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From the beginning Christianity has been a proclamation, not a thesis supported by various logical arguments. The Doctrine of God (109)
Our faith in God is not just a philosophical belief in a supreme being; it is a life-changing experience of the one who has made us what we are.God is Love
Today the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's personal divinity is seldom given much attention. Books about him tend to gloss over who he is and concentrate almost entirely on what he does. This is a pity, because the works of the Holy Spirit cannot be understood unless his divine personhood is acknowledged.God Has Spoken (725)
there are those who say that the language of election is figurative. In Christ, everyone has been chosen, whether they know it or not. This view, or variations of it, has been popular in modern times, when it has became associated with Karl Barth and his followers, but there are at least two problems with it. The first one is that the Bible never says anything like this. From the beginning to the end, it is clear that God has chosen some people and not others... The second one is that it denies human freedom, even as it claims to be asserting the worth of every human being. What if I do not want to go to heaven?God Has Spoken 895
it is not true to say that Christians capitulated to the mind-set of the surrounding philosophical culture. On the contrary, the philosophers whom they are accused of imitating were the last people in the ancient world to accept the gospel message. SO reluctant were they, in fact, that in 529 the emperor Justinian closed the remaining philosophical schools and exiled their members to Persia. If Christianity had been little more than another philosophy, it is hard to see why resistance to it would have been that strong.God Has Spoken, 311
As to myself, I openly confess, that I should not wish free will to be granted me, even if it could be so, nor anything else to be left in my own hands, whereby I might endeavor something toward my own salvation.Bondage of the Will, Section 164
free will cannot be applied to anyone but to God only. You may, perhaps, rightly assign to man some kind of will, but to assign unto him free will in divine things, is going too far.Bondage of the Will, Section 41
For if the righteousness of God exist without the law, and without the works of the law, how shall it not much rather exist without free will!Bondage of the Will, Section 147
If, therefore, free will be of one and the same nature and impotency in all men, no reason can be given why it should attain unto grace in one, and not in another; if nothing else be preached to all, but the goodness of a long-suffering and the punishment of a mercy-showing God.Bondage of the Will, Section 81
It may be too much to attribute the rise of modern scientific thought exclusively to the influence of Christianity, but it is hard to deny that the two are connected. Belief in an orderly universe preceded the discovery and application of that order, and for that belief the teaching of the Bible was largely responsible. Many early Christian writers examined the world around them in great detail, and by claiming that everything they observed went back to the providence of a good Creator they were able to make sense of the universe to a degree that had not been achieved before.God Has Spoken, 165
they changed the day of rest from the seventh to the first day of the week. The Jewish Sabbath was the logical culmination of the creating work of God, who rested on the seventh day, but the first (or eighth) day symbolized the beginning of the new creation that had been established and fulfilled in Christ.God Has Spoken, 80
Christians rejected the almost superstitious reverence that some Jews had for the Sabbath, insisting that although it was meant to be a day of rest and worship, it could not be so hedged about with legalism that the weightier matters of the law had to be ignored out of deference to it.God Has Spoken, 80
Unlike the Jewish Sabbath, which was confined to this world, the Christian Sabbath pointed to the eternal rest of the people of God, which was promised to all believers but that could not be fulfilled in this life.God Has Spoken, 80
What makes the Scriptures holy is not their historical accuracy or even their content, but the presence of God in them.God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology (p. 43). Crossway
The subject of free will is neither the intellect, nor the will, but both faculties conjointly.
The early Christians understood the scope for misunderstanding on this point and were uncomfortable about identifying God too closely with the supreme being of the philosophers. A small (but telling) difference shows us what the root of their problem was and how they reacted to it. The philosophers spoke of their supreme being as to on (the thing that is) but Christians changed the neuter participle to the masculine ho ōn, which to them was the equivalent of Yahweh ("he who is").3 By doing this, they made it clear that the supreme being is a person who relates to us in personal ways, not an abstract deity—a vital difference that distinguished and still distinguishes Christianity from any kind of philosophy.God is Love, 136
should be common to the faith of every believer. The love of God reaches out to each of us individually, and no one person's experience will be exactly the same as another's. But we all have a great deal in common because we know and love the same God. Theology does not focus on us and our feelings but on God and the way he has revealed himself to us.God is Love, 81
Many other examples of the misuse of a text can be cited, but it is remarkable how they usually all boil down to one of two things. Either the hermeneutical method being used is faulty, or the issues being discussed are not in the text to begin with.God is Love, 59
What do the genealogies reveal about God? They tell us that he is a faithful Lord, who keeps his covenant from one generation to another. Whoever we are and however far we may have descended from the source of our human life in Adam, we are still part of God's plan. Over the centuries we have developed differently, we have lost contact with one another, and we have even turned on each other in hostility, but in spite of all that, we are still related and interconnected in ways that go beyond our immediate understanding or experience.God is Love, 59
"Infallibility" emerged as a way of saying that the Scriptures do not teach error, and "inerrancy" makes it more precise by insisting that they do not contain it either.God is Love, 28
True theologians are sheep who hear their Shepherd's voice and interpret his words for the benefit of the rest of the flock. In this task, theology will continue until the time comes when it will no longer be needed. When that happens we shall know all things, and be enfolded forever in the unchanging and all-encompassing love of God.God is Love, 28
What we call "theology" is a work in progress. It is not a fixed body of knowledge that can never grow or develop; it continues to expand as our relationship with God deepens. At the same time, it does not change, because God does not change. Theologians may have to express themselves in new ways when challenged by fresh discoveries that raise questions our ancestors never dreamed of.God is Love, 28
A child cannot talk about his parents in the dispassionate way that a biographer would, but a child knows things about his parents that no outsider can fully understand. It is the same in our relationship with God. The Bible never speculates about whether God exists, because it was written by people who knew him and who would have found such a question absurd.God is Love, 26
When dealing with matters pertaining to God, humility is essential. If our attempts to discover his ways are dissociated from a spirit of reverent worship, what we are seeking will remain hidden from us and the task to which we have been assigned will be left for others to accomplish. In doing theology, we are talking about someone with whom we live in relationship, with all the complexities that any relationship involves. We cannot objectify God and analyze him any more than we can distance ourselves from our parents, spouse, or children and examine them as if our ties to them were purely intellectual. As with our close human relations, our knowledge of God is embedded in a context that we must recognize and respect.God is Love, 25-26
The good theologian must know how to recognize the boundaries of our understanding, and must remind curious souls not to stray beyond the limits that God has imposed on our learning.God is Love
Top Authors
1. Charles Spurgeon (132)
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2. Thomas Watson (121)
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7. George Swinnock (75)
8. A.W. Pink (68)
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