“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformed to His death.”
Phil. 3:10

The pursuit of the believer is Jesus Christ. Not just to be like Christ, but to know Christ.

This knowledge does not consist chiefly in facts about Jesus, but rather it consists in an intimate sharing of His person through the work of the Spirit.

It was the Spirit of Holiness that raised Jesus from the dead and demonstrated through the resurrection the power of God. The resurrection demonstrated to the world that the power of death is broken and the way to God has been opened. The death of Jesus was a once for all sufficient atonement for our sin, the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus was who He claimed to be.

The road to knowing Him is a road of suffering and is trod by those of faith. We believe in One whom we’ve never seen, only read about and felt the stirrings of His presence deep within our hearts. We look for a new home- a better one, where lion and lamb repose together in the shade of the trees and the child plays with the cobra. A land free of death and curse.

May your pursuit in life be the One alone who is worthy of all our praise.

Because of grace,
Tim

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The truth we have before us is not negotiable and nonessential- it is the clear purpose for which Christ died- to make us righteous, not only by declaration (justification) but also in reality (sanctification).
It is not like justification is the basic Amazon package and sanctification is Amazon prime- both will do but one’s just a little bit more expensive and only for the select few. No, this truth is for all God’s children!

The sixth chapter of Romans has often been called the emancipation proclamation of the believer. In this chapter the apostle Paul clearly demonstrates the means of the believer’s victory over sin. Paul nowhere asserts that that victory is either automatic or easy.
Sin is a horrible taskmaster that binds us in its clutches. Although we have died to it with Christ; nevertheless our sin nature kicks and screams and fusses like a spoiled child to try to get us to yield to it. Some of the important words in this chapter are:
Baptism (3,4)
United (v.5)
Know (v.3,6,9,16)
Present (v. 12,16,19)

The chapter finds its structure in the use of questions. Paul foresees various objections to free grace that his readers might raise. Putting himself in their place, he asks 6 questions as the chapter progresses and then uses the answers to those 6 questions to present the truth as to how we as believers are to be victorious over sin.

While this victory is available to all of us in Christ; it is obvious that many times we do not make use of it.
The question we have to ask ourselves is: why? Perhaps it is because we do not know the truth. Jesus says: “It is the truth that makes us free”. Perhaps it is because although we know the truth- we are not yielding and presenting ourselves to God. Either way, our failure reflects badly on our Father and our defeat grieves the Spirit. Our sin is what Jesus died to destroy- He is moving Heaven and earth to accomplish that goal. He will have us holy- or He will not have us at all.

Because of grace,
Tim

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We are saved by faith- but what does this faith that saves look like?
Notice the link between “believe” and “receive” in the following scripture.

“…much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the One man Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17
John 1:12 “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. “

The Reformer’s recognized three aspects to faith. They did so using three Latin terms: noticia, assensus, and fiducia. Let me explain.Noticia is the content of faith
Assensus is the personal recognition of the veracity of the truth claim.
Fiducia is the trust element or the personal reliance on Christ alone.
All three are vital to saving faith.

A person can’t be saved without certain content. This is why neither a baby nor a person who never hears the name of Christ can actually believe. True belief rests on content, not just sincerity.
A baby, who has not reached the age of personal accountability is not saved by faith alone- they are saved by grace alone. Because they are incapable of understanding the content of our faith they cannot “believe” in that sense of the word.

On the other hand, an Islamic believer may be very sincere but also sincerely wrong. Their faith rests on a different foundation. So Peter says: “There is salvation in no other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” This is what the reformers meant by Noticia.

Secondly, not only must an individual “know” certain things; they must also assent to those things truthfulness.
They must give mental assent to the veracity of what the Bible teaches concerning Christ. This is why Romans 10 tells us “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is the Assensus of faith.

Lastly, there is fiducia or personal reliance. This is what is described in Romans 10:13 when the Holy Spirit says: “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The calling out to a Savior is the personal reliance that seals the deal.
All three of these components of faith are necessary for faith to save. When one or more of these elements is missing, faith is defective and deficient.

Because of grace,
Tim

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As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
I Corinthians 15:22

The New England Primer was the basic reader for most Colonial American’s. Not only did it use phonics- it also incorporated Biblical lessons throughout its pages. It was important to the Puritan settler’s that their children understood the cause of sin and death. All sin, sickness, suffering and ultimately death is the direct result of Adam’s sin and our participation in it.

Today we explore the implications of original sin. What affects has it had on this world? On you and I personally? And more importantly- how can its effects be reversed? Additionally, when will it be reversed?

Evil is real. It is everywhere. It is within each of us as well as propagated by the Evil One. If you doubt the reality of evil just think of 911 and everything that flowed from that momentous day. The taking down of the world trade center towers was an act of pure evil. ISIS is evil. Evil is real. The reason for evil is a deep philosophical and theological question. Why would a pure and holy God allow it to enter His pure and perfect creation?

These questions and more will arise in the text before us. Let us seek the Holy Spirit’s wisdom as we direct our thoughts to these issues.

Because of grace,
Tim

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“I am under obligation both to Greek and to Barbarian” Romans 1:14
When we hear the word “barbarian” we immediately think of someone who is crude, rude and probably violent. When the ancients used the word barbarian it did not immediately have that connotation.
It is true that by the time of the fall of the Roman Empire there was extreme violence by the barbarian hordes, however, this was not the violence of terrorist mobs- rather it was outright invasion by neighboring states that were sick and tired of Roman expansion and were set on ending it.

The word “barbarian” comes from the Greek word “barbarous”. Barbarous is what we call an onomatopoeia- a word that sounds like what it means. Another onomatopoeia would be the word “buzz”- it sounds like what it means. Essentially the word means “to babel”. Thus the concept behind barbarous is someone who speaks a language I can’t understand.
This is evident by Paul’s use of the word in I Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 14:11 Paul says: “but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner (barbarous) to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.”

The entire Roman Empire was united by its use of the Koine (common) Greek language as the trade language of the empire. Every people group maintained its ethnic dialects for interaction in everyday life. However, everyone learned Greek from childhood.
From the gospels, it is clear that Jesus, and most of his contemporaries, were fluent in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. This was common practice all over the empire.

Paul’s statement in Romans 1:14 implies that it is right and proper for Christians to translate Scripture into various languages so that each people group can read Scripture for themselves. It also implies that as language evolves and changes it is proper to contemporize its message into language that is understandable by that generation.

In the last decades there has been a lot of well-meaning push back by conservative Christians against new translations of Scripture. They argue for the use of the old KJV as a matter of conviction fearing that God’s Word is being changed in these new translations.
Now, to be sure, there are many new translations that are sloppy at the least and downright deceptive at the worst. These need to be rejected by serious Bible believers. However, translations produced by solid Biblical Scholarship that upholds a belief in inerrancy are not to be feared, rather they should be embraced as helpful to the growth of God’s kingdom.

We have an obligation to make God’s Word understandable to all- Greek and barbarian.
Because of grace,
Tim

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