Ruined Sinners to Reclaim: Sin and Depravity in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective

by David Gibson (Editor), Jonathan Gibson (Editor), Michael Horton (foreword)

Examining the Doctrine of Human Depravity in Scripture and throughout Church History For centuries, theologians have debated the doctrine of total depravity―the belief that people are wholly and naturally corrupt due to original sin. Reformed theology upholds this truth, acknowledging it to be essential for understanding the gospel and humanity’s need for a Savior. Ruined Sinners to Reclaim  persuasively reaffirms the doctrine of total depravity from biblical, historical, theological, and pastoral perspectives, drawing on the debates of theologians throughout church history. Edited by David and Jonathan Gibson, this book features contributions from respected theologians―including Michael A. G. Haykin, Gray Sutanto, Garry Williams, Mark Jones, Daniel Strange, and R. Albert Mohler Jr.―to help readers understand the reality of our sinful nature, its debilitating effects, and the Holy Spirit’s role in salvation. This is the second book in the Doctrines of Grace series, which explores the central points of the Canons of Dort, providing a framework for understanding each doctrine in all its historical, biblical, theological, and pastoral richness. 

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christianity, Church History

1040 pages, Hardcover

Published April 30, 2024

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

David Gibson (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the Minister of Trinity Church in Aberdeen, Scotland. Previously he served as a staff worker for the Religious and Theological Studies Fellowship (part of UCCF) and as an assistant minister at High Church, Hilton, Aberdeen. Gibson has also published a number of articles and books such as Rich: The Reality of Encountering Jesus and Reading the Decree: Exegesis, Election and Christology in Calvin and Barth.

Reviews

[Dr. David Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2013, Crossway Books published From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective edited by David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson. This formidable work was widely received and eventually became the first in a series of books entitled The Doctrines of Grace Series.

The second book in the series, also edited by David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson addressed the matter of sin. Ruined Sinners to Reclaim: Sin and Depravity in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective a theological tour de force. The subtitle accurately describes the essence of the book. Like the previous volume, this book includes contributions from Bible scholars and pastors, all of whom embrace the Reformed faith. As such, there is no wiggle room for compromise. No stone is left unturned here. Readers are confronted with the tragic nature of the fall and the historical, biblical, theologically and pastoral implications.

The rubber meets the road when the preacher stands in the pulpit. Will he proclaim the unadulterated gospel, which includes a robust teaching on the radical corruption of mankind? Al Mohler provides much-needed perspective on this important matter: "One immediate realization that must come to the preacher is that there is no mediating position between the rejection of the concept of sin and its biblical affirmation. A little bit of the doctrine of sin will do no one any good. Recovery will be found - and salvation of sinners can come—only when the word is rightly preached and when sin is powerfully demonstrated in its biblical fullness—and its biblical horror."

I commend this book and look forward to the forthcoming volumes in The Doctrines of Grace series.

Soli Deo gloria!

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

[Zach Hollifield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not read every single article, but I read the vast majority and they are all excellent.

As with the previous volume, the contributors mine the depths and bring out gold time and again. The depths of the depravity of the human heart are despicably dark, but that only shows God’s grace to be all the more beautifully confounding.

To paraphrase something John Piper recently said, “I love reformed theology like I love a picture of my wife. Not because it is her, but because it is a presentation of her.” That is why I love this book and this series. Not because the doctrines of grace are God, but because they show him and the riches of his glorious grace to me in greater clarity.

[Derek Fekkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the idea behind this series of books from David and Jonathan Gibson: a series of essays from a variety of authors on each of the five doctrines of grace, with sections considering the doctrine from historical, biblical, theological, and pastoral perspectives. This is the second book, and is on total depravity/original sin. It's hard to summarize a work with over 30 different essays, but a few things stand out.

David Well's article, "Losing Our Religion: The Impact of Secularization on the Understanding of Sin," was one of the best things I've read. I tend to rate each chapter in a work like this, and Well's was an easy 10/10. I made copies of this for some guys I was studying with. The Gibson brother's intro article was really good as well, as was Albert Mohler's essay, "Preaching to Sinners in a Secular Age."

I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the history and theological nuances of the debate on original sin between Augustine and Pelagius (chapter 3), the debate on the human will between Luther and Erasmus (chapter 5), and the debate between Calvin and the followers of Arminius (chapter 7).

The attention given to finding and arguing for a covenant of works in Genesis (more than a few chapters) was a bit much, a bit obscure, and a bit toilsome to read at times. Relatedly, I do wish the authors were more evenly balanced between Baptists and Presbyterians; both in authorship and in content, it seems weighted towards those of Presbyterian/Covenant Theology persuasion.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

This hardcover book is part of a series where each book focuses on a different core idea from Reformed theology. This book focuses on human depravity, and includes thirty essays about sin. Different sections focus on understandings of sin and depravity in church history, sin and depravity in the Bible, theological perspectives on the topic, and what these issues look like in a contemporary pastoral context. The book also includes detailed footnotes, and I appreciate that they appear on each page, without readers having to flip to the back for references. At the end of the book, there is a bibliography, and there are also some helpful indexes.

This book is extremely dense and academic. Some of the essays will be readable to churchgoers with an intellectual bent, particularly the ones that are the most practical, such as the ones about how to share the gospel in a culture that doesn't have a category for sin and sees all human behavior through a therapeutic lens. Other essays are very academic and more difficult to follow, especially when they engage with historic debates between church fathers. Although these essays include helpful insights, they are very dense and go far beyond what is necessary to make that essay's point, delving into minutiae that will usually only be of interest to academic readers.

When it comes to the chapters on practical issues, I was disappointed with the chapter on counseling. The author makes many excellent points about how profoundly flawed counseling systems are when they don't acknowledge or address sin, but he is dismissive of Christians who believe that mental health care involves both the Bible and secular research and knowledge. He believes that the Bible is singular and sufficient for counseling, and instead of exploring strong counterarguments and explaining why he disagrees with them, he gives a single negative example, detailing the flaws in one person's approach to transgender issues.

The author focuses on the sensational and controversial topic of transgenderism throughout this chapter, and he uses an extreme example from one person to dismiss the whole concept of integrating the Bible with modern research into mental health. He doesn't actually make a case for why the Bible is sufficient for all counseling and mental health care, and just shows why Mark Yarhouse is wrong about transgenderism. This seems like deflection to me, because he doesn't actually support his own argument, and he uses an extreme example to dismiss the entire concept of integrated counseling.

I can't imagine that the author believes that the Bible is sufficient for medical doctors, and that doctors don't need other training to help people heal. So, why is it wrong and unbiblical for a counselor or therapist to supplement the Bible with other knowledge? The field of psychology isn't as straightforward as biology, obviously, and nor is it neutral, because it involves a lot of worldview assumptions. However, it also turns up knowledge that fits perfectly well with biblical teaching, and which gives us deeper insight into how God made us and how we can apply His truths to our lives. Then, when it comes to direct brain science, that's simply exploring God's creation and how he made us. I found it very frustrating that this chapter on counseling didn't even attempt to engage with counterarguments like that. It's sloppy and appears ignorant, and it can encourage readers who specialize in theology and know very little about mental health to make harmful, ignorant assumptions about something they don't understand.

Overall, this book will be a helpful resource for seminary students and professors, but I wouldn't recommend this to non-academics, since there are many resources on the topic that are less esoteric and easier to understand. I also found the counseling chapter frustrating, but even though I wanted to unpack those issues in detail, that one chapter is an outlier from the overall focus, tone, and content of the book.

I received a free copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does Scripture say about sin, and how can it best be understood and articulated today? Ruined Sinners to Reclaim explores the depths of human sinfulness and the boundless grace of God.



Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective

The second book in a planned series on the Doctrines of Grace, this volume is a masterpiece. Edited by David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson, with contributions from respected theologians like Michael A. G. Haykin, Mark Jones, and Daniel Strange – this book is incredibly rich. With the doctrine of Total Depravity as the basis, this book examines sin and depravity in historical, biblical, theological, and pastoral perspective.

Gibson and Gibson begin the book by explaining that we are to see the seriousness of our sin so that we can be stunned by the splendor of God and his stooping to save us. This book takes a doctrine from the past and provide a framework to best articulated today. It is a thorough and profound take on the subject matter of sin.


Good News

I was most pleased to read N. Gray Sutanto’s essay On Revelation and the Psychical Effects of Sin. He shows how God gives common grace to restrain nonbelievers’ sinful selves so that they are actually never as bad as they could be. Christian witnesses can speak to the unconscious and conscious suppressing of sin, hoping and praying for the sheep to hear the voice of their Shepherd. I am challenged to find ways to disrupt and expose the way my family and friends willingly and unwillingly deeply suppress their knowledge of God and the ruptured relationship they have with him for the sake of evangelism.

Albert Mohler ends the book with a passionate call on Preaching to Sinners in a Secular Age. He acknowledges that the notion of sin is an affront to modern humanity. He reminds Christian preachers to see sin as essentially theological in nature. It is in this way that preachers can transform worldviews to understand sin as a human problem against a transcendent Creator. There is a cosmic significance to sin. And by preaching the whole counsel of God, we can allow scripture to give way to the Good News.


Rescued and Redeemed

Ruined Sinners to Reclaim not only explained the doctrine of Total Depravity but inspired me to reflect on my own relationship with sin of which I have been rescued and redeemed. As a masterful exploration of theological depth and pastoral relevance, this book illuminates sin in a world desperate for the incomparable grace of God.


I received a media copy of Ruined Sinners to Reclaim and this is my honest review.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent effort that was evidently many years in the making. In any compendium of essays over 1,000 pages you'll of course have a mixed bag of quality. The chapters dealing with the biblical text where the highlights here, as well as Steve Wedgeworth's chapter on concupiscence as well as a few of the systematic chapters.

Others were more head-scratchers, perhaps none more so than the chapter on apologetics. Rather than dealing with the topic at hand, the author (who I like) took the opportunity instead to argue for presuppositional apologetics as superior to classical apologetics. Thomas Aquinas and R. C. Sproul were not impressed, to say the least, and really this chapter didn't need to be here.

Other edits could have made (as well as better copyediting as well; a list of suggestions to the publisher would have run multiple plages). But nevertheless a solid work I'll keep on my bookshelf alongside the previous volume on limited atonement and perhaps the projected next 3 in the TULIP series.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The doctrine of sin is one of the most crucial doctrines for the Christian faith. To obscure or minimize this doctrinal locus is to detract from and diminish the weight of the gospel. The editors do a great job of bringing together a team of scholars to treat sin in discussion with the theological encyclopedia. This is essential reading for any serious student of a sound doctrine of sin.

[Noah Lykins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theologically, historically, philosophically, culturally, insightful. Mostly filled with excellent contributions.

Some chapters were thought provoking and extremely useful. Took lots of notes and learned about some things to look out for in patterns in works written by some well known theologians (Shedd, Hodge, etc.).

Several chapters were repetitive or seemingly off topic - for example, the tangential work regarding presup apologetics.

Haven’t read the first in this series but certainly appreciated and learned a good bit from these contributions.