But now God’s righteousness has come to us apart from the law, although the Law and Prophets bear witness to it — God’s righteousness that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, and are justified only by his gift of grace...... Read More

The Alelyon (one another) passages in the New Testament: Don’t bite and devour each other, or else you will end up destroying each other (Gal. 5:15) Most people find different eating habits either fascinating, distasteful, gross, or all three. For example, if you’ve ever watched an anaconda swallow an entire pig, you might be amazed...... Read More

The “alleylon” (one another) passages in the New Testament, Part 3: Do not judge each other (Rom. 14:13) One of the hot-button topics of modern cultural discourse is diversity, aka inclusivity, aka identity politics. What you call it probably somewhat depends on what you think of it. My own opinion is that there’s quite a...... Read More

Thoughts on the Beatitudes, Part 10: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God. To this point, every Beatitude that we have considered has opened for us a plethora of questions of lesser or greater complexity. This week’s verse is no different, except that I’m...... Read More

Thoughts on the Beatitudes, Part 8a: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. As a young boy I generally and genuinely enjoyed going to church and Sunday school. Besides being attracted to the weekly Scripture readings, I was also fascinated by some of the illustrations of theological, anthropological, and soteriological issues...... Read More

Thoughts on the Beatitudes, Part 6: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; they shall be satisfied. Before plunging in to Jesus’ next statement of happiness, let’s revisit the structure of the Beatitudes and situate the previous blessing of meekness. Looking at the verse to verse progression, it is clear that meekness sits...... Read More

Forgive us our (sins/debts/trespasses), as we forgive our (debtors/those who sin/trespass against us). It must be one of the most galling things for human nature to know that from the very beginning of our existence we are in debt. Before we ever commit a sinful act, or a trespass, or a fault, we owe. Not...... Read More