Quote 1249
Without the gospel everything is useless and vain; without the gospel we are not Christians; without the gospel all riches is poverty, all wisdom folly before God; strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God. But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow townsmen with the saints, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinner justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and slaves free. It is the power of God for the salvation of all those who believe.
John Calvin
John Calvin's preface to Pierre Robert French translation of the New Testament (1534)1.7K
Other Quotes from the Author & Topic
Grace is God's giving us a sovereign joy in God that triumphs over the joy in sin.
The majesty of God is too high to be scaled up to by mortals, who creep like worms on the earth.
Christianity exists only when the preaching of the cross is its message.
If the gospel-even when you are orthodox-becomes something which you primarily assume, but what you are excited about is what you are doing in some sort of social reconstruction, you will be teaching the people that you influence that the gospel really isn't all that important. You won't be saying that-you won't even mean that-but that's what you will be teaching. And then you are only half a generation away from losing the gospel. http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/blogs/cj-mahaney/post/Don-DA-Carson-Preserving-A-Passion-for-the-Gospel.aspx
Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the Church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown. John Calvin: Selections from His Writings (95)
Ambiguity is the fortress of heretics.
how richly does he supply us with the means of contemplating his mercy when, as frequently happens, he continues to visit miserable sinners with unwearied kindness, until he subdues their depravity, and woos them back with more than a parent's fondnessInstitutes, Book 1 Chapter 6
Works? Works? A man get to heaven by works? I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand! Sep 29, 1770 Newburyport, Massachusetts. From the sermon: "How willingly would I live forever to preach Christ, but I die to be with him."
The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine...Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually Death by Love (91)
God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation. Institutes Lib. III. c. 21,5(Opera, Vol. II. pp. 682, GS3)
The distinction is, that to the Father is attributed the beginning of action, the fountain and source of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and arrangement in action, while the energy and efficacy of action is assigned to the Spirit.Institutes, Book 1 Chapter 13
The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. The Reason for God (181)
God is not a megalomaniac when he makes much of Himself, we would be megalomanicas if we made much of ourselves, because we would be unloving and that is what is infinitely loving for God to do because when he draws our attention to Himself it's like inviting us to a fountain. He is the ultimately satisfying reality in the Universe. reFocus Conference 2010
How do we know that God has elected us before the creation of the world? By believing in Jesus Christ.
There is but one family which ought to be reckoned, both in heaven and on earth, both among angels and among men—if we belong to the Body of Christ. For outside of Him there is nothing but dispersion
How could we have such a low view of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have to manipulate men psychologically to get them to come down and pray a prayer? ...How many times have I heard evangelists say, "It'll only take five minutes."? No my dear friend, it will take your life-all of it! "We're just trying to attract people and then we'll gradually bring them in further and further." That is what the cults do, that's not what Jesus did. Notice that in the gospels every time a great crowd is following Jesus, he turns around and says something so radical to them that most of them walk away. Of course Jesus probably would not get invited to teach evangelism
But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross.
And I beheld God's love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace. Song:All I Have Is Christ
It makes me so angry, when men treat the glorious gospel of Christ as though it was a first step into Christianity, that takes ten minutes of counselling, and then you go onto greater stuff.
Preach the gospel to yourself everyday. The Gospel for Real Life
God's children when they are spiritually healthy spend most of the time at the foot of the cross. Sermon: Is Your View of the Cross Worldly
All the other revelations of God in Christ are like rays of sun breaking through the clouds. But the death of Christ for sinners was like a bolt of lightning.
If we want to spend our minds to the fullest in knowing God to the fullest so that we can love him to the fullest, this is where we will focus. DG Conference 2010
It's Christ or nothing. And you better want it that way. Why? If it was 99.99% Christ and 0.01% you, you'd go to hell. http://youtu.be/9W2fuFWUIL0 (around 54 minutes in)
A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.
Christ in fact had not the least intent of making any change or innovation in the precepts of the law. God there appointed once for all a rite of life which he will never repent of... so let us have no more of that error, that here a defect of the law is corrected by Christ; Christ is not to be made into a new law-giver, adding anything to the everlasting righteousness of his Father, but is to be given the attention of a faithful interpreter, teaching us the nature of the law, its object and its scope.
The God who declares that we are to be fruitful and multiply regards it as a great evil when human beings destroy their offspring.
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