John B. Webster

From the writings & lectures of the late theologian, John Webster (1955–2016) #WebsterTheology

[John B. Webster @John_B_Webster]

The Holy Trinity is the ontological principle of systematic theology. Its external or objective principle is the divine Word. (Principles of Systematic Theology)

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

Theology is under the authority of the church because it is under the wholly legitimate and quickening authority of the gospel.

@John_B_Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

The chief act of theological existence is the petition: 'Give me understanding according to your Word!' (Ps. 119:169)

@John_B_Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

Because God's majesty, which is far removed from us, would be like a secret and hidden spring, he has revealed himself in Christ.

@John_B_Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

What we encounter in Scripture is the terrifying mercy of God’s address.

@John_B_Webster

[Brent Rempel @BrentRempel]

"The Christian gospel is instruction in human happiness."

@John_B_Webster

[Jeff Manning @jeffamanning]

“The saints fear God, not their opponents, because God’s good and gentle rule outbids all that opposes the gospel.”

@John_B_Webster

[Tim Blackmon @TimBlackmon]

"Errors about creatures are symptomatic of a spiritual disorder, and they must be healed by one's paying attention to the truth of Scripture." @John_B_Webster @WebsterTheology

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

The possibility of Christian theology lies in what God alone knows about himself and yet communicates by disclosure--in God and the Word of God.

@John_B_Webster

[Robb Torseth @RobbTorseth]

John Webster’s 2014 article, Holy Scripture:

“To ‘use’ Scripture rightly is not to make it serve some purpose of our own, providing scriptural ornamentation to judgments we have already reached or
policies we already intend to pursue. It is studiously and attentively to discern and adhere to the purpose of the divine author who loves us by teaching us.”

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

Theology takes place in the domain of the Word of God, and in that domain the living Christ rules.

@John_B_Webster

[Nathaniel Martin @NathanielRMart]

"However genuine they may be, exegetical difficulties are, in the end, not the heart of the difficulty of reading Scripture. The real problem lies elsewhere, in our defiance of grace." - @John_B_Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

Theology is that delightful activity in which the church praises God by ordering its thinking towards the gospel of Christ.

@John_B_Webster

[John B. Webster @John_B_Webster]

In the domain of Christ’s rule and revelation, Holy Scripture is the embassy of the prophets and apostles.

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

The matter of the gospel is the free majesty of the triune God's grace in his works of creation, reconciliation and completion.

@John_B_Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

The high and eternal God who is life in himself gives life to his creatures.

@John_B_Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

Good theologians are those whose life and thought are caught up in the process of being slain and made alive by the gospel and of acquiring and exercising habits of mind and heart which take very seriously the gospel’s provocation.

@John_B_Webster

[Tim Blackmon @TimBlackmon]

"To realize oneself as a creature is actively to appropriate an antecedent nature with a given form of which we are not the authors, and whose ends we are not at liberty to invent, adapt or subvert." @John_B_Webster @John_B_Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

Engagement with God means being sufficiently grasped, disturbed, or troubled by the gospel and its dispute with us, that we are provoked (however unwittingly) to learn how to think and live differently.

@John_B_Webster

[Brandon Smith @brandon_d_smith]

"In regenerate theological activity, intellectual greed is replaced by a hunger for divine instruction." -- Webster

[Oren Martin @orenrmartin]

Theology takes place in the domain of the Word of God, and in that domain the living Christ rules.

@John_B_Webster