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Robert Farrar Capon Quotes

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Robert Farrar Capon was an American author known for his religious and literary criticism. His works are renowned for their profound insights and unique style, having a significant impact on contemporary literature and religious thought.

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Famous Robert Farrar Capon Quotes

“In the Bible, the opposite of Sin, with a capital 'S,' is not virtue - it's faith: faith in a God who draws all to himself in his resurrection.”

God Faith Jesus Sin Virtue

Book:Between Noon & Three: Romance, Law & the Outrage of Grace

Source: Between Noon & Three: Romance, Law & the Outrage of Grace

“judgment, as it is portrayed in the parables of Jesus (not to mention the rest of the New Testament) never comes until after acceptance: grace remains forever the sovereign consideration. The difference between the blessed and the cursed is one thing and one thing only: the blessed accept their acceptance and the cursed reject it; but the acceptance is already in place for both groups before either does anything about it.”

Jesus Grace Judgment Parables

Book:The Parables of Judgement

Source: The Parables of Judgement

“Salvation is not some felicitous state to which we can lift ourselves by our own bootstraps after the contemplation of sufficiently good examples. It is an utterly new creation into which we are brought by our death in Jesus' death and our resurrection in his. It comes not out of our own best efforts, however well-inspired or successfully pursued, but out of the shipwreck of all human efforts whatsoever.”

Source: Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus

“Jesus came to raise the dead. He did not come to teach the teachable; He did not come to improve the improvable; He did not come to reform the reformable. None of those things works.”

Jesus Christ Teach Raises Reform Teachable

Author:Robert Farrar Capon

“A lost sheep is, for all practical purposes a dead sheep. It is the admission that we are dead in our sins---that we have no power of ourselves either to save ourselves or to convince anyone else that we are worth saving. It is the recognition that our whole life is out of our hands and that if we ever live again, our life will be entirely the gift of some gracious shepherd. God finds us the desert of death (not in the garden of improvement) and in the power of Jesus' resurrection, he puts us on his shoulders rejoicing and brings us home.”

“...there is therefore now no condemnation for two reasons: you are dead now; and God, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, has been dead all along. The blame game was over before it started. It really was. All Jesus did was announce that truth and tell you it would make you free. It was admittedly a dangerous thing to do. You are a menace. Be he did it; and therefore, menace or not, here you stand: uncondemned, forever, now. What are you going to do with your freedom?”

World Has Beens Two Reason Games Jesus Forever Dangerous Blame Foundation Things To Do Lambs Menace Condemnation Dangerous Things Your Freedom Blame Game

Author:Robert Farrar Capon

“But all the while, there was one thing we most needed even from the start, and certainly will need from here on out into the New Jerusalem: the ability to take our freedom seriously and act on it, to live not in fear of mistakes but in the knowledge that no mistake can hold a candle to the love that draws us home. My repentance, accordingly, is not so much for my failings but for the two-bit attitude toward them by which I made them more sovereign than grace. Grace - the imperative to hear the music, not just listen for errors - makes all infirmities occasions of glory.”

“Christianity is NOT a religion; it is the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The Gospel, however - the Good News of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over - period.”

Source: The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-and-found of Church History

“With Jesus, however, the device of parabolic utterance is used not to explain things to people’s satisfaction but to call attention to the unsatisfactoriness of all their previous explanations and understandings.”

People Used Jesus Understanding Attention Satisfaction Explanation Devices Utterance

Author:Robert Farrar Capon

“We are not saved by what Jesus taught, and we are certainly not saved by what we understand Jesus to have taught. We are saved by Jesus Himself.”

Jesus Taught Saved

Book:Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus

Source: Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus

“Preachers are stewards whom the Lord has ‘set over his household servants to provide them with food at the proper time.’ After all the years the church has suffered under forceful preachers and winning orators, under compelling pulpiteers and clerical bigmouths with egos to match, how nice to hear that Jesus expects preachers in their congregations to be nothing more than faithful household cooks.”

Years Jesus Winning Church Lord Nice Ego Cooks Faithful Servant Preacher Household Compelling Congregation Orators Stewards Proper Time

Author:Robert Farrar Capon