God’s love in John 3:16 is not amazing because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad.
D. A. CARSONGod’s love in John 3:16 is not amazing because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad.
D. A. CARSONI suspect that relatively few people will sit down and read 1250 pages [ of The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures.] all the way through from cover to cover.
D. A. CARSONWhat the Bible says is what God has disclosed and we want to approach this sacred text with cognitive reverence.
D. A. CARSONEffectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring.
D. A. CARSONWe 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.
D. A. CARSONIt’s not as if the New Testament writers came along and said, “The culmination of Old Testament books is more books, New Testament books.”
D. A. CARSONThere 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.
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.
D. A. CARSONSex is about timing. The world says: any time, any place. God says: my time, my place.
D. A. CARSONIt was not nails that held Jesus to that wretched cross; it was his unqualified resolution, out of love for his Father, to do his Father’s will-and it was his love for sinners like me.
D. A. CARSONStudy Bibles tend to circulate widely, so they play a disproportionate role in helping Christians and others understand holy Scripture.
D. A. CARSONGod’s wrath is not an implacable, blind rage. However emotional it may be, it is an entirely reasonable and willed response to offenses against his holiness. But his love . . . wells up amidst his perfections and is not generated by the loveliness of the loved.
D. A. CARSONMy 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. CARSONMake 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.
D. A. CARSONAs 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. CARSONSome 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.
D. A. CARSON