Chad Bird > Quotes

“The glory of Advent and Christmas is camouflaged by humility, anonymity and even foolishness, for our God likes to hide himself beneath his opposite.”
― Chad Bird, Glory to God in the Highest: Devotions for Advent

“When Jesus “starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably,” when his work in our lives “does not seem to make sense,” then he’s really getting somewhere. He’s pounding gaping holes in the painted drywall of our own wisdom to reveal the termite-infested 2x4s on the other side. Ripping up the carpet to point out an inch-wide crack in the foundation. What we thought would take a few months to fix and fancy up will, it turns out, require a lifetime of labor. But Christ is okay with that. He was, after all, raised in the home of a carpenter. And he’ll take his sweet time. C. S. Lewis says he “intends to come and live in it Himself,” but the truth is, he’s already moved in, put his underwear and socks in the drawers, and buckled on his tool belt. He’s here for the long haul.”
― Chad Bird, Upside-Down Spirituality: The 9 Essential Failures of a Faithful Life

“Psalm 24 doesn’t ask us any questions to which it doesn’t give us the answers: “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” The answer: the person with clean hands, a pure heart, a true soul and honest speech. And that puts us in a bind. For in one way or another, we all have dirtied our hands and muddied our souls in a selfish life. So who’s going to ascend this hill? Stand in God’s holy place? The King of Glory, that’s who. The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! The Lord of Advent stayed clean to make us clean. And he became unclean with our evil on the cross to strip it away from us.”
― Chad Bird, Glory to God in the Highest: Devotions for Advent

“In every instance, forgiveness morphs into a self-serving tool of manipulation we use to control other people. Inside our clouded minds, we convince ourselves we’re doing what’s ultimately best for us.”
― Chad Bird, Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul

“The forgiveness of the Father doesn’t wait for us to demonstrate adequate, sincere repentance. It doesn’t let us humbly accept a servant position in the household, or a chance gradually to earn our Father’s favor again through a life of obedience. Christ’s forgiveness precedes our repentance—and calls it forth.”
― Chad Bird, Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul

“What is going on? To begin, language is lifted from the Torah and prophets, rearranged and repurposed to show how Jesus is the Son of God, Servant of the Lord, New Isaac, and Prophet like Moses.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“As you follow Jesus, do not expect your personal weaknesses and unwelcome character traits to disappear. They will not. Do not expect to get everything right all the time. You will not. Do not expect, as a disciple, that life will be a little easier for you than for unbelievers. Most likely, it will be more difficult, for the world is an unwelcome place for citizens of the kingdom of God.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“When Jesus cried out from the cross, Tetelestai, “It is finished” (John 19:30), he was declaring that all things had been brought to their divinely ordained telos—end or goal—in him. All history had been flowing in his direction. Every river, stream, and rivulet of OT history emptied into the sea of himself. Many of the people in that history pointed beyond themselves, to the telos who is Christ.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“A lamb was sacrificed, its blood daubed on the Israelite doors, and its body cooked and eaten, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”
― Chad Bird, Hitchhiking with Prophets: A Ride Through the Salvation Story of the Old Testament

“But as we don’t reduce cars to tires or people to eyes, let’s not reduce Torah to law. Its basic meaning is “instruction, teaching, direction.” To”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“Yahweh is saying, “Who I am is in him. To see him is to see me. To hear him is to hear me. To follow him is to follow me. My name, Yahweh, is in him, my messenger.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” the Psalmist asks. Just as the glory of God was concealed beneath Jesus, a common-looking man; just as his victory over sin was hidden beneath the shame and blood and suffering of the cross; so God is also veiled beneath the darkness and grief as we travel the crooked path leading from brokenness to healing.”
― Chad Bird, Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul

“Study Romans, Galatians, Peter’s epistles, Hebrews, James, or Revelation and ask yourself, “Why do these authors quote or allude to the Torah much more frequently than they do the words of Jesus? Because no gospels had yet been written?” No, that can hardly be the reason. Even if Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not yet written, the teachings and sayings of Jesus would have been circulating orally. Then why does Moses get more apostolic press than Christ’s own words? The reason is straightforward: Jesus himself repeatedly affirmed that all things had already been written about him in Moses and the prophets. Far from ignoring the words of Jesus in their writings, therefore, the apostles strongly affirm them, for in quoting predominately from the Tanak, they confess, “You know what? Jesus is right. These Scriptures are all about him.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“Our Father, grant us humility, that in our lowliness we behold your exalted grace. Amen.”
― Chad Bird, Glory to God in the Highest: Devotions for Advent

“God will snatch away the forgiveness which our repentance, humility, and obedience made possible.”
― Chad Bird, Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul

“The redemption of the Messiah is a gracious, creative act, prefigured already in the opening two chapters of the Bible. Isaiah describes his kingdom, in which we participate in a now-and-not-yet sort of way. Now, by our baptism into Jesus, we are members of his kingdom and citizens of the New Jerusalem. But we do not yet fully experience this, of course, for we await the return of our Lord, the resurrection of our bodies, and a life of joy and peace in the new creation.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“You have had a good deal of pain in your life, and you have been a good steward of it.”13”
― Chad Bird, Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul

“The Greek verb for “made perfect,” teleo, is the same verb spoken by Jesus on the cross when he cried out, “Tetelestai,” that is, “It is finished” or “It has been made perfect.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“Athanasius illustrates his point this way. He says it’s like a stained and faded painting in need of some serious touching up. What does the artist do? Start over from scratch? No, he summons the original man, the one whose image is on the canvas, and has him sit down again so he can repaint his portrait on the existing canvas. The Father’s Son is that man, and we are the stained and faded canvas. The Father, looking to his image, the Son, repaints us in Christ’s image, that we might reflect him”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“This witness that we give, this invitation to become co-citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem with us, is fostered within the culture of the church. Here is a key truth: the only way we are able to “participate in everything as citizens” is by ongoing participation in the life of God’s people. I don’t mean following a celebrity preacher on Twitter and Instagram. I don’t mean listening to our favorite theologian’s podcast or the local Christian radio station on our morning commute. I mean butts in the pews, eyes on the altar, ears attuned to the pulpit, mouths chewing the bread of the Supper, tongues red with Communion wine, hands clasping the hands of fellow believers, vocal cords singing hymns, knees bent in prayer. The only way we can be fully present in our modern Babylons is by simultaneously being fully present, bodily present, in a congregation we call home.”
― Chad Bird, Upside-Down Spirituality: The 9 Essential Failures of a Faithful Life

“I thank God that he didn’t choose a rule-following, t-crossing and i-dotting, cream of the moral crop, most-likely-never-to-do-anything-shameful man to be the patriarch of the OT people of God. He chose Jacob. He chose a disciple with a shady past, a troubling future, a dysfunction family, and a heart drunk on ego to be his #1 guy. Christ wanted it to be patently clear that being his follower is not about climbing a ladder of spiritual success but being greeted by mercy at the bottom of the ladder by the Lord who climbs down to us.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“We might think of the five books of Moses as a mini-Bible. Or to alter the metaphor, just as a massive oak tree grows from a single acorn, so that the entire future tree is already present in this seed, so also the rest of Scripture was already present in the Torah, just waiting to grow and flourish. When God planted the Torah-acorn in the soil of Israel, from it grew the trunk, branches, and leaves of everything from Joshua to Revelation.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“But as we don’t reduce cars to tires or people to eyes, let’s not reduce Torah to law. Its basic meaning is “instruction, teaching, direction.” To state the obvious, not every teaching or instruction is a law or rule. Torah is also chock full of promise, lovingkindness, and hope. Thus when you spot the word “law” in the OT, please do an immediate translation in your mind into “teaching.” Problem solved. It’s”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“Following Jesus, we gimp our way down the dark and slippery paths of life. As we do, we discover, ironically, that the longer we follow him, the weaker we become, and the more we lean on our Lord. Finally, at our most mature, our eyes are opened to realize that we’ve never run or walked or even limped a single day of our lives. We’ve been on Christ’s shoulders the entire time.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“But if he does three key things—demonstrates adequate, sincere repentance, humbly accepts a servant position in the household, and gradually earns his father’s favor again through a demonstrable life of obedience—then perhaps everything will be made right again.”
― Chad Bird, Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul

“Athanasius illustrates his point this way. He says it’s like a stained and faded painting in need of some serious touching up. What does the artist do? Start over from scratch? No, he summons the original man, the one whose image is on the canvas, and has him sit down again so he can repaint his portrait on the existing canvas. The Father’s Son is that man, and we are the stained and faded canvas. The Father, looking to his image, the Son, repaints us in Christ’s image, that we might reflect him and know him once more.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“Read a hundred libraries worth of self-help books. Train for triathlons and learn breathing techniques. Listen to the right life coaches and eat kale every day. Whatever you wish. All it takes is a lump in the breast, a drunk teen behind the wheel, or a short in the wires of your attic, to bring your little ideal world crashing”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“Yahweh is saying, “Who I am is in him. To see him is to see me. To hear him is to hear me. To follow him is to follow me. My name, Yahweh, is in him, my messenger. In short, he is Yahweh to you.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“To follow the Messiah entails following how he interpreted the Scriptures. And judging by his words, he interpreted them, in their totality, as a testimony about himself.”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament

“Franzmann, a Bible interpreter and theologian, was also a hymn writer. In a hymn on the Reformation, he concludes with a beautiful, unforgettable prayer. He asks that the Holy Spirit would breathe on his “cloven church once more, That in these gray and latter days, There may be men whose life is praise, Each life a high doxology, to Father, Son, and unto Thee.”3 When our theology becomes doxology, it not only is sung but creates lives of “high doxology”—lives in which we truly no longer live, but having been crucified with Christ, we live in and through him (cf. Gal. 2:20). As Jesus prayed, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us. . . . I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one” (John 17:21, 23).”
― Chad Bird, The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament