THE DANGERS OF CHURCH PURITY

'...once the Machenites found themselves in a "true Presbyterian church" they were unable to moderate their martial impulses. Being in a church without liberals to fight, they turned on one another.' 

John Frame, 'Machen's Warrior Children' in Alister E McGrath & Evangelical Theology: A Dynamic Engagement, p.143. 

THE BIBLE

'...you can't understand God's Word rightly until you can use it, until you see how it applies to this situation and that...If someone says he understands "You shall not steal" but has no idea to what situations that commandment applies (such as embezzling, cheating on taxes, shoplifting), then he hasn't really understood the biblical command. Understanding Scripture, understanding its meaning, is applying it to situations. A person who understands the Bible is a person who is able to use the Bible to answer his questions, to guide his life...theology is application.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.322.

THE SACRAMENTS

'As the Reformers used to say, the sacraments are visible words. They supplement the word of God by divinely authorized dramatic images. So, the fullness of divine teaching is by Word and sacrament.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.275.

THEOLOGY

'Theology is the application of the Word by persons to the world and to all areas of human life.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.79.

KNOWING GOD

'You grow in knowledge of God as you know him more and more as Lord, as King. First, he is the one who controls all things. You will grow in your knowledge of God as you see more and more things as under his control: the present, the future, your own life, your sin, your salvation. Perhaps you think now that there is some part of your life where you are in control. You will grow in your knowledge of God when you come to see that ultimately there is no part of your life that is controlled by anyone other than God, even that little part of your life.

Second, you come to know God as the one who speaks with such authority that you must obey - in every area of your life: you social life, your moral life, even your intellectual life. You will grow in your knowledge of God whne you come to bring every thought captive to Christ (1 Cor.10:5).

Third, you come to know God as you sense more and more his presence in your life. You can't ever escape from him. You can't do anything that he doesn't see. And nothing shall ever seperate you from his love.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.75.

LIBERALISM

'The moral relativist side of secular liberalism stems from the fact that, as Dostoyevsky noted, if God doesn't exist, anything is permitted. But such universal permisiveness is a recipe for chaos, one which even secularists cannot easily accept. Thus they seek to replace God with another supposed absolute. (Scripture calls this process "idolatry.") That absolute is, in most cases, their own autonomous moral judgment. Hence, there is the dogmatic side of secularism. But when that dogmatism fails, when the secularist's own judgment proves untrustworthy, then they revert to relativism: "Oh well, nobody really knows." Relativism and dogmatism: these are the Scylla and Charybdis of secular liberalism. Strictly speaking, these are inconsistent with one another. But they supplement and need one another. The secularist bounces backwards and forwards from one to the other on a pendulum.'

John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.899.

SIN

'Scripture represents marriage as a reflection of our covenant relationship with God. To violate marriage is to violate that covenant, and unfaithfulness to God is adultery. All sin is unfaithfulness to God, spiritual adultery. So the seventh commandment, like the others, actually covers all of life from its particular perspective. Whenever we sin, we can think of it as marital unfaithfulness. And we should think of it that way, better to understand our radical need of forgiveness from our heavenly husband.'

John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.747.

IDOLS

'...idols are lies, not because God is invisible or cannot be pictured, but because idols fail to picture what is most important about him - his personality, his ability to see, hear, speak, and interact with his creatures. Without personality, God cannot judge - good news for unbelieving hedonists, but bad news for the universe. And without personality, God cannot love - bad news for everybody.'
John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.460.

IMAGES

'...the second commandment does not forbid making images, even representations of God. It only forbids making them for the purpose of bowing to them in worship....the Scripture certainly intends to provide for its readers mental pictures of Jesus. It is, for most of us, psychologically impossible to read the New Testament (or even portions of the Old Testament like Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53) without forming such pictures. To forbid mental pictures of Jesus, while allowing mental pictures of other things in the gospel narrative, promotes Docetism, a view in which the Son of God did not really take on flesh. But our faith is to be focused on the real Jesus, whom, though unseen, we love: "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1: 8-9).'

John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.460.

HOLINESS

, '...you cannot decide to work on one area of your ethical life (say, submission to authority) while ignoring the others. Since ethics is a matter of the heart, compromise in one area entails compromise in others. You won't be able to be fully subject to authority, in the biblical sense, unless you learn not to covet and not to lust. Positively, growth in holiness is holistic. It is a practice of the presence of God in all the situations of life, so that every decision becomes a godly response to his lordship.'
John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.396.

EMOTIONS

'The Reformed community needs to look at emotions much more positively, as the Bible does. We need to play the pathos game. There is no reason for us to disparage or try and dampen emotions in the Christian life or even in worship. And if we don't have the resources in the Reformed tradition to express the profound emotions found in Scripture, then we should be humble enough to go beyond the Reformed tradition to find the resources we need.'

John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.382.

EVANGELICALS

'Why is it, I wonder, that in our circles whenever anybody gets an interesting idea, if produces a party that makes it a test of orthodoxy, leading to another party that opposes it, and then to battles between these two parties in the churches? Why can't those who think they have new insights quietly teach them to others while embracing them as brothers and sisters in Christ? If some "don't get it," why should that amount to heresy? Why not simply permit both views to be taught until the Spirit convinces God's people generally that one view is scriptural and the other is not?'

John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.296.

ETHICS

'Philosophy does not excite many people today, and many people do not even want to hear personal testimony and the simple gospel. But they do care about right and wrong. Christians who can talk about ethics in a cogent way, therefore, have great apologetic and evangelistic advantage.'

John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, p.5.

GODLINESS

'A godly life is the body language of sound teaching.'
John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.257.

KINGDOM OF GOD

'Kingdom of God is not merely a synonym for God's sovereignty; rather, it is a specific historical program. God is always sovereign, always King in a general way. But since the fall, he must, as King, put down opposition and bring human beings to acknowledge his kingship. The kingdom of God in the New Testament is that historical program, the series of events, by which God drives his kingship home to sinful human beings.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.248.

SALVATION

'When the eighth commandment says, "Thou shalt not steal," it doesn't mention my name. It doesn't say that John Frame should not steal. Does that mean that I am free to take your wallet? Well, of course not. Because "Thou shalt not steal" means "Everybody should not steal" or "Nobody should steal." That includes John Frame. So, although my name is not in the text explicitly, the text applies to me, which is to say that my name is there implicitly. The same is true with the promises of salvation. God promises salvation to everybody who believes. If you believe, then that promise is yours. God promises to save you. And that promise is infallible, certain. You dare not doubt it.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.218.

ADOPTION

'...adoption, belonging to God's family, is the height of our privilege as God's people and the beginning of our heavenly reward. It is the foundation of all our relationships with God and one another. God's name is our family name, the name by which we will be known, through all eternity.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.210.

REPENTANCE

'We need more Christians who will lead lives of repentance, for repentance always challenges pride. If you're coming to God daily to confess to him how much you have sinned, you will find it hard to pretend that you are holier than everybody else. You'll find it hard to put on airs, to pose as the perfect Christian. When others accuse you of sin, you won't immediately jump to defend yourself, as if of course you could never do wrong and any accusation must be a misunderstanding. Rather, when someone accuses you of sin, you'll respond by thinking there is a high probability that the accusation is true...'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.199.

REPENTANCE

'Scripture cannot imagine anyone believing in Christ who wants at the same time to cling to his sin.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.198.

THE BIBLE

'...don't seek to know God apart from his Word or read the Word without realizing that you are in the presence of God...Say to the Lord from your heart, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears." If you get into the habit of taking the Word for granted, it will harden you rather than bless you. Since the Word is powerful it never leaves you the same. It will leave you either better off or worse off.'

John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord, p.50.