the gospel is strange

The law commands and threatens, but it cannot empower us to fulfill its demands or deliver anyone from its sentence (v. 20). By contrast, the gospel is a strange — utterly foreign — announcement of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ. By nature, we understand “law-talk,” but “gospel-talk” is a foreign tongue whose basics we must learn and relearn throughout our life.

Horton, Michael S. (2010-12-21). The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Kindle Locations 10181-10184). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Our calling

 Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell—it is redemption.

Chambers, Oswald (2010-10-22). My Utmost for His Highest, Updated Edition (Kindle Locations 889-890). Discovery House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

After the fall

So the human heart, which divine love had kept secure, and which had kept itself in unity by loving only One, now began to flow out in all directions through earthly desires. For the mind which does not know how to love its true good is never stable and never rests. Here is the source of restlessness, ceaseless labour, disquiet - until we turn and cling again to God. The sick heart trembles and staggers; the cause of its disease is love of the word; its remedy is love of God.

- Hugh of Saint Victor (1049-1141), The Moral Ark of Noah, Prologue