D.A. Carson Quotes

       D.A. Carson
       1946-
      
       Donald Arthur Carson is a Canadian-born evangelical theologian and professor of New Testament.
      
       Carson served as pastor of Richmond Baptist Church in Richmond, British Columbia from 1970 to 1972. Following his doctoral studies, he served for three years at Northwest Baptist Theological College (Vancouver) and in 1976 was the founding dean of the seminary. In 1978, Carson joined the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he is currently serving as research professor.
      
       Carson has written or edited 57 books, many of which have been translated into Chinese.

The universal witness of the New Testament is that apostasy if persisted in not only damns but shows that salvation was never real in the first place. The New Testament reveals how close one may come to the kingdom - tasting, touching, perceiving, understanding. And it also shows that to come this far and reject the truth is unforgivable.     Topics: Apostasy     Source: Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where the treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it.     Topics: Discipleship     Source: Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary No voluntary act of spiritual discipline is ever to become an occasion for self-promotion. Otherwise, any value to the act is utterly vitiated.     Topics: Discipline How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had, as if that were the basis for our entrance into the presence of the sovereign and holy God? No wonder we cannot beat the Devil. This is works theology. It has nothing to do with grace and the exclusive sufficiency of Christ. Nothing.     Topics: Grace As Christians grow in holy living, they sense their own inherent moral weakness and rejoice that whatever virtue they possess flourishes as the fruit of the Spirit.     Topics: Holy Spirit     Source: The Sermon on the Mount, Baker, 1978, p. 71. An oath is a solemn statement (not necessarily a promise or a vow) affirmed to be true before God.     Topics: Honesty, The Tongue     Source: Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary The important thing, Jesus is saying (in Matthew 5:33-37), is to tell the truth and keep one's pledges without insisting that a certain form of words must be used if it is to be binding. No oath is necessary for the truthful person... Their word is so reliable that nothing more than a statement is needed from them.     Topics: Honesty     Source: Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary If it is hard to accept a rebuke, even a private one, it is harder still to administer one in loving humility.     Topics: Humility     Source: Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary Jesus is hungry but feeds others; He grows weary but offers others rest; He is the King Messiah but pays tribute; He is called the devil but casts out demons; He dies the death of a sinner but comes to save His people from their sins; He is sold for thirty pieces of silver but gives His life a ransom for many; He will not turn stones to bread for Himself but gives His own body as bread for people.     Topics: Jesus, Examples Jesus' balance mirrored the balance of Scripture: He could simultaneously denounce the cities that did not repent and praise the God who does not reveal; for God's sovereignty in election is not mitigated by man's stubbornness and sin, while man's responsibility is in no way diminished by God's "good pleasure" that sovereignty reveals and conceals.     Topics: Jesus     Source: The Gospel of Matthew, EBC The most extraordinary things about the biblical prerequisites for elders is that they are not all that extraordinary.     Topics: Leadership The miracles Jesus performs... do not compel faith; but those with faith will perceive their significance.     Topics: Miracles, Faith     Source: Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary