Bankrupt

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace.  Galatians 5:4 Fallen From Grace – What does “fall from grace” mean?  Do you think it’s about denying the Lord?  Or about some hideous sin?  Not according to Paul’s comments to the Galatians.  Falling…

One Leads To Another

And the man called the name of his wife, Eve, because she became the mother of all living.  Genesis 3:20 Eve – Of course, we know that the name Eve is a corruption of the real text.  The man did not call her Eve.  He called her by the Hebrew name Havvah.  Why is it…

The Delusion of Freedom

Then stand firm in the freedom with which Christ made us free, and do not again be held with a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 Freedom – Are you free? Don’t be too quick to answer. It depends on your concept of freedom. In order to understand what Paul says about freedom in Christ, we…

The Will To Power

June 22  “If you do well, shall you not be accepted?  And if you do not well, sin lies at the door.  And to you shall be its desire, and yet you may rule over it.”  Genesis 4:7 Desire – Friedrich Nietzsche was a godless man, but godless men may still see quite clearly the…

Giving Up and Giving In

“If you do well, shall you not be accepted?  And if you do not well, sin lies at the door.  And to you shall be its desire, and yet you may rule over it.”  Genesis 4:7 Sin – The first time we read the Hebrew word hatat (sin) is here in the story of Cain. …

Open Door Policy

and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.  Genesis 3:6 To Be Desired – What…

A Different Cloth

No one serving as a soldier tangles with the affairs of this life, so that he might please the one enlisting him.  2 Timothy 2:4 Tangles – You’re in the army now!  If you’re committed to following the Messiah, you made a voluntary decision to join His ranks.  That decision has some very big implications. …

The Mathematics of Sin

I remember those days in high school when the “new math” was introduced.  We carried around brown paper covered texts full of strange language, believing we were on the verge of enlightenment.  Most of the time we were just confused.  All of the familiar ways of handling problems with numbers were displaced, inappropriate.  The old…

Cain’s Legacy

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:14 Master Over You – Think like a rabbi.  Jesus was a rabbi.  Paul was a rabbi.  They taught like rabbis.  Now it’s our job to think like one of them so that we can understand what…

Derivatives

And on the next day Moses said to the people “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” Exodus 32:30 Sin – Not all sin is the same.  Yes, I know that we often speak as though every sin…