Summary
In The Sinfulness Of Sin, Ralph Venning helps us feel the true weight of sin, not to crush hope, but to drive us to Christ with honesty and gratitude.
We are confronted with sin’s deceit, its ugliness, and its ruin, all set against the goodness of God and the mercy offered in the gospel.
Why Should We Read This Resource?
We should read this when our repentance has become thin, or when we sense that we are treating sin as a minor inconvenience rather than a deadly enemy.
For pastors, it sharpens our preaching of both law and grace. It helps us speak about sin in a way that is serious, concrete, and pastorally wise, without slipping into despair or performance religion.
It also strengthens personal holiness, because it trains us to watch the heart, not merely manage outward habits.
Closing Recommendation
We recommend The Sinfulness Of Sin for pastors and believers who want deeper repentance and clearer refuge in Christ. It is sobering, but it serves joy by leading us back to the Saviour.
Ralph Venning
Ralph Venning was an English Puritan of the seventeenth century, labouring among London congregations with a warmly Reformed, nonconformist outlook.
Converted under faithful preaching in Devon, he later studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and served in a range of preaching and pastoral settings, including St Olave’s, Southwark. Venning’s ministry pressed for real godliness in ordinary life, and he combined earnest evangelistic appeal with searching teaching on the nature of sin and the life of faith. After the Act of Uniformity he suffered ejection, yet continued to shepherd a gathered church as he could.
He is still read because his exhortations are direct, Scripture soaked, and spiritually diagnostic, helping readers feel both the danger of sin and the sweetness of Christ. Recommended titles include The Sinfulness of Sin, Learning in Christ’s School, and The Way to True Happiness.
Theological Perspective: Reformed