Pat > Pat's Quotes

“And, at the risk of generalizing unduly, we might suggest that here as well is the point of contact for the application of the message of Colossians to a wide variety of historical and contemporary teachings. Any teaching that questions the sufficiency of Christ — not only for “initial” salvation but also for spiritual growth and ultimate salvation from judgment — falls under the massive christological critique of Colossians.”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“However, as Gordon Fee has argued, it is doubtful whether Paul ever uses the language of “spirit” without some reference to the Holy Spirit. Here, then, while the immediate reference may be, indeed, to Paul’s own “spirit,” it is his spirit as taken up into the Holy Spirit. His “presence” with the Colossians, then, is not a simple “you will be in my thoughts and prayers,” but involves a profound corporate sense of identity, based on and mediated by the Spirit of God.”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“Any teaching that in any way detracts from Christ’s exclusive role is by definition both wrong and ineffective. The teachers themselves are probably not denying that Christ was central to God’s saving purposes. They seem rather to be arguing that certain practices must be added on in order to achieve true spiritual fulfillment. But, for Paul, in this case, addition means subtraction: one cannot “add” to Christ without, in effect, subtracting from his exclusive place in creation and in salvation history.”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“Paul’s point, as v. 23 will make rather more clearly, is that the false teachers have been making far too big a deal of matters that do not get to the essence of true Christian spirituality: the change of heart and mind that leads to true holiness. Jesus made a very similar point in his rebuke of the Pharisees for their preoccupation with their own rules of ritual uncleanness: “Nothing outside you can defile you by going into you. Rather, it is what comes out of you that defiles you” (Mark 7:15).”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“At first sight, Paul’s command that slaves obey their masters seems simply to endorse the status quo. But we need to see that what he writes here also subtly undermines it. First, it is significant that Paul chooses to address slaves at all, implying not only that they are assembled with the other Christians of the Colossian church to hear the letter being read but that they are responsible people who need to choose a certain kind of behavior. Second, Paul clearly relativizes the status of the slave’s master by repeatedly reminding both slave (vv. 22, 23, 24) and master (4:1) of the ultimate “master” to whom both are responsible: the Lord Jesus Christ. Third, Paul never hints that he endorses the institution of slavery. He tells slaves and masters how they are to conduct themselves within the institution, but it is a bad misreading of Paul to read into his teaching approval of the institution itself. (For”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“Yet it does suggest that our notion of Philemon as a “private individual” or of his handling of the Onesimus situation as a “private matter” needs rethinking. We may be injecting into the first-century Christian community a contrast of “private” versus “public” that was simply not present there. Indeed, we will suggest that one of the enduring and extremely relevant teachings of Philemon is the degree to which Christians are bound to one another in all their activities through their common faith. Paul”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“But we should not view the public nature of the letter as simply a lawyer ’s tactic to win his case; it rather reflects the corporate nature of early Christianity, in which no matter was “private” but inevitably affected, and was affected by, one’s brothers and sisters in the new family of God.1163”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“There was a tall, sensible man in the room called Thorpe, a gentleman with very little magical learning, but a degree of common sense rare in a magician. He”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“When people believe in Christ, they become identified with one another in an intimate association and incur both the benefits and responsibilities of that communion. Philemon is fundamentally all about those responsibilities, as Paul, Onesimus, and Philemon, bound together in faith, are forced by circumstances to think through the radical implications of their koinnia.”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“But more important here is the rhetorical point that they make: Philemon is to respond to Paul because he, Paul, and Onesimus are all “in the Lord/Christ.”1365 The fellowship that is created among those who have faith in Christ (v. 6) brings with it obligations to one another.”
― Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary

“But does the Bible itself support Ryrie’s claim? Certainly some Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled literally in the New Testament. Some of those Old Testament prophecies were equally clearly understood in a literal manner prior to their fulfillment. Thus, Herod could be advised by the chief priests and teachers of the law where to go looking for the Christ child on the basis of Micah 5:2 (Matt. 2:4–5). However, other prophecies from the Old Testament were fulfilled in a way that would have been completely unexpected to preceding generations, even though they too were fulfilled in a literal way. What first-century B.C. prophecy conference would have been clearly predicting the birth of Messiah from a virgin on the basis of Isaiah 7:14? Or his crucifixion on the basis of Psalm 22? Or his physical resurrection on the basis of Psalm 16? These texts are clearly viewed by the New Testament as messianic prophecies that were literally fulfilled, yet they were only seen to be such with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight after their fulfillment in Christ, not before.”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“To sum up, then, the message of the prophets in general, and Ezekiel in particular, is not simply instruction addressed to their own day and age. Still less is it a manual to help you interpret current events in the Middle East and work out the countdown to Armageddon. The message of the prophets is Jesus, and specifically “the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” Thus, when you interpret Ezekiel correctly, without allegory, you will find that his message is not primarily morality, or social action, or eschatology. His central message is Jesus.”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“(1) The gospel (the good news about Jesus’ death and resurrection) is not merely the power by which dead sinners are raised to new life, it is also the power by which God’s people are transformed. The gospel is not merely the starting point from which we move on to ethics; it is the heartbeat of our lives as Christians. That”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“The basic point, then, of the introductory verses is that God’s word comes to the exiles. Now”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“Exile. It is not simply being homeless. Rather, it is knowing that you do have a home, but that your home has been taken over by enemies. Exile. It is not being without roots. On the contrary, it is having deep roots which have now been plucked up, and there you are, with roots dangling, writhing in pain, exposed to a cold and jeering world, longing to be restored to native and nurturing soil. Exile is knowing precisely where you belong, but knowing that you can’t go back, not yet.”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“Why do we love to read the Scriptures daily? Because they speak to us of home. Why do we live differently from those around us? Because we remember that we are soon going home (1 Peter 4:1–7). Why”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“Just as Ezekiel’s contemporaries put their trust in the temple rather than in the God of the temple, so also in our day there are many who place their faith in the gifts of God rather than in the Giver. The complacency of such people, then and now, needs to be challenged. The true and living God is not a tame God. He cannot be comfortably manipulated into a box and made to do our bidding. If he were, he would hardly be worthy of following. God’s radical freedom to be God, bound only by his own self-revelation, means that his ways can never be reduced to a pat formula or a trite slogan.”
― Iain M. Duguid, Niv Apppication Commentary Ezekiel

“But the other Ministers considered that to employ a magician was one thing, novelists were quite another and they would not stoop to it.”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“As one person put it, passing on the good news is simply a matter of one beggar telling another where to find bread. That”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“To put it in the contemporary vernacular, Baal and Asherah were in effect the patron saints of sex and guns and rock ’n’ roll, promising to deliver a potent mixture of satisfaction to the desires for power, success, and pleasure. This”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“God is able to write straight with a crooked pencil and to achieve his perfect ends through the use of less than perfect instruments, without himself being tainted or hampered by their imperfection. Indeed,”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“Nor can we as individuals assume that the offer of the gospel will be forever open to us. Even if our lives are spared, yet it is possible to become hardened to the gospel to such a point that there is no return. We become so inured in our pride that we are deaf to the only good news that can save us. God’s only word to us is then imminent and comprehensive doom.”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“(In peacetime some sort of introduction is generally required to make a person’s acquaintance; in war a small eatable will perform the same office.)”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“In response, Tertullian pointed out what an emasculated, inconsistent figure Marcion’s god was. This supposed deity: plainly judges evil by not willing it, and condemns it by prohibiting it; while on the other hand, he acquits it by not avenging it, and lets it go free by not punishing it. What a prevaricator of truth is such a god! What a dissembler to his own decision! Afraid to condemn what he really condemns, afraid to hate what he does not love, permitting that to be done which he does not allow, choosing to indicate what he dislikes rather than deeply examine it!”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“Niebuhr’s classic description of liberal theology, they picture “a God without wrath, who brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment, through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“same time, there is a danger with being too comfortable proclaiming the wrath of God. In”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“had to rebuke James and John for wishing to initiate eschatological vengeance (fire from heaven) on a village that would not receive Jesus (Luke 9:54). In our present situation in redemptive history, we are not to slaughter our enemies but to win them over with inexplicable deeds of tolerance and kindness (Matt. 5:39–42; Rom. 12:17–21). Now”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“As Richard Lovelace puts it: We may need to challenge more, and comfort less, in our evangelism and discipleship. We need to make it harder for people to retain assurance of salvation when they move into serious sin. . . . We need to tell some persons who think they have gotten saved to get lost. The Puritans were biblically realistic about this; we have become sloppy and sentimental in promoting assurance under any circumstances.32”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel

“In addition, we have those who, while recognizing the Bible as a revelation from God, blunt its message by applying it to a time other than our own. This may take the form of an eschatologically overworked imagination, which pushes the significance of the Bible into the future. On this approach, the Bible is seen as a source book for end-times prophecies rather than a message that speaks to us in our everyday life.”
― Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel