Book Review :: So Great Salvation by Charles Ryrie

Let me start off by saying this; the reason for this post is not simply to pick an argument with a high profile Bible teacher. Some may accuse me of just simply being argumentative. However, I just want to say that my motivation for this post is my commitment to what the Word of God teaches and a commitment to a proper interpretation and representation of what it says. I have appreciated much of Charles Ryrie’s ministry and work. He is a great Bible teacher and writer, however, in this specific case I believe that when it is matched up to scripture there are a few places he goes wrong.

As discussed in my post entitled What Must I Do To Be Saved?, there are many questions surrounding the gospel. Because of all the questions surrounding the gospel Dr. Charles Ryrie wrote a book published in 1989 entitled, So Great Salvation. I recently read this book and thought it worthy of discussion.

The book gets it’s title from Hebrews 2:3 and attempts to answer the question, “What does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ”. There were several things written in this book that I disagreed with. Some of them were blatant misrepresentations of the truth. Some of them were doctrines that Dr. Ryrie imposes on scripture. I didn’t have to read very far into the book to begin uncovering some of these falsehoods.


In the very first chapter, entitled Grace at Camp, I merely had to turn one page to read one of these incredibly wrong statements. Dr. Ryrie begins the first chapter of his book with a story from when he was in seminary that serves as an illustration. The story went along these lines. He had a job at the YMCA and would occasionally go camping with a few underprivileged boys. In the middle of the night he woke up to the sound of the boat out on the lake. Some of the boys had taken the boat out in the middle of the night. After he had gotten the boys back in off the water and got them all to bed he stayed up late wrestling with the Lord about their punishment. Here is a quote from the book.

“But Lord, I can’t forgive them; they don’t deserve it.
Neither did I.
But Lord, I have to enforce the rules.
I’m glad, Lord, You didn’t”

God did enforce the rules. He made the rules and He enforces them. God is a God of justice (Psalm 89:14; Psalm 45:6-7; Psalm 97:2; Psalm 99:4; Deuteronomy 32:4; Revelation 15:3). It would be completely unjust if God did not enforce the rules. I think what Dr. Ryrie is referring to is the fact that God doesn’t carry out the punishment on believers. But God did enforce the rules by carrying out our punishment on someone else. Our sins were placed on Jesus Christ and God carried out our punishment on Him (Isaiah 53:10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:21). This is completely just. Justice is part of God’s character and to not enforce the rules would directly go against His character which God cannot do.

The second, and last, falsehood I will share with you (for the purpose of time) is an example of Dr. Ryrie imposing his own beliefs on a specific scripture by neglecting the verse (and scripture) in it’s entirety. In the sixth chapter, Fruitful or Faithless, he deals with the subject of bearing fruit. Ryrie contends that every believer will bear some sort of fruit. Some bear a lot of fruit and some bear less fruit, but nevertheless all believers will bear fruit. I agree with these statements, however, Ryrie goes wrong when he says that a believer could possibly stop bearing fruit all together or even lose their fruit. The interesting thing about this is he quotes John 15:16 at the beginning of the chapter.

You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
(John 15:16, emphasis added)

I’m sure you see what I am referring to when I said that Ryrie imposes his own beliefs on scripture by neglecting parts of it. Ryrie uses this verse to support his belief that all believers will bear fruit. He is correct in saying this AND in using this verse to support that belief. However, I find it very interesting that he never touched the last part of the verse. The reason he never acknowledged the fact that John 15:16 says that the fruit will remain is because this disproves his personal beliefs.
Ryrie also tries to explain away John 15:6.

If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
(John 15:6)

This passage is as clear as it can possibly be. anyone who does not abide (remain) in Jesus Christ is gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. How much clearer can Jesus make Himself? This whole passage of John 15:1-17 is talking about bearing fruit. When Jesus says, “If anyone does not abide in me”, He is speaking of someone who either never bore fruit or someone who at one time appeared to bear fruit and it did not remain. Jesus says they will be thrown into the fire because they were never truly in Christ in the first place. This is clearly talking about eternal judgment in the lake of fire. Ryrie says this about verse 6,

“John 15:6 contains a strong warning against disobedience (not abiding in Christ) and the barrenness that results. Such believers lose further opportunities to bear fruit. Their branch withers, and if the barrenness continues unchanged, then at the Judgment Seat of Christ they will not receive rewards. (In my opinion the last part of verse 6 refers to that coming judgment.)”

Somehow I don’t think that is the warning Jesus was giving. I don’t quite see a correlation between being thrown into a fire and not receiving any rewards in heaven. I do, however, see a correlation between being thrown into a fire and being thrown into the lake of fire.

In this book Dr. Ryrie attempts to explain the elements of the gospel and it’s implications, how one is to receive salvation, and how this impacts a persons life. When held up to the light of Scripture in it’s entirety Dr. Ryrie has done a very poor job.

In conclusion let me say again that I have read much of Ryrie and his ministry has greatly helped me in my biblical and theological studies. I have even had the opportunity to take a class with him as the professor. I highly respect Dr. Ryrie as a man and a theologian. However, I do believe that when reading and listening to Bible teachers, we as believers should always be matching what they say to scripture. In this specific case I have found that Dr. Ryrie was not only wrong but was imposing man-made “wisdom” on the perfect and holy Word of God.

Testifying to the gospel of the grace of God,
Robbie
Acts 20:24