Exegetical Meditations (9)

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7, ESV)

Here Paul writes that God’s mercy comes from “the great love with which he loved us” (v. 4). Not only that, but God loved us “whenwe were dead in our trespasses” (v. 5a). That’s what mercy is.

Exegetical Meditations (8)

Traditions are a funny thing within the context of the Christian religion. It can easily serve as a helpful guide when determining faithful orthodoxy and orthopraxy. It can also easily serve as an unhelpful guide when it holds an authority over the voice of God.

When the Pharisees came to Jesus in Mark 7 they brought with them a question of how Jesus’s disciples were or were not following in the footsteps of the established tradition.

Exegetical Meditations (7)

One of the wonderful things about the New Testament and the gospels in particular is the way in which the personalities of the writers remain intact through the inspiration of God. God could have just as easily decided to strip the writers’ style and tell them exactly what to write in each instance because we know he’s done that elsewhere. However, for his own good and perfect purpose, he has decided to allow Matthew to sound like Matthew and Luke to sound like Luke.

Exegetical Meditations (6)

Although being quite different from the context we live in (we’re in the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant), Jesus’s exhortation to the Pharisees in Mark 7 is quite helpful to us as we examine our lives in light of what the New Testament teaches.

There’s no doubt the Pharisees talked a good game. The problem, however, was that they did not always live according to what they said.

Exegetical Meditations: God's Work of Forgiveness

It’s a shame when some see the work of God in the world and yet miss God being a part of that work. Worse yet is to be upset with someone being used by God because they can’t possibly be doing what God has asked them to do.

In Matthew 9:1-8 is the famous story of Jesus forgiving and healing the paralytic who was carried in by people as he lay on his bed. After Jesus forgave the man on his bed, the scribes who were there said this was a blasphemous thing to do.

Exegetical Meditations: Is God Looking Out for Me?

I’ve know God loves me but does he care for me?

This is the feeling a lot of Christians have at one point or another (or at many points) in their lives. We can struggle with the idea that God really does care for us—even down to the day-to-day things we go through. I think we struggle because we know God loves us (this is a given in the Bible) but then uncomfortable and even horrible things happen to us, so we compartmentalize a little bit. We recognize and do business with the fact that God loves us but then (when the uncomfortable or horrible things happen) we wonder if God cares about what we’re going through.

Exegetical Meditations (3)

Romans 8:1 reads, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It’s Paul’s blatant statement that, for those who are in Jesus, condemnation no longer exists. A similar (albeit opposite) point is made by John in his gospel when he writes, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).