Quotes: Timothy Keller

The Gospel: The Power of God for All of Salvation

The gospel deals with more than the judicial, our standing before God, for it is the power of God that brings salvation (Rom. 1:18)--a comprehensive transformation. Everything is secured by Jesus' death and resurrection; everything is empowered by the Spirit, whom he bequeaths; everything unfolds as God himself has ordained this great salvation.

--D.A. Carson and Timothy Keller, "Gospel-Centered Ministry," in The Gospel as Center: Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices (edited by D.A. Carson and Timothy Keller; Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 21.

The Gospel: the Key to Scripture, the Key to Life

Not only does the gospel of Jesus Christ gather into itself all the trajectories of Scripture, but under the terms of the new covenant, all of Christian life and thought grow out of what Jesus has accomplished.

How Biblical Theology Works

By contrast, biblical theology, by and large, asks and answers questions that focus on the contributions and themes of particular biblical books and corpora as these books and corpora are stretched out across the timeline of redemptive history. As much as possible, the categories used are the categories found within the biblical materials themselves.

How Systematic Theology Works

Because [systematic theology] aims to synthesize all of Scripture and to interact with the broadest questions, the categories it uses must transcend the usage of individual biblical books or writers. For instance, systematicians speak of the doctrine of justification, knowing full well that the justification word-group does not function exactly the same way in Matthew as it does in Paul; they speak of the doctrine of the call of God, where exactly the same observation about "call" language must be made.

The Verdict Precedes and Produces the Performance

Do you realize that it is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance? The atheist might say that they get their self-image from being a good person. They are a good person and they hope that eventually they will get a verdict that confirms that they are a good person. Performance leads to the verdict. For the Buddhist too, performance leads to the verdict. If you are a Muslim, performance leads to the verdict. All this means that every day, you are in the courtroom, every day you are on trial. That is the problem. But Paul is saying that in Christianity, the verdict leads to performance.

You see, the verdict is in. And now I perform on the basis of the verdict. Because He loves me and He accepts me, I do not have to do things just to build up my résumé. I do not have to do things to make me look good. I can do things for the joy of doing them. I can help people to help people – not so I can feel better about myself, not so I can fill up the emptiness.

--Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy (Chorley, England: 10Publications, 2012), Kindle locations 335-347.

The Daily Prosecution of Self-Esteem

And he is saying that the problem with self-esteem--whether it is high or low--is that, every single day, we are in the courtroom. Every single day, we are on trial. That is the way that everyone’s identity works. In the courtroom, you have the prosecution and the defence. And everything we do is providing evidence for the prosecution or evidence for the defence. Some days we feel we are winning the trial and other days we feel we are losing it. But Paul says that he has found the secret. The trial is over for him. He is out of the courtroom. It is gone. It is over. Because the ultimate verdict is in.

--Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy (Chorley, England: 10Publishing, 2012), Kindle locations 327-331.

Gospel-humility

True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself.

--Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy (Chorley, England: 10Publishing, 2012), Kindle locations 281-282.

Identity Rooted in Something Beyond Good or Bad Deeds

When he does something wrong or something good, he does not connect it to himself any more.

--Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy (Chorley, England: 10Publishing, 2012), Kindle locations 273-274.

Sin and the Christian Identity

[Paul's] sins and his identity are not connected. He refuses to play that game. He does not see a sin and let it destroy his sense of identity. He will not make a connection. Neither does he see an accomplishment and congratulate himself. He sees all kinds of sins in himself – and all kinds of accomplishments too – but he refuses to connect them with himself or his identity. So, although he knows himself to be the chief of sinners, that fact is not going to stop him from doing the things that he is called to do.

--Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy (Chorley, England: 10Publishing, 2012), Kindle locations 261-264.

Spiritual Pride

Spiritual pride is the illusion that we are competent to run our own lives, achieve our own sense of self-worth and find a purpose big enough to give us meaning in life without God.

--Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy (Chorley, England: 10Publishing, 2012), Kindle locations 132-133.

The Irreplaceability of the Local Church

In our gospel communication, we should neither ignore baseline cultural narratives nor just change the packaging and call that "contextualizing." We should stand for the irreplaceability of the local church, which has the task of evangelizing and discipling. But we should also encourage Christians to work in the world as salt and light.

Thursday, November 15, 2012