Christianity Quote by Timothy Keller
““The city will challenge us to discover the power of the gospel in new ways. We will find people who seem spiritually and morally hopeless to us. We will think, “Those people will never believe in Christ.” But a comment such as this is revealing in itself. If salvation is truly by grace, not by virtue and merit, why should we think that anyone is less likely than ourselves to be a Christian? Why would anyone’s conversion be any greater miracle than our own? The city may force us to discover that we don’t really believe in sheer grace, that we really believe God mainly saves nice people — people like us.””
About This Quote
Source Sermon: “The City and the Gospel”, 2015
The city challenges believers to trust that grace, not merit, makes anyone capable of conversion, revealing hidden biases about who can be saved.
In simple terms: Grace applies to everyone, not just the “nice” people.
Key Takeaway
Examine your assumptions about who can be saved.
Themes
faith
grace
prejudice
mission
humility
Mood
reflective
challenging
Type
theological
motivational
When to use this quote
- urban ministry
- personal evangelism
- church outreach
- interfaith dialogue
Key Concepts
theology
social bias
spiritual humility
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you assume some people are less likely to believe?
- How does your view of grace shape your outreach?
A Different Perspective
It may overlook systemic barriers that affect belief.
![“24 A few pages later, Delbanco writes the following: [Alexis de] Tocqueville’s detection of a “strange melancholy in the midst of abundance” has a special salience today — because while we have gotten very good at deconstructing old stories (the religion that was the subject of my first chapter…” quote by Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/85a/timothy-keller-240_sad_24-a-few-pages-later-delbanco-writes-the_25320.jpg)
