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Quotes (399)

The loss of the traditional vision of God as holy is now manifested everywhere in the evangelical world. It is the key to understanding why sin and grace have become such empty terms. What depth or meaning, P.T. Forsyth asked, can these terms have except in relation to the holiness of God? Divorced from the holiness of God, sin is merely self-defeating behavior or a breach in etiquette. Divorced from the holiness of God, grace is merely empty rhetoric, pious window dressing for the modern technique by which sinners work out their own salvation. Divorced from the holiness of God, our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of a host of alternative self-help doctrines. Divorced from the holiness of God, our public morality is reduced to little more than an accumulation of trade-offs between competing private interests. Divorced from the holiness of God, our worship becomes mere entertainment.

The holiness of God is the [foundation of reality]. Sin is defiance of God’s holiness, the Cross is the outworking and victory of God’s holiness, and faith is the recognition of God’s holiness. Knowing that God is holy is therefore the key to knowing life as it truly is, knowing Christ as he truly is, knowing why he came, and knowing how life will end.

– David Wells

4 thoughts on “Quotes (399)”

  1. Boy, talk about hitting the bullseye! A description of today’s world in a few words indeed! I’m goint to post this on my blog. Hope you don’t mind. Joel.

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  2. That was a great quote.

    I am currently reading a book by Gary Gilley entitled This Little Church Went to Market. So far it is a great book and one that I will feature on DefCon in the near future.

    In this book Gilley quotes frequently from David Wells. I had never heard of David Wells before so it’s funny you posted this quote from him at the same time I’m reading a book in which he’s quoted often.

    So far I’ve found that David Wells (whoever he is) has a lot of powerful things to say that the church needs to hear.

    – The Pilgrim

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  3. Amen Pilgrim!

    If I believed in “coincidences” then I’d chalk this up to one, but I think it’s providence. As a matter of fact I’d never heard of Wells either until I came across this quote while studying the relationship between the existence church and the proclamation of the gospel – our Great Commission (and oh, how woefully I miss the mark of my high calling in Christ!)

    Funny timing, eh? Methinks folks will be hearing from Mr. Wells at DefCon a lot more in the future.

    In Him,
    CD

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  4. I remember when David Wells threw that perfect game against the Montreal Expos.

    Oops, wrong David Wells 🙂

    Seriously–and I know he didn’t mean it as such–the middle of that quote goes a long way in describing Mormonism–“Divorced from the holiness of God, sin is merely self-defeating behavior or a breach in etiquette. Divorced from the holiness of God, grace is merely empty rhetoric, pious window dressing for the modern technique by which sinners work out their own salvation. Divorced from the holiness of God, our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of a host of alternative self-help doctrines.”

    To the Mormon, sin is merely “not using your agency,” and grace is “Jesus fills in the gaps where I mess up and don’t do enough good works sometimes.” Again, I know he wasn’t saying that in that context, but it does give one a good idea why so many quote-unquote “Christians” leave their church their Sunday gathering to follow the LDS system.

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