“The crucified and yet living Christ is the concrete summing up of the Christian message and the Christian faith.  He is Himself the wholly concrete truth of Christianity.”—Hans Kung, On Being a Christian, chapter VI.

“The scriptures declare Christ.  And anything else you find in there is a product of your religious imaginations.”—JW Luman, Covenant Ministries Int’l.

“Go to Christ in sight of your sin and misery, not of you grace and holiness. Have nothing to do with your graces and sanctification, they will but veil Christ, till you have seen Christ first. He that looks upon Christ through his graces, is like one that sees the sun in water, which wavers and moves like the water does. Look upon Christ only as shining in the firmament of the Father’s love and grace; you will not see Him but in His own glory, which is unspeakable. Pride and unbelief will put you upon seeing somewhat in yourself first; but faith will have to do with none but Christ, who is inexpressibly glorious, and must swallow up your sanctification as well as your sin; for God made Him both for us, and we must make Him both (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21). He that sets up his sanctification to look at, to comfort him, he sets up the greatest idol which will strengthen his doubts and fears. Do only look away from Christ, and straightaway, like Peter, you sink in doubts.”—Thomas Wilcox, “Honey out of the Rock”

“When we see that the whole sum of our salvation, and every part of it, are comprehended in Christ, we must beware of deriving even the minutest portion of it from any other quarter.  If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that he possesses it; if we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, we shall find them in his unction…indulgence in his nativity, in which he was made like us in all respects…if we seek redemption, we shall find it in his passion…; satisfaction in his sacrifice; purification in his blood; reconciliation in his descent to hell; mortification of the flesh in his sepulchre; newness of life in his resurrection; immortality also in his resurrection; the inheritance of a celestial kingdom in his entrance into heaven….  In fine, since in him all kinds of blessings are treasured up, let us draw a full supply from him, and none from any other quarter.  Those who, not satisfied with him alone, entertain various hopes from others, though they may continue to look to him chiefly, deviate from the right path by the simple fact, that some portion of their thought takes a different direction.”—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion