Tag: law

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Galatians Devotionals

Life as a child of God

standing at the cross

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:19-20)

I love these verses.

Once, I was under God’s law who as my guardian taught me what was right, but could not empower to actually do right. Instead, the law could only condemn me when I failed. (Galatians 3:24)

But the same law that condemned me also pointed me to Jesus. Through the law, I saw my need for Jesus. And once the law led me to Jesus’ cross, I died to the law.

I’m no longer living under the law’s condemnation because Jesus has already paid the price for my sins and failures on the cross.

And with his death, the old me that was hostile and distrustful of God died too.

Now Jesus is living his life in me.

Not a life that’s constantly fearful because I’m never living up to God’s expectations.

But a life grounded in the truth that Jesus loves me and gave himself for me.

Not a life straining to earn God’s acceptance and love by keeping the rules.

But a life that is at rest knowing that he already fully accepts me as his child.

Who says to me as I wake each day, “You are my beloved child. I am well pleased with you.”

So now my greatest desire is to please my Daddy and to live for him each day.

That’s the life of a child of God.

Is that your life?

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Acts Devotionals

What’s important to God

You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. (Acts 7:51)

The Jewish leaders had made serious accusations against Stephen, charging him with speaking against the temple and God’s law (6:13-14).

But in Stephen’s words above, we see it was the Jewish leaders who were in rebellion against God.

Just as the Israelites had rejected previous saviors in Joseph (Genesis 37:8, 26-28; 45:5-7) and Moses (Acts 7:27, 39), they had now rejected Jesus.

And though the Jewish leaders claimed to value the law, like their ancestors who persecuted the prophets, they broke the law multiple times in having Jesus murdered.

Moreover, though they valued the temple, it was for the wrong reasons. The building itself wasn’t so important to God. No man-made structure could ever contain God. Rather, it was a symbol of his presence among his people. (Acts 7:47-50)

As John points out in his gospel, Jesus is the true temple (John 2:19-21).

In Jesus, God took on human flesh and dwelt (literally, “set up his tabernacle”, John 1:14) among us. And yet, the Jewish leaders didn’t value the true temple. Rather, they crucified him.

What is important to God? It’s that we honor his Son. It’s that we obey him. As the Father himself said,

This is my beloved Son; listen to him! (Mark 9:7)

Lord, you are the one that law pointed to. You are the one that the tabernacle and the temple pointed to.

Forgive me for the times I’ve resisted your Spirit. Forgive me for the times I’ve stubbornly closed my heart and ears to you.

You sacrificed your life for me on the cross. I have no desire to crucify you again in my heart (Hebrews 6:6).

You are worthy of my love, my honor, and obedience. Help me to give that to you every day.

I do love you, Lord. It’s so incredible to me that you loved me first, giving your life for me. Thank you. In your name I pray, amen.

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Galatians

A whole new way of life

forest

We talked yesterday about staying out of the pig sty of sin that we were set free from. But once again, Paul reminds us that this is not a matter of keeping the law in our own strength.

Rather, he says,

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. (Galatians 5:16-17)

Notice he does not say, “Live by your own ability to keep the law and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Rather, he says live by the Spirit. The picture here is of walking in the leading of and by the power of the Spirit each day.

In other words, we shouldn’t just be reading our Bible and praying in the morning, and then saying, “Okay, God. I’m outta here. See you later.”

Rather, we should be saying, “Holy Spirit, walk with me today. Help me to hear your voice throughout the day. And help me to do the things you desire me to do.”

And Paul says that if we do this, there is no way we will fulfill the desires of our old rebellious heart.

Why not? Because what our old rebellious heart desired is completely different from what the Spirit desires and vice-versa. All our old habits and attitudes are in constant war with what the Spirit desires to do in our lives.

That’s why we still struggle with sin even to this day. Paul talks about that struggle in Romans 7:14-25.

But if we learn to hear his voice moment to moment, day to day, and let him lead us, he’ll lead us in a direction totally opposite from where our old habits and attitudes would take us.

The thing to remember, though, is life under the law is totally different from life under the Spirit. Paul makes this crystal clear, saying,

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. (Galatians 5:18)

How are the two ways of life different?

Life under the law is lived in our own strength. Life under the Spirit is lived in his strength.

Life under the law leads to feelings of condemnation. Life under the Spirit causes us to cry out, “Abba, Father.”

Again, though, life under the Spirit is totally different from life under sin. Paul goes into this long list of what a life under sin looks like, and it’s pretty ugly. (Galatians 5:19-21)

He then makes it crystal clear that no one who lives that way will enter the kingdom of heaven.

But after that, Paul shows us what a true Christian inhabited by the Spirit of God looks like. They are people filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Two things to note here. These fruit may not be fully mature in your life right now, but if you are a true Christian, they should be growing in your life. You should see a difference between what you were before and what you are now.

Second, notice that it doesn’t say, “The fruit of all your efforts to keep the law is love, joy, peace, etc.”

Rather, it says the fruit of the Spirit is all these things. When you are plugged into Jesus who is the true vine, then these things will naturally start to grow in your life. (John 15)

Apart from a relationship with Christ, you will find it impossible to bear all these fruit in your life.

So again, the focus in our lives shouldn’t be on trying to keep the law, but in walking in relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Paul says,

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

True Christians have crucified that old, rebellious, hardened heart toward God. They don’t indulge it. They may struggle with sin, but they won’t gladly embrace it in their lives.

So Paul concludes with this exhortation:

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)

How about you? You have received eternal life from the Spirit God has given you. Are you now trying to live life in your own strength?

Or are you walking each day, following after him, listening to his voice, and leaning on his strength to do what he says?

How are you living your life?

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Galatians

Returning to the pig sty

Galatians

For most of this book, Paul has been addressing those who thought they needed to turn to the law for their salvation.

And while Paul strongly disagreed with them, I think he did understand one of their huge concerns: If we are no longer under law, then aren’t we just free to do whatever we want?

“If we are no longer required to follow the law, why not just live for yourself? Why not sleep with whoever you want? Why not just do whatever sinful things which bring you pleasure?”

And for the rest of this chapter, he addresses those concerns. He starts by saying,

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love. (Galatians 5:13)

“You were called to be free!” says Paul.

Free from what? Free from the law, certainly. Free from trying to follow the law in order to be accepted by God as his child. And free from the condemnation of the law because we can’t keep it perfectly.

But we’re also called to be free from something else. We’re called to be free from the life of sin that was destroying us.

We were living in the pig sty of our own sin. For years, we indulged our sinful nature.

What do I mean by sinful nature? I mean a heart that lived in utter rebellion against God and lived to please itself. But by indulging that sinful heart, we made a mess of our lives.

We messed up our relationships, we messed up our marriages, we messed up our health, we messed up almost everything if not everything in our lives.

But Christ died to set us free from all that. He gave us “heart surgery,” removing our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

In other words, instead of having a heart of rebellion that was utterly hardened toward God, Jesus gave us a new heart that was soft and responsive to him. And as we follow him, he leads us into freedom from all the sins that were destroying us.

Still there are remnants of that old heart or sinful nature within us, the habits and attitudes that were formed while we were under its control. And those are things we’ll be fighting for the rest of our lives.

But Paul says don’t give into them. More importantly, don’t indulge yourself in those old habits and attitudes. Why go back to the pig sty in which you were so miserable when you were set free from that?

Instead, Paul says, “Serve one another in love.”

Do you want the joy that comes from the freedom you have gained from the law and from sin? Then start serving others in love. As you revel in the love God has for you, start sharing that love with those around you.

We were designed to have relationships in which we bless each other with the blessings we have received from God.

That’s what brings us joy, not going back to the pig sty.

Paul then says,

The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)

In short, “Are you worried about keeping the law? If you’re using your freedom as you should, to serve others, and not yourself, you will fulfill the law.”

On the other hand, if we insist on going back to the pig sty, Paul warns,

If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. (Galatians 5:15)

How about you? Have you found the joy that comes from the freedom Christ has given you? Or are you going back to the pig sty? Which will you choose?

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Galatians

What the law is and isn’t. What the law does and doesn’t do. (Part 3)

Galatians

We saw yesterday that the law was not some alternative way God developed to bring about salvation, but rather was something that was meant to lead us to Christ.

Paul goes into further detail in the next few verses.

Paul said,

But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. (Galatians 3:22-23)

A lot of this is similar to what Paul wrote in Romans 7-8. And basically, what Paul says there is that before the law came, people were not really aware of what sin was. They just lived their lives, blissfully unaware that a lot of their behavior was displeasing to God.

God then brought in the law to show the people, “This is the way to live.”

The problem was, the law didn’t cause people to say, “Oh, really? I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I’ll live your way now.”

Rather, for many, it stirred up an even more rebellious attitude toward God.

And even for those who were repentant and wanted to please God, they found that they still weren’t able to keep the law. Their sinful nature still had such a hold on them, it was impossible for them to keep the law. They were in bondage to sin.

Still, what the law did do was help put some restraints on sin until Christ came. The new NIV puts verse 23 this way,

Before the coming of faith, we were held in custody under the law.

In other words, for those Old Testament believers, the law couldn’t make them perfect, but it did help them from going completely wild into sin.

Staying with the new NIV in verse 24,

So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

A guardian back in those days was someone who was in charge of supervising the life and morals of boys. Wherever the boys went, the guardian went with them to make sure they didn’t get into trouble.

It was also his duty to take them to and from school, thus putting them in the hands of the true teacher.

That’s what the law did for Old Testament believers.

First, it helped keep them out of trouble (although not all trouble, because all still sinned).

Second, it eventually led people to the true teacher, Christ. How?

Through the law, God gave the Israelites many pictures of a Savior to come through, among other things, the sacrifices, the Passover feast, and the Day of Atonement.

These things in themselves could not save them from their sin. But through these pictures, Moses and all the Israelites following after him until the time of Christ saw Jesus and what he would do on the cross (John 5:39, 46).

And as they did, they put their faith in him.

The law in itself then, couldn’t save them. But it led them to put their trust in Christ, though they of course didn’t have all the details yet because Christ hadn’t come yet.

And it was on the basis of that faith, not keeping the law itself, that God saved them.

So then, we come to the ultimate point of this passage. Paul said,

Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. (Galatians 3:25)

With the coming of Christ, faith has truly come with all the details filled in.

We are no longer like Moses and all the Old Testament believers forced to look at the pictures. Now in Christ, we have the reality, and thus the law is no longer needed as our guardian.

Rather, we look solely to Christ for our salvation. And through the Holy Spirit whom Christ gave to live in us, we start to naturally do the things that are pleasing to God.

So as we go through life, let us not put all our focus on trying to keep a bunch of rules. Rather, let us look each day in gratitude to the cross, and walk each day under the guidance of God’s Spirit.

That’s the true Christian life.

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Galatians

What the law is and isn’t. What the law does and doesn’t do. (Part 2)

Law

We talked yesterday about what the law does not do, namely, it doesn’t replace the covenant God made with Abraham.

God’s covenant with Abraham was a one-way contract solely based on God’s promise, not on anything Abraham or any of his descendants did. Because of this, nothing could ever supersede it.

Paul continues this theme on why this is so in verses 19-20. He said,

The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. (Galatians 3:19-20)

When Moses went up the mountain to get the ten commandments, the people were so frightened by God that they told Moses,

Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. (Exodus 20:19)

And so while Moses approached God, the people stayed at a distance from God. (Exodus 20:21)

All the words God spoke to them had to go through Moses.

God spoke to Moses, saying “Tell them to do this, this, and this. If they do, they will have life. If they don’t, they will die.”

And Moses passed on all this information to them.

But think about this a minute. Why did God need a mediator to pass on any information at all?

It was because the law was a two-way contract. Both sides had their part to fulfill. And if the Israelites did not keep their part, all the blessings promised to them in this covenant would be void.

Ultimately, that’s what happened. Because they repeatedly broke the covenant, God did away with it. It was an utterly fragile covenant.

Paul then says, “But God is one.”

That is to say, God is only one party and the only party responsible for doing anything in the covenant he made with Abraham and his descendants. Abraham didn’t have to do a thing to obtain his blessings.

So the covenant with Abraham was totally different from the covenant based on law. It was totally unbreakable because it wasn’t dependent on what we did, but on what God did.

In short, a fragile, breakable covenant can never supersede one that can never be broken.

What, then, was the purpose of the law? (Galatians 3:19)

Logical question. Paul answers,

It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. (Galatians 3:19)

In other words, it was a temporary way to deal with sin until Christ came.

Hundreds of years passed between the time of Moses and the time Christ came. And God needed a way to deal with sin until then. The law was that way.

But in saying that, Paul makes something very clear. He asked,

Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? (Galatians 3:21)

Put another way, “Is the law then an alternative way to salvation?”

Answer:

Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. (Galatians 3:21)

Paul’s saying here that the law is not an alternative way to salvation because if it were, there would have been no need for Christ. All we would have needed to do is keep the law.

But the truth is, no one can keep the law, and so it has no power to give life to anyone in itself. Rather, all it does and is meant to do is lead us to Him who can truly save us from our sin.

How does it do that? We’ll continue on this theme tomorrow.

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Galatians

What the law is and isn’t. What the law does and doesn’t do.

Galatians

A lot of times, people look at the ten commandments and other laws that God gave in the Old Testament and they think, “This is what makes us righteous in God’s eyes. If I want to have eternal life, I have to keep these rules.”

But that way of thinking shows a misunderstanding of what the law is and isn’t. It shows a misunderstanding of what the law does and doesn’t do.

So Paul goes into detail about what exactly the law is all about. He writes,

Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.

The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.

What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. (Galatians 3:15-17)

The first thing that Paul says is that once a covenant has been established, one simply cannot set it aside. The word “covenant” probably holds the idea of a will.

When a person makes his final will and then dies, it cannot just be set aside. Why? Because it’s a one-way “contract.” All the terms are set by one person. And its execution is based on one person’s “promise.”

That’s how God made his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. When he confirmed it, it wasn’t dependent on anything that Abraham did. It was solely based on God’s promise.

In Genesis 15, we see God making promises to Abraham and telling him about his descendants’ future.

Then God, appearing as a smoking firepot and blazing torch, walked through the pieces of some animals Abraham had cut in half.

That may seem strange, but in those days, it was the common custom of two people making a covenant.

After making the covenant, usually both parties would pass through the pieces, with the implicit meaning of, “If I fail to keep my end of the bargain, may I be put to death.”

But in this covenant God made with Abraham, Abraham didn’t walk through the pieces, only God did. It was a one-way contract.

And according to Paul God’s promises were made not only to Abraham, but also to his seed, that is Christ.

Paul’s interpretation of Genesis 12:7, 13:6, 15:18 and other verses which cover God’s promises to Abraham is very interesting.

Obviously “seed” or “offspring” (as the word is translated in Genesis) can be plural or singular and it appears that in Genesis, God was speaking with the plural meaning in mind.

But Paul seems to say that while the blessings of the covenant would come to all of Abraham’s true children, the promise was made specifically to Christ, and that it is through him, all of Abraham’s children would be blessed.

Paul then makes clear that one thing that the law doesn’t do is make the promises of God to Abraham and us dependent on our ability to keep the law. Why?

Paul tells us in verse 18,

For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. (Galatians 3:18)

In other words, if the blessings of God depends on our keeping the law, then it is no longer a one-way covenant based on God’s promise. Rather, it’s dependent on our actions, and how well we can keep the law.

But that’s not the basis on which God gave Abraham these promises. It was a one-way contract based on grace.

And because it was a one-way contract, God cannot simply set it aside. He must keep his promises, for that is his nature. What he says he will do.

The thing to remember then is that the law was never meant to replace God’s covenant with Abraham and make the blessings God promised to Abraham and his spiritual offspring dependent on keeping God’s law.

What then was the purpose of the law? We’ll look at that tomorrow.

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Galatians

The true children of Abraham

Galatians

As I look at this passage, I can’t help but wonder if Paul thought back to the argument Jesus had with the Jews in John 8. Because essentially, it’s talking about the same issue: who are the true children of Abraham?

To the Jews, it was they who were the true descendants of Abraham. He was, after all, their forefather and what’s more, they had and followed the law of God given through Moses.

And so when Jesus said that if they held to his teaching, they would know the truth and the truth would set them free, they immediately answered,

We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free? (John 8:33)

And that started a long conversation about who the true children of Abraham were.

Jesus pointed out, “You guys still sin. You claim to be free as children of Abraham, but you are still slaves to sin. But I am the one that can set you free from sin so that you will no longer be slaves to sin, but true children of God.” (John 8:34-36)

When the Jews continued to insist that they were true children of Abraham, Jesus told them,

If you were Abraham’s children…then you would do the things Abraham did.

As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.(John 8:39-40)

In other words, when Abraham heard God’s words, he believed them. He took them by faith, and that’s what saved him. That’s what made him a child of God.

But the Jews proved themselves to be not true children of Abraham because they didn’t accept Jesus and his words by faith. Instead they rejected him.

And that’s what Paul is saying here in Galatians.

Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.

The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”

So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:6-9)

Paul is saying here, that Abraham himself was not credited as righteous by his keeping the law. The law had not even come into existence yet. Further, if you look at his life, Abraham fell into sin from time to time.

But ultimately, he was justified by God because he had put his faith in God and His promise.

All true children of Abraham are the same way. We may fail. We may sin. But we are not credited as righteous because we keep the law perfectly. Rather, we are credited as righteous because we put our faith in Jesus.

In fact, Paul says that if we try to earn this status as “righteous before God” through our works, we actually put ourselves under a curse. For,

Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. (Galatians 3:10)

And as I said, no one keeps it perfectly.

But Christ took our curse for us. More, Paul says,

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Galatians 3:13)

By dying on the cross, he took all the curse of the law upon himself, taking all of God’s wrath toward us upon himself. Paul then tells us that Jesus redeemed us, that is, he bought us out of slavery to sin and Satan’s kingdom.

And now, the blessing of salvation that Abraham received is available to us if we do what Abraham did: simply believe in the promises of God.

In short,

No one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)

How about you? Are you a true child of Abraham, putting your trust in Jesus? Or are you still trying to make yourself right before God by your own efforts?

No one can truly say they are saved if they can’t truly trust God for their salvation and insist on trusting their own efforts or qualifications.

Who or what are you trusting in for your salvation?

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Galatians

A promoter of sin?

Galatians

One of the accusations Christians face, particularly from the cults, is that by adopting a gospel of salvation by grace alone apart from works, we actually promote sin.

After all, if we are saved by faith in Christ apart from trying to keep the rules, why keep any rules at all? Why not just lie, steal, commit adultery, watch pornography, etc? What’s to stop us from living that way if salvation is by grace alone?

Even Christians wonder this sometimes. If we’re not living by rules, doesn’t that mean we can just live any way that we want to?

Don’t we simply have to have rules and keep them if we are to live the Christian life? Isn’t the only alternative becoming like all the other people in the world, living in sin?

That’s what the Judaizers (those who said you must keep Jewish law in order to be truly Christian) were saying to Paul and the Galatians: “By throwing away the law, you are lowering yourself to the standard of the pagans. You’re becoming like them.”

And whenever they saw Paul or the Galatians either breaking Jewish law or flat out sinning (because all of us do fall even though we are Christians), they were quick to point to them and say,

“See. It’s just like we said. You’re acting just like the pagans. By this gospel of grace, you are actually making Christ a promoter of sin.”

In Paul’s words here, we see his response to these accusations. He said,

We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.

So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15-16)

In other words, Paul is saying, “We (that is, Peter and himself) are Jews, not Gentiles. Yet we admit that we cannot be made right before God by obeying the Jewish law. By ‘obeying’ the law no one can be justified.”

Why not? Because in order to be justified by the law, you must keep it perfectly, and no one can do that.

And so Paul told Peter, “So we too, along with the Gentiles, realize that we must put our faith in Jesus in order to be made right with God.”

He then brings up the argument of the Judaizers.

If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin?(Galatians 2:17a)

Paul’s saying, “People are pointing to us as people who are seeking to be justified by grace, and saying, ‘Look at you! Even though you say you belong to Christ, there’s still all this sin in your life. This proves that your gospel promotes sin. This proves that your Christ promotes sin.'”

Paul’s response?

Absolutely not! (Galatians 2:17b)

He explains,

If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. (Galatians 2:18)

What does Paul mean by this?

I think he’s saying this:

“Let’s say that I do what you want me to. I bring back the law and say, ‘To be a Christian, you must follow all these Jewish laws.’ Will that stop people from sinning? Has it ever stopped you from sinning?

No. All bringing back the law will do is bring us back to square one: realizing that we are sinners in need of a Savior.”

What can we get from this? We need to get away from the idea that following God’s law can in any way make us righteous before him. It can’t. All it can do is point out our sin and our need for a Savior.

There is only one way we can be made righteous before God, and that’s by putting our faith in Christ.

How does doing this make us righteous before God? We’ll talk about this more tomorrow.

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2 Corinthians

Why we need never be ashamed

2 Corinthians

I touched on this yesterday, but I want to look at it much more deeply today.

We saw yesterday that when Moses received the ten commandments, his face initially glowed with the glory of the Lord.

At first, because the people were frightened by this glowing, he covered his face with a veil. But then, he kept it on much longer than he needed to. Why?

Probably because he was ashamed that the glory was fading from his face. And probably because he realized that his own sinfulness caused that glory to fade.

And therein, as we have seen the last couple of days, lies the problem with the law. While it tells us what God is like and what we are meant to be, it cannot change us. We remain sinful in God’s sight and condemned by the law.

But Paul tells us that doesn’t have to be us anymore. Rather, when we come to Christ, we find a new glory that far surpasses the glory that shone from Moses’ face.

Why? Because the law is no longer simply written on tablets of stone or on sheets of paper for that matter.

Rather, when we become Christians, the Spirit writes his laws upon our hearts and transforms us day by day into Christ’s likeness. Each day, we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another.

There is no fading of our glory. Rather, it is an ever increasing glory.

As a result, Paul can tell us,

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. (2 Corinthians 3:12-13)

We don’t have to worry that the glory that God has bestowed on us will fade. Rather we can know with confidence that he will continue to work in us until we are conformed to the likeness of his Son, shining in radiance.

Because of this, Paul says we have freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Freedom from guilt for failing to keep the law.

Freedom from punishment.

Freedom from trying to keep a law by our own efforts.

This was something that even Moses never had. He was bound under law, and as a result, he experienced guilt and shame despite all the sacrifices (Hebrews 10:2-4).

He experienced the pains of judgment in that he could not enter the promised land because of his sin. And so he covered his face as the glory of the law faded away.

But we don’t have to do that. Let us take off the veil and show the world who we are. People saved by grace. People who though we are not perfect, are nevertheless being transformed day by day in the likeness of Christ.

And let us live each day remembering what God has told us,

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone (Jesus), and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2:6)

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2 Corinthians

Seeing the law for what it is

2 Corinthians

A lot of times as Christians, we think of Christianity as keeping a bunch of rules. And so do the vast majority of non-Christians out there today.

But the glory that we have as Christians is not found in a bunch of rules. Why not?

Paul writes, concerning the law,

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (2 Corinthians 3:7-11)

As we saw yesterday, the coming of the law was a glorious thing. Why? Because it showed us what God is like and how he created us to be. Before we were in darkness as to these things, but God has revealed them to us.

But there was a problem. Ultimately, the law led to death because none of us could keep it, at least not perfectly. And so the glory of the law quickly faded, something that showed in Moses’ face.

When Moses first came down from the mountain with the ten commandments, his face was glowing with the glory of the Lord. The people were frightened by this, and so he put a veil over his face.

But according to Paul, he kept it on much longer than he needed to. And the reason he kept it on was because the glory was fading away.

Perhaps Moses was ashamed of this, thinking that if he were somehow holier, the glory would last much longer. And maybe it would have.

For again, the problem with the law is that no one can keep it. And because no one can keep it, it cannot give life to anyone. Nor does it have the power to transform us into Christ’s likeness.

Yet many people continue thinking that it is through the law that they will be accepted by God. And Paul says when the law is read, a veil covers their hearts (2 Corinthians 3:14-15).

As a result, they can’t see the truth concerning the law. What truth? All its glory has faded away.

But people think it is still filled with glory and can bring them to God. And so they spend all their time in their own efforts trying to keep the law.

In reality, however, all it does is points out their flaws and condemns them.

But when the veil is lifted, we see that the law’s glory is passed, and it causes us to look for what truly has glory.

What is that? The ministry of the Spirit, set in motion by Christ’s work on the cross.

Christ paid the penalty for our sin, and now if we come to him in faith, repenting of our sin and making him our Lord, the Spirit starts to transform us from the inside out.

And each day, we are changed from one degree of glory to the next.

In short, this is no glory that will fade away like the glory of the law. This glory far surpasses that glory. And because of that, it will never, ever fade away.

So let us see the law for what it is. It was something that was necessary for a time, to show us what God is like and what he meant us to be. But it’s something whose glory has faded.

So let us no longer lean on it and our own efforts to change us. Rather, let us learn to walk with the Spirit day by day.

And as we do, we will reflect our Father’s glory to those around us.

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Romans

Just how bad is sin?

Romans

Paul says in verse 5, that while we were married to the sinful nature, the law aroused sinful passions within us.

The natural question then becomes, “Is then the law bad? Is it in fact equal to sin? After all, it’s causing me to have all these sinful desires right? It’s making me sin, right?”

But Paul answers,

Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” (Romans 7:7)

In other words, “The law is a good thing. It’s not sin. Rather it simply makes sure we understand what sin is so that we can avoid what would destroy us.”

What then is the problem?

But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. (Romans 7:8)

Put another way, sin saw the law, and said, “Oh yeah? God doesn’t like this, does he?”

And it immediately extends an invitation to our sinful nature which is more than happy to oblige, because our sinful nature itself is in rebellion against God.

Paul then says,

For apart from law, sin is dead. (Romans 7:8b)

Here we see an important truth: you can’t break a law that doesn’t exist. You may be doing something God says is wrong, but because there is no law, he can’t hold us accountable for it.

The only thing God really held people accountable for before the law came was choosing to turn their backs on him and going their own way, which of course, is the true root of all sin.

But then God laid out the laws through Moses. And they were meant to show people the way to true life. To show them what God was like, and how God had designed them to be.

When God gave the law, though, what happened? Did people happily say, “Oh, this is the way to life? Great! Let’s follow it!”

No. Rather,

When the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. (Romans 7:9-10)

Why?

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. (Romans 7:11)

As we said before, when the commandment came, sin in the sense of breaking a commandment became possible.

“Sin” sprung to life and deceived me into thinking breaking the commandment was a good thing, thus bringing me under the law’s judgment.

All of this, of course, is figurative. There is no actual person named “Sin” out there. Nor do I think “Sin” is a reference to Satan, although he can tempt us to sin.

The main point is that the opportunity to break the law came when God gave it, and because our sinful nature is in rebellion to God, we did.

The result? Death.

Paul concludes,

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Romans 7:12)

In short, “The law isn’t the problem. The law is good. The problem is you. You brought death upon yourself by breaking the law.”

He then asks,

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? (Romans 7:13)

Here he pictures the person who says, “Great! The law is good. But it means my death. How is that good?”

But Paul answers,

By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (Romans 7:13)

What is Paul saying here?

He’s saying, “Now you’re realizing what makes sin so bad. It takes something that is good and twists it so that evil results. The law shows the way to life, but sin used it to bring death to people.”

When you look at all sin, this is true. It takes something good and twists it. Even something like sadism is twisted good.

Sadism is pleasure derived from another’s pain. But pleasure itself is a good thing. What’s bad is how you derive that pleasure.

And so one of the main purposes of the law is to help us realize just how bad sin really is.

One of the main problems with sin is people don’t realize just how bad it is. And until they do, they will never see their need for a Savior.

That’s why we need the law.

How about you? Do you truly understand just how bad sin is?

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Romans

Married to Christ

Romans

I mentioned before that there were two points that Paul was trying to make through his marriage illustration.

The first, as we’ve already seen, is that when we die with Christ, the law’s power over us is broken. He illustrates that with the point that death breaks the law’s power over people in a marriage.

And as I said in my last post, you would think that in making that point, it would only seem natural for Paul to focus on the husband and compare us directly to him. The husband died, and the law lost power over him. We died with Christ, and the law lost power over us.

But instead, Paul puts his entire focus on how the husband’s death frees his wife from the law of marriage that bound her to him.

The result is a very confusing metaphor in which we are not compared to the husband who dies but to the wife who lives.

But in comparing us to the wife, Paul can more easily make his second point. What is that point?

Before we became Christians, we belonged to another “husband.” Now we belong to Christ.

In making that point, Paul clearly refers to Christ as the new husband and us as the wife. The question then becomes, “Who did we used to be married to? Who was our husband that died?”

I mentioned earlier that it can’t be the law, because we never see any passage referring to the law dying. Even now, the law serves a very important function. It shows what is good and what is sin. (Romans 7:7)

Who then were we married to? I believe it’s our old sinful nature. What do I mean by our sinful nature?

It’s a heart that is in total rebellion against God and insistent on going its own way. And from the time we were born, we were married to it. And the fruit of this joining, the “children we bear” so to speak, is sin leading to death. (Romans 7:5)

More, as long as we were married to our sinful nature, it was impossible to be married to Christ.

But when God saves us, he crucifies our sinful nature and puts it to death.

What happens when the sinful nature we were married to dies? Two things.

First, the law no longer has authority over us, just as when a husband dies, the law of marriage no longer has authority over a woman.

She died to the law of marriage when her husband died, and we died to the law of Moses and all its requirements when our sinful nature was crucified with Christ on the cross.

Second, with our sinful nature dead, we now are free to marry Christ.

And as I said before, through this joining with Christ, we no longer give birth to sin that leads to death. Rather, we give birth to the fruit of righteousness that leads to life.

It is ultimately the reason that only through Christ we can be saved.

As long as we are married to a nature that is rebellious towards God, we can never bear fruit towards eternal life. The “seed” it plants within us causes us to give birth to sin.

But when we are joined with Christ, through his seed planted in us, we give birth to true righteousness in our lives, and the result is eternal life.

Who are you married to?

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Romans

The jurisdiction of grace

Romans

I said yesterday that Paul is not consistent in using of his metaphor of marriage in this passage.

We saw how he used the metaphor to show that death causes the law to lose its power over a person. Specifically, in his illustration, the husband’s death caused the law to lose its power over his wife.

Paul then says we died and so the law lost its power over us. But instead of tying us to the husband that died, he ties us to the wife who continued living.

Why would he do that?

Let’s put it this way. When the husband died who did the law’s loss of authority affect? The husband? No. It affected the wife who was still living.

Prior to her husband’s death, she was under the jurisdiction of the law of marriage, and she was bound by that law to her husband.

But when her husband died, she was no longer under the jurisdiction of the law of marriage. She became a non-entity to the law because it no longer applied to her.

In short, when her husband died, she died too…but in a different way. She died to the law’s power over her, and was free to marry another person.

How does this apply to us?

Before we came to Christ, we were under the jurisdiction of God’s law. What did that law say? It said, “You must do everything God has commanded or you will die.”

But there was a problem. None of us could keep the commandments perfectly, and so all of us were condemned to die.

So God sent his Son into the world, and Christ did what none of us could do. He kept the law perfectly. He did everything the law required.

Then having kept the law perfectly, he paid the price for all our violations of the law. He paid it in full by dying on the cross and taking the punishment we deserved.

Now God accepts us not because we keep the law, but because we put our faith in Christ and his work on the cross. That’s the jurisdiction of grace in which we stand.

But because we stand in the jurisdiction of grace, we no longer stand under the jurisdiction of law. We are a non-entity to the law. In effect, we died to it.

So we no longer live our lives focused on trying to keep its commandments. Rather, now we are married to Christ, led by his Spirit day by day.

The result of this joining to Christ? We give birth to the fruits of righteousness leading to eternal life, something we could not do under the law.

The question is, do we understand all this?

So many Christians, though they live under the jurisdiction of grace, live as though they live under the jurisdiction of law.

They still think they have to keep the law perfectly in order to be accepted by God. They live in fear of God, because they still feel liable to punishment if they break his laws.

But we are no longer under the law’s jurisdiction. We are now married One who loves us and accepts us right here, right now.

So let’s not live our lives in fear. Let us not worry about whether we measure up to God’s standards.

Rather, let us focus on enjoying the love that is already ours in Jesus, and let’s live our lives in response to that love.

That’s a life under grace.

How about you?

Are you living under the jurisdiction of grace?

Or are you still living as if you are under the jurisdiction of law?

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Romans

A broken power

Romans

If anyone ever read this article four years ago, it’s undergone a massive change. Since that time, my understanding of this passage has changed, and as a result, this article has also changed.

It was a passage that puzzled me at the time, and I came to some tentative conclusions, but I’ve now come to different ones.

I mentioned this in my original post, but one of the problems in this passage is Paul’s use of the same metaphor to illustrate two different points. Unfortunately, that usage is not consistent.

In this passage, Paul talks about our relationship with the law and with God.

In doing so, he uses the illustration of marriage in which a husband dies and his wife is freed from the law which didn’t allow her to marry another man while her husband was alive.

As a result, she goes ahead and gets married to another person.

Here’s what I originally wrote, describing my inner thought process as I tried to figure this passage out:

“So, we died to the law. That means we are the husband and the law is the wife, right?

No, that can’t be right. Because Paul says with the husband gone, the wife is free to marry Christ.

The Law marries Christ? No, Paul says we marry Christ.”

“So is the law the husband, and we are the wife? No, because the law doesn’t die; we die.”

Ultimately, the problem comes down to the fact that Paul doesn’t intend us to push his metaphor too far.

There are certain points he wants to make and you have to kind of go with his flow even if his use of the metaphor is a little inconsistent.

So what do I think now?

Here’s Paul’s primary point: Death breaks the power of the law over a person.

So in the case of marriage, a husband’s death breaks the power of the law of marriage over a wife.

As long as the husband was alive, she could not be joined to another. But now with her husband’s death, she is no longer bound by the law and she can marry another man.

In our case, we were under a different law: God’s law.

This law told us what was right and wrong. More, it told us that if we sinned, we would be condemned.

But because all of us have sinned, we could not be joined to God. We were separated from him by our sin.

But then, in Christ, we died.

We read this in chapter 6, that when Christ died on the cross, we died with him. Jesus then raised us as new people (Romans 6:3-7).

Baptism is a picture of this.

The water is a picture of the grave. And as we go down into the water, it shows us a spiritual reality.

Our old self, the one that was living for himself or herself, the one that was in rebellion against God is now dead.

Instead, we are raised a new person: a person who loves God, who wants to follow him, who wants to live for him.

More importantly, through the Holy Spirit, we have God himself living in us, giving us those desires and the power to live out those desires.

So now that we have died with Jesus, God’s law no longer has power over us.

Our relationship with God is no longer based on keeping that law. It’s based on the grace of God and the work of Jesus on the cross.

Now, the law can no longer condemn us for our sin, because Jesus took our punishment for us.

The law can no longer separate us from God because of our sin. Rather, in Jesus, we have been joined to him.

I don’t think the picture of Jesus and the church being a groom and bride is an accident.

As his church, we are now joined to Jesus, and we bear fruit for him. Not literal children, of course, but fruit that causes his kingdom to grow as we share his love and his gospel to those around us.

That is definitely a truth to meditate on and rejoice in.

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Romans

A grace that reigns

Romans

These two verses show two things: The weakness of the law, and the power of grace. It says in verse 20,

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. (Romans 5:20)

That sounds a little weird. God gave us the law so that people might sin more?

But if we look back at verse 13, we see what Paul means.

For before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

So even before the law, people were doing sinful acts. But people cannot be held accountable for what they don’t know is wrong.

What they were held responsible for was for rejecting God and for breaking their own consciences and laws whenever they matched with God’s standards. (Romans 2:14-15)

But those consciences and standards were imperfect. They were dirty mirrors so to speak.

So God gave the law so that people might see the true standard of right and wrong. And as people became aware of it, sin increased because now they were deliberately crossing the lines God had set.

That’s the weakness of the law. It can’t make us good. Rather, it simply makes us more responsible for the sin we commit.

More, our sinful nature sees those laws and because it’s in rebellion against God, it leads us to cross those lines even more.

The result? Death.

The good news?

But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20b-21)

One might think God was cruel in giving us the law. That he purposely did so in order to pour out his wrath upon us even more. But Paul shows us that this isn’t the case at all.

Because no matter how much sin might increase, grace increases all the more to those who will receive it. No one can ever sin so much that God’s grace cannot cover it.

More, no one can be so bad, that his grace cannot change them.

Paul tells us here that his grace will reign through righteousness.

This doesn’t merely mean that we are made righteous in legal terms before God, that is, we are declared “not guilty” before him.

But as we mentioned last time, through God’s grace we receive a new nature, and through that new nature, we start to do the things that are right. We actually become righteous in the things that we think, say, and do.

And the end result of the work that God does in us through his grace is eternal life.

That’s what’s so amazing about grace. No matter how bad you are or have been, his grace has the power to change you.

All you have to do is receive it.

How about you? Do you know the grace of God in your life?

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Romans

Completely throwing out the law?

shaving

I suppose the logical question to all that Paul is saying is, “If the law can’t make us acceptable before God, can’t we just toss it? I mean, it’s worthless if it can’t do that, right?”

But Paul answers here,

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:31)

What does he mean, “We uphold the law?”

Basically, it means that we recognize that it has its proper role in our coming to salvation. It was our “tutor” as Paul would later write in Galatians.

What did it teach us? It taught us about God’s holiness. More, it showed us our unholiness.

Paul writes in verse 20,

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:20)

By being made conscious of our sin, we recognize our need for a Savior.

If we never see our sin, if we think we’re good enough to be accepted by God, none of us will ever think we need a Savior. And we’ll never understand why Jesus had to die for us.

But while the law can show us our unrighteousness, it in itself cannot make us righteous.

Let’s put it this way: A mirror can show a man the beard on his face, but it has no power to shave it off. Only a razor can do that.

In the same way, the law is the mirror that shows us our sin, but it has no power to take it away.

God’s grace, however, is the razor by which our sins can be forgiven. We are therefore, “shaved” by grace. (Sorry, terrible joke).

But let’s take this a step further. Just because a mirror can’t shave my face, does this mean I don’t need it? Of course not. I still need the mirror to see where I need to be shaved.

In the same way, the law shows me as a Christian where I’m still imperfect and need to be made whole.

And as I look at it, God by his Spirit starts to lead me, and say, “You know where it says here to love your wife? Here’s what you can do to show love to her today.”

Or, “Do you see this area where it says to forgive? Here’s a person that you haven’t forgiven. I know it hurts when you think of this person. But let me minister to that hurt. Let me heal you so that you can forgive.”

So then, the law is no longer a matter of me trying to keep a bunch of rules by my own efforts. Rather, it’s a way of opening my eyes to what God wants to do in my life.

And as I look at the mirror, I don’t look at it alone, I see the loving face of my Father looking at it with me, with his razor of grace in hand.

It can be a scary thing to see that razor in the hands of another, but if we have the faith to say, “Yes, God,” by his grace, he will shave off those areas of our lives that are hurting us and the people around us.

How about you? When you look into the mirror, do you see only yourself and your flaws?

Or do you see the loving face of your Father, working in you to heal you and make you whole?

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Romans

What happens to those who never hear?

Romans

One of the things that people argue when it comes to Christianity is, “How can God hold people accountable for what he has commanded if they have never even heard of the Bible?”

We find the answer here in this passage.

Paul starts by saying that judgment will be passed on all who do evil, first on the Jew and then on the Gentile.

On the other hand, those who do good will be rewarded by God, the Jews first, the Gentiles second.

Why? Because it was the Jews who received the law from God. And because they directly received it from God, they are more accountable.

Jesus puts it this way,

That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47-48)

Paul expands on this idea, saying,

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. (Romans 2:12)

In short, people will be judged by what they do with what they know. They will not be judged by what they didn’t know.

If they know God’s law as given to the Jews, they will be judged by that. If they don’t, they will be judged by another standard. What standard?

One standard is their own laws, insofar as they coincide with God’s. Paul tells us,

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. (Romans 2:14-15)

In other words, all people, no matter where they are or what culture they are from, have laws that conform to the law of God.

They may not conform perfectly, but where they do conform, they will be held accountable for whether they keep them or not.

So, for example, different cultures may have different definitions of stealing, but when they break their own laws concerning stealing, God holds them accountable because it falls in line with his laws.

The other standard God judges these people by is their own consciences.

Sometimes, people may do things that are acceptable even to their own culture, for example, sleeping with their boyfriend or girlfriend.

But the next day, their conscience tells them that it doesn’t matter what their culture said, they did something wrong.

And God will hold them accountable for it because their own guilty feelings show that though they didn’t know the Bible, deep down they knew their actions were wrong.

This is not to say that our consciences are perfect reflections of God’s law. They are not, any more than people’s laws are in perfect conformity with God’s law.

But insofar as they coincide, they will be held accountable.

One other point. Paul says in verse 13,

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Romans 2:13)

When Paul says this, I believe he is being entirely theoretical. He’s saying, “It’s not enough to know the law. You need to keep it.”

And theoretically, if you can keep the law perfectly, you will be declared righteous. But as we will see later, there is no one that fits that description.

The main point, however, is this. God is fair. He will not hold you accountable for what you don’t know. He will hold you accountable for what you do know.

So the main question you need to ask yourself today is this, “What are you doing with what you know?”