Quotes from Books I Read

Quotes from Books I Read

Christ Offered in the Gospel

          “The way to calm the troubled breast is to know God. It is to know Christ as he is offered in the gospel. And that requires knowing truth, doctrine, and theology—truth about God, truth about Jesus Christ.” –J. Ligon Duncan III..[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 52, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois)

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The Image and Likeness

          “The physical descent of Adam is recorded for us in Genesis 5:1-3. The Scripture affirms two things in this post-fall account: (1) the imago Dei creation of man, and (2) that Seth is a son in Adam’s own likeness and image (5:3). Adam is in God’s image and likeness, and Seth is in Adam’s image and likeness. With a superficial reading, Genesis 5:3 might seem to suggest that Seth was somehow made in some other image and likeness, as though the image and likeness of God was lost after the fall. But indeed it was not. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Gen. 9:6). After the fall and the universal flood of Noah’s day, God reasserts the fact that all men are made in his image. God grounds the prohibition of murder in the fact that man after the fall and flood remain in his image and likeness.” –Thabiti Anyabwile...[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 61, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois) 

Sinners’ Own Free-Will

          “Because people think salvation is a result of sinners’ own free-will decisions for Christ, they tell sinners what they want to hear to try to get them to like him—and that in turn has obscured the gospel rather than unleashing it to do the true work of salvation.”

-John MacArthur..[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 96, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois)

The Gospel is Relevant

          “The gospel is relevant to every sinner! Our job is merely to present the gospel accurately, to work to make that already-existing relevance obvious and clear. If merely human skill works to bring someone into church we can be sure that other greater human skill will be able to take them away…Don’t try to improve the gospel by making it more relevant in this way; you’ll end up losing it. We must preach the gospel we have received.”

-Mark Dever..[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 112 & 113, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois)

Individualism

          “Some people seem to understand the gospel only in reference to themselves as individuals with no idea of the local church. This individualism, which ignores the local church, ends up distorting our discipleship and even our gospel..” -Mark Dever..[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 113, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois)

Adjustable Church?

          “Many evangelicals seem to assume today that church is just a plural word for Christian, and therefore they assume that the local church should do whatever the individual Christian should do…Being vague about the church can hurt our understanding of the gospel.” -Mark Dever..[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 114 & 115, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois)

The Local Church

          “The local church is a glorious testimony to the gospel, which is greater than the sum of its visible parts. A local church is not simply a collection of individual lights; it is a furnace that rages against the dark that God uses to create more lights.” --Mark Dever..[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 116, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois)

Kinder Gospel

          “Many people have assumed that the ultimate purpose of the gospel is the greatest good number of people. It has long been a popular assumption that what God is about in the gospel is attempting to rescue the most people he can from hell. The idea is that since God is just and holy as well as loving and merciful, his character is best expressed in providing salvation for sinners who will take it. Therefore, we should do whatever we can to reach whomever we can (which in and of itself, of course, is good). But here, “reaching them” is not seen as merely making sure they hear and understand the gospel but making sure that they accept the gospel. In light of this, all evangelistic efforts are subjected to evaluation according to how many people have heard and have made an immediate, visible positive response. The ultimate purpose of God and the preaching of the gospel is considered to be the salvation of sinners. Period. This, it’s thought, is a kinder gospel.” -Mark Dever..[et al.], Proclaiming a Cross- Centered Theology, 2009, pg. 117, Crossway (Wheaton, Illinois)