John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

There is no room for difference about the inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His blood atonement, His bodily resurrection, the need for sinful men to be born again, and salvation by faith in Christ. But when Christians agree on these great essentials, on what the Bible calls "the faith of the gospel" (Phil. 1:27; I Cor. 15:3, 4), then we can be charitable on minor differences. We reserve the right to preach all the truth as we see it. But we have an obligation to have brotherly love and kindness and charity toward those who are weak in the faith, but just so they are "in the faith." - John R. Rice

Let me illustrate. I oppose the plan by Dr. Billy Graham of yoking up with unbelievers. I am offended when he has an infidel like Bishop Pike on the platform to lead in prayer, or when he sends converts or "inquirers" back to a Catholic church or to a Jehovah's Witness or Seventh-Day Adventist church. I say I am against Dr. Graham yoking up with unbelievers. I am not against him preaching the Gospel. I am not against him personally. I rejoice in every soul that he wins and rejoice in every person who ever hears the Gospel by his lips. I would have fellowship with him if I could do so without approving or condoning his fellowship with unbelievers. - John R. Rice

The Bible has proved Itself, to me, to be the infallible Word of God. In the original manuscripts and as it has been correctly copied and translated, it is accurate in matters of doctrine, science, and history, perfect in morals, the very Word of God. One may safely rely on every promise and should earnestly seek to obey every command and joyfully surrender to every hint of the will of God revealed in the Bible. - John R. Rice

Plenary inspiration means complete inspiration, that is, inspiration without flaw and mistake and failure. Verbal inspiration means that in the original manuscripts, God gave the very words of the Scriptures so that not only the thought, but also the very words are God's words. (Inspiration does not speak of translation or copying, but of course of the original manuscripts.) Thus you see that actually plenary and verbal inspiration are the same thing. Complete inspiration would include the words. However, the term "verbal" inspiration is probably the best term, since it insists on the words, as the Scriptures do. - John R. Rice

The reason that men do not believe is either that they are not living up to what they believe, that they have not surrendered their wills to God, or that they do not study the evidence that is calculated to produce belief. Men neglect their Bible and read all kinds of trashy unbelieving books, and then say, "I can't believe!" A man might just as well feed himself on poison instead of food and then complain that he is not healthy. There is abundant evidence that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and faith is a matter of the will---it is willingness to yield to the sufficient evidence. Unbelief is the refusal to yield to the sufficient evidence. Thus unbelief is a matter for which every believer is responsible. - John R. Rice

I consistently use the King James Version. Practically all of my memory work is done in it. Because of its beautiful, stately language and because it is loved by common people everywhere, I find it best to preach and quote from this version, unless some passage is more clear in another version.
The American Standard Version, translated in 1901, is perhaps the most accurate of all versions. It does not take the place of the King James Version, but in many places it has genuine help. - John R. Rice

I think that to do right and to obey God and to put down crime is not a sign of lack of Christian love. It is not wrong for a parent to whip a child who needs it. It is not wrong for an officer to arrest a criminal. It is not wrong for a government to put to death a murderer. These things should be settled by the plain Word of God instead of by an emotional appeal to prejudice. So warfare may be necessary and right to put down an international criminal like Hitler, or to save a nation from enslavement. - John R. Rice