Dave

“The law, which was added to the promise, did not render the promise of no effect or obliterate it, but rather took the promise up into itself in order to be of service to the development and fulfillment of it. The promise is the main thing; the law is subordinate. The first is the goal; the second is the means. It is not in the law, but in the promise, that the core of the Revelation of God and the heart of Israel's religion lies. And because the promise is a promise of God, it is not a hollow sound, but a word full of power, which is the expression of a will bent on doing all that pleases God (Ps. 33:9 and Isa. 55:11). Therefore, this promise is the propelling force of Israel's history until it gets its fulfillment in Christ.”
― Herman Bavinck

“A spiritual gift is a unique blend of supernaturally bestowed talents and passions granted to everyone who believes in Jesus. For instance, Moses had the spiritual gift of getting really mad and breaking stuff. Samson had the spiritual gift of growing a really dope beard. And Peter had the spiritual gift of saying the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time.”
― The Babylon Bee, How to Be a Perfect Christian: Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living

“Jesus combines a radical realism about who we really are with a profound, covenantal, unparalleled pursuit of us in love. And this leads us toward the identity, demeanor, and behavior of his new community. While we need to be transformed individually, there is always a communal effect.”
― Hans F. Bayer, A Theology of Mark: The Dynamic between Christology and Authentic Discipleship

“No man can rightly understand the power of indwelling corruption who has not savingly felt his own; nor how the law is the strength of sin, till that law be closely applied to his own conscience; nor why the gospel offer of Christ as a savior must be absolutely free and made to sinners as such, till he himself has had to struggle with sharp and strong convictions. No man can rightly apprehend how the assured belief of full and free salvation through Christ constrains to universal obedience till God's redeeming love be shed abroad in his heart; nor how much a disposition that doubts and staggers at the promises of eternal life, or which leads a man to recommend himself to God's favor by his good works, tends to hinder the cheerful progress in grace and true virtue till he himself has experienced the hurt of it.”
― John Brown of Haddington, Counsel to Gospel Ministers