F.F. Bruce QUOTES

1 " Many of Paul’s friends would have assured him that the tendency to misuse the freedom of the Spirit as an excuse for enthusiastic licence could be checked only by a stiff dose of law. But Paul could not agree: the principle of law was so completely opposed to spiritual freedom that it could never be enlisted in defence of that freedom: nothing was more certainly calculated to kill true freedom. The freedom of the Spirit was the antidote alike to legal bondage and unrestrained licence. "

― F.F. Bruce , Epistle to the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary)

2 " I think Paul would roll over in his grave if he knew we were turning his letters into torah. "

― F.F. Bruce

3 " We are all, in our more candid moments, conscious of the fact that we bend more easily to ill than good, that we seek with greater ease the good of self than the good of others, that even our virtues are based more on fear of punishment than on love of good, and that pride, self-assertion, arrogance, the very element and essential of all sin, mingles itself like a pervading poison with all our pretence and practice of good. "

― F.F. Bruce , The Open Your Bible New Testament Commentary: Page by Page (Open Your Bible Commentary Book 2)

4 " The best way to destroy an enemy is to turn him into a friend. "

― F.F. Bruce

5 " By an act of faith the Christian reader today may identify the New Testament, as it has been received, with the entire ‘tradition of Christ’. But confidence in such an act of faith will be strengthened if the same faith proves to have been exercised by Christians in other places and at other times—if it is in line with the traditional ‘criteria of canonicity’. And there is no reason to exclude the bearing of other lines of evidence on any position that is accepted by faith. In "

― F.F. Bruce , The Canon of Scripture

6 " When the Christian message is so thoroughly accommodated to the prevalent climate of opinion that it becomes mere expression of that opinion, it is no longer the Christian message. "

― F.F. Bruce

7 " The mother of Jesus appears twice in this Gospel—here, and at the cross (19:25 ff.). There is also an allusion to her in 6:42. In none of these places is "

― F.F. Bruce , The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition

8 " The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. "

― F.F. Bruce , The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?

9 " My doctrine of Scripture is based on my study of Scripture, not vice versa. "

― F.F. Bruce

10 " Una característica de Hechos, que se observará en el curso de nuestra exposición, es la serie de paralelismos establecidos entre la actividad misionera de Pedro y la de Pablo,59 aunque ninguno de las dos es el estándar de comparación por el cual el otro es evaluado. "

― F.F. Bruce , El libro de los Hechos

11 " This is another way of stating the principle that `the labourer deserves his wages' (Lk. 10:7; 1 Tim. 5:18; cf. Mt. 10:10) "

― F.F. Bruce , Epistle to the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary)

12 " This is another way of stating the principle that `the labourer deserves his wages' (Lk. 10:7; 1 Tim. 5:18; cf. Mt. 10:10) or, as Paul elsewhere paraphrases those words of Jesus, `those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel' (1 Cor. 9:14). "

― F.F. Bruce , Epistle to the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary)

13 " This is a common prudential maxim, applying a law of nature to human conduct (cf. Mt. 7:16-20//Lk. 6:43; Lk. 19:21; 1 Cor. 9:11; 2 Cor. 9:6, the last passage referring to the quantity, not the quality, of seed and crop). "

― F.F. Bruce , Epistle to the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary)

14 " Even in its canonical form a biblical document may be better understood if account be taken of successive stages in its composition. There "

― F.F. Bruce , The Canon of Scripture

15 " Some interpreters see a symbolic significance in “the third day.” Jesus’ manifesting his glory (verse 11) on the third day has been held to foreshadow his resurrection. It is very doubtful if the Evangelist had any such thought in his mind. "

― F.F. Bruce , The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition

16 " Conversation with a view to timely instruction will help to build up a strong Christian character and stimulate growth in grace. "

― F.F. Bruce , The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse by Verse Exposition by One of the Great Bible Scholars of Our Age

17 " The kind of action she wanted him to perform, for the limited purpose she had in mind, was not in keeping with his messianic vocation; perhaps it smacked too much of the turning of stones into loaves of bread (one of the Synoptic temptations). "

― F.F. Bruce , The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition

18 " The water, provided for purification as laid down by Jewish law and custom, stands for the whole ancient order of Jewish ceremonial, which Christ was to replace by something better. The servants, mindful "

― F.F. Bruce , The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition

19 " The filling of the jars to the brim indicates that the appointed time for the ceremonial observances of the Jewish law had run its full course; these observances had so completely fulfilled their purpose that nothing of the old order remained to be accomplished. The time had come therefore for the new order to be inaugurated. The wine symbolizes the new order as the water in the jars symbolized the old order. The “chief steward "

― F.F. Bruce , The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition

20 " But if it is a miracle of the old creation, it is a parable of the new creation. Christ has come into the world to fulfill and terminate the old order, and to replace it by a new worship “in spirit and truth” which surpasses the old as much as wine surpasses water. "

― F.F. Bruce , The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition

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