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Ephesians 4:24, presents the positive side of the command, to put on the new man, to shed the old, is an act of death, to put on the new, is an act of resurrection. Paul is not asking Christians to create a new version of themselves through moral effort, he is saying, that there is already a new...

Titus 1:2, when the new man speaks the truth, the believer is reflecting the nature of the one who created you. Paul is not only prohibiting explicit lies, he is calling for a culture of transparency and integrity in the body of Christ, to speak the truth with one’s neighbor has a deep...

Ephesians 4:15, truth without love becomes a weapon, love without truth becomes sentimentality, the new man balances these two dimensions, believers speak the truth, because they love people enough not to let them live in deception. The new man speaks with compassion, recognizing the believers...

Galatians 5:24, Paul then tells you what has happened to your old nature, it is something that has already happened, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, your old self died with him on the cross. The power of sin over was broken, crucifixion is a brutal image, it is a slow, painful death...

The order observed in the liturgy of now, finds its ultimate grounding in the physical and metaphysical reality of the resurrection, the event that anchors all Christian hope in the solidity of transformed matter. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 indicates that Christian hope does not reside in a...

Galatians 5:2, today, most of us are not tempted by circumcision, we look at the Galatians and think their problem was silly, but we have our own modern versions of this trap. People fall for the Jesus plus lie all the time, they think it is Jesus plus their financial success, they think it is...

There is an instruction in Ephesians 5:1 that seems impossible at first reading, imitate God, not admire him from a distance, not just obey him out of obligation, but imitate him, reproduce in daily life something of the character of the one who created the universe. This instruction only makes...

Religious practices are meant to align ourselves with the heart of God and in doing so, make all of our relationships better, but Jesus saw that religious practices of his day were sometimes doing the opposite, that people were doing religion in order to promote themselves to seek honor and...

Galatians 5:2, you insist on giving God your pocket change to help pay for it, that might seem like a nice gesture, but it is actually a deep insult. By trying to pay, you are turning a loving gift into a business transaction, you are saying his gift was not sufficient, you are degrading his...

Your existence today isn’t the result of all your planning, because even your planning itself and the ability to plan and to have a stable enough life and environment to make your plans is all a gift that you didn’t create for yourself. Jesus isn’t saying don’t make plans beyond today’s bread...

What will the forgiveness of sins mean, it’s not just an exchange between God and your average Israelite, it will by definition be like a dual relationship, you can’t claim to be forgiven by God and then be holding out forgiveness, not releasing other people of what they’ve done to you, but then...

Luke 4:16-30, this is a Jubilee announcement Jesus is announcing, that it is the arrival of God’s Kingdom, the ultimate release, the great forgiveness and to be a prophet announcing that to Israel as they sit under foreign domination from Rome, he’s announcing that the great restoration is going...

Hebrews 9:15, under the first covenant, that means the people who lived and died under the old system, the believers of the Old Testament who brought their animal sacrifices in faith and never lived to see the Messiah, they were covered, too. Their sacrifices were like a credit forward, against...

My real life source actually doesn’t truly come from my own ingenuity and I cannot create and sustain my own life, I am confronted with my morality in that moment, but Jesus cites the mana, which was a very unique kind of bread, it’s a bread that only comes in certain amounts at the certain...

Galatians 5:2, this is one of the most frightening statements in the New Testament, how could doing something religious make Jesus Christ have no value? The Galatians thought they were just adding a little extra obedience to their faith, they believed in Jesus, but they also wanted to be serious...

Galatians 5:1, the temple, where animals were sacrificed day and night, the smell of smoke and blood was a constant reminder that sin was real and that God is holy, the problem was, that no matter how hard you tried, you could never be perfect. The law was like a mirror, a mirror is useful...

Ephesians 5:20 brings an instruction that seems simple, but in practice represents one of the greatest battles of the believers life. Always for everything, these two words together form a way of life that goes completely against the natural inclination of the human heart. It is relatively easy...

Ephesians 5:21, introduces a principle that precedes and underlies everything about relationships, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. This instruction is not directed to a specific group within the community, it is universal, addressed to all believers without distinction. Before...

Galatians 5:13, if you are free from the law and you are saved only by grace, why not just sin as much as you want, if God’s job is to forgive and my job is to have fun, let us get to it, this is the most common objection to the message of grace. People are terrified that freedom will lead to...

The promise that changes everything, Jesus does not end John 3:16 with rescue alone, he ends with life, not survival, not escape, everlasting life. This is where the verse lifts its eyes from the danger behind you to the future ahead and yet, everlasting life is often misunderstood as something...