“The Sinfulness of Sin” (Part 1)

The Puritans on the hell within

The Puritans were known to be so devoted to the inseparable discipleship of a person in Reformed theology and Christian piety. Their doctrinal stand shapes their lives. In their minds, there is hardly a divorce between the propositional truths of Scripture and one’s life in worship and experience. The head, heart and hands are chained together in the one saint under doctrine and devotion.

One of the most notable theological treatises coming from them is their view of sin: they see it in the light of a cosmic treason against the Almighty, something that is so grave as proportioned to the glory of the object of its offense. Sin is ultimate evil because it spits on the face of ultimate good. Or to Puritan Ralph Venning, in his book “Sin, the Plague of Plagues,”—he writes: “Sin is worse than Hell…” (1)