All that is necessary for us to become unwitting Pelagians is less preaching and teaching of the law and the gospel – downplaying the means of grace (Word and sacrament) in favor of our means of transforming ourselves and our world.
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 244
A church that is deeply aware of its misery and nakedness before a holy God will cling tenaciously to an all-sufficient Savior, while one that is self-confident and relatively unaware of its inherent sinfulness will reach for religion and morality whenever it seems convenient.
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 243
Efforts to translate the gospel into contemporary language actually aim at making the gospel is so counterintuitive to our fallen pride that it cannot be believed apart from a miracle of divine grace. And because it is through the gospel itself that the Spirit accomplishes this feat, we remove the one possibility for genuine conversion that we have in our arsenal. Lost in translation is the gospel itself – and therefore the only hope of genuine transformation as well as forgiveness.
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 240
God has granted American Christianity no Reformation. He has given it strong revivalist preachers, churchmen and theologians, but no Reformation of the church of Jesus Christ by the Word of God…Aerican theology and the American church as a whole have never been able to understand the meaning of “criticism” by the Word of God and all that signifies. Right to the last they do not understand that God’s “criticism” touches even religion, the Christianity of the church and the sanctification of Christians, and that God has founded his church beyond religion and beyond ethics…In American theology, Christianity is still essentially religion and ethics…Because of this the person and work of Christ must, for theology, sink into the background and in the long run remain misunderstood, because it is not recognized as the sole ground of radical judgment and radical forgiveness.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
as quote by Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p.
An authorized gospel comes with an authorized ministry. It is ministers of God’s Word – not people who like to carve out their own niches, share their own experiences and determine their own emphasis – whom God qualifies by training, testing and approving and who bring us God’s gifts in his name. Our goal is not to leave our own legacy but to dole out Christ’s inheritance.
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 235
The ministry of the church is God’s service to us through pastors, teachers, elders and deacons, which generates a thankful community of genuine gift giving that overflows to the world. The kingdom of God is something we are receiving, not something we are building (Hebrews 12:28)
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 233
For although God’s power is not bound to outward means, he has nonetheless bound us to this ordinary manner of teaching. Fanatics, refusing to hold fast to it, entangle themselves in many deadly snares. Many are led either by pride, dislike or rivalry to the conviction that they can profit enough from private reading and meditation; hence they despise public assemblies and deem preaching superfluous. But…no one escapes the just penalty of this unholy separation without bewitching himself with pestilent errors and foulest delusions.
– John Calvin
as quoted by Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 231
Pastors and teachers are not cruise directors who provide venues for everyone to channel all of their gifts and energies to the church, but they are deliverers of the message of Christ (Colossians 1:28-29)
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 230
Not only once upon a time, on a hill far away, but each week the Son of God comes to serve us. We may protest. We may think that it is we who need to serve God rather than vice versa. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us as he told Peter that this is actually an insult, a form of pride. We are the ones who need to be bathed, clothed and fed, not God.
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 229
The church has a very narrow commission. It is not called to be an alternative neighborhood, circle of friends, political action committee, social club, or public service agency; it is called to deliver Christ so clearly and fully that believers are prepared to be salt and light in the worldly stations to which God has called them.
– Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; copyright 2008; p. 230
