"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners"
In 1666, the Puritan John Bunyan penned his autobiography "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" which has been read by Christians throughout the centuries, and has brought spiritual comfort to many a great sinner who have come to know God's overwhelming grace in their lives through the example of Bunyan's honest retelling of his life. Although Bunyan would go on to write one of the greatest and the most widely read book in the English language ("The Pilgrim's Progress"), he actually started out his life as a sin-filled and God-hating man, which makes his grace-filled conversion all the more meaningful. Bunyan stated his youthful rebellion this way, "From childhood I had few equals, especially considering my tender years, in the areas of cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God." One of the first instances of John Bunyan's life being turned around by God was when he would talk with an elderly poor man who spoke highly of the Bible, as Bunyan stated, "I fell into company with one poor man that made a profession of religion, who, as I then thought, did talk pleasantly of the Scriptures and of the matter of religion. Falling into some love and liking with what he said, I took my Bible and began to take pleasure in reading."
But even though Bunyan began to enjoy the Scriptures, it wasn't until he understood that becoming a Christian meant having a new life that he would sincerely seek out a life under God's grace. Bunyan recounts his first hearing of the newness of Christian life with the following encounter, "I came where there were two or three poor women sitting at a door in the sun talking about things of God... Their talk was about a new birth, the work of God in their hearts, and also how they were convinced of their miserable state by nature. They talked about how God had visited their souls with His love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against temptations of the devil... I was convinced by them that I wanted the true tokens of a truly godly man, and also because I was convinced by them of the happy and blessed condition of him was was such a one." John Bunyan would be converted to the Christian faith soon after.
However this newness of life that God had given Bunyan did not end the struggles with sin that had so enveloped his life up until that point. Bunyan would constantly fight with the guilt from his past life which held such a tight grip on him since becoming a Christian. But he would describe his remedy for those times of intense guilt as follows, "Sometimes I would lie under the great guilt of sin, even crushed to the ground with the weight of it, and then the Lord would show me the death of Christ. Yes, He so sprinkled my conscience with His blood that I would find, even before I was aware, that in this conscience, where but just now did reign and rage the law, even there would rest and abide the peace and love of God through Christ." Bunyan would also come across a book written by a man who seemed to have had precisely the same type of guilt-ridden struggles before conversion and yet just as much a glorious and grace-filled conversion, that Bunyan held that book dearly for the rest of his life. Bunyan describes it this way, "The God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hands one day a book of Martin Luther's. It was his Commentary on the Galatians... When I had perused but a little of it, I found my condition in his experience so largely and profoundly handled, as if his book had been written from my heart... I prefer this book of Martin Luther on the Galatians, with the exception of the Holy Bible, to all the books that I have ever seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience."
Although Bunyan's autobiography focuses solely on his conversion story (with very little telling of details concerning the rest of his Christian life), that is precisely what makes "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" so helpful and insightful to readers who struggle with their own sins both before and after their conversion. Let John Bunyan, as the Chief of Sinners, take you through his spiritual journey of sin and redemption, so that you too may come to find the ultimate deliverance, peace, and joy which he discovered through the mercy, grace and love of Jesus Christ.
"Where guilt is most terrible and fierce, there the mercy of God in Christ, when shown to the soul, appears most high and mighty."
- John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, Chapter 9, pg 122
But even though Bunyan began to enjoy the Scriptures, it wasn't until he understood that becoming a Christian meant having a new life that he would sincerely seek out a life under God's grace. Bunyan recounts his first hearing of the newness of Christian life with the following encounter, "I came where there were two or three poor women sitting at a door in the sun talking about things of God... Their talk was about a new birth, the work of God in their hearts, and also how they were convinced of their miserable state by nature. They talked about how God had visited their souls with His love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against temptations of the devil... I was convinced by them that I wanted the true tokens of a truly godly man, and also because I was convinced by them of the happy and blessed condition of him was was such a one." John Bunyan would be converted to the Christian faith soon after.
However this newness of life that God had given Bunyan did not end the struggles with sin that had so enveloped his life up until that point. Bunyan would constantly fight with the guilt from his past life which held such a tight grip on him since becoming a Christian. But he would describe his remedy for those times of intense guilt as follows, "Sometimes I would lie under the great guilt of sin, even crushed to the ground with the weight of it, and then the Lord would show me the death of Christ. Yes, He so sprinkled my conscience with His blood that I would find, even before I was aware, that in this conscience, where but just now did reign and rage the law, even there would rest and abide the peace and love of God through Christ." Bunyan would also come across a book written by a man who seemed to have had precisely the same type of guilt-ridden struggles before conversion and yet just as much a glorious and grace-filled conversion, that Bunyan held that book dearly for the rest of his life. Bunyan describes it this way, "The God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hands one day a book of Martin Luther's. It was his Commentary on the Galatians... When I had perused but a little of it, I found my condition in his experience so largely and profoundly handled, as if his book had been written from my heart... I prefer this book of Martin Luther on the Galatians, with the exception of the Holy Bible, to all the books that I have ever seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience."
Although Bunyan's autobiography focuses solely on his conversion story (with very little telling of details concerning the rest of his Christian life), that is precisely what makes "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" so helpful and insightful to readers who struggle with their own sins both before and after their conversion. Let John Bunyan, as the Chief of Sinners, take you through his spiritual journey of sin and redemption, so that you too may come to find the ultimate deliverance, peace, and joy which he discovered through the mercy, grace and love of Jesus Christ.
"Where guilt is most terrible and fierce, there the mercy of God in Christ, when shown to the soul, appears most high and mighty."
- John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, Chapter 9, pg 122
