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Paul continues to show the Galatians the folly in turning away from the Gospel, by showing them three things they lose when they turn from seeking their justification by faith in Christ to seeking it through their own works: 1) Faith, not works, brought the Spirit of God to them; 2) Faith, not works, brought…
“There are two undeniable facts of Scripture: the first is that God is righteous. The second is that we are not… something is wrong between us and God” (John Stott). The ultimate question, then, is: what is the solution to the problem that exists between us and God? This passage compares the wrong, but common attempt to solve the problem, with the…
Paul confronts Peter because Peter is acting hypocritically. He was not acting in line with the gospel, by treating Gentile Christians as not fully accepted by God through faith. The gospel reminds us that there is no “1st-Class Christian” and “2nd-Class Christian”, but we are all one in Christ – fully accepted by God and equal in…
On the Road to Damascus, Paul met Jesus, and learned about grace. “Paul was fighting against God. He neither deserved mercy, nor asked for it. Yet mercy found him” (John Stott). If God’s mercy could find Paul when he was Saul, then it can find any of us. In this section of Galatians, Paul tells his…
It’s easy to slip into a “Jesus plus” way of thinking and living: believing that there is something I bring to the table that makes me right with God and earns his favor. We as sinners have a gospel-aversion. The gospel tells us that our right standing before God is a free, undeserved gift that we can…
Psalm 2 is divided into 3 parts: 1) The world’s attitude towards God (vv 1-3); 2) God’s response (vv 4-9); and 3) The King’s invitation (vv 10-12). This psalm describes humanities rebellion against God, in trying to reject him as God and live as their own gods. It is in this context that we see…
There are only two ways to live – the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked. We are either orienting our lives towards God, or away from him. These two ways are described in the Psalm as having 1) two influences (vv 1-2), 2) two effects (vv 3-4), and 3) two outcomes (vv…
In the epilogue to John’s gospel, we see Jesus’ interaction with Peter, which teaches us 3 things: 1) the ultimate question for the Christian is, “Do you love Jesus?”; 2) Love for Christ manifests itself in love for his people; 3) We too can be restored to Jesus by his grace when we falter and…
The fact of Jesus’ resurrection was central and pivotal to the earliest Christians. They, and all Christians after them, believe that Jesus’ resurrection is not just a myth or inspiring story, but a fact of history. In this climactic chapter of John’s gospel, we see Jesus’ resurrection appearances to the first witnesses of it. We see…
