Blessing and Obedience
Throughout the story of Abram/Abraham, God's promises are closely tied to Abraham's obedience & faithfulness. The account begins with Abram's obedience to the divine command: "Go from your country, your…
Gaining Righteousness
Evangelical pastors routinely use Galatians to teach their congregations that salvation hinges purely upon "faith" (passive belief or trust) in Jesus. Through faith, we receive Jesus' righteousness & are justified…
The Messiah in Us
This blog series has explored how Evangelical Christians have long misunderstood the book of Galatians & Paul's doctrine of "justification by faith." In short, evangelicals have constructed a false dichotomy…
Tearing Down the Barrier
This blog series has begun to explore how the book of Galatians has been misunderstood by most evangelical Christians. Written around 48 AD, Galatians is probably the Apostle Paul's very…
Will the Real Israel Please Stand Up?
Events in Israel continue apace. The Israeli Defense Forces have initiated ground operations in the Gaza Strip in order to destroy Hamas and rescue Israeli hostages. The war has transfixed…
Going the Wrong Way
One of my all-time favorite movies is Planes, Trains and Automobiles. This 1987 comedy follows the adventures of two businessmen trying to get home to Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday.…
Stuck in the Chair
There can scarcely be any regular churchgoer who hasn't heard a sermon comparing Christian faith to sitting in a chair. On such occasions, faith is defined as belief or trust…
The Righteousness of God
We are finally at the point where we are prepared to directly examine those spectacular passages of the Bible where the Apostle Paul writes about justification "by faith, not by…
What is Faith?
We're in a blog series entitled "faith and works." We've covered a lot of ground, and we shall very soon be in a position to address the key New Testament…