Quotes about Power
Forgiveness has its own extraordinary power which reaches beyond law and beyond justice.
— Philip Yancey
Justice has a good and righteous and rational kind of power. The power of grace is different: unworldly, transforming, supernatural.
— Philip Yancey
Grace is Christianity's best gift to the world, a spiritual nova in our midst exerting a force stronger than vengeance, stronger than racism, stronger than hate.
— Philip Yancey
The church works best as a force of resistance, a counterbalance to the consuming power of the state.
— Philip Yancey
Not even God, with all his power, can force a human being to love.
— Philip Yancey
A church that lives by power dies by power.
— Philip Yancey
The message of this book has the power to reform the church, one relationship at a time.
— Philip Yancey
see the confusion of politics and religion as one of the greatest barriers to grace. C. S. Lewis once said that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist.
— Philip Yancey
A similar cycle has recurred throughout church history. Christians present an attractive counterculture until they become the dominant culture. Then they divert from their mission, join the power structure, and in the process turn society against them. Rejected, they retreat into a minority subculture, only to start the cycle all over again.
— Philip Yancey
The gospel of grace begins and ends with forgiveness. And people write songs with titles like "Amazing Grace" for one reason: grace is the only force in the universe powerful enough to break the chains that enslave generations. Grace alone melts ungrace.
— Philip Yancey
Rather than looking back nostalgically on a time when Christians wielded more power, I suggest another approach: that we regard ourselves as subversives operating within the broader culture.
— Philip Yancey
Legalism may "work" in an institution such as a Bible college or the Marine Corps. In a world of ungrace, structured shame has considerable power. But there is a cost, an incalculable cost: ungrace does not work in a relationship with God. I have come to see legalism in its pursuit of false purity as an elaborate scheme of grace avoidance. You can know the law by heart without knowing the heart of it
— Philip Yancey