Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, by Dane Ortlund. Crossway, 2020, 224 pages, $19.99.

It is no secret that the Bible is filled with examples of and statements about Christ’s steadfast, tender, and compassionate love for his people. There are numerous adjectives, stories, and assertions in Scripture that describe our Savior’s love and show that he loves us now, always, and forever. Sadly, Christians sometimes forget the truth of Jesus’s gentle affection for them. Some preachers rarely talk about the depth of Christ’s love for us, and when they do talk about it, they fail to emphasize the fact that it is a warm, tenderhearted affection. Other preachers are more concerned with law than Christ’s love, which results in people thinking they need to earn his love. Certain Christians view Jesus as someone who is very stern, strict, and cold. Still others have an idea that Jesus is a macho, gunslinging hero who kicks rear ends and takes names. No Christian will deny Christ’s love, but the truth is, we do not always teach it correctly or believe it rightly.

Because of this tendency for Christians to forget, misunderstand, or fail to consider the truth that Jesus loves us with tender affection, we need to hear it often. And we need to hear it clearly. Thankfully, there are many good Christian resources that wonderfully explain the heart of Christ towards his people. Dane Ortlund’s 2020 publication, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, is one such book that emphasizes the life-changing reality that the Lord loves us with tenderness, sympathy, and deep affection. Ortlund’s main goal in this book is to explain the biblical truth that Christ delights in showing love and mercy to his people. In other words, Ortlund expounds on the reality that Jesus has deep, heartfelt, loving affections for us, his sinful, weak, and often disobedient people.

Although the title of the book says it is about Christ’s heart for sinners, Ortlund also talks about the Father’s love for us (these two topics are of course related). Gentle and Lowly (G&L) is a book meant for Christians from all walks of life. It is just over 200 pages and was written in a devotional style that is full of Scripture references and quotes from various Puritans and other Reformed theologians. Some readers might find that G&L requires extra attention because of its tightly packed writing style that is full of adjectives and descriptive language. Ortlund’s way of writing includes longer sentences with various clauses and phrases, which can sometimes require a second reading.

G&L has twenty-three short chapters. The first twelve chapters are about Christ’s heart of love for sinners. The thirteenth chapter is on the Holy Spirit, who, Ortlund argues, helps us feel Christ’s love for us. Chapters 14 through 19 are about God’s heart of love for sinners. Chapters 20 through 23 return to the topic of Christ’s love for sinners, specifically that he loves us forever. For me, the flow of the chapters was a bit haphazard and did not seem to have a logical progression. By the end of the book, I was thinking there was too much repetition. However, to repeatedly hear about Christ’s love for us is actually a good thing. To follow Ortlund’s emphasis, there is no such thing as hearing too much about Christ’s love! Who would ever say, “Please stop talking about Jesus’s heartfelt love for me”?

Various parts of G&L are based on Thomas Goodwin’s 1642 publication, The Heart of Christ. If you have read Goodwin’s work, G&L will, in various ways, be a review for you. Ortlund also draws from the writings of John Flavel, Richard Sibbes, John Owen, John Bunyan, B. B. Warfield, and Louis Berkhof. (As a side, G&L made me think of Octavius Winslow’s The Sympathy of Christ, although Ortlund did not mention it.) Each chapter of G&L is basically an exposition of a Bible text about the heart of God/Christ and then a theologian’s discussion of that verse or concept. For example, in chapter 8 Ortlund explains the following phrase from Hebrews 7:25: “He always lives to make intercession for them.” The chapter contains a brief and helpful exposition of Christ’s loving intercession. It also weaves in some reflections about Christ’s intercession from John Bunyan’s work Christ a Complete Savior. Ortlund notes that “Christ’s heavenly intercession is the reason we know that he will save us to the uttermost” (83).

To give another example, chapter 12 is about the lovely truth that Christ is the friend of sinners (Matt. 11:19). Ortlund says that Christ’s “heart takes shape as our never-failing friend” (113). Ortlund gives some explanation of Matthew 11 and then illustrates it in various ways. “In Jesus Christ, we are given a friend who will always enjoy rather than refuse our presence” (115). After discussing the reality that Christ is a friend of sinners, Ortlund uses Sibbes’s description of Christ as a friend. For Sibbes, Ortlund notes, the mutual aspect of Christ’s friendship with sinners is key. Love is a mutual part of our friendship with Christ. He is ours, we are his.

One subjective critique I have of G&L is its writing style. Throughout the book, I noticed many phrases that seemed like a strained effort at relevance, using trendy, emotion-oriented language. I very much agree that modern authors should use modern, everyday language, but sometimes Ortlund’s fashionable writing style struck me as strained and awkward. For example, Ortlund says we should “romance the heart of Jesus” (99). He means that we should be drawn to Christ’s love for us. However, from another angle, the phrase means we should try to win Christ’s affection. At one point Ortlund suggests that things about ourselves which make us “cringe most,” make God “hug hardest” (179). Other ambiguous phrases include, “Our law-ish hearts relax as his lavish heart comes home to us” (188). “Law-ish” is an unclear phrase because, to me, “ish” means “sort of” or “roughly.” At a different place Ortlund says that God’s “glory is his lowliness” (147). I am not sure that phrase is exactly accurate. I could list many more examples, but the writing style made this book harder for me to enjoy and appreciate. I prefer reading about Christ’s amazing love in clearer, more straightforward language.

Minor critiques aside, G&L is a wonderful devotional book that helps Christians better understand the unchanging fact that Christ loves us with a tender love. “His is a love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain” (46). And Jesus’s love is not like our love which fluctuates from week to week (and sometimes from day to day!). Even the best love Christians display is but a pale, weak comparison to Christ’s love for us. Christ “will love you to the end. Not only is your future secure, on the basis of his death; your present is secure. . . .” (204). G&L emphasizes and describes Christ’s love from different angles, helping the reader better understand what it means to be loved by him. “This is heaven’s delight. Come to me, says Christ. I will embrace you into my deepest being and never let you go” (66).

Yes, Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Lion of Judah and will one day return to judge the wicked with a sword of vengeance. But for us, Jesus is also gentle, lowly, loving, patient, kind, tenderhearted, affectionate, caring, merciful, and meek. Sadly, there are people in this world who are cruel, forceful, aggressive, and assertive, who try to get their way with big, dominating personalities. But—thank God!—Jesus is not like that at all. When you are weighed down in life and you go to Christ with this weight, he will not beat you down with any sort of mighty bravado or toxic masculinity. Not at all. “He does not say, ‘Whoever comes to me with sufficient contrition,’ or ‘Whoever comes to me feeling bad enough for their sin,’ or ‘Whoever comes to me with redoubled efforts.’ He says, ‘Whoever comes to me I will never cast out’” (65).

I would like to end this review with a pastoral note. G&L is indeed a great overview of Christ’s tender and amazing love for us. When we go to him in faith, he does willingly and lovingly embrace us forever. And when Jesus calls us to come, he also says learn from me (Matt. 11:29). As the reader takes a wonderful tour of Christ’s love in G&L, it does help us rest in his steadfast love. But we can also learn from the love of Christ. Relying on grace, we should seek to love other people with a Christ-like, tender, kind, and compassionate love. Husbands, love your wives with a warm, gentle, self-sacrificing, serving love that makes her feel profoundly cherished and highly valued. Wives, love your husbands with affection, support, and Christ-like patience. Parents, show your children a kind of love that is heartfelt, sympathetic, forgiving, and gracious. Pastors, show the people in your care a loving gentleness, a servant-like affection that shows up in humility, respect, encouragement, and peacefulness. And do not forget, our Lord’s profound, undying love for us actually enables us to love others: “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). As Augustine might have said it, to be loved and to love are two of the greatest blessings ever.

Shane Lems is a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and serves as pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Hammond, Wisconsin. Ordained Servant Online, April, 2026