Of First Importance

“God the Father entered into an eternal covenant with God the Son; he made Christ the head, the representative of the elect, as Adam was the head, the representative of all his seed. For these the Lord Jesus Christ undertook to fulfill the covenant of works. For these Jesus Christ died a painful, cursed, ignominious death; and by his obedience, and by his death, wrought out an everlasting righteousness for them.”

- George Whitefield, quoted by Steve Jeffery, et al. in Pierced for Our Transgressions (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway Books, 2007), 193.

“When the New Testament speaks about the fullness of grace which we find in Christ, it does not mean only forgiveness, pardon and justification. Christ has done much more for us. He died for us, but he also lived for us. Now he has sent his own Spirit to us so that we might draw on his strength. He grew in grace, and when we draw on his power we shall likewise grow in grace.”

- Sinclair B. Ferguson, Grow in Grace (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 10.

“The Gospel writers underline the fact that Christ did not come to the Garden of Eden, but to a fallen, broken world to be a Saviour and Example for his disciples. Although he was the Second Man and the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47) he came to be tempted not in a garden but a desert. He was tested when he was hungry. He was not surrounded by a tame creation, but by wild beasts (Luke 4:1-2; Mark 1:12-13). Jesus had to hack his way through the jungle which our sin had created in order to grow in his obedience to his Father in heaven.”

- Sinclair B. Ferguson, Grow in Grace (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 8.

“Our faith can only receive what grace provides and can only believe what Scripture reveals. But faith should receive everything grace provides and Scripture reveals. We impoverish our spiritual experience and deny ourselves Christ’s help when we fail to see how important his spiritual growth was. But when we see that our Saviour himself grew in grace, new dimensions of his love for us and new possibilities of our own spiritual development are opened to us.”

- Sinclair B. Ferguson, Grow in Grace (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 10-11.

“In both its precepts and penalty, the law of God in its most exacting requirements was fulfilled by Jesus. And He did this in our place as our representative and our substitute.”

- Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, Co: NavPress, 1994), 58.