Ignorance In The Pilgrim’s Progress
For Ignorance, Christ’s finished work only justifies his good deeds for Salvation.
The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature. It has been translated into more than 200 languages and never been out of print. Bunyan began his work while in the Bedfordshire county prison for violations of the Conventicle Act of 1664, which prohibited the holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England.
The entire book is presented as a dream sequence narrated by an omniscient narrator. The allegory's protagonist, Christian, is an everyman character, and the plot centres on his journey from his hometown, the "City of Destruction" ("this world"), to the "Celestial City" ("that which is to come": Heaven) atop Mount Zion. Christian is weighed down by a great burden—the knowledge of his sin—which he believed came from his reading "the book in his hand" (the Bible). This burden, which would cause him to sink into Hell, is so unbearable that Christian must seek deliverance.
This passage within the book deals with a conversation that takes place between Christian and a traveler in life called Ignorance.
Ignorance is "the brisk young lad", (representing foolishness and conceit) who joins the "King's Highway" by way of the "crooked lane" that comes from his native country, called "Conceit." Ignorance follows Christian and Hopeful and on two occasions talks with them. He believes that he will be received into the Celestial City because of his doing good works in accordance with God's will.
For Ignorance, Jesus Christ is only an example, not a Saviour. Christian and Hopeful try to set him right, but they fail. He gets a ferryman, Vain-Hope, to ferry him across the River of Death rather than cross it on foot as one is supposed to do.
When Ignorance gets to the gates of the Celestial City, he is asked for a "certificate" needed for entry, which he does not have. The King upon hearing this, then, orders that he be bound and cast into Hell.
True justifying faith makes the soul aware of its lost condition under the law and that it is Christ’s righteousness alone that is acceptable to God - not a mixture of Christ’s obedience and our attempts at obedience that justify us to God.
Our obedience is worthless and full of sin and does not justify or satisfy the wrath of God in the judgement toward that sin.
Christ alone has accomplished the work and it is not a mixture of our work and Christ’s work that justify and save us from God’s wrath.
This is a sobering reminder that our justification and salvation toward God and protection from His just wrath is by faith alone in the exclusive work of Jesus Christ His Son, and not in any addition to our work.
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