REDEMPTION REQUIRES that radical evil and radical atonement collide.
Patricia Hampl, I Could Tell You Stories
THE FACT that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I shall die, and the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, shall be raised on the Last Day. Our salvation is “external to us.” I find no salvation in my life history, but only in the history of Jesus Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
BY GRACE you have been saved! Whatever else we do, praying and singing is but an answer to this word spoken to us by God himself… . The Bible alone contains this sentence. We do not read it in Kant or in Schopenhauer, or in any book of natural or secular history, and certainly not in any novel, but in the Bible alone.
Karl Barth, Deliverance to the Captives
WHEN JESUS PRAYED to the one who could save him from death, he did not get that salvation; he got instead the salvation of the world.
Philip Yancey in Christianity Today
AS CHRIST SAYS: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born from above, they will not see the kingdom of God … . Yes, it would all be in vain, even if they were baptized by Peter, Paul, or Christ himself, if they were not baptized from above with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Menno Simons, Foundation and Clear Instruction
CHRISTIAN CONVERSION has both an objective and a subjective dimension to it. On the one hand, Christ’s death and resurrection have secured eternal salvation for those who believe … . But … the beginning point of conversion also involves a clearly subjective, personally experienced dimension that results in some radical changes in the believer; and the Spirit is the absolutely indispensable element for this dimension.
Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God
JESUS died on the cross—that’s history. Jesus died for me—that’s salvation.
Church sign
WE ARE SAVED to know God, to enter his wonder-filled Presence through the new and living way and remain in that Presence forever. We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.
A. W. Tozer, That Incredible Christian
I AM LEARNING that God intends salvation to be more than a ticket to heaven, and that his chief purpose in providing the church is not to transport us there with as little inconvenience as possible.
Don Ratzlaff in the Christian Leader
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman
Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Past Reflections columns include:
Sin and Evil (Oct. 18, 2004)
Teaching and Learning (Sept. 15, 2004)
Wisdom for the Road (Aug. 02, 2004)
Discipleship (July 13, 2004
Conversion (June 09, 2004)
The Outpoured Spirit (May 03, 2004)
He Is Risen (April 08, 2004)
Jesus’ Cross (March 15, 2004)
Lenten Inventory (Feb. 25, 2004)
Following the Star (Dec. 23, 2003)
Advent (Dec. 10, 2003)
Wisdom for Ministry (Nov. 10, 2003)
Discerning God’s Will (Oct. 6, 2003)
Work and Vocation (Sept. 17, 2003)
Bumper Sticker Theology (July 30, 2003)
Songs from the Soul (July 8, 2003)
Walk Humbly (May 28, 2003)
Mercy (May 8, 2004)
Cross and Resurrection (April 16, 2003)
Justice (March 18, 2003)
Sex, Love, and Marriage (Feb. 14, 2003)
Mountaintop Spirituality (January 23, 2003)
Word Made Flesh (December 20, 2002)
Desert Springs (November 25, 2002)
Matters of the Mind (October 16, 2002)
Bumper stickers (August 6, 2002)
Preaching (July 18, 2002)
Prayer (June 24, 2002)
Suffering and Grief (May 20, 2002)
Writers and Words (April 18, 2002)
Crucifixion (March 28, 2002)
God’s Mission (February 13, 2002)
On Enemies (January 8, 2002)
Life After Christmas (December 26, 2001)
