C. I. Scofield Quotes on Grace, Christ, the Spirit and Prophecy
C. I. Scofield is known for the notes in the Scofield Reference Bible, but his own books are full of short, clear sentences that stick. He had been a lawyer before he was a preacher, and it shows: he liked to state a truth in one line and draw a sharp distinction, between law and grace, between the old life and the new, between being indwelt by the Spirit and being filled with Him.
Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. For his life story, see who was C. I. Scofield. For a guide to his books, see C. I. Scofield books.
On grace
Grace was Scofield's great theme. He believed nothing else in the Bible was as large.
Grace is more than mercy; grace is more than love; grace is the largest word in the Bible.
In Many Pulpits, Is Life Worth Living?
God is not now dealing in righteousness; he is dealing in grace.
Addresses on Prophecy, The Church of God
It was so under law; but under grace the measure of the believer's forgiveness is according to something in God.
Dr. C. I. Scofield's Question Box, Prayer
They have lost the sense of the grace of God and are living under law; but falling from grace is not falling from salvation.
Dr. C. I. Scofield's Question Box, Assurance
On salvation and the cross
He wanted no one to think salvation was a prize waiting at the end of life. It was finished at the cross, and it was received by trust.
We are not saved by Christ's death and something else, but by His death, and by that alone.
No Room in the Inn, and Other Interpretations, The Atonement
Dear friends, salvation is not away off yonder at the gates of heaven; salvation is at the cross.
Addresses on Prophecy, Influence of Prophetic Truth upon Character and Conduct
The sinner trusts, Christ saves; the saint yields, the Holy Spirit gives victory.
No Room in the Inn, and Other Interpretations, The First Christmas Night
The faith of the patient did not heal him; it was the remedy that healed him; but the faith took the remedy.
In Many Pulpits, Is Life Worth Living?
I may think small things of my faith, and wish it bulked larger, but the real point is, not what I think of my faith, but what I think of Jesus Christ.
In Many Pulpits, Song or Echo — Which?
But no soul ever trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, though ever so feebly, and was lost.
In Many Pulpits, Who Is My Neighbor?
On sin and repentance
Scofield was just as plain about what keeps people away from Christ.
The barrier between Christ and a human heart is never human sinfulness, but human self-sufficiency.
No Room in the Inn, and Other Interpretations, The Daughter of Jairus
Men must be convicted of sin, because the mission of Christ is to save from sin, and only those who feel their need will seek a Saviour.
No Room in the Inn, and Other Interpretations, John the Baptist
It is not feeling badly about sin; it is, in consent and will, forsaking sin.
No Room in the Inn, and Other Interpretations, John the Baptist
I should not conclude from that, that in the divine estimation worry is a graver sin than adultery or murder, but only that it is far more prevalent.
In Many Pulpits, The Demon of Worry
On Jesus Christ
He defended Christ's deity, and he loved to dwell on Christ's humanity too.
God, then, is like Christ, and Christ is like God, nay more, Christ is God.
In Many Pulpits, The Bible
Understand me, I do not now mean that He was a perfect human, but that He was perfectly human.
In Many Pulpits, The Loveliness of Christ
Have you ever observed that the nearer Jesus came to the cross, the more He spoke of His joy?
The New Life in Christ Jesus, The Joyous Life
Jesus found His supreme joy in bearing the sorrows of others.
The New Life in Christ Jesus, The Joyous Life
Jesus Christ lived thirty years in Nazareth, but He never permitted Nazareth to give the measure of His life.
The New Life in Christ Jesus, The Larger Christian Life
On the new life
Scofield's addresses on the inner life are some of his most helpful. A Christian, he said, is not a reformed sinner but a new creation.
The old man under the new gospel is to be crucified with Christ, not improved by higher ideals.
The New Life in Christ Jesus, The Imparted Life
The believer is not merely a pardoned criminal, he is a child and son of God; and that by a new birth which is as actual in the sphere of the spiritual as his natural birth was in the sphere of the physical.
The New Life in Christ Jesus, The Delivered Life
Held up before God, in that white light, a sin does not look nearly so pretty as it did when we yielded to the temptation.
The New Life in Christ Jesus, Defilement and Cleansing
On the Holy Spirit
He taught that every believer has the Spirit, but not every believer is filled with Him.
Do not try to think of the Spirit; think of Christ as the bestower of the Spirit.
Plain Papers on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, The Filling with the Holy Spirit
Millions are never filled with the Holy Spirit, because they never definitely yield themselves and their members to God.
Plain Papers on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, The Filling with the Holy Spirit
No believer, whether layman or minister, should be content one hour without the ineffable blessedness of a Spirit-filled life.
Plain Papers on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, The Filling with the Holy Spirit Is Indispensable
On prayer
The trouble with us is that we think we could pray if we would; if we only had a mind to pray; if we only determined to pray.
In Many Pulpits, Prayer
On the Bible and prophecy
These lines show the habits of mind behind the Reference Bible: read every verse in its place, and let every truth touch how you live.
It is well to remember that all Scripture was written for us, but all Scripture was not written to us.
Dr. C. I. Scofield's Question Box, Israel and the Church
There is not a proposition of truth which is not intended by Almighty God to have an influence upon conduct.
Addresses on Prophecy, Influence of Prophetic Truth upon Character and Conduct
What He did was to provide for the organization of one society — the church; and to commission her to preach, not reformation but regeneration.
Addresses on Prophecy, God's Purpose in This Age
On heaven
If God were to bring all unbelievers into heaven at their death, they would not be happy there; they would simply spoil heaven, and make it what this earth is.
In Many Pulpits, Is Life Worth Living?
No taint of sin there; no death; no grave; no separation, no growing old and infirm.
Addresses on Prophecy, The Future State
Read Scofield in full
These lines are better in their setting. Begin with The New Life in Christ Jesus, where many of the lines on Christ's joy and the new life come from, or with the sermons in In Many Pulpits. All six of his books are on the C. I. Scofield author page.