Paul Helm > Quotes

“[I]t is wrong to think of conversion as the decision of a man or as an agreement or contract between a man and God in which grace comes to a man only as a result of his decision to allow it. For one thing such an idea suggests that men before they are converted occupy a position of neutrality or of balance or equilibrium, and that a man by his decision is able to tip the balance one way or the other, to allow grace or to resist it. But any conscious decision, any turning to God, comes about as a result of being turned by God, by being regenerated.”
― Paul Helm, The Beginnings: Word and Spirit in Conversion

“…though fallen Adam could still make free choices in everyday life, his will is nonetheless evil in that ‘such actions are not initiated, performed, and directed by the goal of giving God the glory that is owed Him.’ And, ‘in spiritual and inward matters, the will of the natural, unregenerate man is free only to do evil.”
― Paul Helm, Human Nature from Calvin to Edwards

“Theology is not theology if it does not in some way shape the life of the Christian community and through that the life of the world.”
― Paul Helm, The Trustworthiness of God: Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture