If the best way to understand the Christian faith is to read the Gospels, then the next most important books to read must be those which aid in the understanding of those Gospels. This is the aim of Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels. Read more.
If the best way to understand the Christian faith is to read the Gospels, then the next most important books to read must be those which aid in the understanding of those Gospels. This is the aim of Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels.
First published in 1857, Mark was the second book to appear in J. C. Ryle’s series of Expository Thoughts on the Gospels.
The earliest of the Gospel narratives to be written, Mark, says Ryle, ‘is singularly full of precious facts about the Lord Jesus, narrated in a simple, terse, pithy, and condensed style’. Those last four adjectives could well be used to describe Ryle’s own comments on the Gospel!
In one of the occasional explanatory notes, he quotes the following remarks of Rudolf Stier:
St Mark has the special gift of terse brevity, and of graphic painting in wonderful combination. While on every occasion he compresses the discourses, works, and history into the simplest possible kernel, he on the other hand, unfolds the scenes more clearly than St Matthew does, who excels in the discourses. Not only do single incidents become in his hands complete pictures, but even when he is very brief, he often gives, with one pencil stroke, something new and peculiarly his own.
These Expository Thoughts on Mark do full justice to such an inspired text, and are full of encouragement, wisdom and straightforward practical application. May they continue to fulfil Ryle’s desire to lead the reader ‘to Christ and faith in him, to repentance and holiness, to the Bible and to prayer.’
Reprinted in fresh, new format Expository Thoughts will bring Ryle’s plain yet profound insights to a new generation.
