Timothy Keller Quotes

“In no one could there be the contrast that our Lord experienced between total trust and total knowledge of all the Lord’s goodness and mercy and the total horror of abandonment by God,” Clowney said. “For only Jesus Christ really trusted the Lord, you know, and only Jesus Christ really trusted in all the fullness of broken, unblemished, undeviating trust. And it’s the one who only trusted who is completely abandoned.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“Lovelace wrote in Dynamics of Spiritual Life. He explained that when Christians don’t know God accepts them on Jesus’ behalf, they become insecure. “Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger.”8 This”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“He explained that when Christians don’t know God accepts them on Jesus’ behalf, they become insecure. “Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger.”8”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“The story pairs two of Keller’s most important themes and suggests a way forward for the church in the twenty-first century and perhaps beyond. On the one hand, Dinesen exposes the joylessness of Christian obedience apart from the gospel of grace, which does more than save us from sin for eternity. Grace also prepares us to receive God’s gifts here and now. On the one hand, the gourmet feast symbolizes a kind of spiritual revival as the sectarians overcome their reluctance to enjoy the bounty of God’s creation. Over food and wine, they grow more honest with each other and reconcile through forgiveness. Years of bitter feuds melt away over turtle soup. Keller explained in a 1993 sermon at Redeemer: “The message is if you can’t enjoy a good feast, you are not ready for God’s future. We will eat and drink and we’ll sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God invented the physical. He became physical to redeem us.”55”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“Having one hero would be derivative; having one hundred heroes means you've drunk deeply by scouring the world for the purest wells.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“The Bible is either about what we're supposed to do or what Jesus has done.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“A good and faithful sermon will help Christians see the excellency of Jesus and not merely his usefulness. We need more than understanding, more than a notion of God; we need a sense of pleasure and delight in him.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“Logic, when fired with captivating illustrations, changes hearts.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“The job of the apologist, then, is to show non-believers how Christianity explains what they know in their hearts but deny with their lips.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“When you pluck the string of the gospel, it never stops reverberating in your heart.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“The continental neo-Calvinism of Bavinck and Berkhof begins by assuming from Romans 1 that everyone already knows God and many things about him by general revelation that they suppress in sin (Romans 1). The job of the apologist, then, is to show nonbelievers how Christianity explains what they know in their hearts but deny with their lips.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“This is the span of faith—to live between the time of the giving of the promise and the completion of the promise when the promise looks utterly impossible.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“When told that Lewis intended Aslan to represent Christ, she couldn’t see it. “The Jesus I had heard about was dull and boring,” Kathy said, “and Aslan was vibrant and alive.” Nevertheless, the myth of Aslan had created in Kathy a hunger for Jesus.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“Dividing the world between good and bad people misses the heart of what makes Christianity so revolutionary. Preferences about displays of emotion, song selection, and length of service can vary from culture to culture while still conveying the same Christian faith. But Christians often treat their preferences as absolute requirements for faithful practice.10 Revival, however, breaks down the world’s barriers, as Christians trust only in Jesus and not in their cultural preferences.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“Lovelace introduced Keller to the cultural dynamics of revival and the way insecure Christians resent unfamiliar cultural styles and other races because animosity bolsters self-righteousness. Race, political party, and culture become means of superiority that stifle the inner whisper of doubt.”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

“1. Read through the passage at least twice. In the second reading, slow down and observe what is in the passage. 2. Identify who is involved and what is happening—where and when. How and why might also apply. 3. Note words that are repeated or words of contrast or words of cause and effect. 4. Paraphrase the passage. 5. Note any questions you have about the passage. See if there are answers within the passage. If this involves historical context or the meaning of words, other resources can be used. 6. Determine the overall theme. 7. Outline the passage—showing the movement of ideas and noting connectors or contrasts between sections—looking at words such as and, but, so, therefore, then, and so on. 8. Move to interpretation to see how the mechanics of the passage illuminate what the passage is about. Reword the theme if needed. 9. Finally, in light of all that you have seen in the passage, what does the passage mean? How does it apply to you? What thinking or actions do you need to change? What have you learned about yourself? What have you learned about God? What are the implications of this truth?”
― Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation