“I certainly don’t want to be harsh with the men who talk with us because of the men who won’t! But I have been wading through a lake of this crap for so long I am thinking about buying a boat.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 933
When Did Tares Become Tares?
“The tares were not wheat that turned to tares halfway through the process.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 916
Two Senses, That’s All
“There are sons of Abraham in one sense who are sons of the devil in another sense. There are sons of Sarah in one sense who are sons of Hagar in another sense. There are Christians in one sense who are not Christians in another sense. This is simply a biblical way of speaking, and one which Paul is at pains to both use and defend” (5).
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 915
Because They Cannot
“If I write that pigs can never fly, I will not take seriously any critique that maintains that I was saying that they can.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 913
How Could It Be?
“It is not a denial of SOLA FIDE to BELIEVE THE PROMISES.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 903
Not Marbles in a Sack
“We have to remember that regeneration, repentance, faith, justification, and sanctification are not five marbles bonking around in a sack. They are descriptions of what I do, or have done to me. I receive a new heart. I repent. I believe. I have the righteousness of Christ imputed to me. I walk in newness of life. The traditional ordo has limitations, and because of those limitations, it is easy to misrepresent.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 903
Perhaps Too Much
“You said that we should not say things like ‘faith is obedience’ without qualification because people will grossly misunderstand. That is quite right, which is why in my post I qualified the heck out of my statements. I qualify my head off. They will carve on my tombstone, ‘He qualified a lot.’”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 900
No Rabbinical Pretzels
“You should see obedient faith as the only kind of faith that God gives. It is obedient because it is breathing, just like it was told to . . . I do not have any problem saying that ‘a man is justified by obedience [doing what God says to do, the way He says to do it, and what He says to do is believe on Jesus Christ completely] apart from works of the law [disobediently twisting God’s words into a rabbinical pretzel that allows me to feel quite pleased with myself]’ That is not contradictory at all.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 897
The Quality of Faith
“As I use it, obedient faith is a phrase that describes the quality of the faith, not the particular actions of that faith after the fact. For example, I can refer to an obedient child in two ways. The phrase can refer to the disposition of the child, which will result in actions in line with that disposition. But it could also mean a child was obedient because of an action or a series of actions he had performed.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, pp. 896-897
So You Are Saying You’ve Changed Then?
“But I have been clear on all these things for lo, these many years. I have had a significant pile of things attributed to me which I hotly deny, and then, when my denials start to get through, somebody says, ‘well, why didn’t you say so?’ Or they say that they are glad that I have finally started to repudiate my errors.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 887