90 Quotes by Peter Enns

The Bible isn’t a book that reflects one point of view. It is a collection of books that records a conversation – even a debate – over time.

The Bible, just as it is, still works. Don’t try to explain it. Just accept it. That won’t make you a mindless zombie. It just means you are accepting your own human limitations and acknowledging by faith that something bigger than ourselves is happening, someone bigger is behind it, and we have the privilege to be a part of it.

To love as God loves means loving not just others like us, but those who are not.

I believe that the Bible does not model a faith that depends on certainty for the simple fact that the Bible does not provide that kind of certainty. Rather, in all its messy diversity, the Bible models trust in God that does not rest on whether we are able to be clear and certain about what to believe.

When you read the Bible on its own terms, you discover that it doesn’t behave itself like a holy rulebook should.

In the spiritual life, the opposite of fear is not courage, but trust.

The Bible is not a Christian owner’s manual but a story – a diverse story of God and how his people have connected with him over the centuries, in changing circumstances and situations.

For Christians, then, the question is not “Who gets the Bible right?” The question is and has always been, “Who gets Jesus right?” The Gospel writers and Paul couldn’t have made that any clearer.

Readers who come to the Bible expecting something more like an accurate textbook, a more-or-less objective recalling of the past – because, surely, God wouldn’t have it any other way – are in for an uncomfortable read. But if they take seriously the words in front of them, they will quickly find that the Bible doesn’t deliver on that expectation. Not remotely.