Monday, April 30, 2018
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Friday, April 27, 2018
Thursday, April 26, 2018
In the Bible, the dominant form of suffering peculiar to God’s people is discipline. In Romans 5, such discipline is tied both to what it means to be a Christian, and to the kind of character it produces. Paul begins to draw out some of the implications of the doctrine of justification by faith. Justification has a certain primacy in his thought — not that it is necessarily the key around which all other Christian teaching turns, but that it is the entrance point into Christian life and discipleship. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith" — that is the given — "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1, NIV). Such peace with God is to be desired above all things. As Paul has taken pains to prove at the beginning of the book, we are all by nature and choice under the wrath of God, and the drama of the epistle to the Romans, like the drama of the Bible as a whole, is how rebels who attract only the wrath of God can be reconciled to him. Rejoicing in God The answer is in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of his coming, death, and resurrection. God sent him to die in our place, "so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26, NIV). Because of what Christ has borne, those who trust him are "justified": they are declared just by the holy God himself, not because they are, or because their sins do not matter, but because Christ has stood in their place. And the consequence of having been "justified through faith," Paul writes, is that "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." All of this is the work of God’s grace, the unmerited favor which, despite his wrath, he mercifully bestows on needy sinners like me. It is through Jesus, Paul goes on to say, that "we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand" (Romans 5:2, NIV). This, surely, is the cause for unbounded joy. It means that we are not only reconciled to God here and now, but that one day we shall see him in his unshielded glory. That is what Paul means when he adds, "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2, NIV). The word "hope" does not here suggest mere possibility
In the Bible, the dominant form of suffering peculiar to God’s people is discipline. In Romans 5, such discipline is tied both to what it means to be a Christian, and to the kind of character it produces. Paul begins to draw out some of the implications of the doctrine of justification by faith. Justification has a certain primacy in his thought — not that it is necessarily the key around which all other Christian teaching turns, but that it is the entrance point into Christian life and discipleship. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith" — that is the given — "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1, NIV). Such peace with God is to be desired above all things. As Paul has taken pains to prove at the beginning of the book, we are all by nature and choice under the wrath of God, and the drama of the epistle to the Romans, like the drama of the Bible as a whole, is how rebels who attract only the wrath of God can be reconciled to him. Rejoicing in God The answer is in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of his coming, death, and resurrection. God sent him to die in our place, "so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26, NIV). Because of what Christ has borne, those who trust him are "justified": they are declared just by the holy God himself, not because they are, or because their sins do not matter, but because Christ has stood in their place. And the consequence of having been "justified through faith," Paul writes, is that "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." All of this is the work of God’s grace, the unmerited favor which, despite his wrath, he mercifully bestows on needy sinners like me. It is through Jesus, Paul goes on to say, that "we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand" (Romans 5:2, NIV). This, surely, is the cause for unbounded joy. It means that we are not only reconciled to God here and now, but that one day we shall see him in his unshielded glory. That is what Paul means when he adds, "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2, NIV). The word "hope" does not here suggest mere possibility
In the Bible, the dominant form of suffering peculiar to God’s people is discipline. In Romans 5, such discipline is tied both to what it means to be a Christian, and to the kind of character it produces. Paul begins to draw out some of the implications of the doctrine of justification by faith. Justification has a certain primacy in his thought — not that it is necessarily the key around which all other Christian teaching turns, but that it is the entrance point into Christian life and discipleship. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith" — that is the given — "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1, NIV). Such peace with God is to be desired above all things. As Paul has taken pains to prove at the beginning of the book, we are all by nature and choice under the wrath of God, and the drama of the epistle to the Romans, like the drama of the Bible as a whole, is how rebels who attract only the wrath of God can be reconciled to him. Rejoicing in God The answer is in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of his coming, death, and resurrection. God sent him to die in our place, "so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26, NIV). Because of what Christ has borne, those who trust him are "justified": they are declared just by the holy God himself, not because they are, or because their sins do not matter, but because Christ has stood in their place. And the consequence of having been "justified through faith," Paul writes, is that "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." All of this is the work of God’s grace, the unmerited favor which, despite his wrath, he mercifully bestows on needy sinners like me. It is through Jesus, Paul goes on to say, that "we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand" (Romans 5:2, NIV). This, surely, is the cause for unbounded joy. It means that we are not only reconciled to God here and now, but that one day we shall see him in his unshielded glory. That is what Paul means when he adds, "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2, NIV). The word "hope" does not here suggest mere possibility
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Sunday, April 15, 2018
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