- Home
- Speakers
- Miles J. Stanford
- His Cross - Our Cross
Miles J. Stanford
Miles J. Stanford (1914 - 1999). American Christian author and Bible teacher born in Wheaton, Illinois. Raised with little religious background, he centered his early life on baseball, golf, and heavy drinking until a profound conversion on September 19, 1940, at age 26, prompted him to study the Bible eight to ten hours daily. Serving in the U.S. Army Engineers from 1942 to 1945 as a cartographer in England and Germany, he began corresponding with Christians, writing to nearly 200 by his discharge. From 1946 to 1955, his study and correspondence grew, and in 1951, he married Cornelia de Villiers Schwab, who shared his passion for spiritual growth. They ministered together, leading Bible studies in Brooklyn, New York, and later at Pleasant Hill Community Church in Warrenville, Illinois. In 1960, Stanford launched The Green Letters series, a newsletter that became his seminal book (1964), followed by titles like The Complete Green Letters (1975), translated into 12 languages. A self-described Pauline dispensationalist, he drew from Plymouth Brethren and Lewis Sperry Chafer, emphasizing positional truth and sanctification. Based in Colorado Springs from 1962, he maintained a global correspondence ministry. Stanford’s words, “Our part is not production, but reception of our life in Christ,” reflect his focus on grace. His works, freely shared online, continue to guide believers in spiritual maturity.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
Miles J. Stanford emphasizes the importance of taking up our cross daily to follow Jesus, highlighting the deep identification with Christ's death and resurrection at Calvary. He points out that the Reformation, while recovering justification by faith, failed to maintain the crucifixion of the old sinful nature, leading to a weakness in recognizing the flesh before God. Stanford challenges the notion of viewing the Cross only as an escape route without addressing the sinful nature that needs to be crucified. He critiques the modern tendency to lower the truth of the Cross to meet human needs, hindering spiritual growth and advancement in faith.
His Cross -- Our Cross
"He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him. . . take up his Cross daily " (Luke 9. 23). We go all the way to Calvary in faith and there find ourselves identified with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection. And Calvary comes all the way to us in experience as the Holy Spirit applies that finished work to our lives. In the Reformation there was, through grace, a great deliverance. The groundwork of Christianity was recovered; namely, justification by faith. But though this was recovered, it was not maintained that the old man was crucified on the Cross, and hence they only refused the exactions of popery, but recognized the flesh as still before God. Refusing the exaction was right; but the retention of that in which the exaction could be made, the old man, was the weakness of the Reformation. " "I do not see the Cross truly if I only see it as opening a way of escape for me, and yet allowing that in me to escape which has incurred the judgment of the Cross. " "In the present day (1867) the truth is lowered to the measure of man's need; hence if the need is met, which grace does, the convert makes little or no advance; he rests in the satisfaction of his need, instead of being directed to the scope of God's thought, which only begins with his need. "Where would souls be put if they were simply and definitely instructed in Christ Jesus and Him crucified and risen; connected by faith with the living One, who was crucified, and whose death terminated man in the flesh?" -J.B.S. "Whosoever doth not, bear his Cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple'' (Luke 14:27).
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
Miles J. Stanford (1914 - 1999). American Christian author and Bible teacher born in Wheaton, Illinois. Raised with little religious background, he centered his early life on baseball, golf, and heavy drinking until a profound conversion on September 19, 1940, at age 26, prompted him to study the Bible eight to ten hours daily. Serving in the U.S. Army Engineers from 1942 to 1945 as a cartographer in England and Germany, he began corresponding with Christians, writing to nearly 200 by his discharge. From 1946 to 1955, his study and correspondence grew, and in 1951, he married Cornelia de Villiers Schwab, who shared his passion for spiritual growth. They ministered together, leading Bible studies in Brooklyn, New York, and later at Pleasant Hill Community Church in Warrenville, Illinois. In 1960, Stanford launched The Green Letters series, a newsletter that became his seminal book (1964), followed by titles like The Complete Green Letters (1975), translated into 12 languages. A self-described Pauline dispensationalist, he drew from Plymouth Brethren and Lewis Sperry Chafer, emphasizing positional truth and sanctification. Based in Colorado Springs from 1962, he maintained a global correspondence ministry. Stanford’s words, “Our part is not production, but reception of our life in Christ,” reflect his focus on grace. His works, freely shared online, continue to guide believers in spiritual maturity.