Moffatt: by popular demand

March 7, 2009
    Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203

Meditation:
    And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
    -- Revelation 5:9,10 (NIV)

Quotation:
    The popular craving [for an English Bible] could not be stifled, and the sixteenth century saw the pioneering works of Tyndale and Coverdale; then, two years after Coverdale, the real “authorized version” appeared in 1537, when a mysterious translator called “Thomas Matthew” had his works not only dedicated to but licensed by Henry VIII. In the long run, what put the Bible into the hands of the common people was the influence exerted on public opinion and authority by the reformation of the church.
    ... James Moffatt (1870-1944), A New Translation of the Bible, Harper & Brothers, 1935, p. xxxviii.

Quiet time reflection:
    We desire You, O God.

    See the Christian Quotation of the Day and the Quotations Bible Study

Ironside: knowledge

March 6, 2009

Meditation:
    For it is written:
    "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
        the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
    Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
    -- 1 Corinthians 1:19-25 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Scripture nowhere condemns the acquisition of knowledge. It is the wisdom of this world, not its knowledge, that is foolishness with God... The history of philosophy is a story of contradictory, discarded hypotheses... Many of them have failed to avail themselves of that which would unravel every knot and solve every problem, namely, the revelation of God in Christ as given in the Holy Scriptures.
    ... Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951), Philippians and Colossians, [reprint] Kregel Publications, 2007, 147-148

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me confidence in Your wisdom.

Christian Quotation of the Day

Jerome: a bulwark

March 5, 2009

Meditation:
    But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
    -- Galatians 3:22 (NIV)

Quotation:
    A man who is well-grounded in the testimonies of the Scripture is the bulwark of the Church.
    ... St. Jerome (340?-420), Commentary on Isaiah, 54:12 in loc. [Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 73A, 612]

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, fill my mind with Your word.

Christian Quotation of the Day

Packer: Scripture

March 4, 2009
    Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647

Meditation:
    And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
    -- 2 Peter 1:19-21 (NIV)

Quotation:
    God the Father is the giver of Holy Scripture; God the Son is the theme of Holy Scripture; and God the Spirit is the author, authenticator, and interpreter of Holy Scripture.
    ... J. I. Packer (b.1926)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word brings me to repentance.

Christian Quotation of the Day

Stott: sure words

March 3, 2009

Meditation:
    I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
    -- 2 Peter 3:2 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Our starting point is Scripture, which we accept as God’s unique and trustworthy revelation. Yet, in seeking with loyalty to conserve this truth from God, we attribute no infallibility to our own evangelical traditions. We desire, rather, to re-examine them radically—that is to say, with a thoroughness which digs down even to their roots. If we seem to the reader to be always sure about the truthfulness of Scripture but sometimes less than sure in our understanding of how to apply it to complex contemporary questions, then he has accurately grasped our mood.
    ... John R. W. Stott (b.1921), “Obeying Christ in a Changing World”

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I believe Your word for my time.

Christian Quotation of the Day

Wesley: Come, Holy Ghost

March 2, 2009
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
    -- Acts 1:8 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Come, Holy Ghost, for moved by thee
    The prophets wrote and spoke;
    Unlock the truth, thyself the key,
    Unseal the sacred book.
    ... Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Quiet time reflection:
    Your people are listening, Lord.

Christian Quotation of the Day