"The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters is that to us it is primarily a performance, to them it was a real experience.
We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code, or at best a rule of heart and life. To these men it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether. They do not hesitate to describe this as Christ ‘living in’ them.
These early Christians were on fire with the conviction that they had become, through Christ, literally sons of God; they were pioneers of a new humanity, founders of a new Kingdom. They still speak to us across the centuries.
Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we might achieve what they achieved.”
(J.B. Phillips, 1947)