Theology / Salvation

  • God’s Hyper-Plentiful Grace

    1 Timothy 1:12-14

    How often do we take the time to meditate upon and exalt the hyper-plentiful grace of our Lord? Because of His absolute perfection, God’s grace is by definition hyper-plentiful when He condescends to redeem imperfect people. Consider today some ...Read More

  • Faith and the Liberty to Love

    Galatians 5:6

    Take time to skim over the book of Galatians and select one passage on which to meditate. Consider how God has used this epistle in your life and try to discern those areas in which you have been most tempted ...Read More

  • The Law as Guardian

    Galatians 3:23–24

    Paul’s main point in Galatians 3:23–26 is to explain the Law’s role in salvation history, but the pattern of preaching in the New Testament indicates that God’s law must play a similar role in our ...Read More

  • The Curse of the Law

    Galatians 3:10

    Martin Luther comments on Galatians 2:17 that God’s law “requires perfect obedience unto God, and condemns all those who do not accomplish the same,” and on 3:10 he says that to follow God’s commandments is not ...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

  • Crucified with Christ

    Galatians 2:17–21

    Issues like the curse of the Law that were raised briefly today will have to wait a few days for more analysis. In closing, note that Galatians 2:19–20 reveals that being united to Christ means being crucified with ...Read More

  • Justification by Faith Alone

    Galatians 2:14–16

    Martin Luther’s commentary on today’s passage includes this nugget of wisdom: “God is honored in His Son. Whoever then believes that the Son is our mediator and Savior, he honors the Father, and him again does God honor ...Read More

  • Maligning Paul’s Character

    Galatians 1:10

    The context of Galatians 1:10 refutes any notion that Paul was a people-pleaser. Would a man concerned to win the acclaim of all people call down curses upon some of them (vv. 8–9)? Paul’s becoming “all things ...Read More

  • False Teachers Accursed

    Galatians 1:8–9

    Martin Luther’s comments on Galatians 1:8–9 illustrate Scripture’s relationship to tradition: “Here then is a plain text like a thunderbolt, wherein Paul subjects both himself and an angel from heaven, and all others, doctors, teachers, and ...Read More

  • God’s Omnipotent Grace

    Matthew 19:25–26

    James Boice writes: “The only way anyone will ever be saved is if God operates entirely apart from us and for his own good pleasure” (The Gospel According to Matthew, vol. 2, p. 410). We are tempted to look at ...Read More

  • Regeneration Is Permanent

    Philippians 1:6

    The permanency of our regeneration is something we must not take for granted. Knowing that we have been born again should motivate us to live out this truth by heeding the many warnings in Scripture against unbelief (Heb. 6:1 ...Read More

  • Regeneration Is Immediate

    Luke 1:39–45

    Though God does not make use of any means besides Himself to bring about regeneration, He does work through means in our sanctification, the process of growing in personal holiness. Scripture read and preached, the sacraments, prayer, and so on ...Read More

  • Sovereign Regeneration

    Acts 9:1–19

    Some of us have had dramatic conversion experiences that we remember vividly. Others cannot remember a time when they did not trust in Jesus. Whatever our story, the same God who raised Jesus to life and knocked Saul of Tarsus ...Read More

  • Regeneration Is the Start

    Ephesians 2:1–10

    As we mature in Christ we will find ourselves more sensitive to the presence of sin in our lives, noticing “minor” transgressions that were once easily overlooked. This in turn should make us more vigilant to do what is necessary ...Read More

  • Regeneration Is a Mystery

    John 3:4–8

    None of us will desire the things of God perfectly before we are glorified. None of us will love the Lord as much as he should this side of heaven. Still, as Dr. R.C. Sproul has often said, the ...Read More