A few more favorites:
’ ‘But,’ you perhaps say, ‘there are so many obscure passages in the Bible, whole boks that are practically riddles.’ To that I would answer: 'Before I have anything to do with this objection, it must be made by someone whose life manifests tat he has scrupulously complied with all the passages that are easy to understand; is that the case with you? … God’s Word is given in order that you shall act according to it, not that you shall practice interpreting obscure passages. If you do not read God’s Word in such a way that you consider that the least little bit you do understand instantly binds you to do accordingly, then you are not reading God’s Word."
“There is always a secular mentality that no doubt wants to have the name of being Christian but wants to become Christian as cheaply as possible.”
“Christianity’s requirement is this: your life should express works as strenuously as possible; then one thng more is required–that you humble yourself and cnfess: But my being saved is nevertheless grace.”
“Christianity does indeed proclaim itself to be comfort, cure, and healing–that being so, people turn to it as they turn to a friend in need, thank it as they thank a helper, because by the help of it or by its help they believe they will be able to bear the suffering under which they sigh. And then–then the very opposite happens. they go to the Word to seek help-and then come to suffer on account of the word… Tribulation and persecution come upon one because he has turned to Christianity for help…So also with Christianity. Now the issue is, will you b ofended or will you believe. If you will believe, then you push through the possibility of offense and accept Chrstianty on any terms. So it goes; then forget the understanding; then you say: Whether it is a help or a torment, I want only one thing: I want to belong to Christ, I want to be a Christian.”
“Jesus Christ, the founder and perfecter of faith, who, pointing to the demonstrations [miracles], that certainly must have had the greatest effect at the time they occured, nevertheless adds, ‘Blessed is he who is not offended at me.’–that is, he refers to the demonstrations [miracles] in such a way that he denies that they are the way to him.”
“There [in Christendom] those enormous folios have been written that develop the demonstrations of the truth of Christianity. Behind these, the demonstrations and folios, we feel perfectly convinced ourselves and secure against all atack, because every demonstration and every folio end with"ergo, Christ was the one he claimed to be.” By means of the demonstrations it is just as certain as 2+2=4 and as easy as putting one’s foot in a sock. With this irrefutable ‘ergo’, which directly clarifies the matter, the assistant professor and preach bid defiance, and the missionary cnfidently goes forth to convert the heathen with the aid of this ‘ergo.’ But not Christ! He does not say, ‘Ergo, I am the expected one.’ He says, after having referred to the demnstrations, : “Blessed is he who is not offended at me.” That is, he himself makes it clear that in relation to him there can be no question of any demonstrating, that we do not come to him by means of demonstrations, that there is no direct transition to become Christian, that demonstrations can at best serve to make a person aware, so that made aware he can now come to the point: whether he will believe or he will be offended… Only in the choice is the heart disclosed (and this indeed, was why Chrit came into the world – to disclose the thoughs of te heart)… See, a theological professor who, with the help of everything that had been written earlir about it, has written a new bok on the demonstrations of the truth of Christianity, would feel insluted if someone would not admit that it was now demonstrated. Christ himself, however, says no more than that the demonstrations are able to lead somene–not to faith, far from it (for then it would be superfluous to add: 'blessed is he who is not offended), but to the point where faith can come into existence, are able to help someone to become aware and to that extent help him to come into the dialectical tension from which faith breaks forth. Will you believe or will you be offended?"
“This individual human being is making hiself more than human, is making himself something close to God: is this not offensive? You see something inexplicable, miraculous (but no more); he himself says that it is a miracle–and you see before your eyes an individual human being. The miracle can demonstrate nothing, for if you do not believe him to be who he says he is, then you deny the miracle. The miracle can make aware–now you are in the tension, and it depends upon wht you choose, offense or faith; it is your heart that must be disclosed.”
“The God-man is not the union of God and man–such terminology is a profound optical illusion. The God-man is the unity of God and an individual human being.” That the human race is or is supposed to be in kinship with God is ancient paganism; but that an individual human being is God is Christianity, and this particular human being is the God-man."