To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
I'm afraid that in the United States of America today the prevailing doctrine of justification is not justification by faith alone. It is not even justification by good works or by a combination of faith and works. The prevailing notion of justification in our culture today is justification by death. All one has to do to be received into the everlasting arms of God is to die.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the contemporary understanding of salvation, emphasizing that faith and works are overlooked in favor of merely dying to achieve salvation.
R. C. Sproul's quote highlights a significant concern regarding the way people today perceive the concept of justification in Christian theology. He argues that many have shifted their focus from the traditional beliefs of salvation through faith and good deeds to an unsettling notion that simply dying is enough for acceptance into eternity. This reflects a deeper societal trend where moral accountability is diminished, and superficial compliance takes precedence over genuine faith and actions.
Themes
JustificationFaithWorksSalvationDeath
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon discussing the essence of faith, this quote can remind the audience of the importance of belief and actions in their journey.
More from R. C. Sproul
All quotes →I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
R. C. SproulRead
The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God?
R. C. SproulRead
We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it.
R. C. SproulRead
Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
R. C. SproulRead
I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
R. C. SproulRead
Similar quotes
The four characteristics of humanism are curiosity, a free mind, belief in good taste, and belief in the human race.
E. M. ForsterRead
In the stream, _x000D_ Rushing past _x000D_ To the dusty world, _x000D_ My fleeting form _x000D_ Casts no reflection.
DogenRead
We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.
Ronald ReaganRead
I think that cancer is a life form that exists out there, and it exists in us. I think even the concept of healing is a spiritual principle that we have to really look at. I think the word itself is something we ought to get rid of, because it implies that there is illness - that there is something wrong.
Wayne DyerRead
A man's personal defects will commonly have with the rest of the world precisely that importance which they have to himself. If he makes light of them, so will other men.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
No one expects to attain to the height of learning, or arts, or power, or wealth, or military glory, without vigorous resolution, strenuous diligence, and steady perseverance. Yet we expect to be Christians without labour, study, or inquiry.
William WilberforceRead