Charis by Preston Sprinkle

I shared briefly about the book, Charis by Preston Sprinkle in a previous post.  I have a few quotes I would like to share from Chapters 2-3:

"God is the main subject of the entire Bible"

"If Genesis 1 emphasizes the transcendence of God, then Genesis 2 highlights the intimacy of God. Transcendence and intimacy. We need both. Elohim simply refers to a deity and emphasizes his (or her) power. . . But Yahweh is God's personal name. . .God creates and God relates. Both are essential to God's character. We can't sacrifice either of these truths for the sake of the other."

"When you look into the mirror and see scars and zits and fat and abuse and loneliness and pain, Yahweh sees glory and honor." 

"God gives them (Adam and Eve) a billion things they can do and one thing they can't do."

"Of all the ways that God could have saved us, He chose to work through the womb of women to raise up an image bearer who would crush the head of Satan so that God could regain that Eden-like relationship with His masterpieces. Keep that in mind when you read the Bible. Everything hinges upon that promise."

"This promise (Genesis 12) is an unconditional promise; there's nothing Abraham does to earn it, no conditions he needs to fulfill in order to ensure its fulfillment. And this promise forms the backbone for the entire Bible."

"Abraham's world-class faith that's put on a pedestal in Sunday school is apparently mingled with quite a bit of doubt. . .Abraham does nothing to earn God's charis. God doesn't love Abraham because of what Abraham does or doesn't do. God loves Abraham because of God."

"Grace is just as necessary for our ongoing life as it is for our conversion."

"The grace that's launched in Genesis 15 ultimately touches down on Calvary."

"God's promised Messiah will come through Judah, even though everything in our transactional bones wants to see God use Joseph, the morally superior choice."

"God deliberately gets His hands dirty by molding Judah's mess into a conduit of grace, because God is in the business of working through our messes."

"Grace means that God seeks out repugnant sinners--the Judahs of the world--and uses them to redeem wicked people."