Best Books on Sin & Temptation
Reformed theology teaches that sin is rebellion against God's law rooted in Adam's fall and the believer's remaining indwelling corruption, while temptation is the enticement to yield to that corruption. Scripture calls believers to fight both through the Spirit, the Word, and disciplined, daily mortification of sin.
Start Here
basic
Respectable Sins
Top pickJerry Bridges · 2007
Names the socially acceptable sins Christians tend to overlook or excuse in themselves.
The Enemy Within
Kris Lundgaard · 1998
A modern, accessible distillation of John Owen's teaching on indwelling sin.
The Pursuit of Holiness
Jerry Bridges · 1978
A million-copy classic on personal responsibility in the daily fight against sin.
Killjoys: The Seven Deadly Sins
Marshall Segal (ed.), with John Piper and others · 2015
Short, punchy chapters exposing seven besetting sins and the joy found in fighting them.
Idols of the Heart
Elyse Fitzpatrick · 2016
Shows how misplaced desires become idols and points the heart back to God alone.
Go Deeper
intermediate
Overcoming Sin and Temptation
Top pickJohn Owen · 1656
Three modernized Owen treatises on mortifying sin, resisting temptation, and indwelling sin.
The Mortification of Sin
John Owen · 1656
Owen's Puritan classic on the lifelong, Spirit-empowered battle against remaining sin.
Temptation: Resisted and Repulsed
John Owen · 2007
An abridged edition of Owen's treatise on how Christ teaches believers to watch and pray.
The Doctrine of Repentance
Thomas Watson · 1668
Watson's Puritan classic on why true repentance from sin is essential to genuine faith.
For Study
advanced
The Works of John Owen, Volume 6: Temptation and Sin
Top pickJohn Owen (ed. William H. Goold) · 1965
The full, unabridged seventeenth-century treatises on temptation and indwelling sin.
The Bondage of the Will
Martin Luther (trans. Packer and Johnston) · 1525
A foundational Reformation treatise on the will's bondage to sin apart from grace.
Freedom of the Will
Jonathan Edwards · 1754
Edwards' rigorous philosophical-theological case for the moral bondage of the fallen will.
Sin: A History
Gary A. Anderson · 2010
A scholarly biblical study tracing how conceptions of sin developed across Scripture.
Grace Online Library is an Amazon Associate. Purchases made through these links help support the library at no extra cost to you.
A tiered reading guide of the best books on Sin & Temptation.