The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes Quotes

“The natural faculties are not all that compose a person; God has, “in great mercy,” left the conscience.1 Sibbes taught that the conscience in man acts as God’s “vicar; a little god in us to do his office, to call upon us, direct us, check and condemn us.”
― Mark Dever, The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes

“As he said, “we should have a double eye: one eye to see that which is amiss in us, our own imperfections, thereby to carry ourselves in a perpetual humility; but another eye of faith, to see what we have in Christ, our perfection in him.”
― Mark Dever, The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes

“Whatsoever we give the supremacy of the inward man to, whatsoever we love most, whatsoever we trust most, whatsoever we fear most, whatsoever we joy and delight most, whatsoever we obey most—that is our god.”117 In the end, one’s love indicates one’s God118—for no human lives without loving.119”
― Mark Dever, The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes

“The Christian’s assurance will never be greater than his love. “Therefore, when we find our heart inflamed with love to God, we may know that God hath shined upon our souls in the pardon of sin; and proportionably to our measure of love is our assurance of pardon. Therefore we should labour for a greater measure thereof, that our hearts may be the more inflamed in the love of God.”
― Mark Dever, The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes

“Lest anyone think that any action, however required or useful, could be a source of pride, Sibbes preached that “it is a sottish conceit to think that we can fit ourselves for grace, as if a child in the womb could forward its natural birth. If God hath made us men, let us not make ourselves gods.”107”
― Mark Dever, The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes

“The picture of Sibbes—as a Reformer, but a cautious one; as a Puritan, but a moderate one—is consistent with the rest of Sibbes’ life and activities in Cambridge and London.36”
― Mark Dever, The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes

“As the minister speaks to the ear, Christ speaks, opens, and unlocks the heart at the same time; and gives it power to open, not from itself, but from Christ.”
― Mark Dever, The Affectionate Theology of Richard Sibbes