Lenski on Salvation

“To add anything to Christ as being necessary to salvation, say circumcision or any human work of any kind, is to deny that Christ is the complete Savior, is to put something human on a par with him, yea to make it the crowning point. That is fatal. A bridge to heaven that is built of 99/100 of Christ and even only 1/100 of anything human breaks down at the joint and ceases to be a bridge. Even if Christ be thought of as carrying us 999 miles of the way, and something merely human be required for the last mile, this would leave us hanging in the air with heaven being still far away.” R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles

Spurgeon on the Gospel, part II

“After the gospel has been found effectual in the eternal salvation of untold multitudes, it seems rather late in the day to alter it; and, since it is the revelation of the all-wise and unchanging God, it appears somewhat audacious to attempt its improvement.”

“And so within the simple gospel, how much lies concentrated?  Look at it!  Within that truth lie regeneration, repentance, faith, holiness, zeal, consecration, perfection.  Heaven hides itself away with the gospel.”

“See what vitality the gospel has.  Plunge her under the wave, and she rises, the purer for her washing; thrust her in the fire, and she comes out the more bright for her burning; cut her in sunder, and each piece shall make another church; behead her, and like the Hydra of old, she shall have a hundred heads for every one you cut away.  She cannot die, she must live; for she has the power of God within her.”

“The gospel does not come to us as a premium for virtue, but it presents us with forgiveness for sin.  It is not a reward for health, but a medicine for sickness.”

“No real faith was ever wrought in man by his own thoughts and imaginations; he must receive the gospel as a revelation from God, or he cannot receive it at all.”

“That which is new in theology is not true; the gospel was of full stature at its very birth; no man can add to it or take away from it.”

About the Bible

The following quotes taken from Tim Challies’ blog convey a reverence for the Bible that is the hallmark of biblical Christianity.  Of particular importance is the first quote by J.I. Packer, highlighting the problem we all have when we read Scripture, namely, approaching the text with our preconceived ideas and mistakenly finding biblical support for them.  Yet, like Alan Cole observes in the second quote, occasionally God blesses our bad interpretations regardless.  These fortunate accidents aside, it should be every Christian’s desire to divorce their biases from the reading of Scripture, employing careful hermeneutic principles while seeking the wisdom of God’s revealed Word.  As Challies observed, “The Bible is an awesome revelation and it behooves us to treat it with the utmost care and respect.”

“We approach Scripture with minds already formed by the mass of accepted opinions and viewpoints with which we have come into contact, in both the Church and the world. It is easy to be unaware that it has happened; it is hard even to begin to realize how profoundly tradition in this sense has moulded us.” –J.I. Packer

“God sometimes blesses a poor exegesis of a bad translation of a doubtful reading of an obscure verse of a minor prophet.” –Alan Cole

“One of the many divine qualities of the Bible is that it does not yield its secrets to the irreverent and the censorious.” –J.I. Packer

“The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” –A.W. Tozer

“I hold that the words of Scripture were intended to have one definite sense, and adhere rigidly to it–to say the words do mean a thing merely because they can be tortured into meaning it is a most dishonorable and dangerous way of handling Scripture.” –J.C. Ryle

“Inasmuch as all Scripture is the product of a single divine mind, interpretation must stay within the bounds of the analogy of Scripture and eschew hypotheses that would correct one Biblical passage by another, whether in the name of progressive revelation or of the imperfect enlightenment of the inspired writer’s mind.” –The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

Truth amid a Christian Mess

“Regardless of what a mess we’ve made of Christianity, our failures cannot change at all what God has accomplished.  He became incarnate, Jesus Christ the Son died, and our sins are pardoned.  He is risen, and death, chaos and the devil are defeated.  What is done, is done.  Irrespective of what we make of Christianity, God’s work and accomplishment are finished and they are inscribed in human history.” -Jacques Ellul, The Subversion of Christianity

As quoted on the White Horse Inn broadcast ”Finding Truth in a World of Spin” (3/4/2007).

Spurgeon on Discernment

“Certain critics have a faith which is very good for discerning, but never for enjoying. They have a fine nose for heresy; the moment it comes anywhere near them they discover it; and if there be half a word in a sermon they do not like how sure they will be to take it home.

One bad fish in our basket, and it will be cried all round the town before tomorrow; but let us offer never so much that is good we can scarce win a notice.

Dear friends, I would have God’s people discern, but the discerning propensity ought not to destroy the enjoying faculty. I bless God I love the doctrines of grace, but I never considered the doctrines of grace to be like drawn swords with which to fight every man living.

I know it is a good thing to be like the armed men about the bed of Solomon, each with his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night; but for my part, to recline upon that royal bed, and sleep with Jesu’s bosom for a pillow, is better still. I pray you, dear friends, delight yourselves in Christ! Let your faith so taste Jesus as to make you glad. Let your joy be as the joy of harvest, and sing ye with Zechariah, “How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.”

Better is Christ to you than all earth’s harvests. He is the cluster of Eshcol, so heavy that one man can never carry all of Christ! He is not one grape; but a cluster of sweetness is our beloved unto us! Feed to the full; eat, yea drink abundantly, O beloved! Be ye satiated with delight, and let your soul rejoice as with marrow and fatness; so shall ye understand in the fullest degree what this taste is which so delighteth the soul of man.”

Credit to Pyromaniacs for the original post.