Ich liebe es über Männer Gottes zu lesen. Dieser Post von Mark Dever über den 2010 verstorbenen grossen Theologen Roger Nicole (übrigens mit Schweizer Wurzeln; er besuchte das Gymnasium und studierte später an der Sorbonne) hat mich gestärkt und ermutigt. Ein kleiner Ausschnitt:
7. Fairness—Roger was especially fair to those whose views he did not share but opposed. He always presented both the strengths and weaknesses of each position he described, and put things carefully in perspective of the gospel. In fact, so well would he describe the strengths of the positions he did not hold that it may be that there is more than one noted paedo-baptist minister today who became paedo-baptist through the Baptist Roger Nicole’s lectures.
8. Graciousness—Roger was personally kind and thoughtful to others, being sympathetic to concerns, always trying to help others think. He was not himself thin-skinnned or overly self-concerned when he was criticized.
9. Humility—In my first chapel service at Gordon-Conwell, there was a time of community sharing. Nicole, the senior professor, stood to his feet in the midst of the congregation and said, “Some think it a great honor to be called ‘Doctor’ or ‘Professor.’ But I have no greater honor than to be addressed as ‘Brother.’” And he meant it. I remember seeing him more than once joyfully down on all fours in the hall with toddlers. And I remember him sitting in my rocking chair in our basement in Topsfield, Massachusetts, in the summer teaching high school students theology. Roger was a humble brother.