Robert Haldane Quotes on Grace, Justification, Prayer and Scripture
Robert Haldane (1764–1842) was a Scottish evangelist whose lessons on Romans to a handful of students in Geneva helped start a revival across French-speaking Europe. His Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans is a long, careful commentary, but it's full of short sentences that put a great truth in a line. That's what you'll find below.
Every quotation here is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the volume and chapter it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. Haldane often quotes older writers in his commentary; those lines aren't included. The books were restored from old scans, so you'll see the original spelling, like "labouring" and "honour." For his life story, see who was Robert Haldane. For a guide to his books, see Robert Haldane books.
On the gospel
Haldane believed Romans was the fullest statement of the gospel in Scripture, and he wouldn't let anything be added to it or taken from it.
The gospel of God concerns his Son; the whole of it is comprised in the knowledge of Jesus Christ; so that whoever departs one step from him departs from the gospel.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 1:1-15
When it is said the gospel is God's power unto salvation, all other means of salvation are excluded.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 1:16-32
How many other gospels are now preached as the gospel of Christ! yet none of them can avail for the salvation of the soul.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 3, Romans 16
No man is made a Christian by any power less than God's, and by no other means than God's word.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 3, Romans 15
On sin and grace
He took sin seriously, and grace more seriously still.
There is no sin that any man can commit which does not exalt some perfection of God, in the way of contrast.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 3:1-20
They often sin from the love of the sin, when they wish it was not a sin.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 6
It is true that sin abounds in us, but where sin abounded grace and mercy have more abounded, and the greater our misery, the greater is the glory of the mercy of God towards us.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 8
It is impossible that sin can be more powerful to destroy us than the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ to save us.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 8
And he answered those who said free grace gives people permission to sin:
That Jesus Christ should have purchased, at the price of his own blood, a license to sin against God, would be contradictory in itself, and incompatible with the wisdom and uniformity of the Divine government.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 6
On justification by faith
This is the center of Haldane's teaching. Faith doesn't earn anything. It receives Christ, who is our righteousness.
Faith does not justify as an act of righteousness, but as the instrument by which we receive Christ and his righteousness.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 3:21-31
Righteousness is what we want in order to justification; faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as testified in the gospel, is the means through which we receive this righteousness.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 4
To believe for salvation, we must believe not in God absolutely, but in God as the raiser of Jesus Christ.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 4
On God's love and ours
Haldane insisted that our love for God always comes second. It's a response to His love, and it's His gift.
We cannot be beforehand with God in love, and we must perceive his love to make us love him.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 5
Love to God is the gift of God, and it never exists in the human heart till the Holy Spirit implant it.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 5
No man can love God till he hath shined into his heart to give him the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It is, therefore, only through faith in the blood of Christ that we can love God.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 8
But real love always shows itself in obedience:
That which does not produce obedience is not love, and what does not proceed from love is unworthy of the name of obedience. The pretence of love without obedience is hypocrisy, and obedience without love is a real slavery.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 6
Well may the man who loves God defy universal nature to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus his Lord.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 8
On prayer
Haldane put his fortune into preaching the gospel, and he knew that work without prayer comes to nothing.
To pray without labouring is to mock God: to labour without prayer is to rob God of his glory.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 1, Romans 1:1-15
The best prayers are not those of human eloquence, but which spring from earnest desires of the heart.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 8
The prayer taught by God the Holy Spirit in their hearts, is an echo to the intercession of Jesus before the throne.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 8
On God's sovereign mercy
On Romans 9 and 11 Haldane speaks plainly about election. He always ties God's sovereignty to God's character and His mercy.
In the exercise of his sovereignty, therefore, all that God wills to do must be in strict conformity with the perfection of his character.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 9
The salvation of the elect is mercy, pure mercy; and it is wonderful mercy, when we consider what was the fate they deserved, and would have experienced, had they not been delivered by God through Jesus Christ.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 2, Romans 9
If faith be the gift of God, salvation by faith implies election.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 3, Romans 11
Nothing but the constant lessons of the Spirit of God will teach them that all spiritual difference among men is by God's grace.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 3, Romans 11
God's plan of redemption is so deep and peculiar to himself, that man does not comprehend it, even when it is presented to his view, unless the eyes of his understanding are enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 3, Romans 11
On living and dying for God
What we believe about God shapes how we live, and it shapes how we die too.
According to our views of the character of God, so will be our conduct.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 3, Introduction
Every Christian, when he dies, dies to the glory of God.
Exposition of Romans, Vol. 3, Romans 14
On the Bible
In The Books of the Old and New Testaments Proved to Be Canonical, Haldane argued that the whole Bible, down to its words, is the Word of God.
Hardly an error ever was maintained, but what could press some passage of the Word of God into its service, by the use of torture.
The Books of the Old and New Testaments Proved to Be Canonical, Preface
There can be no evidence that the doctrines of Scripture are revealed truths, unless we are certain that the books of Scripture are revelation.
The Books of the Old and New Testaments Proved to Be Canonical, The Genuineness and Authenticity of the Holy Scriptures: New Testament
If, then, the words of Jesus, unaccompanied by miracle, was a sufficient ground of faith when he spoke, it is equally valid in writing.
The Books of the Old and New Testaments Proved to Be Canonical, The Genuineness and Authenticity of the Holy Scriptures: New Testament
The claim of inspiration which they advance, is a claim of infallibility and of perfection.
The Books of the Old and New Testaments Proved to Be Canonical, The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures
Read Haldane for yourself
These lines read best in their place, in the middle of Paul's argument. Start with Volume 1 of his Exposition of Romans, then go on to Volume 2 for Romans 6 to 10 and Volume 3 for the rest of the letter. For the Bible's canon and inspiration, read The Books of the Old and New Testaments Proved to Be Canonical. All four are on the Robert Haldane author page.