THE WORST OF TIMES, THE BEST OF THE TIMES

'The worse thing that can happen to us is crucifixion under the curse of God, and we've already been there, in Christ. The best thing that can happen to us is freedom from death and life at the right hand of God, and that's already happened to us too, in Christ.' 

Russell Moore, Onward, p.9. 

CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE

'A Christianity that is without friction in the culture is a Christianity that dies. Such religion absorbs the ambient culture until it is indistinguishable from it, until, eventually a culture asks what the point is of the whole thing. A Christianity that is walled off from the culture around it is a Christianity that dies. The gospel we have received is a missionary gospel, one that must connect to those on the outside in order to have life. Our call is to an engaged alienation, a Christianity that preserves the distinctiveness of our gospel while not retreating from our callings as neighbors, and friends, and citizens.' 

Russell Moore, Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel, p.8.

THE SACRAMENTS

'...to reject, marginalize, trivialize or be suspicious of the sacraments (and quasi-sacramental acts such as lighting a candle, bowing, washing feet, raising hands in the air, crossing oneself etc.) on the grounds that such things can  be superstitious or idolatrous, or that some people might suppose that by doing them they are putting God in their debt, is like rejecting sexual relations in marriage on the grounds that it's the same act that, in other circumstances, constitutes immorality.' 

Tom Wright, Surprised by Hope, p.275. 

BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION & CONTROVERSY

'As a general rule, the more complex and/or emotional the issue, the greater the tendency to select only part of the evidence, prematurely construct a grid, and so filter the rest of the evidence through the grid that is robbed of any substance. What is needed is even-handedness, along with a greater desire for fidelity than for originality in the interpretation of the Scriptures.' 

DA Carson in Mark Meynell, The New Testament and Slavery: Approaches & Implications, p.25. 

THE TYPOLOGY OF MARRIAGE

'...the biblical theology of marriage is much nearer to typology than metaphor. Israel "is" God's bride in quite a different way than she "is" his vineyard (Isa 5:1,7). It is not the eschatological destiny of the church to enter into the final consummation of what it means to be a grapevine, but it is her destiny to be truly her husband's bride (cf 2 Cor 11:2).' 

John Richardson, What God has made clean....if we can eat prawns, why is gay sex wrong? p.25. 

HELL

'If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Mark Jones, Knowing Christ, p.196. 

IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH

'You cannot have God as your Father if you will not have the church as your mother.' 

Cyprian in Mark Jones, Knowing Christ, p.185. 

JESUS' PRAYER FOR US

'If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; he is praying for me.' 

Robert Murray M'Cheyne in Mark Jones, Knowing Christ, p.182. 

THE RESURRECTION

'The resurrection was the triune God's "Amen" to all that Christ did on earth...' 

Mark Jones, Knowing Christ, p.161.