Quotes from Gordon D. Fee

Even though the Word was originally given in a concrete historical context, its uniqueness centers in the fact that, though historically given and conditioned, this Word is ever a living Word.

The occasional nature of the Epistles also means that they are not first of all theological treatises; they are not compendia of Paul's or Peter's theology. There is theology implied, but it is always task theology, theology being written for or brought to bear on the task at hand.

Rather than the reflective theology of the scholar or classroom, his is a "task theology," the theologizing that takes place in the marketplace

Regarding Wisdom: It is not a matter of cleverness and quick-ness or skill in expression or age... it is a matter of orientation to God, out of which comes the ability to please him.

Building the church with human wisdom or eloquent speech that circumvents the Cross is building with wood, hay, and stubble.

Above everything else, as fulfillment of the new covenant[2] the Spirit marked the return of the lost presence of God.

Paul says the fulfillment of this promised blessing for the Gentiles is in their having experienced the Spirit as a living and dynamic reality. The blessing of Abraham, therefore, is not simply "justification by faith." Rather, it refers to the life of the future now available to Jew and Gentile alike, achieved through the death of Christ but applied through the dynamic ministry of the Spirit—and all of this by faith.

The book of Jeremiah is a constant reminder of God's faithfulness to his word in Deuteronomy that his elect will be cursed by exile for their unfaithfulness to Yahweh but will be restored at a later time with the hope of a new covenant—which was fulfilled through Jesus Christ, David's "righteous Branch" (Jer 23:5).

Historically the church has understood the nature of Scripture much the same as it has understood the person of Christ—the Bible is at the same time both human and divine.

This leads us to note further, that in any case the reader of an English Bible is already involved in interpretation. For translation is in itself a (necessary) form of interpretation. Your Bible, whatever translation you use, which is your beginning point, is in fact the end result of much scholarly work. Translators are regularly called upon to make choices regarding meanings, and their choices are going to affect how you understand.

The resurrection of Christ marked the beginning of the End, the turning of the ages.

Show me a church's songs and I'll show you their theology.

The concern of the scholar is primarily with what the text meant; the concern of the layperson is usually with what it means. The believing scholar insists that we must have both. Reading the Bible with an eye only to its meaning for us can lead to a great deal of nonsense as well as to every imaginable kind of error—because it lacks controls. Fortunately, most believers are blessed with at least a measure of that most important of all hermeneutical skills—common sense.

Interpretation that aims at, or thrives on, uniqueness can usually be attributed to pride (an attempt to "outclever" the rest of the world), a false understanding of spirituality (wherein the Bible is full of deeply buried truths waiting to be mined by the spiritually sensitive person with special insight), or vested interests (the need to support a theological bias, especially in dealing with texts that seem to go against that bias).

One crucial thing to keep in mind as you read any Hebrew narrative is the presence of God in the narrative. In any biblical narrative, God is the ultimate character, the supreme hero of the story.

For Paul the fact that both Jews and Gentiles are included in God's family is the most remarkable aspect of this newly formed fellowship. In Christ's death God has triumphed over the former prejudices on both sides (Eph 2: 14–18).

1. Old Testament narratives are not allegories or stories filled with hidden meanings

The key to life in the Spirit for some is to spend much more quiet time in thanksgiving and praise for what God has done—and is doing, and promises to do—and less time on introspection, focused on your failure to match up to the law.

Our theology and experience of the Spirit must be more interwoven if our experienced life of the Spirit is to be more effective.

God has made us this way, in his own image, because he himself is a personal, relational being.

One reads Paul poorly who does not recognize that for him the presence of the Spirit, as an experienced and living reality, was the crucial matter for Christian life, from beginning to end.

the primary goal of salvation: an eschatological people, who together live the life of the future in the present age as they await the final consummation.

Truly Christian conduct is not predicated on whether I have the right to do something, but whether my conduct is helpful to those about me.

By the presence of the Spirit, God's love, played out to the full in Christ, is an experienced reality in the heart of the believer. This is what the Spirit has so richly "shed abroad in our hearts." If we are not thus overtaken by God himself at this crucial point, then all else is lost, and we are without peace, groveling before God, living with little real hope, and experiencing present sufferings as a cause for complaint and despair rather than for "boasting.