In John’s gospel we discover how Jesus assembled his band of disciples and we can get an idea about how discipleship is meant to work (John 1:35-51). The first thing to note is the ongoing and changing nature of the relationship the disciples have with Jesus. Initially the disciples call Jesus “Rabbi” (v. 38). But […]
John 3: 16 is, without doubt, the most famous and best-known verse in the Bible. This is possibly true because it captures the gospel—in essence at least. To comprehend this passage we must understand the meaning of the word ‘believe.’ ‘Believe’—and all its cognates—is a concept that is largely misunderstood. One of the most common […]
Doubtless, John 3: 16 would be the most published and thus best-known verse in the entire Bible. It has been ploughed into hillsides, embroidered on pillowcases, transmitted across the airways, written on the sky and printed on greeting cards and tracts in multitudinous forms. However, familiarity can breed contempt; maybe contempt is too strong a […]
If you do a little digging around you will soon discover that there is a whole plethora of stories about the rise or return of a good and noble monarch who will re-establish the fortunes of a particular region or country by ousting the former evil overlords and restoring justice to the realm. This is […]
The scriptures record two ‘beginnings.’ Doubtless you are familiar with Genesis 1: 1: the very first verse in the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The other beginning is in the gospel of John and is very similar, which is recorded thusly, “In the beginning was the Word, and the […]
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, wants to make it perfectly clear that faith is the only way to live. For those who “…rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the […]
Continuing in Galatians we come to Paul’s assertion that, “everyone who has faith is a child of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7). From the very beginning God’s intention has always been to bless allnations through the family of Abraham (Genesis 12: 3). This promise God made to Abraham is entirely dependent upon the grace of God. Therefore, […]
In the previous blog we began to unravel the divergence between what Paul calls the ‘flesh’ and the ‘Spirit.’ This is one of the great themes of the entire saga of the scriptures and is certainly the major purpose of this letter. Before we go any further, we must first get past the confusion that […]
The letter to the Galatians, Paul gives us a counter-intuitive view of spiritual life and puts a torpedo through the hull of our self-made systems of religious righteousness. Paul launches into the third chapter wanting to remind the Galatians how they first experienced connection with God by rhetorically asking, “Did you receive the Spirit by […]
After introducing his concern for the Galatians in the first half of the first chapter, Paul goes on to demonstrate that the gospel is not only for observers of the Jewish traditions but is for all people. He explains how he tested the gospel he had been preaching against what the other Apostles had been […]