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. .

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 :)

Sorry Guys (Jon, Joe) I wanted to see if anyone else would get involved but I don't want to hold us back so I am shooting for new stuff tommorow P.M.

Galatians Chapter 1

Read the "Nuts and Bolts" post first

1. What would you say is Paul's overall tone in this chapter?

2. Paul gives a brief autobiography of his life. Why do you think he takes the time to do this?

3. In verses 16b-22 Paul expounds upon the fact that he was not known for several years by any church leaders. Why does he do that?

4. Can you sum up the chapter in a few phrases?

When you respond to something please put the question number by it so we know what in the world you are talking about.

For any who want, suggested extra reading would be:
Acts 8
Acts 9
Acts 26
Phil 3
2 Kings 2

Here is an encyclopedia article TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT whatever that means, basically I have not checked it extremely thoroughly so it may have some wiggidy wack stuff on it. http://bibleencyclopedia.net/index.php/Epistle_Of_Paul_To_The_Galatians

Get to work

the nuts and bolts

• Overall

I am going to do Galatians first I don't know why but I just am. I guess the main reason is that I have several good books about Galatians. I am thinking we can alternate between old testament and new testament books.

• Day to day operations

Remember this is all very liquid. If something is not working or if we think what we are doing is not profitable we can change it to be whatever will work.

at the beginning of the week i will post some observations or questions from the text that we can discuss using the comment tool mostly. It can be as interactive and in-depth as you want it to be. I know that it helps me to think alongside people more than just to think by myself. sometimes when I try to express what I think about something it really helps solidify my thoughts. I don't know if you guys are the same but i think it will be good for me.

if you have A. nothing to say or B. no time to talk. It would be good to just comment "got r done" or "I read it" or whatever just so we know you are not dead or falling off the band wagon so to speak.

For the more ambitious types I am thinking that I can post like 5 extra credit chapters from related passages that you could read to give you some context and better perspective.

Ok so there are the plans I have. If you have any immediate comments, concerns, snide remarks, abusive retorts, whatever -- comment away.

I will post the first round of questions this P.M.

just kidding it didn't happen
look for it tuesday

Any ideas on what part of the Bible you would like to work through?
I guess I am leaning toward a new testament letter but I also thought of Joshua let me know what you think I think I may be leaning toward the latter.

here we go