Theology / Justification

  • The Doctrine of Justification

    Romans 3:21–26

    Which doctrinal perspective gives a firmer basis for assurance of salvation? Which more magnifies Christ’s work? Which more accounts for human depravity? Do you truly appreciate the biblical and Protestant doctrine as much as you should? Thank God for ...Read More

  • The Example of Abraham

    Galatians 3:6–14

    Abraham’s exemplary faith is mentioned in Genesis, Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews. His faith is the pattern for all believers. How does your faith compare? Do people speak of your faithfulness as an example to follow or hypocrisy to be ...Read More

  • The Gift of the Spirit

    Galatians 3:1–5

    Good works are not wholly absent from the Christian life. They do not earn God’s favor, but they do prove that we have faith (James 2:14–26). Martin Luther says good works “ought to be done not as ...Read More

  • The Goal of the Law

    Galatians 3:25–26

    Jesus Christ is the only one with the inherent right to be called the Son of God. In Him, however, we are adopted as children of God, and receive all the benefits that come with that status. May we take ...Read More

  • The Great Exchange

    Romans 4:1–8

    If we are in Christ, if we trust in Him alone, we have His righteousness credited to our account. When God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ and no longer deems us guilty. This is the good ...Read More

  • The Law and the Promises

    Galatians 3:21–22

    Christians are no longer under the curse of the Law (Gal. 3:13–14). Yet until we are glorified, the presence of sin within us clouds our minds, preventing us on many occasions from seeing the truth about our own ...Read More

  • The Need for Faith

    Romans 3:10-20

    John Calvin said the law of God is a mirror to reveal our sin and drive us to Christ. It is more than a list of do’s and don’ts designed to show us how to obey God. Think ...Read More

  • The Righteousness of God by Faith

    Philippians 3:7–9

    Not all of us tried to earn our way to God by the Mosaic law before knowing Christ. Probably, most of us just sought to do the good we could, hoping it would outweigh our bad deeds. Regardless, we had ...Read More

  • The Threat of Legalism

    Philippians 3:2-3

    We are circumcised in the heart when we are baptized into Christ — not in the mere participation in the washing with water but at the moment the reality to which the sacrament points is ours, namely, the moment we trust ...Read More

  • True God

    John 3:16

    In Cur Deus Homo, Anselm of Canterbury gives another reason why the Mediator must be fully God: “If any other person [except God] were to redeem a man from eternal death, the redeemed man would be rightly judged to be ...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