Tremper Longman III > Quotes

“Wisdom, then, is how to live in God’s world in God’s way,”
― Tremper Longman III, Sermon on the Mount

“the Psalms speak to all seasons of our souls.”
― Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms

“We can’t read the Psalms without an emotional response.”
― Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms

“The Psalms put us in touch with our deepest emotions.”
― Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms

“Culture shifts, but the Word of God remains.”
― Tremper Longman III, Sermon on the Mount

“So savor a delicious meal, not just for itself, but as a gift from God. Be carried away by powerful music as an anticipation of the music of heaven. Be enticed by the smell of the sea, the scent of a flower. Be seduced by the caresses and kisses of your spouse. Enjoy these moments of bliss as God's gift that opens a brief glimpse of the utter ecstasy to come when we live in God's glorious presence.”
― Tremper Longman III, Breaking the Idols of Your Heart: How to Navigate the Temptations of Life

“These verses, as v.18 shows, recount the establishment of a covenant between God and Abram. Thus it is fitting that in several respects the account should foreshadow the making of the covenant at Sinai. The opening statement, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans” (v.7), anticipates a virtually identical opening statement for the Sinaitic covenant (Ex 20:2): “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” The expression “Ur of the Chaldeans” is a reference back to 11:28 and 31 and grounds the present covenant in a past act of divine salvation from “Babylon,” just as Exodus 20:2 grounds the Sinaitic covenant in an act of divine salvation from Egypt. The coming of God’s presence in the fire and darkness of Sinai (Ex 19:18; 20:18; Dt 4:11) is foreshadowed in Abram’s fiery vision in this chapter (vv.12, 17). In the Lord’s words to Abram (vv.13 – 16), a connection between his covenant and the Sinaitic covenant is established by a reference to the four hundred years of bondage for Abram’s descendants and their subsequent “exodus” “and afterward they will come out,” v.14).”
― Tremper Longman III, Genesis–Leviticus

“The book of Genesis is not a history-like story but rather a story-like history.”
― Tremper Longman III, How to Read Genesis

“as Childs points out, we first need to hear the “discrete voice” of the OT, we must then go on to read the OT from a post-Christ perspective.”
― Tremper Longman III, Job

“if we follow the example of the psalmist The Psalms are an honest expression of emotions.”
― Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms

“As the psalmists cry out in joy or grief, they stir us as we identify similar emotions in ourselves.”
― Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms

“Divorce confuses the church today because marriage confuses. And marriage confuses the church today because love confuses.”
― Tremper Longman III, Sermon on the Mount

“Daniel 12, however, makes it clear that the wicked will ultimately get what they deserve—destruction and shame—while the godly will get what they deserve—honor and life. These themes are much more fully developed in the New Testament and are the basis of Christian hope in the midst of a difficult present.”
― Tremper Longman III, Daniel

“The paradox of the crucifixion is thus placed in its strongest light—triumph in helplessness and glory in shame. The convict’s gibbet is the victor’s car.”
― Tremper Longman III, God Is a Warrior

“That significance is not founded in their historicity but in their theology; not in what happened (or even that something did happen) but in why it happened. What was God doing? That is where the significance is to be found.”
― Tremper Longman III, The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate

“Wellhausen, who is at the foundation of so many contemporary issues of biblical scholarship, expressed his understanding of the religious nature of warfare in ancient Israel. War was worship for Israel. But even further he noted the warlike nature of Israel’s religion. Israel was in conflict with her neighbors, particularly in the area of religion, and this frequently led to armed conflict.”
― Tremper Longman III, God Is a Warrior

“Part of a true relationship with Yahweh is living righteously in an authentic manner (because he is righteous). A critical aspect of this just and righteous lifestyle is a deep concern for other people. It is very important to Yahweh that his people be concerned for social justice, especially for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner—those who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic power structure. Likewise, Yahweh repeatedly stresses that religious ritual does not cover up unethical behavior and social injustice. In fact, those who ignore social injustice and yet feel smug and pious due to their religious practices are annoying to Yahweh.”
― Tremper Longman III, The Message of the Prophets: A Survey of the Prophetic and Apocalyptic Books of the Old Testament

“Faith, then, is an assertion of trust, even when our circumstances point in a direction that seems to call into question God’s goodness.”
― Tremper Longman III, Daniel

“The book presents Daniel as a model for behavior during periods of oppression and persecution. He is a historical embodiment of righteousness.”
― Tremper Longman III, An Introduction to the Old Testament

“the church’s fundamental task is to mediate God’s presence as priests and to rule on behalf of God as kings and queens under God, serving God in God’s mission. Our task is to represent”
― Tremper Longman III, Sermon on the Mount

“that the vision is not of the nativity but of the death of Christ, cast as the eschatological birth pangs issuing in the new creation of resurrection and exaltation. This not only explains the otherwise inexplicable leap from nativity to ascension, but it makes sense of the allusion to Psalm 2, which speaks of the adoption of the Son of David not at his birth but at his exaltation (cf. Ro 1:4).6”
― Tremper Longman III, God Is a Warrior

“that sin is not the only possible cause of suffering has two practical implications. First, it “shatters the myth that our own righteousness can protect us from unjust suffering.”[109] In other words, we cannot control the situations that might lead to our pain. Second, we cannot judge others based on the fact that they are suffering.”
― Tremper Longman III, Job

“Thus one of the important contributions of the book of Job (as well as Ecclesiastes)[108] is to undermine the idea that retribution theology works absolutely and mechanically. Sometimes sin does lead to negative consequences, but not always. Similarly, sometimes proper behavior leads to positive outcomes, but not always. Job serves as an example to warn against judging others on the basis of their situation in life. But Job himself never receives an answer to the question of why he has suffered. At the end of the book, after hearing and seeing God, he submits to God’s greater power and wisdom.”
― Tremper Longman III, Job

“Thus, when we read Genesis we are reading an ancient document and should begin by using only the assumptions that would be appropriate for the ancient world. We must understand how the ancients thought and what ideas underlay their communication”
― Tremper Longman III, The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate

“An ethic unshaped by eschatology is neither Jesus’ nor Christian.”
― Tremper Longman III, Sermon on the Mount

“Job is a wisdom book. But not all wisdom books are alike.[42] Proverbs contains instructional literature (discourses and proverbs) that encourage wise behavior by connecting (but not guaranteeing) rewards with such behavior. Ecclesiastes contains the autobiography of a man who has sought for meaning in life “under the sun” but is thwarted in his efforts by, among other things, a sense of injustice. Indeed, the message of both the book of Job and Ecclesiastes should keep people from reading the rewards of Proverbs with undue optimism.[43]”
― Tremper Longman III, Job

“1–2. Job speaks. At the conclusion of the epilogue, we heard that Job sat in silence with his three friends for seven days. The friends responded with silence, demonstrating their empathy toward their suffering friend. It is significant and often forgotten in popular reading that Job was the one who broke the silence. The friends, who become aggressive and angry toward Job in the process of the ensuing debate, did not begin the fight. True, Job does not attack them; he attacks his “day.” The day, as we will learn in the ensuing complaint, is the day of his birth.[177] He curses that day as a dark and evil day, a day that allowed for his present suffering. By so cursing his day, he is implicitly criticizing God, a criticism that grows increasingly explicit as the lament develops.”
― Tremper Longman III, Job

“Everything that he had had was a gift from God, given to him during his life. He came into the world with nothing (naked). He knows that when he dies he can’t take it with him. That Yahweh has taken from him what Yahweh himself had given him is within Yahweh’s rights. Thus he does not rail against God, but rather he blesses his name. The same thought may be found in Eccles. 5:15, when the Teacher (Qohelet) observes, “As he left his mother’s womb, so he will return, going as he came—naked. And he will take nothing with him from his toil that he is able to bring with him into his possession.” This observation, however, leads Qohelet to complain, “This indeed is a sickening evil” (5:16), which provides a contrast with Job.[156]”
― Tremper Longman III, Job

“However, perhaps the central concern of Yahweh reflected in the message of the prophets is abuse, oppression, or even the neglect of the underclass, whom the prophets identify as the widow, the orphan, and the alien or foreigner (sometimes the poor are included). This triad (widows, orphans, foreigners) is specifically mentioned eight times in Deuteronomy (10:18; 24:17, 19, 20, 21; 26:12, 13; 27:19). Part of the covenant relationship that Israel had with Yahweh was the command that they care for the underclass, those people who did not have enough political and economic clout in the society to fend for themselves. Deuteronomy required that Israel pay special attention to this group, providing them with justice in the courts as well as food and participation in the worship festivals.”
― Tremper Longman III, The Message of the Prophets: A Survey of the Prophetic and Apocalyptic Books of the Old Testament

“Worship in many churches is a spectator sport. If we listen to the commands of the psalmist, our worship will radically change.”
― Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms