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The Apocalyptic Rescue Mission of Galatians

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  Paul’s purpose for the book of Galatians hinges on the idea of an apocalyptic rescue mission of Christ for His people. From the beginning verses of the epistle through the ending chapters, Paul focuses on this theme and how it is played out in the life of the believer. Not necessarily displayed in their law-keeping actions but, in their love, and cruciform lifestyle. The book of Galatians is book-ended with the themes and character of Christ’s self-giving work.[1] It is in the book to the church at Galatia that we find a little of an unfamiliar opening, where Paul giving his typical “Grace and Peace” but prefaces the reason that it is made available to believers. Paul explains that it is through Christ who has come, to “rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father”. (Gal. 1:4) This deliverance from the present world, having been accomplished in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, would be played out in the life of every believer, and part
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Grace for Grieving

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  My kids love stories, and honestly, I would argue that we all do. I remember around the age of ten or eleven, my dad would read a chapter of the Hardy Boys to us before bed. The suspense, the drama, the excitement, it was almost as if you were there with them watching the story play out. But as exciting as this all was, I’m not sure I would know how to explain the quiet depression that would set in when realizing that the chapter was coming to a close. It seems that as we experience the death of a loved one, you almost get a sense of Déjà vu . A similar void begins to form knowing that a story that we loved is ending. The scriptures tell us that whether it is us or a loved one, we long to do whatever we can to add to the story of life. The author of Hebrews explains this by saying that due to the fall, we have been placed in the bondage of death and do everything that we can to outrun it (Heb. 2:15) but gives us the hope that there is One that has already outrun death for us. When f
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Don't Separate God's Holiness & Love

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It is the holiness of God that defines His character, and all of His other characteristics. This holiness is what sets Him apart from His creation and what makes Him completely unique from anything and everything else. It is this understanding that He is transcendent or set apart from His creation that we must keep in view as we explore all the other attributes that make God who He is; it is literally the starting point for or understanding of His person.  While all of the attributes of God are woven together so that none can be taken without all of them falling apart, it is His holiness that bonds them together. This is the reason that when given that view of angels around the throne in Isaiah 6, they are crying that He is "holy, holy, holy". It is the holiness of God that manifests itself in the actions that He takes in the world such as His mercy, righteousness, and judgment. If the holiness of God is what He is, then we could say that the love of God is who He is. It is
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Little Babels of Legalism

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In Genesis 11 we read a story that is the carbon copy of history from garden onward. With the goal of making a name for themselves keenly in view, the descendants of Noah settled in the land of Shinar and started building a tower to reach to the heavens. Just like our ancestors, we are no different, except for the fact that we don’t use bricks to build our towers.   Inward Legalism In his book How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home , Derek Thomas defines legalism as, “being asked to obey in order to win God’s favor”. Just like Adam in the garden, we must cover ourselves with whatever we can find, and just like Adam we typically take things that were created by God and twist them for our own purposes. Just like the fig leaves, we make ourselves respectable robes of our own righteousness, fashioned by the very laws of God designed for our good. Outward Legalism Thomas his definition also stated that it will present itself in, “being asked to obey a command over and above that which G
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Life Is Meaningless?

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If you have ever read through the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, you have probably found it somewhat depressing. After all, when the author starts out of the gate telling you that everything is meaningless you can’t help but calling the local Party City to order balloons for the pity-party that is getting ready to ensue.   Life Is Meaningless? According to Ecclesiastes everything in life and even human existence itself is “vanity’ . The Hebrew word used here is ‘Hebel’ has  been treated in many of the major translations as vain / vanity and by a few others as meaningless or pointless. The concept of  Hebel  can be explained by the analogy of making it one’s life purpose to building a sandcastle on the beach. That would be pretty dumb, right? But, in a sense, that is exactly what the author and many of us do. Maybe not literally, but we consume our life’s with temporary things that have no eternal significance. While the author explains that there is a time and sea
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