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Ryle: It is Christ

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The Lord Jesus Christ declares, “I will build my Church”
The true Church of Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three Persons of the blessed Trinity. In the plan of salvation revealed in the Bible, beyond doubt, God the Father chooses, God the Son redeems, and God the Holy Ghost sanctifies every member of Christ’s mystical body. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, three Persons and one God, co-operate for the salvation of every saved soul. This is truth, which ought never to be forgotten. Nevertheless, there is a peculiar sense in which the help of the Church is laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is peculiarly and pre-eminently the Redeemer and Saviour of the Church. Therefore it is, that we find Him saying in our text, “I will build,—the work of building is my special work.”
  • It is Christ who calls the members of the Church in due time. They are “the called of Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 1:6.) 
  • It is Christ who quickens them. “The Son quickeneth whom He will.” (John 5:21.) 
  • It is Christ who washes away their sins. He “has loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” (Rev. 1:5.) 
  • It is Christ who gives them peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” (John 14:27.) 
  • It is Christ who gives them eternal life. “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” (John 10:28.) 
  • It is Christ who grants them repentance. “Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance.” (Acts 5:31.) 
  • It is Christ who enables them to become God’s children. “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” (John 1:12.) 
  • It is Christ who carries on the work within them when it is begun. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19.) 
  • In short, it has “pleased the Father that in Christ should all fulness dwell.” (Coloss. 1:19.) 
  • He is the author and finisher of faith. 
  • He is the life. 
  • He is the head. From Him every joint and member of the mystical body of Christians is supplied. Through Him they are strengthened for duty. By Him they are kept from falling. He shall preserve them to the end, and present them faultless before the Father’s throne with exceeding great joy. 
  • He is all things in all believers.


 The mighty agent by whom the Lord Jesus Christ carries out this work in the members of His Church, is, without doubt, the Holy Ghost. He it is who applies Christ and His benefits to the soul. He it is who is ever renewing, awakening, convincing, leading to the cross, transforming, taking out of the world stone after stone, and adding it to the mystical building. But the great chief Builder, who has undertaken to execute the work of redemption and bring it to completion, is the Son of God, the “Word who was made flesh.” It is Jesus Christ who “builds.”

 In building the true Church, the Lord Jesus condescends to use many subordinate instruments. The ministry of the Gospel, the circulation of the Scriptures, the friendly rebuke, the word spoken in season, the drawing influence of afflictions,—all, all are means and appliances by which His work is carried on, and the Spirit conveys life to souls. But Christ is the great superintending Architect, ordering, guiding, directing all that is done. Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God giveth the increase. (1 Cor. 3:6.) Ministers may preach, and writers may write, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone can build. And except He builds, the work stands still.


Ryle, J. C. (1889). Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (pp. 309–311). London: William Hunt and Company.

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