Jonathan Leeman > Quotes

“Gospel 1: God is holy. We have all sinned, separating us from God. But God sent his Son to die on the cross and rise again so that we might be forgiven. Everyone who believes in Jesus can have eternal life. We’re not justified by works. We’re justified by faith alone. The gospel therefore calls all people to “just believe!” An unconditionally loving God will take you as you are. Gospel 2: God is holy. We have all sinned, separating us from God. But God sent his Son to die on the cross and rise again so that we might be forgiven and begin to follow the Son as King and Lord. Anyone who repents and believes can have eternal life, a life which begins today and stretches into eternity. We’re not justified by works. We’re justified by faith alone, but the faith which works is never alone. The gospel therefore calls all people to “repent and believe.” A contraconditionally loving God will take you contrary to what you deserve, and then enable you by the power of the Spirit to become holy and obedient like his Son. By reconciling you to himself, God also reconciles you to his family, the church, and enables you as his people to represent together his own holy character and triune glory.”
― Jonathan Leeman, Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus

“There is more political power in the gospel and in being the church than there is in electing a president, installing a Supreme Court justice, or even changing a constitution.”
― Jonathan Leeman, How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age

“I remember bragging to one of my pastors, Thabiti, that I didn’t think of my good friend Christopher as black. Thabiti challenged me: “Huh, that’s interesting, because Christopher certainly experiences life as a black man in America. And you’ve never asked him about that? You must not be a very good friend.” Ouch. But yes, that makes sense.”
― Jonathan Leeman, How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age

“la Biblia es como un cuerpo de agua en el que un niño puede caminar y un elefante puede nadar. El cristiano más joven puede leer la Biblia con provecho porque el mensaje básico de la Biblia es simple. Pero nunca podremos agotar su profundidad.”
― Jonathan Leeman, 9Marcas (9Mark Journal): Teologia Biblica (Biblical Theology) (Spanish Edition)

“The argument of this book, quite simply, is that God calls the church to draw boundaries, boundaries which mark off these people from those people, boundaries which prevent some individuals from joining while excluding other individuals after they have joined. Not only that, God intends that the church use these boundary markers in order to help define for the world what exactly love is.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“A group of American Christians in the nineteenth century planned to visit London for a week. Their friends, excited for the opportunity, encouraged them to go hear two of London’s famous preachers and bring back a report.

On Sunday morning after their arrival, the Americans attended Joseph Parker’s church. They discovered that his reputation for eloquent oratory was well deserved. One exclaimed after the service, “I do declare, it must be said, for there is no doubt, that Joseph Parker is the greatest preacher that ever there was!”

The group wanted to return in the evening to hear Parker again, but they remembered that their friends would ask them about another preacher named Charles Spurgeon.

So on Sunday evening they attended the Metropolitan Tabernacle, where Spurgeon was preaching. The group was not prepared for what they heard, and as they departed, one of them spoke up, “I do declare, it must be said, for there is no doubt, that Jesus Christ is the greatest Savior that ever there was!”
― Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation: How God's Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People

“El púlpito ha dejado de ser un megáfono para proclamar la gloria de Dios en el evangelio de Jesucristo y se ha convertido en un lugar de espectáculo, entretenimiento y ayuda emocional para gente que piensa que no necesita a Dios y solo busca obtener los beneficios que Él ofrece.”
― Jonathan Leeman, Revista 9Marcas (9marks Journal) Edificando Iglesias Sanas: La Predicación

“Why does every young church planter these days feel compelled to articulate a "mission statement" and a "vision statement," which will then be regularly rehearsed on stage, in videos, and in all the church's literature? If you had asked pastors for the first two thousand years of church history what their mission statement was, they would have looked confused by the question and then probably opened their Bibles and pointed to the last verses of Matthew 28.”
― Jonathan Leeman, One Assembly: Rethinking the Multisite and Multiservice Church Models

“what makes the prosperity gospel so attractive is that it caters to the desires of the fallen human heart. It promises much while requiring little. It panders to the flesh.”
― Jonathan Leeman, 9Marks Journal, January-February 2014: Prosperity Gospel

“no tenemos que esperar hasta que algo nos haga pecar antes de reconocer una tentación como peligrosa. Somos más débiles de lo que creemos, no tan fuertes como pensamos. Por eso debemos ser humildes y vigilantes.”
― Jonathan Leeman, El cristiano, la iglesia local y la pornografía

“Formende Zucht dient dazu, den Jünger durch Lehre zu formen. Korrektive Zucht (das, was landläufig unter Gemeindezucht verstanden wird) dient dazu, den Jünger durch Korrektur von Sünde wieder auf den rechten Weg zu bringen.”
― Jonathan Leeman, Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus

“When the boundary line between church and world gets blurred, God’s picture of the loving, forgiving, caring, holy, righteous community becomes less clear.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“Deus nos leva a crescer como indivíduos e como igrejas locais por meio dos nossos ouvidos.”
― Jonathan Leeman, A igreja centrada na palavra: Como as escrituras dão vida e crescimento ao povo de Deus

“Crecer rápidamente en número ha tenido más peso que crecer lentamente en gracia.”
― Jonathan Leeman, La Membresía de la Iglesia (Church Membership) 9Marks (Edificando Iglesias Sanas (Spanish))

“A verdadeira vida espiritual só é produzida no coração quando o Pai fala com poder criador por meio do Filho e pelo Espírito. Não estou falando sobre a leitura de encantamentos mágicos. Estou falando sobre o poder de Deus para dar compreensão à mente, afeições ao coração e liberdade à vontade, que então movem mãos e pés para agir de uma forma santa.”
― Jonathan Leeman, A igreja centrada na palavra: Como as escrituras dão vida e crescimento ao povo de Deus

“Missing local church membership is like missing the fact that Christians are called to pursue good works, or love their neighbors, or care for the poor, or pray to God, or follow in the way of Christ.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“Cuando se trata de un discipulado cristiano con Cristo, la iglesia local es la autoridad cristiana más alta en la tierra.”
― Jonathan Leeman, La Membresía de la Iglesia (Church Membership) 9Marks (Edificando Iglesias Sanas (Spanish))

“I think it would be better to say that some churches have veered too far towards what they think is holiness, while other churches have veered too far to what they think is love. If a church has abandoned holiness, it has abandoned love, and if it has abandoned love, it has abandoned holiness. Holiness and love are mutually implicating and work in concert, not it opposition.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“1. Never Forget that Christ Alone Owns the Church Christ alone owns the church. The church belongs to Jesus Christ, for he alone shed his blood for it (Acts 20:28).”
― Jonathan Leeman, Revitalize: Why we must reclaim dying churches - and how

“Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. (Ps. 37:1-3)”
― Jonathan Leeman, Revitalize: Why we must reclaim dying churches - and how

“A church that stops reforming is dead.”
― Jonathan Leeman, Revitalize: Why we must reclaim dying churches - and how

“The division between politics and religion, I dare say, is an ideological ploy. Imagine an airport security metal detector standing at the entrance of the public square, which doesn't screen for metal for but for religion. The machine beeps anytime someone walks through it with a supernatural big-G God hiding inside of one of their convictions, but it fails to pick up self-manufactured or socially-constructed little-g gods. Into this public square the secularist, the materialist, the Darwinist, the consumerist, the elitist, the chauvinist, and, frankly, the fascist can all enter carrying their gods with them, like whittled wooden figures in their pockets. Not so the Christians or Jews. Their conviction that murder is wrong because all people are made in God's image might as well be a semi-automatic. What this means, of course, is that the public square is inevitably slanted toward the secularist and materialist. Public conversation is ideologically rigged. The secularist can bring his or her god. I cannot bring mine because his name starts with a capital letter and I didn't make him up.”
― Jonathan Leeman, Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule

“You will only understand what or who the church is if you first understand who God is.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“What’s tragic is that Christians who come and go from churches are merely mimicking so many pastors. A man comes for several years, hears of another opportunity, leaves, and thinks nothing of it. His understanding of love is devoid of any sense of long-term obligation to a flock.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“But these pastors who preceded me had also suffered significant persecution from the same cabal that awaited me. Behind the scenes, these pastors had been threatened, bullied, manipulated, and basically forced out of their ministries.”
― Jonathan Leeman, Revitalize: Why we must reclaim dying churches - and how

“Insofar as the gospel presents the world with the most vivid picture of God’s love, and insofar as church membership and discipline are an implication of the gospel, local church membership and discipline in fact define God’s love for the world.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“It’s not difficult to see how this conception of romantic love, born out of an individual’s desire for expression and fulfillment, affects our conceptions of “love” in every sphere of life today. Whether the conversation turns to church services, friendships, or dating, I know that you love me when you let me “be myself” or “express myself” or “be the best person I can be.” I love you by allowing you to do the same. So Americans tend to describe churches as “loving” when those churches make us feel relaxed and comfortable, not judged. We can be ourselves there. Nonjudgmentalism is important in our friendships too: “I know she’s my friend, because she doesn’t judge me. I can be real with her.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“¿Ejercerá la iglesia local las llaves perfectamente? No. Cometerá errores igual que cualquier otra autoridad establecida por Jesús comete errores. Como tal, la iglesia local es una representación imperfecta de la asamblea de Cristo del final de los tiempos.”
― Jonathan Leeman, La Membresía de la Iglesia (Church Membership) 9Marks (Edificando Iglesias Sanas (Spanish))

“Compared to relationships, events and programs make me think of ice skates gliding across ice. Relationships make me think of gum on the bottom of a shoe on a hot day.”
― Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation: How God's Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People

“Before and after America, there was and will be the church. The nation is an experiment. The church is a certainty.”
― Jonathan Leeman, How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age