Bruce A. Ware > Quotes

“There are no “little obediences.” Every opportunity given us by God, either to obey or to disobey, is an opportunity for that character formation and strengthening of faith that can prepare us for the greater challenges of faith God has in mind for us in the future.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“May our minds be granted greater comprehension so that our hearts may be filled with deepened affection.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“There is nothing accidental in suffering.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“The very resource of Holy Spirit empowerment granted to Jesus for his life of obedience and faithfulness to the Father is now granted to Jesus’s disciples as they carry forward the message of Christ, living lives of obedience to Christ, all in the power of the Spirit.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“And what about sin’s power? If Christ has “died for our sin,” and sin’s greatest power is death, then what is the necessary expression that Christ has conquered the power of sin completely and decisively? He must rise from the dead. If he remains in a grave dead, then sin’s power is greater than his, and rather than conquering sin, he is subject to it and its hold on him. The only way to show that the power of sin is conquered completely is that Christ was raised from the dead. This shows that Christ’s power is greater than the greatest power sin has. Christ’s resurrection demonstrates that Christ has completely, decisively, and once for all triumphed over sin and its greatest power!”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“To obey to the point of death requires the ability to die, and for this, Jesus had to be human.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“This truly is the God of lesser glory, because of his lesser knowledge, lesser wisdom, lesser discernment, lesser ability, lesser reliability, and lesser guidance.”
― Bruce A. Ware, God's Lesser Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism

“The teaching and implications of this text are massive. Ask yourself these questions: In his interactions with the Pharisees, or the crowds, or the Samaritan woman, or Nicodemus, or Peter, or the high priest, did Jesus exhibit extraordinary wisdom and understanding? Were his counsel and insight marked by discernment? Did he fear the Lord and so obey his Father from his heart every step of the way? Yes, indeed, he did. Now ask yourself this question: How would Isaiah 11:2 encourage us to account for these features that marked all of his life and ministry? The answer is that the Spirit rested on him and granted him wisdom, understanding, knowledge, discernment, strength, and resolve to fear God his Father. In other words, these qualities did not extend directly or fundamentally from his divine nature, though divine he surely was! Rather, much as the “fruit of the Spirit” of Galatians 5:22–23 is the outward evidence of the inward work of the Spirit in a believer, so too here these qualities are attributed to and accounted for by the Spirit who rested upon Jesus, empowering him to have the wisdom, understanding, and resolve to obey that he exhibited.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“the very resources Jesus used to live his obedient life are resources given also to all of us who trust and follow him.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“he resisted the temptation to avoid suffering”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“Can you imagine that the similarity in language between Acts 10:38 (“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power”) and Acts 1:8 (“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”) is accidental or merely coincidental? I highly doubt it. It seems rather that Luke’s point would be this: the very power by which Jesus lived his life and carried out his mission (Acts 10:38) is now ours since the Holy Spirit who was on him is given to us, his followers (Acts 1:8).”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“The only way to make sense, then, of the fact that Jesus came in the power of the Spirit is to understand that he lived his life fundamentally as a man, and as such, he relied on the Spirit to provide the power, grace, knowledge, wisdom, direction, and enablement he needed, moment by moment and day by day, to fulfill the mission the Father sent him to accomplish.”
― Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ

“So, look at the Trinity and think again about what it means to be human. Yes, the relationships in the Trinity call for and call forth a created community of persons. We need to think very hard about this in our churches. It is one of the reasons a small group ministry is such a good thing. Small groups are one key way in which we can establish, in our churches, communities of interconnection and interdependence. Surely this is also one of the main reasons that the Spirit assigns gifts to each believer in the body of Christ, so that we will both give to one another and depend on one another in our growing in Christ. Interconnection and interdependence are key themes we see in the Trinity that we need to see lived out increasingly in our lives and churches. Let’s give thoughtful and prayerful attention to building Trinity-like communities of interdependence and interconnection with one another, working with each other, for each other, and doing so with harmony and love for one another.”
― Bruce A. Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance