Quotes from Fleming Rutledge

Begin to see that when we say God will "justify" rather than merely "acquit," the action has a reconstituting force — hence the insufficiency of the courtroom metaphor "to acquit." God's righteousness is the same thing as his justice, and his justice is powerfully at work justifying, which does not mean excusing, passing over, or even "forgiving and forgetting," but actively making right that which is wrong.

There is a fundamental syntactical distinction between saying "we question the Bible" and "the Bible questions us.

The epistle to the Hebrews, in the New Testament, warns us about worshiping angels. An angel is only an angel if he reveals something of the presence and power of Jesus Christ.

it should now be generally agreed that any concept of hilasterion in the sense of placating, appeasing, deflecting the anger of, or satisfying the wrath of, is inadmissible. The more important, and truly radical, reason for firmly rejecting this understanding of propitiation is that it envisions God as the object, whereas in the Scriptures, God is the acting subject. This is especially noticeable in Romans 3.

In other words, the new understanding imparted by the Bible comes from a source lying beyond our ability to frame questions.

God's justification of sinners is not a forgetting, nor is it simply forgiveness. It is a definitive, wholesale, final assault upon and defeat of Sin, understood as a Power, and the creation of a new humanity.

What child is this? "The Infinite has become a finite fact." Everything depends on this, or the nativity story is just a child's fable that no thinking adult can believe.

Thus, in Colossians 1:5-6, the Word is described not as the content of the apostles' preaching and mission, but as the active agent, the subject of the verbs: "the word of the truth, the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing.

The truest way to receive the gospel of Christ crucified is to cultivate a deep appreciation of the way the biblical motifs interact with each other and enlarge one another.

To summarize, then: the crucifixion is the touchstone of Christian authenticity, the unique feature by which everything else, including the resurrection, is given its true significance.

What we do know is that followers of Jesus Christ will always want to remember that the true and righteous judgments of the Lord are applicable to every side of every conflict.

Here is what Isaiah says: Verily thou art a God who hides thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior (45:15). God is still active, still living, still in charge, still the subject of the verb: God hides himself.' God is active even when hidden, even when seemingly absent.