Holiness Quotes

“Theology is not free speech but holy speech. It is set apart for and bound to its object - that is, the gospel - and to the fellowship of the saints in which the gospel is heard as divine judgement and consolation-that is, the Church.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“Praise is the great act of rebellion against sin, the great repudiation of our wicked refusal to acknowledge God to be the Lord.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“The origin of the Church's holiness, as we have seen, is entirely outside itself; the consequences of this are that, first, it is manifest as a hearing of the gospel's promise and command, and, second, that its sign is penance, not perfection.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“The Church is holy; but it is holy, not by virtue of some ontological participation in the divine holiness, but by virtue of its calling by God, its reception of the divine benefits, and its obedience of faith.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“If the holiness of God is not perceived and understood, then the entire work and conduct of God are not grasped.'29”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“Revelation is not to be thought of as the communication of hidden truths, as if in revelation God were lifting the veil on something other than his own self and indicating it to us. Revelation is divine self-presentation; its content is identical with God. To speak of revelation is simply to point to God's speaking of his own most holy name.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“dogmatics is that delightful activity in which the Church praises God by ordering its thinking towards the gospel of Christ.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“The particular task of theology is to attest the truth of the gospel in the wake of Christ's own self-attestation. Theology edifies by testifying to the gospel as promise and claim.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness

“Through the Spirit, Jesus Christ the exalted one generates a new mode of common human life, the life of the Church. To participate in that common human life, hearing the gospel in fellowship under the word of God and living together under the signs of baptism and the Lord's supper, is to exist in a sphere in which God's limitless power is unleashed and extends into the entirety of human life: moral, political, cultural, affective, intellectual. Reason, like everything else, is remade in the sphere of the Church; and theological reason is an activity of the regenerate mind turned towards the gospel of Jesus Christ, which constitutes the Church's origin and vocation.”
― John B. Webster, Holiness