“The Holy Spirit is no sceptic, and the things He has written in our hearts are not doubts or opinions, but assertions — surer and more certain than sense and life itself” (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, 70).

“Away, now, with Sceptics and Academics from the company of us Christians; let us have men who will assert, men twice as inflexible as very Stoics! . . . Nothing is more familiar or characteristic among Christians than assertion. Take away assertions, and you take away Christianity. Why, the Holy Spirit is given to Christians from heaven in order that He may glorify Christ and in them confess Him even unto death — and is this not assertion, to die for what you confess and assert?” (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, 67).

“It is my belief that a recovery of the Trinity at ground level, the level of the ordinary minister and believer, will help revitalize the life of the church and, in turn, its witness to the world” (Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 7).

“Today most Western Christians are practical modalists. The usual way of referring to God is “God” or, particularly at the popular level, “the Lord.” It is worth contrasting this with Gregory Nazianzen, the great Cappadocian of the fourth century, who spoke of “my Trinity,” saying, “When I say ‘God,’ I mean Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” This practical modalism goes in tandem with a general lack of understanding of the historic doctrine of the Trinity” (Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 5-6).

“The post-Reformation slide into a privatized, individualistic religion that neglects the church and the world has led many to downplay the ecumenical creeds in favor of the latest insights from biblical studies, whatever may be the motivation behind them. Prominent aspects of the church’s doctrine of the Trinity have often been derided or neglected as unbiblical speculation. Opposition to the orthodox doctrine has often tended to come from those who stress the Bible at the expense of the teachings of the church. These people forget that the church was forced to use extrabiblical language because biblical language was open to a variety of interpretations — some faithful, others not” (Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 5).

“[T]he ancient church was forced to use extrabiblical terms to defend biblical concepts. This was necessary because heretics misused the Bible to support their erroneous ideas…. To think clearly about the Trinity, we must grapple with the history of discussion in the church” (Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 1-2).

“A satisfactory spiritual life will begin with a complete change in relation between God and the sinner; not a judicial change merely, but a conscious and experienced change affecting the sinner’s whole nature. The atonement in Jesus’ blood makes such a change judicially possible and the working of the Holy Spirit makes it emotionally satisfying” (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 94).

“The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do” (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 85).

“Our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us” (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 61).

“The Christian is too sincere to play with ideas for their own sake. He takes no pleasure in the mere spinning of gossamer webs for display. All his beliefs are practical. They are geared into his life. By them he lives or dies, stands or falls for this world and for all time to come. From the insincere man he turns away. The sincere, plain man knows that the world is real. He finds it here when he wakes to consciousness, and he knows that he did not think it into being. It was here waiting for him when he came, and he knows that when he prepares to leave this earthly scene it will be here still to bid him goodbye as he departs. By the deep wisdom of life he is wiser than a thousand men who doubt. He stands upon the earth and feels the wind and rain in his face, and he knows that they are real” (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 51-52).