Book Review: Knowing Sin by Mark Jones

 

John Owen said that the believer who knows his sin, he is the most useful. To many Christians, knowing their sin or just sin in general seems to be of unimportance. Most believers in the church want to Christ, the character of God, and other theological issues while ignoring sin. 

Sin seems to be swept under the table because many believers think its does not address because Christ paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. Yes, this is true, however, while we are free from the penalty of sin, we have not yet been set free from the presence of sin. Sin will continue to plague believers until the day we meet Jesus face-to-face when we depart from our earthly bodies or the Day of His return. Christians need to have a better understanding of sin.

In his latest book, Knowing Sin, Mark Jones takes a look at what the Bible says about sin along with the help of the Puritans such as Thomas Watson, Augustine, Thomas Goodwin, and, the man I quoted earlier, John Owen. 

We start off with where sin got its origin. Most Bible-believing Christians know that sin came into the world through the Fall of man as recorded in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat the fruit "from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:17). If they did, they will surely die, which Satan in the form of the serpent twisted the Word of Yahweh to deceive Adam and Eve to disobey God. They ate the fruit and sin came into the world. The sin of Adam continue to be inherited to every man and woman that has been born, with the exception of the Lord Jesus, and it resulted in death. 

Through out the rest of the book, we look at what sin truly means as the Bible teaches in both Old and New Testaments. We also see how Christians need to understand that though we are regenerated, we still have sin that must mortify. Jones also deals with secret sins and the danger that it presents to believers. 

As I mentioned, this book not only looks at what the Scriptures say about sin, but also what the Puritans have written about it. I appreciated that Jones incorporates the teachings of the Puritans into this book because they have had written some great works that has been saturated with the Word of God.  

If you are looking for book to help to understand the doctrine of sin, I am delighted to recommend this one.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for a review.