Quotes by Andreas Kostenberger
Andreas Kostenberger (b. 1957) — Theologe, Neutestamentler und Buchautor · evangelikal · Österreich / USA
Andreas Köstenberger ist ein aus Österreich stammender evangelikaler Theologe und Neutestamentler, der seit den 1990er-Jahren an verschiedenen US-amerikanischen Ausbildungsstätten forscht und lehrt. Er steht für eine konservative Bibelexegese und ist besonders für seine Arbeiten zu den johanneischen Schriften, hermeneutische Lehrbücher sowie die theologische Verteidigung komplementaristischer Geschlechterrollen bekannt. Heutigen Bibellesern bietet er methodisch detaillierte Zugänge zum Neuen Testament, wobei seine traditionellen Positionen zu Ehe und kirchlicher Leitung anhaltend diskutiert werden.
Era: Today
Recurring topics: Relationships & Family, Discipleship, Growth & Character, Service & Love of Neighbour, Humility & Pride, Church & Congregation, Meaning & Identity, Grace & Redemption
Quotes by Andreas Kostenberger
Ministry to children, therefore, should be conducted in a humble spirit of service rather than in a patronizing manner, and should be viewed as a privilege rather than as an undesirable chore left to those rho are unable to attain to a higher calling.
Andreas Kostenberger
We learn from Jesus that we should not look down on children because they are not fully grown and hence are of lower social status than adults. Like Jesus, we should treat children with respect and dignity, as unique and precious creatures made by God and valuable in His sight. What is more, contrary to our national inclination that may tell us that we can learn nothing from children and that the relationship is strictly one-way from parent or adult to child, we should look at children also from the vantage point of desirable kingdom traits they may exemplify in a more pronounced way than we do ourselves.
Andreas Kostenberger
For Jesus, there is no better way to illustrate God’s free unmerited grace than pointing to a child. For unlike many adults, children are generally entirely unpretentious about receiving a gift. Moreover, “little ones,” that is, the least, regardless of age, are a repeated focus in Jesus’ teaching on discipleship (Mt. 18:5; Lk. 9:48). Indeed, God’s kingdom must be entered in a childlike spirit, a lesson that was yet to be learned by Jesus’ followers.
Andreas Kostenberger
It is critical that parents teach children the importance of obedience. Parents who neglect to hold their children accountable for rendering obedience fail them in that they do not help them along the path of Christian discipleship, of which obedience is a central component. Hence the primary importance of obedience is not for parents to receive their children’s obedience, but for parents to help children to learn to exercise obedience ultimately in their relationship with God.
Andreas Kostenberger
Limiting discipline to behavioral modification by a system of rewards and punishments may be effective in the short term, but may well lead to rebellion in the end. Children are not laboratory rats that can be conditioned by stimuli to behave in a certain way – they are precious and unique creatures of God, who has vested them with personal worth and dignity. If we respect and embrace this larger relational context, we stand a much better chance of reaping a relationship with our child that continues far beyond the childhood and growing-up years.
Andreas Kostenberger
Sources: biblicalfoundations.org, pba.edu, mbts.edu, wikipedia.org
All quotes · lumen.bible