“But we do say confidently, that there are many ways in which the faith of Christ may be marred and spoiled, without being positively denied.
And here we venture to think is the very reason that so much religion called Christian, is not truly Evangelical.
The Gospel in fact is a most curiously and delicately compounded medicine, and a medicine that is very easily spoiled.
- You may spoil the Gospel by substitution. You have only to withdraw from the eyes of the sinner the grand object which the Bible proposes to faith, —Jesus Christ; and to substitute another object in His place (like money, status, power, sex) and the mischief is done. Substitute anything for Christ, and the Gospel is totally spoiled!
- You may spoil the Gospel by addition. You have only to add to Christ, the grand object of faith, some other objects as equally worthy of honour, (Jesus + my good works; Jesus + kids) and the mischief is done. Add anything to Christ, and the Gospel ceases to be a pure Gospel!
- You may spoil the Gospel by interposition. You have only to push something between Christ and the eye of the soul, to draw away the sinner’s attention from the Saviour, and the mischief is done. (like anger, jealously, envy, or pride) Interpose anything between man and Christ, and man will neglect Christ for the thing interposed !
- You may spoil the Gospel by disproportion. You have only to attach an exaggerated importance to the secondary things of Christianity, and a diminished importance to the first things, and the mischief is done. (like have to be baptized to be saved) Once alter the proportion of the parts of truth, and truth soon becomes downright error!
- Lastly, but not least, you may completely spoil the Gospel by confused and contradictory directions. Complicated and obscure statements about faith, baptism, Church privileges, and the benefits of the Lord’s Supper, all jumbled together, and thrown down without order before hearers, make the Gospel no Gospel at all! Confused and disorderly statements of Christianity are almost as bad as no statement at all!
A doctor’s prescription of a medicine often contains five or six different ingredients.
There is so much of one drug and so much of another ; a little of this, and a good deal of that. Know what man of common sense can fail to see that the whole value of the prescription depends on a faithful and honest use of it ? Take away one ingredient, and substitute another; leave out one ingredient altogether; add a little to the quantity of one drug; take away a little from the quantity of another.
Do this, I say, to the prescription, my good friend, and it is a thousand chances to one that you spoil it altogether.
The thing that was meant for your health, you have converted into downright poison.
We have no warrant for expecting the slightest benefit for our souls from Christ’s salvation, unless we use it precisely in the way that Christ appointed.
If we add anything to it, take anything away from it, try to improve the terms, depart in the slightest degree from the path which the Bible marks out for us, we have no right whatever to look for any good being done.
God’s plan of salvation cannot possibly be mended or improved. He who tries to amend or improve it, will find that he spoils it altogether.”
J.C. Ryle, who wrote this passage, was an Anglican pastor and Bishop of Liverpool in the late 19th century. He had a heart for helping people understand the importance of the gospel and its effects. He saw back then what many see today: our faith can spoil, without us denying it.
