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The Curse of the Law
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 to do them “in ...Read More
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The Gift of the Spirit
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 the cause, but ...Read More
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Crucified with Christ
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 Him, as ...Read More
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Justification by Faith Alone
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; that is ...Read More
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Confrontation in Antioch
The confrontation with Peter is an important segue for Paul to begin explaining the doctrine of justification, and we will consider it more tomorrow. Today, consider how Peter’s failure proves that “we are nothing with all our gifts be they ...Read More
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False Brothers in Jerusalem
It is the duty of all believers, not just our pastors and other leaders, to contend for the faith. We must be especially wary of incremental steps to undermine biblical authority and the historic Christian faith. Denominations do not typically ...Read More
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Paul’s Former Life
Not all of us have had a dramatic conversion experience like Paul had, and by God’s covenantal grace, many of us may not even remember a time when we did not know Christ. Nevertheless, all who have turned from darkness ...Read More
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False Teachers Accursed
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 masters, to be under ...Read More
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Pollution’s True Source
The concern with outward acts and not the intent of God’s law manifested these particular Pharisees’ blindness to the ultimate source of impurity. Jesus therefore reminded them that the heart is the true source of corruption, not the hands, a ...Read More
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The Full Meaning of Moses
Matthew Henry writes that the Pharisees made the fundamental error in thinking that “the divine law prohibited only the sinful act, not the sinful thought.” The unseen sins of the mind and heart are the easiest for us to justify, ...Read More