Paul Quotes

“Faith does not justify because of that which it is in itself, but because of that to which it is directed, in which it rests.”
― Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“Love for one another in the church is the upbuilding and functioning of the body of Christ, the bond that joins the church sanctified to God together as those who belong to the same family (of God).”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“Faith can (and must!) as such be called obedience, however, because the gospel does not come to man as a communication or offer that leaves him free, but asks of him the decision and the act to enter into that way of salvation ordained of God and to abandon every other means of salvation than that which is proclaimed to him in the gospel. It is the response and obedience to God's grace that is intended here, and faith must be qualified in this way because it cannot otherwise participate in the gift of grace than by responding to and following the gospel.”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“Love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22; cf. Rom. 15:30; Col. 1:8). Love therefore explains what it means to be in Christ, to be in the Spirit, to be in the faith. In it is realized the freedom from sin, to which believers have been called in Christ (Gal. 5:13); in it the demand of the law is fulfilled, which has become possible by the Spirit (Rom. 13:10; cf. Rom. 8:4); it is the content of the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“Faith can (and must!) as such be called obedience, however, because the gospel does not come to man as a communication or offer that leaves him free, but asks of him the decision and the act to enter into that way of salvation ordained of God and to abandon every other means of salvation than that which is proclaimed to him in the gospel.”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“The wrath and the enmity of God are not for a moment in contradiction with God's reconciliatory will and love, and pointing to the wrath of God has the constant intention of disclosing to man God's grace and love in Christ. Indeed, the object even of the working of God's wrath itself is to cause his plan of redemption to triumph.”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“here. Salvation consists in the possibility, given by God and realized by Christ, that justice is victorious in love and love in justice. And”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“And as in Romans 3: 21 the "but now!" of the revelation of the righteousness of God by faith is the redeeming word in man's situation of death under the guilt of sin and the condemning force of the law, so the "now therefore" of Romans 8:1ff. is the word of liberation for man under the power of sin and under the impotent regime of the law which cannot conquer the flesh. The antithesis between the law and the Spirit is thus not situated in the fact that the Spirit places himself over against the content and demand of the law. Rather, the object of the sending of Christ and of the Spirit represented by him is that the just demand of the law should be fulfilled, completed, finished, not only in Christ, but also in us (Rom. 8: 4). But”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“And as in Romans 3: 21 the "but now!" of the revelation of the righteousness of God by faith is the redeeming word in man's situation of death under the guilt of sin and the condemning force of the law, so the "now therefore" of Romans 8:1ff. is the word of liberation for man under the power of sin and under the impotent regime of the law which cannot conquer the flesh. The antithesis between the law and the Spirit is thus not situated in the fact that the Spirit places himself over against the content and demand of the law. Rather, the object of the sending of Christ and of the Spirit represented by him is that the just demand of the law should be fulfilled, completed, finished, not only in Christ, but also in us (Rom. 8: 4).”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“Man is justified not on the ground of what he is himself or has or achieves, but precisely on the ground of that which he does not possess and which he in himself does not have at his disposal, but which he must receive, obtain, by faith. Faith here stands over against works as that which is absolutely receptive and dependent,48 over against that which is productive, which is able to assert itself. The”
― Herman N. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“The gospel is a power of God unto salvation, because therein the righteousness of God is revealed (Rom. 1: 16ft).”
― Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“God gives him up to the evil lusts of his heart (v. 24), to a "reprehensible nous" (eis adokimon noun), to do that which is not fitting (v. 28). For not only is the inward man given up to darkness and ignorance in his relationship to God, but he is also perverted and inclined to all unrestraint and reprehensible activity in his moral self-determination. In this way the corruption bursts through to the outside of his physical existence (v. 24). The corruption of the heart and of the nous is carried on in the outward man, in a life that is shameful and censurable before God and men. We find”
― Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“God gives him up to the evil lusts of his heart (v. 24), to a "reprehensible nous" (eis adokimon noun), to do that which is not fitting (v. 28). For not only is the inward man given up to darkness and ignorance in his relationship to God, but he is also perverted and inclined to all unrestraint and reprehensible activity in his moral self-determination. In this way the corruption bursts through to the outside of his physical existence (v. 24). The corruption of the heart and of the nous is carried on in the outward man, in a life that is shameful and censurable before God and men.”
― Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“Cosmos is the world turned away from God, rebellious and hostile toward him (cf. Rom. 3:16, 19; 2 Cor. 5:19), depraved mankind that is headed for judgment (Rom. 3: 6; 1 Cor. 11: 32). As such believers are redeemed from the present evil aeon (Gal. 1: 4), the cosmos has been crucified for them and they for the cosmos (Gal. 6: 14), they are considered as no longer "living in the cosmos" (Col. 2: 20), and they must not let themselves be conformed to this aeon (Rom. 12: 2).”
― Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology

“the object of God's justification, from whatever viewpoint one chooses to regard it, is not the righteous, but the ungodly.”
― Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology