  Many taught that priests had power to convey God’s love and grace to people.  And so they stressed the need for priests, and for people to go to them if they wanted to be right with God.  Not so, said the Reformers.  You must go to Christ alone.  And you must look to him alone if you would enjoy God’s favour.

The third principle of enormous value is this: sinners are justified by faith alone.   The term justified is used to describe the way by which you are accounted righteous before God and acceptable to him.  It should not be forgotten that all churches at the time of the Reformation taught about how a sinner is justified.  That is why some find discussion of this matter confusing.

It is essential to remember that the Reformers kept separate justification (how a sinner is declared acceptable to God) and sanctification (how a sinner grows more like Christ).  They were right to do so.  Why?  Because the Bible does.Roman Catholics say that justification is a process.   They put justification and sanctification together.  They also teach that going to Mass is an important part of the process by which a believer is justified, and made holy and acceptable to God.

I shall not show you now how the teaching of the Bible on the Lord’s Supper differs from the Roman teaching of the Mass.  What I need to do is state that the Bible teaches that justification is not a process.  It is a declaration.  God proclaims that he reckons any sinner who has faith in Christ as righteous.  That reckoning is based solely upon the fact that God accounts the righteousness of Jesus Christ as the righteousness of a believer.  It is not based on anything you do.  It is a declaration made of  a sinner who has faith in Christ.

The fourth principle of enormous value is that a sinner is saved by grace alone.  This is implicit in the first three principles.  What you should note is that salvation from first to last is by the free, unmerited, love of God.  Even faith is a gift from God, as Paul shows (Ephesians 2.8).  This does not mean that you do not have duties.  Nor does it mean that you are excused from doing your duties.  What it does mean is that no deed done by you plays any part in your being acceptable to God.  The ground of a sinner’s acceptance is the perfect righteousness of and the propitiatory sacrifice made by Christ at Calvary.  It is all of grace.  It has to be, for your best deeds deserve damnation.  Why?  Because they are marred by sin.

The fifth principle of enormous value is that the only definitive rule in all matters of belief and behaviour is the Bible.  It is not the Bible plus the teaching of the church.  Nor is the Bible plus your reason.  We do not despise the church or reason.  But we do not put them above what God has revealed.  He has spoken.  He has given us the record of what he has said.  It is the Bible.  And He has made known that it is by that Word that we are to live.

Here are five principles.  Those who accept them discover, as J C Ryle did, that they are of “enormous value.”

EPC  12 June 2016