With the first 2 chapters and the beginning of chapter 3 of Galatians in mind:
Do you struggle with being justified by faith and not the law? Is the problem only a Jewish one? If not how is it still plaguing the church?
Monday, February 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Law
Here is something i read about the law this week in a book called "God's Big Picture"
The Law reveals our sin, ...no-one will be declared righteous in God's sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin' (Rom 3:20)
The law reveals our savior. ...we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ' (Gal. 3:23-24). The laws role was to prepare us for Christ. It convicts us of our sin and helps us to see our need of Jesus, the Savior. Although he always obeyed the law, he faced the punishment for law-breaking in the place of others, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. (Gal 3:13)
The law reveals God's Standards ....The law not only points us to our sin and our savior, it also tells us how God wants us to live. Jesus commands his followers to obey its demands (Matt 5:17-20) Whenever possible , we should work for the application of God's standards in the public realm too: in the workplace at college, and in society at large.
Just something extra to chew on
The Law reveals our sin, ...no-one will be declared righteous in God's sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin' (Rom 3:20)
The law reveals our savior. ...we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ' (Gal. 3:23-24). The laws role was to prepare us for Christ. It convicts us of our sin and helps us to see our need of Jesus, the Savior. Although he always obeyed the law, he faced the punishment for law-breaking in the place of others, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. (Gal 3:13)
The law reveals God's Standards ....The law not only points us to our sin and our savior, it also tells us how God wants us to live. Jesus commands his followers to obey its demands (Matt 5:17-20) Whenever possible , we should work for the application of God's standards in the public realm too: in the workplace at college, and in society at large.
Just something extra to chew on
Monday, January 5, 2009
Gal 2:15-21
1. Martin Luther said something to the effect that if the idea of justification by faith is lost then all Christian Doctrine is lost. Agree? Disagree? Why?
2.Here's a toughy: What do verses 17-18 mean in the context?
3. If the law could not save anybody then what in the world was if for? Just to make life less fun for the Jews? To cut down on the population of unblemished livestock? Whaddaya think?
4. I would say that verse 20 is stunningly beautiful but also in a way very painful and hard to apply. How does this verse make you feel or think?
Reading for the Spiritual Giants or whatever:
Rom 4-7
Heb 9-10
2.Here's a toughy: What do verses 17-18 mean in the context?
3. If the law could not save anybody then what in the world was if for? Just to make life less fun for the Jews? To cut down on the population of unblemished livestock? Whaddaya think?
4. I would say that verse 20 is stunningly beautiful but also in a way very painful and hard to apply. How does this verse make you feel or think?
Reading for the Spiritual Giants or whatever:
Rom 4-7
Heb 9-10
Apology
I am very sorry for my absenteeism in recent days. I hope that we can pump some life back into this thing. The Christmas/New Year travel and work had me very much thrown for a loop.
We will have new stuff ASAP maybe tonight but definitely by tomorrow.
We will have new stuff ASAP maybe tonight but definitely by tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
A sumation of our last discussion before we hit the books again
1. summarize verses 1-10 (I think they are hard to follow maybe your translation will make it easier to understand.
Paul goes up to Jerusalem with Titus who is uncircumcised. Paul tells the Church in Jerusalem about his ministry to the gentiles. The Church leaders (including Peter) and Paul saw that God was with Paul and that he was preaching the gospel well. They fellowshiped with Paul and then sent him on his way with blessing basically everything was kosher (I guess that was kind of an unintentional pun)
2. What can you learn from 7-10 about God's calling to ministry?
We can learn that if God has equipped and/or ordained us for a specific task or ministry, then He as God will reveal that ordination to those around us or come in contact with.
I would say he is also saying you can be in the ministry anywhere to anyone whether Jew or Gentile. It should make no difference who you are ministering to as long as God is with you.
Building on this a little, God gifts people differently and sends us all into our own area of ministry. So where ever you are now that is where God wants you to be ministering and the more we are sensitive to his leading through our relationship with him and the wise counsel of others the more we will be effective tools in his hands
3. Verses 11-14 show Paul confronting Peter. What principals of confrontation can we take from this account?
I guess one principle I would say that we could take from this passage is that when you confront someone, do it out of love, not out of enmity or feelings of malice towards that person.
Paul confronted peter in front of every one and did not seem ashamed to tell him what he needed to hear.
Yeah that was pretty courageous. I mean Peter was basically the most important person in Christianity up to that point. It would be like one of us confronting John MacAurther or someone like that but even to a larger scale.
This is clutch in verse 14 Paul sees that the conduct of Peter is out of step with the word of God. This is why he confronts him. Not because Peter was annoying or Paul was mad. It was an issue of the scripture being ignored.
4. What is the trap that Peter falls into in verses 11-13?
the trap Peter falls into is twofold. The first pitfall was that of works based faith rather than Christ based faith and the second was that of hypocrisy.
he was afraid of what people would think of him if he was with the gentiles. He was more worried about what the world thought than doing what is right.
It is a bit weird because I don't see Peter as a people-pleaser throughout the rest of the Bible. I do see him deny Christ which was basically being a coward. Maybe he still had a little streak of chicken in him here.
It is also interesting to see that he was leading other believers astray. That makes me think about being a leader in church my mistakes can effect others in very negative ways.
5. What in the world is circumcision all about?
I think that circumcision, while part of the Old Testament covenant, was more about the setting apart of the Israelites than anything else. My reasoning behind this statement is that it was part of the Law. However, when Christ died, He dispelled the need to live according to the old system.
God wanted the Israelites to have a physical reminder of their covenant. It doesn't get much more personal than this if you ask me.
No one was or is now justified through circumcision.
Abraham is called righteous before God in Gen. 15, it is two chapters later before God even brings up circumcision. The Jewish people should have made this connection but they were relying on having a little less skin than everybody else to get them into heaven. .
Paul goes up to Jerusalem with Titus who is uncircumcised. Paul tells the Church in Jerusalem about his ministry to the gentiles. The Church leaders (including Peter) and Paul saw that God was with Paul and that he was preaching the gospel well. They fellowshiped with Paul and then sent him on his way with blessing basically everything was kosher (I guess that was kind of an unintentional pun)
2. What can you learn from 7-10 about God's calling to ministry?
We can learn that if God has equipped and/or ordained us for a specific task or ministry, then He as God will reveal that ordination to those around us or come in contact with.
I would say he is also saying you can be in the ministry anywhere to anyone whether Jew or Gentile. It should make no difference who you are ministering to as long as God is with you.
Building on this a little, God gifts people differently and sends us all into our own area of ministry. So where ever you are now that is where God wants you to be ministering and the more we are sensitive to his leading through our relationship with him and the wise counsel of others the more we will be effective tools in his hands
3. Verses 11-14 show Paul confronting Peter. What principals of confrontation can we take from this account?
I guess one principle I would say that we could take from this passage is that when you confront someone, do it out of love, not out of enmity or feelings of malice towards that person.
Paul confronted peter in front of every one and did not seem ashamed to tell him what he needed to hear.
Yeah that was pretty courageous. I mean Peter was basically the most important person in Christianity up to that point. It would be like one of us confronting John MacAurther or someone like that but even to a larger scale.
This is clutch in verse 14 Paul sees that the conduct of Peter is out of step with the word of God. This is why he confronts him. Not because Peter was annoying or Paul was mad. It was an issue of the scripture being ignored.
4. What is the trap that Peter falls into in verses 11-13?
the trap Peter falls into is twofold. The first pitfall was that of works based faith rather than Christ based faith and the second was that of hypocrisy.
he was afraid of what people would think of him if he was with the gentiles. He was more worried about what the world thought than doing what is right.
It is a bit weird because I don't see Peter as a people-pleaser throughout the rest of the Bible. I do see him deny Christ which was basically being a coward. Maybe he still had a little streak of chicken in him here.
It is also interesting to see that he was leading other believers astray. That makes me think about being a leader in church my mistakes can effect others in very negative ways.
5. What in the world is circumcision all about?
I think that circumcision, while part of the Old Testament covenant, was more about the setting apart of the Israelites than anything else. My reasoning behind this statement is that it was part of the Law. However, when Christ died, He dispelled the need to live according to the old system.
God wanted the Israelites to have a physical reminder of their covenant. It doesn't get much more personal than this if you ask me.
No one was or is now justified through circumcision.
Abraham is called righteous before God in Gen. 15, it is two chapters later before God even brings up circumcision. The Jewish people should have made this connection but they were relying on having a little less skin than everybody else to get them into heaven. .
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Galatians 2:1-14
1. summerize verses 1-10 (I think they are hard to follow maybe your translation will make it easier to understand.
2. What can you learn from 7-10 about God's calling to ministry?
3. Verses 11-14 show Paul confronting Peter. What prinicipals of confrontation can we take from this account?
4. What is the trap that Peter falls into in verses 11-13?
5. What in the world is circumcision all about?
Acts 10
Acts 15
Rom 3
Gen 17
Gen 34 :)
2. What can you learn from 7-10 about God's calling to ministry?
3. Verses 11-14 show Paul confronting Peter. What prinicipals of confrontation can we take from this account?
4. What is the trap that Peter falls into in verses 11-13?
5. What in the world is circumcision all about?
Acts 10
Acts 15
Rom 3
Gen 17
Gen 34 :)
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