Understanding Paul’s Pattern for the Church
There’s something distinctly beautiful—and often overlooked—about Paul’s approach to building the early Church. When you dive into his letters and missions, one can’t help but notice a pattern that isn’t just about rules or doctrine; it’s about a lived-out grace that shapes community, identity, and purpose in a radically new way. For those of us
Why We Are Not Spiritual Israel
You know, there’s a subtle but critical misunderstanding floating around in some corners of Christianity—that we, as believers in Christ, are somehow the “spiritual Israel.” It sounds catchy, even comforting. After all, Israel is God’s chosen nation, and who wouldn’t want to be part of that prestigious lineage, right? But here’s the kicker: if we
The Mystery of the Body of Christ Not Found in Prophecy
Try as we might, flipping through every prophet’s scroll and peering into every apocalyptic vision, the Body of Christ—the Church as Paul reveals it—just doesn’t show up. It’s not lurking in Isaiah or hanging out with Ezekiel’s wheels. You search in vain, expecting to find the same divine spotlight, the same prophetic build-up, but nope.
How Paul’s Epistles Reveal Our Heavenly Calling
Have you ever paused to think about what Paul was really driving at when he talked about our “heavenly calling”? It’s not some vague, distant invitation to vague spiritual bliss, but a precise, radical reorientation of who we are in Christ. When you dive into Paul’s epistles—letters penned from prison, shipwrecks, and missionary trails—you start
The “Unsearchable Riches of Christ” in Ephesians 3
There is something profoundly staggering about what Paul reveals in Ephesians 3: the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” You don’t often find words like that tossed around—“unsearchable” and “riches” rubbing shoulders in the same phrase, especially coming from a man who’s been beaten, shipwrecked, and imprisoned multiple times for the faith. When Paul uses that kind
The Role of Grace in Sanctification
There’s this common trap I see when people think about sanctification in their walk with Christ—it often ends up feeling like a checklist or a performance test. “Am I doing enough? Am I holy enough?” If you’ve ever felt that way, then you probably know how exhausting that mindset can be. But what if sanctification,
Understanding the Difference Between the Twelve and Paul
There’s this fascinating tension in Scripture when you compare the ministry of the Twelve Apostles to that of Paul. Somehow, many Christians mash them together as if they’re interchangeable, but a closer look reveals two different gears moving the gospel forward in unique ways. And if you’re someone who firmly believes in rightly dividing the
The Gospel of the Uncircumcision vs. Circumcision
You know, the debate over circumcision isn’t just some dusty theological argument—it’s the heartbeat of early Christianity, but also a tension that keeps echoing through the ages. You might have bumped into passages where Paul’s talking about “the gospel of the uncircumcision” and “the gospel of the circumcision” and thought, what’s really going on here?
Why Signs, Wonders, and Healings Ceased
When you dive into the Scriptures with the heart of a grace believer, something startling emerges: the authentic signs, wonders, and miraculous healings we read about star prominently in the Book of Acts, but then… they just seem to vanish in the epistles written later on. Ever wondered why? What’s going on here? This isn’t
The “New Creature” in 2 Corinthians 5:17
I wonder if you’ve ever paused to really chew on what Paul meant by being a “new creature” in 2 Corinthians 5:17. It’s tossed around in Christian circles like a Bible verse that neatly wraps up the whole salvation story—but there’s so much depth that often goes unnoticed. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he