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Jesus is no draughtsman of political blueprints, he is the one who vanquished evil through suffering.
The cross is the only power in the world which proves that suffering love can avenge and vanquish evil.
His behaviour must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus;
We are ready to endure their curses so long as they redound to their blessing.
We must love not only in thought and word, but in deed, and there are opportunities of service in every circumstance of daily life.
For if we pray for them, we are taking their distress and poverty, their guilt and perdition upon ourselves, and pleading to God for them. We are doing vicariously for them what they cannot do for themselves.
Perfect, all-inclusive love is the act of the Father, it is also the act of the sons of God as it was the act of the only-begotten Son.
It is not strict Puritanism, not some eccentric pattern of Christian living, but simple, unreflecting obedience to the will of Christ.
Our activity must be visible, but never be done for the sake of making it visible.
the Christian is a light unto the world, not because of any quality of his own, but only because he follows Christ and looks solely to him.
Genuine love is always self-forgetful in the true sense of the word.
It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use, what matters is the faith which lays hold on God and touches the heart of the Father who knew us long before we came to him.
the heart is dark when it clings to earthly goods, for then, however urgently Jesus may call us, his call fails to find access to our hearts.
God and the world, God and its goods are incompatible, because the world and its goods make a bid for our hearts, and only when they have won them do they become what they really are.
Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of all anxiety.
Anxiety is always directed to the morrow, whereas goods are in the strictest sense meant to be used only for to-day.
The only way to win assurance is by leaving to-morrow entirely in the hands of God and by receiving from him all we need for to-day.
The coming day, even the coming hour, are placed beyond our control. It is senseless to pretend that we can make provision because we cannot alter the circumstances of this world.
a daily unquestioning acceptance of his gifts.
Worldly cares are not a part of our discipleship, but distinct and subordinate concerns.
Discipleship does not afford us a point of vantage from which to attack others; we come to them with an unconditional offer of fellowship, with the single-mindedness of the love of Jesus.
Thus we remove him from the judgement of Christ and subject him to human judgement. But I bring God’s judgement upon my head, for I then do not live any more on and out of the grace of Jesus Christ, but out of my knowledge of good and evil which I hold on to.
I am not forbidden to have my own thoughts about the other person, to realize his shortcomings, but only to the extent that it offers to me an occasion for forgiveness and unconditional love, as Jesus proves to me.
By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.
Christ’s disciples have no rights of their own or standards of right and wrong which they could enforce with other people; they have received nothing but Christ’s fellowship.
Every attempt to impose the gospel by force, to run after people and proselytize them, to use our own resources to arrange the salvation of other people, is both futile and dangerous.
To try and force the Word on the world by hook or by crook is to make the living Word of God into a mere idea, and the world would be perfectly justified in refusing to listen to an idea for which it had no use.
The kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, the justification of the sinner through faith, all this is identical with the destruction of the devil’s power, the healing of the sick and raising of the dead.
Vice and sin may be forgiven, according to the word of Jesus, but the man who rejects the word of salvation has thrown away his last chance.
You must not be depressed, for what others refuse will prove an even greater blessing for yourselves. To such the Lord says: ‘They have scorned it, so keep it for yourselves’ ” (Bengel).
Only the truth of that Word will enable him to discern what is wise. But to deviate from the truth for the sake of some prospect or hope of our own can never be wise, however slight that deviation may be.
Those who are still afraid of men have no fear of God, and those who have fear of God have ceased to be afraid of men.
we cannot know Jesus without at the same time knowing his will.
The object of Jesus’ command is always the same—to evoke wholehearted faith, to make us love God and our neighbour with all our heart and soul.
Baptism is not an offer made by man to God, but an offer made by Christ to man.
The baptized Christian has ceased to belong to the world and is no longer its slave. He belongs to Christ alone, and his relationship with the world is mediated through him.
The gift which the Holy Spirit creates in us is not uncertainty, but assurance and discernment.
From now on the baptized can know themselves only as dead men, in whom everything necessary for salvation has already been accomplished.
It is all our infirmities and all our sin that he bears to the cross. It is we who are crucified with him, and we who die with him.
“God with us.” Only when we know Christ in this way is our being with him the source of grace.
In Christ we no longer live our own lives, but he lives his life in us.
The Body of Christ, which was given for us, which suffered the punishment of our sins, makes us free to take our share of suffering and death “for Christ.”
The realm of Christian love is subject to Christ, not to the world. The Church can never tolerate any limits set to the love and service of the brethren.
Where the world seeks gain, the Christian will renounce it.
Where the world exploits, he will dispossess himself, and where the world oppresses, he will stoop down and raise up the oppressed.
The Christian must not be drawn to the bearers of high office: his calling is to stay below.
If only Christians will concentrate on perceiving what is good and on doing it as God commands, they can live “without fear of the authorities.” “For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil.”
What right have we to blame the government when we do not do that which is good ourselves? How can we pass judgement on others when we invite the same condemnation ourselves?
the Church must obey the will of God, whether the State be bad or good. He has no intention to instruct the Christian community about the task and responsibility of government. His entire concern is with the responsibility of the Christian community towards the State.
the government cannot hurt the Christian’s conscience even if it makes a mistake. The Christian is still free and has nothing to fear, and he can still pay the State its due by suffering innocently. He knows that when all is said and done, the sovereign power belongs to God and not to the State, which is only his minister.
