“The gospel is not just a story about Jesus; it is a transformative story because the gospel unleashes God’s saving power for… — Matthew W. Bates Christianity Copy Share Image
“The Greek word pistis, generally rendered “faith” or “belief,” as it pertains to Christian salvation, quite simply has little correlation with “faith”… — Matthew W. Bates Christianity Copy Share Image
“Human salvation is directed toward God's intention to restore individuals, communities, and the world as the kingdom of God continues to break… — Matthew W. Bates History Copy Share Image
“Jesus proclaimed the one gospel by announcing the inauguration of the kingdom of God as well as its anticipated culmination” — Matthew W. Bates Christianity Copy Share Image
“the gospel is the power-releasing story of Jesus’s life, death for sins, resurrection, and installation as king, but that story only makes… — Matthew W. Bates Christianity Copy Share Image
“With regard to eternal salvation, rather than speaking of belief, trust, or faith in Jesus, we should speak instead of fidelity to… — Matthew W. Bates Faith Copy Share Image
“For reasons that will become clear in due course, I submit that the gospel is not primarily about the necessity of the… — Matthew W. Bates Christianity Copy Share Image
“The gospel has been entrusted to the whole church for the sake of the entire world.” — Matthew W. Bates Christianity Copy Share Image
“the gospel is the power-releasing story of how Jesus became king and the only adequate response is allegiance alone.” — Matthew W. Bates Christianity Copy Share Image
“Some still need to be convinced that enacted obedience is essential to salvation. Those who are already persuaded need a more robust… — Matthew W. Bates Truth Copy Share Image
“God’s superabundant, prior gift is granted without regard to our relative worth, but the reception of God’s gift demands a return gift… — Matthew W. Bates Gratitude Copy Share Image
“The key point is that true pistis is not an irrational launching into the void but a reasonable, action-oriented response grounded in… — Matthew W. Bates Faith Copy Share Image
“gift-giving, or grace, in the ancient world always required reciprocation.” — Matthew W. Bates Copy Share Image
“In reading Paul’s summary of the gospel, we quickly recognize that the gospel is not at its most basic level a tale… — Matthew W. Bates Adventure Copy Share Image
“In short, for many today faith is defined as the opposite of evidence-based truth. This is neither a biblical nor a Christian… — Matthew W. Bates Faith Copy Share Image
