Covenant Theology Quotes

Progressive Dispensationalism advocates a holistic and unified view of eternal salvation."[120] This means that all the redeemed will be blessed with the same salvation with respect to justification and sanctification. One wonders if this is not similar to the concept and purpose of the Covenant of Grace in Covenant Theology.[121] While ~ Matthew Stamper

The problem is not covenant theology in general, but covenantal nomism in particular. Wright's primary objection to the imputation of Christ's active obedience is that it's a category mistake: "If we use the language of the law-court, it make no sense whatever to say that the judge imputes, imparts, bequeaths, conveys or otherwise transfers his righteousness to either the plaintiff or the defendant. Righteousness is not an object, a substance or gas which can be passed across the courtroom ... To imagine the defendant somehow receiving the judge's righteousness is simply a category mistake." P.25 ~ Michael S. Horton

But if the distinctiveness of the New Covenant is that of consummation, if when it abrogates it consummates, then its very discontinuity is expressive of its profound, organic unity with the Old Covenant. ~ Meredith Kline

While I agree with Wright's claim that covenant theology is more crucial for understanding justification than Piper suggests, I argue that it is Wright's version of covenant theology (viz., reducing different types to "covenant nomism") that generates false choices...At least as defined by its confessions and dogmatic consensus, Reformed theology is synonymous with covenant theology...This federal theology gathers various biblical covenants under two broad types: law and promise, or the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. P.12 ~ Michael S. Horton

We teach the Bible not only so that people have their theology right. We teach it so that they will live right theology. ~ Murray Capill

We are fools, not by our religious beliefs,however by what we are lead to believe by those who control what information we receive ~ Kloby

In an age of religious violence like ours, people care much less about what you believe, and much more about whether you will kill for what you believe. So if you haven't figured out what you're going to do with passages like Deuteronomy 7 and 1 Samuel 15 and Psalms 137:9, you still have some important work to do.3 If you haven't grappled with these passages and others like them, your Bible is like a loaded gun and your theology is like a license to kill. You have to find a way to disarm your faith as a potential instrument of hate and convert it into an instrument of love.4 You have to convert Christianity from a warrior religion to a reconciling religion. Otherwise, your neighbors around this seminary will tolerate you the way they might tolerate a chemical plant that could at any moment blow up and kill them all. ~ Brian McLaren

If you hate the poor,
do not ask The Divine One for wealth.
If you hate the despised,
do not ask The Divine One for honor.
If you hate the oppressed,
do not ask The Divine One for freedom.
If you hate the lowly,
do not ask The Divine One for influence.

If you hate the fatherless,
do not ask The Divine One for children.
If you hate the lonely,
do not ask The Divine One for friends.
If you hate the orphaned,
do not ask The Divine One for parents.
If you hate the divorced,
do not ask The Divine One for a family.

If you hate the weak,
do not ask The Divine One for strength.
If you hate the helpless,
do not ask The Divine One for might.
If you hate the timid,
do not ask The Divine One for courage.
If you hate the helpless,
do not ask The Divine One for power.

If you hate the avarage,
do not ask The Divine One for excellence.
If you hate the common,
do not ask The Divine One for nobility.
If you hate the meek,
do not ask The Divine One for authority.
If you hate the gentle,
do not ask The Divine One for fortitude.

If you hate the confused,
do not ask The Divine One for understanding.
If you hate the perplexed,
do not ask The Divine One for insight.
If you hate the ignorant,
do not ask The Divine One for knowledge.
If you hate the senseless,
do not ask The Divine One ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Medicine makes people ill, mathematics make them sad and theology makes them sinful. ~ Martin Luther

No love can be bound by oath or covenant to secure it against a higher love. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Desperation is a great giver of clarity: Bartimaeus needed no time to decide what to do next. "Jesus! Son of David!" he shouted. "Have mercy on me!" (Mark 10:47). The crowd turned to him in disgust. "Shut your mouth, son of filth!" But Bartimaeus knew what it meant to be despised. He also knew that the chance of a lifetime was literally passing him by, so he called to the Savior all the louder. (From: Bartimaeus) ~ Sherri Gragg

I agree with yours of the 22d that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. but we cannot always do what is absolutely best. those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. truth advances, & error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step.
[Comment on establishing Jefferson's University of Virginia, a secular college, in a letter to Thomas Cooper 7 October 1814] ~ Thomas Jefferson

In this book, the history of American religion is the history of human actions and human organizations, not the history of ideas (refined or otherwise). But this is not to say that we regard theology as unimportant. To the contrary, we shall argue repeatedly that religious organizations can thrive only to the extent that they have a theology that can comfort souls and motivate sacrifice. In a sense, then, we are urging an underlying model of religious history that is the exact opposite of one based on progress through theological refinement. We shall present compelling evidence that theological refinement is the kind of progress that results in organizational bankruptcy. ~ Roger Finke

The force of Dante's poetry resonated most in those who did not confess the Catholic faith, for believers would inevitably have quibbles with Dante's theology. But for those most distant theologically, Dante's faith was so perfect, so unyielding, that a reader found himself compelled by the poetry to take it all to heart. ~ Matthew Pearl

The difference between us and the papists is that they do not think that the church can be 'the pillar of the truth' unless she presides over the word of God. We, on the other hand, assert that it is because she reverently subjects herself to the word of God that the truth is preserved by her and passed on to others by her hands. ~ John Calvin

Then I studied theology in college, and when I was getting a Ph.D. in literature, I took courses in New Testament studies and studied Greek versions of the Gospels. ~ Jay Parini

It seems obvious to me that the notion of God has never been anything but a kind of ideal projection, a reflection upward of the human personality, and that theology never has been and never can be anything but a more and more purified mythology. ~ Alfred Loisy

For theology to remain formally one as a science, all the natural knowledge it contains must be directed and subordinated to the point of view proper to the theologian, which is that of revelation. Thus incorporated into the theological order, human learning becomes a part of the sacred doctrine which is founded on faith. ~ Etienne Gilson

The covenant of works
was contingent on the uncertain obedience of a changeable man, while the covenant of
grace rests on the obedience of Christ as Mediator, which is absolute and certain. ~ Louis Berkhof

The 'law of wills and causes,' formulated by Comte, ... is that when men do not know the natural causes of things, they simply attribute them to wills like their own; thus they obtain a theory which provisionally takes the place of science, and this theory forms a basis for theology. ~ Andrew Dickson White

A dangerous fallacy is to repudiate freedom in favor of an unknown future. What else but our own sturdy reliance on freedom can explain the unexampled record this country has made? In a period scarcely twice my own lifetime it has risen from nothingness to become the world's greatest power. It has become the ark of the covenant of freedom. ~ Bernard Baruch

Theology moves back and forth between two poles, the eternal truth of its foundations and the temporal situation in which the eternal truth must be received. ~ Paul Tillich

I would even go so far as to say that the idea of a soul mate is harmful. If you go into marriage expecting your spouse to satisfy your every need and complement you perfectly, you will be sorely disappointed. If you expect your spouse to satisfy the deepest longings of your soul, you are in for a massive let down. Marriage is a covenant between two, imperfect, very flawed, sinful people. You're not perfect and your spouse isn't perfect, so don't expect your marriage to be perfect. ~ Stephen Altrogge

You cannot end a theology class without hearing these recurrent words "maybe", "it seems to me", "perhaps", "the unique reason may be that", "my belief on this subject is that", "there are many interpretations to how", etc. All of which indicate a lack of certainty. It's not surprising in a class with the task to study the invisible god ~ Bangambiki Habyarimana

Really, theology is simply what we think about God and then living that truth out in our right-now life. ~ Sarah Bessey

I began to understand the security of the covenant of grace, and to expect to be preserved, not by my own power and holiness, but by the mighty power and promise of God, through faith in an unchangeable Savior. ~ John Newton

Covenant. We were made for relationship with God. We were created for covenant relationships, relationships made more intimate because they are more binding. We were made to be his people, he our God. If we keep the covenant, there is the blessing of love and unity and peace. If we break the covenant, there is the curse of separation, aloneness. How can God be holy and still remain faithful to his people? Only through the death of Jesus on the cross - where both love and law are fulfilled, where the Lord became the perfect servant and fulfilled the covenant perfectly and fully on our behalf. Home and exile. The world was made ~ Timothy Keller

Though I cannot entirely agree with you in supposing that extreme study has been the cause of my late indisposition, I must yet confess that the hill of science, like that of virtue, is in some instances climbed with labour. But when we get a little way up, the lovely prospects which open the eye make infinite amends for the steepness of the ascent. In short, I am wedded to these pursuits, as a man stipulates to take his wife; viz., for better, for worse, until death us do part. My thirst for knowledge is literally inextinguishable. And if I thus drink myself into a superior world, I cannot help it. ~ Augustus Toplady

Theology is not only about understanding the world; it is about mending the world. ~ Miroslav Volf

Cities, in many ways, are the best repositories for a love affair. You are in a forest or a cornfield, you are walking by the seashore, footprint after footprint of trodden sand, and somehow the kiss or the spoken covenant gets lost in the vastness and indifference of nature. In a city there are places to remind us of what has been. ~ Edna O'Brien

Theology is just what you really think about God, and if you're going to do that, you'd better use your mind and not just let it be a receptacle - a catch-all for whatever beliefs happen to be passing by. ~ Dallas Willard

My greatest fear is time wasted - a life spent. My greatest fear is passing away from this world without leaving a lasting impact. ~ M.J. Chrisman

Whatever character our theology may ascribe to him, in reality God is the infinite ideal of Man, towards whom men move in their collective growth, with whom they seek their union of love as individuals, in whom they find their ideal of father, friend and beloved. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

The fundamental question pertaining to voting ethics which Christians must ask at this presidential election is this: "What are the binding principles established by God in the Bible for selecting a civil magistrate?" All other questions are secondary or irrelevant. Once this standard is determined it is our duty to wisely apply the principles and precepts to our American context and to obey. All attempts by Christians to obfuscate our duty to repair to "the standard" by sprinkling the debate with the theology of pragmatics and partisan politics is a loss to the Church because it means that we are more concerned with manipulating a political process then simply obeying the sovereign God ~ Douglas W. Phillips