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The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Wisdom, and Revelation QUOTES

The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Wisdom, and Revelation QUOTES

1 " The truth of God's Word cannot be subject to the puny light of man's self-centred reason "

― Graeme Goldsworthy , The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Wisdom, and Revelation

2 " Some may object that to speak of election or predestination is to limit the kingdom of God to a few. Does it make God a capricious tyrant? We must answer that such objections usually stem from a refusal to accept that we are faced here with a mystery that is not given to us to solve. There is also a radical misunderstanding which maintains that God's sovereignty in election removes man's responsibility. Such is not true. How divine sovereignty and human responsibility work together we cannot know. The Bible makes it clear that they do. // Let us remember that Jesus discriminated and limited the numbers of the saved: 'Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it' (Matthew 7:13-14). This is in line with the Old Testament teaching that only a faithful remnant of Israel would be saved. "

― Graeme Goldsworthy , The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Wisdom, and Revelation

3 " The paradox of God’s being is a true and eternal mystery, not merely a reflection of our fallenness. "

― Graeme Goldsworthy , The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Wisdom, and Revelation

4 " Perfect humanity will show itself in the way we shall worship at the throne of God and the Lamb. The mystery shall remain an endless source of praise. "

― Graeme Goldsworthy , The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Wisdom, and Revelation

5 " Christ will have none of this in his revelation to John. The first three chapters of Revelation set forth the seeming paradox of the sovereignty of the Lord of the church and the human responsibility of his people. This has often been a problem to Christians. How can God be absolutely sovereign at the same time as man is absolutely responsible? Surely the one cancels out the other. The attempts to resolve the paradox by either diluting God’s sovereignty or by curtailing man’s responsibility are the attempts of the sinful mind of man to dictate the truth about God on the basis of human reason. The Christian mind is informed and renewed by the gospel, though even Christians go on bringing non-Christian ways of thinking to the problems of the Bible. The truth of the matter, as always, is in the gospel. The problem of sovereignty and responsibility is the problem of how a truly sovereign God can go on being truly sovereign while relating to truly responsible man. The gospel does not solve the problem in the sense of telling us how in a way that is able to be fully understood by the human mind. Rather it shows us that the mystery is characteristic of God himself. For in the gospel we see the incomprehensible has happened: true sovereign God and true responsible man have united in the one person Jesus Christ. In the history of the early church we can see how Christians grappled with this mystery. But every time they were tempted to solve the mystery either by reducing the deity of Christ to fit in logically with his humanity, or vice versa, the result was a destruction of the gospel itself. Orthodox Christianity learned to live with the mystery and indeed, to glory in it. Jesus Christ was true God in union with true man in such a way that neither nature was diminished by the other nor confused with it. "

― Graeme Goldsworthy , The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Wisdom, and Revelation