Quotes by Tim Keller
Tim Keller (1950–2023) — Pastor, Theologe und Bestsellerautor · presbyterianisch · USA
Timothy J. Keller (1950–2023) war ein US-amerikanischer presbyterianischer Pastor, Theologe und Bestsellerautor, der ab 1989 die Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City aufbaute. Er prägte einen reformierten, evangeliumszentrierten Ansatz, der den christlichen Glauben intellektuell fundiert im säkularen Kontext begründen und gelebte gesellschaftliche Verantwortung betonen wollte. Für heutige Bibelleser bieten seine Schriften verständliche Zugänge zur Relevanz biblischer Texte in einer säkularen Kultur, während seine theologische Haltung sowohl von progressiver wie auch von rechtskonservativer Seite Kritik erfuhr.
Era: Today
Recurring topics: Grace & Redemption, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, Faith & Trust, Humility & Pride, Love, Guilt & Forgiveness, Meaning & Identity, Wisdom & Understanding
Quotes by Tim Keller
The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.
Tim Keller
Humility is so shy. If you begin talking about it, it leaves.
Tim Keller
To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.
Tim Keller
The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
Tim Keller
Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it.
Tim Keller
You don’t realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.
Tim Keller
In Christianity, the moment we believe, God imputes Christ’s perfect performance to us as if it were our own, and adopts us into His family. In other words, God can say to us just as He once said to Christ, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Tim Keller
Christ is not about trying harder; it means transferring our trust away from ourselves and resting in him.
Tim Keller
The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time.
Tim Keller
A faith without some doubts is like a human body with no antibodies in it.
Tim Keller
Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.
Tim Keller
If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.
Tim Keller
God will either give us what we ask for in prayer, or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows.
Tim Keller
If you want God's grace, all you need is need, all you need is nothing.
Tim Keller
When you see him dying to make you his treasure, that will make him yours.
Tim Keller
Only Jesus says, “I have come for the weak. I have come for those who admit they are weak. I will save them not by what they do but through what I do.
Tim Keller
If your God never contradicts you, you might be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.
Tim Keller
Suffering can refine us rather than destroy us because God himself walks with us in the fire.
Tim Keller
All [true] prayer, pursued far enough, becomes praise. Any prayer, no matter how desperate its origin, no matter how angry and fearful the experiences it traverses, ends up in praise.
Tim Keller
The other gods were strong, but Thou was weak. They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne. But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak, And not a god has wounds but Thou alone.
Tim Keller
The power of the gospel comes in two movements. It first says, “I am more sinful and flawed than I ever dared believe,” but then quickly follows with, “I am more accepted and loved than I ever dared hope.
Tim Keller
Everything sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost.
Tim Keller
Our bad things will turn out for good (Rom 8:28), Our good things can never be taken away from us (Ps 4:6–7), and The best things are yet to come (1 Cor 2:9).
Tim Keller
No one is so good that they don’t need the grace of the gospel, nor so bad that they can’t receive the grace of the gospel.
Tim Keller
A God who substitutes himself for us and suffers so that we may go free is a God you can trust.
Tim Keller
The usual place to learn the greatest secrets of God’s grace is at the bottom.
Tim Keller
God does not love us because we are serviceable; He loves us simply because He loves us. This is the only kind of love we can ever be secure in, of course, since it is the only kind of love we cannot possibly lose. This is grace.
Tim Keller
What makes a person a Christian is not our love for God, which is always imperfect, but God’s love for us.
Tim Keller
Through Jesus we don’t need perfect righteousness, just repentant helplessness, to access the presence of God.
Tim Keller
You are loved for Christ’s sake, not because your heart and life are perfect.
Tim Keller
Grieve with hope; wake up and be at peace; laugh in the face of death, and sing for joy at what’s coming. If Jesus Christ has you by the hand, you can sing.
Tim Keller
We can’t overcome workaholism if we love money and status too much. We can’t overcome bitterness or slander if we love our reputation too much. It is not just willpower but a reordering of our desires that will bring wisdom.
Tim Keller
We know God will answer us when we call because one terrible day he did not answer Jesus when he called.
Tim Keller
You have been saved through a dying sacrifice, so you are free to be a living one.
Tim Keller
Jesus did not come with a sword in his hands; he came with nails in his hands. He did not come to bring judgment; he came to bear judgment.
Tim Keller
True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness. The blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings.
Tim Keller
Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail him, will forgive you eternally.
Tim Keller
True modesty is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.
Tim Keller
We are not driven by unhappiness over our looks, or our status—we are not deflated by criticism as we were before. Our self-image rests in a love we can’t lose.
Tim Keller
I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less. I don’t need to notice myself—how I’m doing, how I’m being regarded—so often.
Tim Keller
1167 quotes in total — browse the collection.
Sources: juicyecumenism.com, americanreformer.org, premierchristianity.com
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