Salvation

  • James Versus Paul?

    James 2:24

    Tomorrow we will look at James’ argument in 2:14–26 more closely. Today, be reminded that God’s Word must be consistent because the One who hates all falsehood has revealed it. If He said one thing in Ephesians ...Read More

  • Fulfilling Our Purpose

    Ephesians 2:10

    Knowing that we are justified by faith alone takes pressure off of us when we seek to please God. It might be that sometimes we do not do good because we fear that we will mess things up. Yet since ...Read More

  • Improper Boasting

    Ephesians 2:9

    Refusing to boast and false modesty are not the same thing. There are falsely modest people who claim to be humble and yet make sure that everyone sees the good they do, even though they might verbally express glory to ...Read More

  • The Richness of God’s Mercy

    Ephesians 2:4-7

    As the sovereign, independent Creator, God is not obligated to save anyone, to show goodness and mercy toward sinners who deserve only condemnation. Since we are not autonomous but are governed by God’s law, however, He can demand that ...Read More

  • Dead On Arrival

    Ephesians 2:1

    John Calvin says that “while we remain in Adam, we are entirely devoid of life; and that regeneration is a new life of the soul, by which it rises from the dead.” We do not come into the world sick ...Read More

  • A New Humanity

    Colossians 3:11

    One commentator has aptly said that “no one is joined to Christ except together with a neighbor.” We cannot therefore be “lone ranger Christians,” and we cannot survive without the local church. It is incumbent upon all believers to become ...Read More

  • Where to Set Our Minds

    Colossians 3:1-2

    As we recall the great inheritance of the age to come, we will seek more and more to enjoy a greater foretaste of the blessings that will come in that day when sin will be no more. Knowing that sin ...Read More

  • Canceling Our Debt

    Colossians 2:13-14

    That God no longer regards us as guilty, because of our union with Christ, does not mean that He has overlooked our sin, for He has judged it in the flesh of His Son, whose perfect righteousness is credited to ...Read More

  • The Riches of God’s Mystery

    Colossians 1:27

    It is all too easy for us to think of other people as lesser Christians than we are because of the way they dress, what they eat and drink, how knowledgeable they are about the finer points of theological arguments ...Read More

  • God the Deliverer

    Exodus 6:1-8

    Even those who affirm justification by faith alone may act as if they need to do more than trust Christ to be declared righteous. Some think that they must trust Christ and go a certain number of days without sinning ...Read More

  • Before the Face of God

    Psalm 24

    We can do nothing to merit eternal life, but it does not follow that we can do nothing to experience more of God’s favor once we have been ingrafted into the body of Christ through faith alone. Obedience to ...Read More

  • The Spirit of Power

    Isaiah 63:7-14

    In our day there is much talk of the power of the Spirit, and people want to see this power displayed “dramatically” in physical healings and other such phenomena. While we certainly confess the Spirit’s freedom and ability to ...Read More

  • The Lord’s Passover

    Exodus 12:1–32

    Though not himself a Christian, Lord Alfred Tennyson captures the pervasiveness of sin in his poem “The Holy Grail”: “In me lived a sin / So strange, of such a kind, that all of pure, / Noble and knightly in me twined ...Read More

  • Bearing Our Sins in His Body

    1 Peter 2:22–25

    Our lives and worship are transformed forever when by grace we realize that while God owes us nothing but wrath, He has executed His wrath not on those who trust Christ but on Jesus Himself. We should be the most ...Read More

  • God Calls His Son

    Hosea 11

    Our culture’s leaders tell us that we need salvation from poverty, corruption, terrorism, and a host of other societal ills. However, while we do not want to downplay the severity of these ills and the desirability of rescue from ...Read More