Gavin Ortlund > Quotes

“Pursuing the unity of the church does not mean that we should stop caring about theology. But it does mean that our love of theology should never exceed our love of real people, and therefore we must learn to love people amid our theological disagreements.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage

“Christianity is a system of doctrines supernaturally revealed and now recorded in the Bible. Of that system there can be no development. No new doctrines can be added to those contained in the word of God. No doctrine can ever be unfolded or expanded beyond what is there revealed. The whole revelation is there, and is there as distinctly, as fully, and as clearly as it can ever be made, without a new supernatural revelation. Every question, therefore, as to what is, or what is not Christian doctrine, is simply a question as to what the Bible teaches.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“To construct a metaphor, Protestant theology is the castle in which we safely live: patristic and medieval theology is a dark forest surrounding the castle into which we may occasionally venture.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“When we are standing before the throne on judgement day, what battles will we look back on and be proud we fought? I suspect most of our Twitter debates will not be among them.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage

“If our identity is riding on our differences with other believers, we will tend to major in the study of differences. We may even find ourselves looking for faults in others in order to define ourselves.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage

“To the extent that evangelicals adopt a kind of “me and my Bible” theological method, as though theology can be done without appropriation of the battles and settlements of earlier generations, we diminish and destabilize our theological witness.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“a metaphor, visiting the Sistine chapel does more than conceptually advance your knowledge of Michaelango’s view of final judgment, as visiting the Grand Canyon does more than provide you information about the history of the Colorado River. There are sensibilities and emotions that are shaped by the whole experience. So also patristic and medieval theology can function to shape theological values and inclinations we will likely lack so long as we work narrowly within Reformation and modern theology alongside the Bible. It is an enriching, formative experience, comparable to traveling to a foreign country and being immersed in the culture and geography.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord. Do not utter a single self-glorifying sentence!2”
― Gavin Ortlund, Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness

“Jeremy Begbie notes that music conveys meaning in a nonrepresentational manner, unlike our other forms of communication.121 Thus, music’s power of communication is unique: “Music is the least imitative of the arts, the least reducible to other things (certainly the least translatable into verbal discourse), the least dependent on preexisting things outside itself. Music is the closest we will get in this life to creating out of nothing.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't: The Beauty of Christian Theism

“Sometimes the best way to go forward is, paradoxically, to go backward. This is true in solving math problems, executing military operations, navigating relational conflict, and (here I suggest) doing theology.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“Unnecessary division is often a heart issue. It is easy for a spirit of self-justification to ride shotgun with our secondary distinctives. Much doctrinal separatism stems from finding our identity in our theological distinctives when we should be finding it in the gospel. As John Newton wisely warned, “Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as works!”25 John Calvin went so far as to claim that “pride or haughtiness is the cause and commencement of all contentions.”26 We know there is a spirit of self-justification about our theology when we feel superior to Christians from other tribes and groups, or when a particular believer, church, or group unduly annoys us. It is one thing to disagree with another Christian. That is inevitable to anyone who thinks. It is another thing when our disagreement takes an attitude of contempt, condescension, or undue suspicion toward those with whom we disagree.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage

“The sorrows of this life will not be simply concluded or even washed away from memory; rather, for those who reap the benefits of Jesus’s resurrection, those sorrows will be transformed into something glorious and beautiful.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't: The Beauty of Christian Theism

“The way I like to put it is that sola fide is the “what” of the Reformation; sola Scriptura, the “how.” The first is an object, the second a method. The first is a precious jewel; the second, the safe that protects it.”
― Gavin Ortlund, What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church

“Vanhoozer argues that “the Reformation was a retrieval, first and foremost of the biblical gospel, particularly the Pauline articulation, but also, secondarily, of the church fathers.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“God enters the world without ceasing to be God; God then leaves the world without ceasing to be man.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“That these perceived tensions in Augustine become Warfield’s rubric for engaging the medieval church as a whole is evident in his definition of the Reformation as “the triumph of Augustine’s doctrine of grace over Augustine’s doctrine of the Church.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“For Warfield, “a new Christian piety dates from [Augustine],” as well as “a new theology corresponding to this new type of piety,” such that Augustine may be termed the author of grace as well as the father of evangelicalism”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“To construct a metaphor, Protestant theology is the castle in which we safely live: patristic and medieval theology is a dark forest surrounding the castle into which we may occasionally venture”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“Humility is not a virtue we cultivate in the abstract; it is a mark of integrity to the gospel, and all our efforts at humility must be fueled by the gospel lest they result in mere fleshly counterfeits or imitations.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness

“Luther and Calvin, by contrast, saw the early church as a resource to be utilized and spoke of the goal of the Reformation as its retrieval.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“In light of the state of our cultural dialogue and the nature of the medium, we must work all the harder to display kindness. Take extra steps to say something positive whenever you can. Avoid sarcasm more than you normally would. Be extra eager for opportunities to honor someone else (Rom. 12:10).”
― Gavin Ortlund, Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness

“Interestingly, C. S. Lewis argued the opposite: “To get even near [humility], even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.”2 Tim Keller preached something similar: “There’s nothing more relaxing than humility.”3 As he explained, pride grumbles at everything, but humility can joyfully receive life as a gift.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness

“Third, be gracious. Kindness and civility are becoming scarce these days. More and more, outrage is the norm. Therefore, we can testify to the truth of the gospel by speaking with kindness and moderation as we navigate our theological disagreements. Go out of your way to show love and respect to the other person, even when that person infuriates you. Doing theological triage is an opportunity to live out Jesus’s words in John 13:35: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage

“Unnecessary division is often a heart issue. It is easy for a spirit of self-justification to ride shotgun with our secondary distinctives. Much doctrinal separatism stems from finding our identity in our theological distinctives when we should be finding it in the gospel. As John Newton wisely warned, “Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as works!” John Calvin went so far as to claim that “pride or haughtiness is the cause and commencement of all contentions.” We know there is a spirit of self-justification about our theology when we feel superior to Christians from other tribes and groups, or when a particular believer, church, or group unduly annoys us. It is one thing to disagree with another Christian. That is inevitable to anyone who thinks. It is another thing when our disagreement takes an attitude of contempt, condescension, or undue suspicion toward those with whom we disagree.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage

“Now, it’s easy to admit in principle that you have blind spots. But humility will cause this recognition to make a noticeable difference in your actual interactions with people. It will lead to more clarifying questions, more pursuit of common ground, more appreciation of rival concerns, more delay in arriving at judgments. In life and theology, it is usually not sheer ignorance that causes the most intractable problems but ignorance about ignorance: not the unchartered territory but the stuff that is completely off your map. This is one reason why humility is so important. Humility teaches us to navigate life with sensitivity to the distinction between what we don’t know and what we don’t know that we don’t know. This encourages us to engage in theological disagreement with careful listening, a willingness to learn, and openness to receiving new information or adjusting our perspective. Pride makes us stagnant; humility makes us nimble.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage

“Lord, we marvel at your stunning display of humility. You, the Most High, have not refrained from taking the lowest and worst position imaginable. O Lord, how foolish all our pride seems when we remember the cross! Help us to follow your example, Lord. Teach us the pathway of humility.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness

“In life and theology, it is usually not sheer ignorance that causes the most intractable problems but ignorance about ignorance: not the unchartered territory but the stuff that is completely off your map.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage

“As severe as the Reformers’ criticisms of medieval Roman Catholicism could be, they always distinguished themselves from the Anabaptists, making clear that their intention was to reform, not recreate, the true church of God.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

“That day I came across several of the so-called new atheist books: Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great, and Sam Harris’s The End of Faith. I vividly remember the longing that came over me as I leafed through them. It felt like my feet finding the path again. I knew what my next adventure would be.”
― Gavin Ortlund, Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't: The Beauty of Christian Theism