As people in Ephesus heard the gospel and received Christ, their lives were radically changed for the better. However, not everyone was happy with the changes. It resulted in a loss of revenue for the metalworkers who fashioned small idols of the goddess Diana. Because she was no longer worshiped, the clientele of the metalworkers […]
Whereas the 10th chapter of Romans explains how individual Jews and Gentiles are saved into The Body of Christ by grace through faith, the 11th chapter deals with the restoration of the Nation of Israel and the salvation of Gentile Nations. Unfortunately, this truth was obscured by early church fathers shortly after Paul revealed it. […]
Previous studies covered Romans 9:1 – 29, which begins with the Apostle Paul writing that he could wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, Romans 9:1 – 3: “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the […]
The 9th, 10th & 11th chapters of Romans form the 2nd great section of this epistle. The 1st section, chapters 1 – 8, teach justification by faith by the Grace of God apart from works, common to all, whether Jew or Gentile. The problem of how to reconcile this with the special privileges granted to […]
Reading the first pages of the New Testament, you encounter the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Many people skim over these names. Yet, the Spirit of God purposely included five women in this list of 39 men. The fifth one is Mary, the mother of Jesus. But who were the other four? Tamar – She was […]
Some people think it is somehow disparaging of the cross of Christ to admit that Christ-followers still sin. In their desire to magnify the greatness of the Lord’s salvation, they give the impression that if a person receives Christ, their struggles with sin will come to an end. It’s true that the Holy Spirit changes […]
My last two studies covered Romans 1:1 – 17 wherein the word “faith” occurs six times, teaching, among other things that the Gospel of Christ the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to the Apostle Paul “is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,” Romans […]
Can a person who doesn’t know Christ capture God’s interest? Does God consider anything they do to be good, or are all their actions sinful in His sight? An interesting event takes place in Acts 10 that answers those questions. Before a supernatural encounter with God, the Apostle Peter considered non-Jews (Gentiles) to be so […]
“Laughter is better than complaining.” – paraphrasing a paraphrase of “Anger is better than laughter,” which in the King James Version is “Sorrow is better than laughter” (last week’s column) SOMETHING LOST IN THE TRANSLATION? Not to repeat myself, but the English words anger and sorrow meant the same thing in pre-KJV times. The root […]
“Laughter is better than complaining.” – paraphrasing a paraphrase of “Anger is better than laughter,” which in the King James Version is “Sorrow is better than laughter” (last week’s column) SOMETHING LOST IN THE TRANSLATION? Not to repeat myself, but the English words anger and sorrow meant the same thing in pre-KJV times. The root […]