If it is hard to accept a rebuke, even a private one, it is harder still to administer one in loving humility.
D. A. CarsonThere is no long-range effective teaching of the Bible that is not accompanied by long hours of ongoing study of the Bible.
D. A. CarsonEffectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring.
D. A. CarsonSome Christians want enough of Christ to be identified with him but not enough to be seriously inconvenienced; they genuinely cling to basic Christian orthodoxy but do not want to engage in serious Bible study; they value moral probity, especially of the public sort, but do not engage in war against inner corruptions; they fret over the quality of the preacher's sermon but do not worry much over the quality of their own prayer life. Such Christians are content with mediocrity.
D. A. CarsonSystematic theology will ask questions like "What are the attributes of God? What is sin? What does the cross achieve?" Biblical theology tends to ask questions such as "What is the theology of the prophecy of Isaiah? What do we learn from John's Gospel? How does the theme of the temple work itself out across the entire Bible?" Both approaches are legitimate; both are important. They are mutually complementary.
D. A. Carson