Brian Pate > Recent Status Updates

"Grant us a humble spirit and keep us from all fleshly wisdom" (Martin Micronius).

Still figuring out how to use this. I find it hard to bounce back and forth between prayers and catechisms. Hard to stay focused.

Great chapter on sexual purity. "With the gospel there is hope of cleansing. With the Spirit there is hope of power. With Christ there is hope of transformation. With the Word of God there is hope of holiness" (p. 122).

Vaughn really knows how to write a biography!

"If the Bible is coherent, then understanding the Bible means grasping how things fit together" (p. 92).

The Spirit "existed, and pre-existed, and co-existed with the Father and the Son before the ages" (p. 85).

He shares divine names and works (ch. 19) and is beyond comprehension (ch. 22).

Discipline yourself with "unhurried reading and reflection" (p. 79). "Your people will know if you are walking with the giants...or watching television" (p. 82).

"The Spirit himself is the reward of the just, when the fullness will be furnished instead of the pledge" (p. 75).

The way to know the Father is by the Spirit (John 4:24), through the Son (1 Cor 12:3).

Appropriations: "The initial cause of their existence (the Father), the Maker (the Son), the Perfecter (the Spirit)" (p. 71).

Great side note on typology

"The more heavily engaged one is in battling the powers of darkness, the greater will be one's sense of need to spend time in prayer" (p. 77).

"He who does not believe the Spirit does not believe the Son, and he who does not believe the Son, does not believe the Father" (p. 58). He cites 1 Cor 12:3 + John 1:18.

"Sanctification is not by surrender, but by divinely enabled toil and effort" (p. 90).

"The Spirit sanctifies by revealing sin [conviction], revealing truth [illumination], and revealing glory [spotlighting Christ]" (p. 82).

LOL: He says this to the heretics - "Blessed are the ears that have not heard you and the hearts that have been protected against your arguments" (p. 43).

"The law is God's plan for his sanctified people to enjoy communion with him" (p. 54).

His definition: "Systematic theology is critical and organized reflection on God's self-revelation for the purposes of growing in Christ and making disciples" (p. 22).

"The problem is not that [we] want to be satisfied but that [we] are far too easily satisfied" (p. 66).