Tim Keller died three years ago this week, leaving behind one of the most influential Christian legacies of the modern era.
Keller, who passed away May 19, 2023, after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, helped shape how a generation of Christians thought about faith, doubt, suffering and public witness. As the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, Keller built one of New York City’s most influential churches and later launched Redeemer City to City, a church-planting network supporting congregations around the world.
He also became one of the rare Christian writers whose work traveled far beyond church circles. Books like The Reason for God, The Prodigal God and Forgiveness made Keller a trusted voice for skeptics, believers and anyone trying to follow Jesus without turning faith into a culture war.
On the third anniversary of his death, we’re revisiting some of Keller’s wisest and most enduring words — the kind worth reading again and again, especially now.
On Discovering the True God
“Only if your god can outrage and challenge you will you know that you worship the real God and not a figment of your imagination. . . . If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.”
On Tolerance
“Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.”
On God’s Mercy
“If you were a hundred times worse than you are, your sins would be no match for his mercy.”
On Perseverance
“There are the good things of this world, the hard things of this world, and the best things of this world—God’s love, glory, holiness, beauty. The Bible’s teaching is that the road to the best things is not through the good things but usually through the hard things. . . . There is no message more contrary to the way the world understands life or more subversive to its values.”
On Jesus’ Teachings
“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said. If he didn’t, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether you like his teaching, but whether he rose from the dead.”
On Trusting in God
“When Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane and the ultimate darkness was coming down on him and he knew it was coming, he didn’t abandon you; he died for you. If Jesus Christ didn’t abandon you in his darkness, the ultimate darkness, why would he abandon you now, in yours?”
On Anger
“It is hard to stay angry at someone if you are praying for them. It is also hard to stay angry unless you feel superior, and it is hard to feel superior if you are praying for them, since in prayer you approach God as a forgiven sinner.”
On Showing Mercy
“Mercy isn’t just the job of the Christian. Mercy is the mark of the Christian.”
On Reading the Bible
“Contemporary people tend to examine the Bible, looking for things they can’t accept; but Christians should reverse that, allowing the Bible to examine us, looking for things God can’t accept.”
On God’s Enduring Love
“If the suffering Jesus endured did not make him give up on us, nothing will.”
On Suffering
“The temptation for those who suffer is to assume that because we can’t think of any good purposes God may have for our suffering, there can’t be any.”
