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You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you Isa 26:3 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Thursday, October 9, 2025
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Overview of the New Testament: The Epistles Bible Verse:Galatians 3:26-28, 5:16-23 (ESV) "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. * * * So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. . . . The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Message:
Galatians might be the oldest book in the New Testament (the other candidates being James and 1 Thessalonians). It was written about 15 years after the crucifixion, to the group of churches that Paul founded on his first journey in south-central Turkey (Acts 13-14). After Paul had returned to Antioch, a number of people began to think up false doctrines and preach them in these churches, particularly “Judaizers,” who claimed that Christians had to become Jews first; the epistle was occasioned by the need to straighten them out.
Rabbit in illuminated Macclesfield Psaltery
There are four major themes in Galatians. First, Paul’s credentials; second, that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised or otherwise follow Jewish ritual; stemming from this, the third and major theoretical point, that Christianity is freedom from the slavery of sin, ethnicity, the law, etc., because we are justified by faith; and finally, the importance of retaining the morality of the old covenant.
1) Paul, not having been a follower of Christ during His human ministry, needed to prove his claim to apostleship. Indeed, many people today (especially those who do not like what he wrote) do not grasp that Paul was an apostle, anointed by Christ himself for the special role of being the “Apostle of the Holy Spirit,” who would bring Christ’s message to the Gentiles. Paul therefore goes into great detail about the circumstances of his ordination and his acceptance as a true first-generation apostle by Peter and the Council of Jerusalem.
2) Many Jews could conceive of Christ only in terms of the fulfillment of the old covenant; they therefore believed that Gentiles needed to become Jewish in order to be baptized and join the church. Judaism involved a great deal more than simply being circumcised (e.g. dietary laws), but circumcision was the tangible sign, and so it is used as a symbol of all the obligations of Judaism. But Judaism had been superseded. The old covenant was historical, not prerequisite. In Christ, all people stand on the same footing: Male or female, Jew or Gentile, king or slave.
Jesus heals a blind man
3) In teaching the reasons underlying the end of righteousness through compliance with Mosaic law (“circumcision”), Paul begins to develop the theological doctrine that would be more fully expressed in Romans. The attempt to find righteousness by complying with laws was (and is) futile. God’s laws of conduct are not completely abandoned, but nobody is capable of perfect compliance. Everybody sins. But through faith in Christ, and faith in Christ alone, our repentance will be sufficient for us to be forgiven and become righteous before God.
4) Finally, Paul touches on the error of antinomianism, the doctrine that we are free to sin all we want, because all sin has been forgiven through the perfect atonement of Christ. He urges the Galatians to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh, reiterating the kinds of sins that Christians will avoid.
Meditation : “Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.” ~ Psalm 146:2 Prayer : The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace, this day and evermore.....Amen. |
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