Tune and Prepare!

rethink ...that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.. Gal. 3:14 The promise of the Spirit is equated with the blessing of Abraham, even though the Old Testament passage does not mention the Spirit. Since the “blessing of Abraham” came in the form of a “promise,” this word is the one Paul uses throughout the argument of Galatians 3:13-14 to refer to the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant. In a statement crucial to this argument, Paul says the fulfillment of this promised blessing for the Gentiles is in their having experienced the Spirit as a living and dynamic reality. The blessing of Abraham, therefore, is not simply “justification by faith.” Rather, it refers to the life of the future now available to Jew and Gentile alike, achieved through the death of Christ but applied through the dynamic ministry of the Spirit—and all of this by faith.’ The full article is here

Andrew Wilson Anyone who has ever read the Gospels will have wondered how to square Jesus's language and style in John with his language and style in the Synoptics. Did Jesus talk — to his disciples, his opponents and his Father — like he does in John, or like he does in Mark? There are obvious points of overlap, not least the shared miracle stories, the passion and resurrection narratives, the emphatic speech ("truly, truly"), and the so-called "Johannine thunderbolt" of Matthew 11:25-30. And there are numerous contextual factors that account for some of the change of style. The Synoptics have a different focus to John when it comes to geography (Sea of Galilee vs Jerusalem), timing (all year round vs major festivals), mood (support vs opposition) and audience (generic crowds vs specific individuals), all of which would naturally affect the choice of words and the structure of conversations. But even so, there remains a marked difference between the wa...

From the article: '7 Reasons Why the Gospel of John is So Special' by Michael Krueger “One of these things is not like the others.” That was a classic segment on Sesame Street, as well as the title of a popular children’s book. It proves again that everything you need to know in life you probably learned in Kindergarten. After all, when it comes to the four gospels, it has been long recognized that “one of these things is not like the others.” There are three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—with very similar content, tone, and pacing. And then there’s the gospel of John. From the very beginning, the church fathers even recognized that John was notably different than the others. In fact, Clement of Alexandria famously referred to John as the “spiritual gospel,” as opposed to the more “earthy” Synoptics. Ok, but what exactly makes John so different? Given that John loves the number seven—as one example among many, his gospel is structured around seven...

What Were Some of the Differences between Calvin and Luther’s Theology? .. as you look at the two of them, there were differences... the area of church and state, and specifically, even the magistrate. Another difference impacted the liturgy in the worship of the church, and that was regarding music. Another area is the Law. You can listen the podcast or read the Full article here :   Differences in Calvin and Luther’s Theology

Some churches preach what may be called a “health and wealth gospel,” claiming that God always rewards his people with prosperity in this world. But in the Bible, wealth is no indication of God’s favor. Neither is poverty an indication of God’s punishment. “[God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Advocates of the health-and-wealth gospel often note that in the Old Testament, many of the characters we most revere were wealthy. They include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Boaz, Job, David and Solomon. And there is little doubt that their experience of abundance was tied in some way to their faithfulness to God. Biblical scholar Craig Blomberg notes that in the Old Testament, Wealth can be a sign of God’s blessing, even if it is not always related to an individual’s or a nation’s obedience. But the unique covenantal arrangements between God and Israel prevent us from generalizing and saying that G...

 By personifying grace, {John Newton's hymn} “ Amazing Grace ” can be somewhat misleading to modern readers. It is certainly not wrong to put verbs after grace (e.g., Titus 2:11 ). Grace saves wretches. Grace searches out lost sinners. Grace removes spiritual blindness and gives spiritual sight. Grace teaches us to fear God. Grace relieves fear. But in our modern culture, where grace has become a synonym for kindness, “Amazing Grace” becomes a sort of hymn to the transforming power of niceness or, a little better, grace becomes abstracted divine benevolence. In either case, grace is depersonalized . This misunderstanding of grace has led Sinclair Ferguson to go so far as to say there actually is no such thing as grace.(a) It has led Michael Horton to declare that grace is “ not a third thing or substance mediating between God and sinners, but is Jesus Christ in redeeming action. ”(b) Their point is the same. We must resist the temptation to morph grace into spiritual currency or s...