It is often the case that believers, though justified and made new creations by God’s grace, find themselves struggling with sin. Yet, instead of receiving help and encouragement from their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, they instead encounter haughty judgment and condemnation. Here Paul teaches that one of the most practical ways for the church to demonstrate the reality […]
Arguably the most familiar passage in the entire letter to the Galatians is the description of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Here, Paul sets forth a non-exhaustive list of the many characteristics of those who continue to live according sinful flesh with its passions and desires. For the Christian however, for those who have […]
In Paul’s discussion of the believer’s freedom as found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, he warns the Galatians of two possible and dangerous errors: losing gospel freedom (Gal. 5:1-6) and abusing gospel freedom (5:13-15). While the Christian can foolishly turn back to legalism, to law-reliance as a means of acceptance before God, he can also approach […]
In Galatians 5 and 6, Paul appeals to the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer as further proof for the gospel of justification by faith. He demonstrates that only faith working through love, as a result of the freedom that comes from the gospel of grace, counts for anything. However circumcision and […]
Having proclaimed the beautiful gospel truths of justification by faith and explained the adoption and sonship of the believer, Paul once again passionately voices his concerns for the Galatian church. These brothers and sisters in Christ, who truly had “come to know God, or rather to be known by God” (Gal. 4:9), were turning back to former rituals and law-observances, thinking […]
Philemon, the shortest of all Paul’s writings in the New Testament, is unfamiliar to most Christians, usually because of its brevity or because it doesn’t seem stand out like other epistles such as Romans or Ephesians. However, in this beautiful letter we find one of the most striking examples of the gospel, of law and […]
One of the most well-known of Jesus’ parables, the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) was told in response to a lawyer’s question of how to inherit eternal life. Rather than giving him the legalistic response he was looking for – a check list of actions and individuals he was to show love to – Jesus answered the […]
No description of true friendship found in the Scriptures would be complete without mentioning the relationship that existed between David and Saul’s son, Johnathan. By most standards, they should have been the most bitter of enemies, since David was to be king instead of Johnathan, Saul’s heir to the throne. Yet in this beautiful picture of love […]
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:11 is one of the most victorious, assuring, and epic verses in the Bible, but it is often taken out of its context and reduced to a […]
