J.R. Daniel Kirk > Quotes

“deconstruction is an attempt to break through hardened structures and traditions for the purpose of reengaging the stimulating, life-giving substance that gave rise to the now-encrusted traditions.[3]”
― J. R. Daniel Kirk, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity

“All our readings of the Bible are deeply wedded to both cultural and theological commitments.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity

“Why not judge? Because God has already accepted the person you want to condemn (Romans 14:3).”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Romans for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Misused, Problematic and Prooftexted Letter in the Bible

“Rather than Deuteronomy testifying to the futility of searching for the God-given commandments, Paul reads it as testifying to the God-raised Messiah.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God

“If we are not imitating the heavenly Father, then we are not his children:”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity

“Simply being human is not enough to claim membership in the family of God.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity

“Romans 10 does not, as Moo claims, indicate that the gospel and the law have “operated side-by-side” throughout salvation history. 552”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God

“One of our recurring failures is that we have not created communities that offer an alternative reality—the reality of the cross, the reality of a God who brings justice by giving life to the dead. In other words, instead of living as Christ-followers, we have placed a Jesus-label on the destructive patterns of the world.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Romans for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Misused, Problematic and Prooftexted Letter in the Bible

“Paul is pinning all hopes for the eschatological future on Jesus’ resurrection.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God

“What is the driving question in Romans? Is it “How do I find a gracious God?” or “How can this message about Jesus be the message about the saving faithfulness of Israel’s God?”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God

“In Romans 1:3–4 Paul says something so surprising that most of our Bible translations refuse to print it. A literal translation reads as follows: the gospel promised by God “concerns his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was appointed Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from among the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” When Paul says Jesus “was appointed Son of God,” he means to say that Jesus became something that he was not before. Without denying Christ’s preexistence, this passage asserts that something happens to the human Jesus when he is raised from the dead. Like the kings of Israel, Jesus becomes a son of God when he is enthroned to rule the world on God’s behalf (see Ps. 2 and 2 Sam. 7). Jesus’s adoption and enthronement come at his resurrection.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul?: A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity

“Paul reinterprets the Scriptures of Israel in light of Jesus’ resurrection in order to defend his assertion that all people must confess the lordship of the resurrected Christ in order to know the righteousness of God and thus be numbered among God’s people.570”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God

“A large swath of American Christianity has established a narrative in which sexual temptation is the biggest obstacle to living faithfully in Christ. But in reality, violence and power lure far more of us off the narrow path. The way of peace is too difficult. And so, we name the culture we have inherited—the patterns of this world (12:2)—“Christianity,” and count Jesus among its proponents.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Romans for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Misused, Problematic and Prooftexted Letter in the Bible

“Paul’s argument is primarily an argument about theodicy, not about soteriology.”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God

“The driving question in Romans is not, ‘How can I find a gracious God?’ but ‘How can we trust in this allegedly gracious God if he abandons his promises to Israel?”
― J.R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God