Category Archives: Quotes

“The Believer’s Life as Mission”

“Paul generally does not urge his readers to proclaim the gospel to their neighbors, nor to go to the ends of the earth with the saving message of Christ. Rather, he urges them and commands them to live a life of holiness, to walk worthily of their calling, to demonstrate in loving and harmonious unity the new powers which have entered into the world in Christ, to demonstrate through victorious living the present victory of Christ over the powers of evil. It has been suggested that the reason why Paul does not urge his readers to a life of verbal witness is primarily because the early churches were not deficient in this respect. Though this is possible, it should be emphasized that what Paul is really doing in his letters is stressing the significance and importance of the believer’s life as mission.” – Edwin Roels, God’s Mission: The Epistle to the Ephesians in Mission Perspective (Franeker: T. Wever, 1962), 57, quoted in John Howard Yoder, Theology of Mission: A Believer’s Church Perspective, ed. Gayle Gerber Koontz and Andy Alexis-Baker (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2014),  103.

An Interesting Juxtaposition

“I’m afraid to say, but I must say it . . . I think mPicture of Lewis and Tolkien Booksuch of [C.S.] Lewis’s attraction to the Protestant evangelical world lies in his individualism.”

This assessment was offered by Ralph Wood, Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University, in a lecture delivered in Toronto in 2004 which compared the writings and sensibilities of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I had the opportunity to re-listen to the lecture this morning. Continue reading An Interesting Juxtaposition

A Quote for Christmas

christmas-gift-box“Before you ever thought of seeking out God to ask for God’s love, God sought you out and acted in self-giving love for you. Before you even considered choosing Christ and making a decision for him, Christ chose you and made a decision for you. Before you even heard about opening yourself to the freeing and renewing work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has already been at work in your life and in the world around you. Before it occurred to you to ask for your own and the world’s salvation, Continue reading A Quote for Christmas