Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God Quotes

“to be saved” in the Pauline view means to become part of the people of God, who by the Spirit are born into God’s family and therefore joined to one another as one body, whose gatherings in the Spirit form them into God’s temple. God is not simply saving diverse individuals and preparing them for heaven; rather he is creating a people for his name, among whom God can dwell and who in their life together will reproduce God’s life and character in all its unity and diversity.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“One reads Paul poorly who does not recognize
that for him the presence of the Spirit, as an
experienced and living reality, was the crucial
matter for Christian life, from beginning to end.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“God has made us this way, in his own image, because he himself is a personal, relational being.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“The key to life in the Spirit for some is to spend much more quiet time in thanksgiving and praise for what God has done—and is doing, and promises to do—and less time on introspection, focused on your failure to match up to the law.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“For Paul the fact that both Jews and Gentiles are included in God’s family is the most remarkable aspect of this newly formed fellowship. In Christ’s death God has triumphed over the former prejudices on both sides (Eph 2: 14–18).”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“the primary goal of salvation: an eschatological people, who together live the life of the future in the present age as they await the final consummation.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“Paul can hardly help himself: his focus and concern are always on the people as a whole. Though entered individually, salvation is seldom if ever thought of simply as a one-on-one relationship with God. While such a relationship is included, to be sure, “to be saved” means especially to be joined to the people of God. In this sense, the third-century church father Cyprian had it right: there is no salvation outside the church, because God is saving a people for his name, not a miscellaneous, unconnected set of individuals.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“Paul says the fulfillment of this promised blessing for the Gentiles is in their having experienced the Spirit as a living and dynamic reality. The blessing of Abraham, therefore, is not simply “justification by faith.” Rather, it refers to the life of the future now available to Jew and Gentile alike, achieved through the death of Christ but applied through the dynamic ministry of the Spirit—and all of this by faith.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“Our theology and experience of the Spirit must be more interwoven if our experienced life of the Spirit is to be more effective.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“Rather than the reflective theology of the scholar or classroom, his is a “task theology,” the theologizing that takes place in the marketplace,”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“Everyone has a theology [that is, some rudimentary view of God and the world on the basis of which they live]; the question is not whether you have a theology—you do—but whether you have a good one.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“By the presence of the Spirit, God’s love, played out to the full in Christ, is an experienced reality in the heart of the believer. This is what the Spirit has so richly “shed abroad in our hearts.” If we are not thus overtaken by God himself at this crucial point, then all else is lost, and we are without peace, groveling before God, living with little real hope, and experiencing present sufferings as a cause for complaint and despair rather than for “boasting.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“God is not simply saving diverse individuals and preparing them for heaven; rather he is creating a people for his name, among whom God can dwell and who in their life together will reproduce God’s life and character in all its unity and diversity.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“The resurrection of Christ marked the beginning of the End, the turning of the ages.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“own spirits (Rom 8:16), has desires that are in opposition to the flesh (Gal 5:17), helps us in our weakness (Rom 8:26), intercedes in our behalf (Rom 8:26–27), works all things together for our ultimate good (Rom 8:28),[5] strengthens believers (Eph 3:16), and is grieved by our sinfulness (Eph 4:30). Furthermore, the fruit of the Spirit’s indwelling are the personal attributes of God (Gal 5:22–23).”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“In urging his readers in Ephesians 4:30 “not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God,” Paul uses the language of Isaiah 63:10, the one certain place in the Old Testament where the concept of the divine presence with Israel in tabernacle and temple is specifically equated with “the Holy Spirit of Yahweh.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“Above everything else, as fulfillment of the new covenant[2] the Spirit marked the return of the lost presence of God.”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

“First, we must recognize his own sense of continuity with his heritage. Paul sees himself and his churches as being in a direct line with the people of God in the Old Testament; and despite his deep convictions about the radical implications of the coming of Christ and the Spirit, he regularly reaffirms that continuity. He includes a primarily Gentile church in the events of the exodus: “all our forefathers were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor 10:1–2).”
― Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God