My response to that is: there is no theological word that does not have to be similarly footnoted and constrained: justification, spirit, sanctification etc.
D. A. CARSONIf God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist.
More D. A. Carson Quotes
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The Bible is endlessly interesting because it is God’s story, and God by nature is himself endlessly interesting. The Bible is an ever-flowing fountain. The more you read it, the more you find its truth and beauty to be inexhaustible.
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To know God is to be transformed, and thus to be introduced to a life that could not otherwise be experienced.
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We are dealing with God’s thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly.
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It’s just that the group has accepted that document as authoritative for their group. And some documents are truthful and reliable but they are ignored, so they have no authority for that particular group.
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God’s love in John 3:16 is not amazing because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad.
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There may be some, but not everybody. But there are many, many, many different Christian, theological, pastoral, specialisms that are covered by one section or another of the book and this will become, therefore, a resource volume for many people.
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Some forms of absolutism are not bad; they may even be heroic.
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Damn all false dichotomies to hell
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If the text is God’s Word, it is appropriate that we respond with reverence, a certain fear, a holy joy, a questing obedience.
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God in his infinite wisdom chose to give us his Word in the 66 canonical books, with all of their variations in theme, emphasis, vocabulary, literary form, and distinctive contributions across time.
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We treat the Bible, not as if it’s a magic book that has to be handled like a piece of abracadabra, make sure it’s dusted, never put it on the floor, and things like that.
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The Bible does not tell us that life in this world will be fair. Evil and sin are not Victorian gentlemen; they do not play fair.
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Love the church because Jesus loves it.
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Christian worship is new covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centered worship; it is cross-focused worship.
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Make a mistake in the interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s plays, falsely scan a piece of Spenserian verse, and there is unlikely to be an entailment of eternal consequence; but we cannot lightly accept a similar laxity in the interpretation of Scripture.
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Many of us in our praying are like nasty little boys who ring front door bells and run away before anyone answers.
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When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery… Will there also be faith?
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Both God’s love and God’s wrath are ratcheted up in the move from the old covenant to the new, from the Old Testament to the New. These themes barrel along through redemptive history, unresolved, until they come to a resounding climax – in the cross.
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To God on whom we rely knows what suffering is all about- not merely in the way that God knows everything, but by experience.
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That God normally operates the universe consistently makes science possible; that he does not always do so ought to keep science humble.
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Effectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring.
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Often a Study Bible will also include some brief articles, photographs of geographical and archaeological sites, fairly extensive maps, and charts that summarize a lot of information.
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It’s not as if the New Testament writers came along and said, “The culmination of Old Testament books is more books, New Testament books.”
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Some people say What’s the use of the term if it has to be so fully documented and constrained and footnoted and all the rest.
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If you want to see what judgment looks like, go to the cross. If you want to see what love looks like, go to the cross.
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As long as young people are asking, ‘Can I get away with this?’ or ‘Can I get away with that?’ I wonder if they’re regenerate. If they’re asking, instead, ‘How can I grow in holiness?’ then I suspect they’ve begun to understand.
D. A. CARSON