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Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us Eph 3:20 |
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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. Monday, January 19, 2026
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Joy to Come Bible Verse: Galatians 3:2-5 (BSB) "I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?" Message:
Now that we have sensitized ourselves to the dangers of “eisegesis” — reading our own thoughts into the Bible — we can examine instances where we can correctly extend the meaning of a teaching beyond its literal limits. Oddly, as we see in Galatians 3, a question is not generally such an opportunity. There is only one correct answer to each of Paul’s five “rhetorical” questions in this passage.
Angel outside tomb of Jesus
But we must be able to extend the meaning of the term “in the flesh,” because it immediately evokes Judaism’s most vivid symbol: circumcision. On a broader level, flesh symbolizes an act of a human being living in the physical world; Jews seek to obtain righteousness before God by complying with the law, and compliance with the law consists of physical acts. So “in the flesh” signifies actual circumcision — there were people trying to get Gentile converts to be circumcised after they had already received the Spirit. But it also signifies a broader principle, trying to become justified by following the law, or even more broadly, “by relying on ourselves.”
People do get the answer wrong, at least in practice, today as then. We recognize at our baptism, or confirmation, or whenever we become fully convicted, that we receive the Holy Spirit by our faith in Christ. And thereafter, we certainly try to avoid sin. But in trying to avoid sin, we must not fall into the trap of thinking that how well we behave is the source of our salvation.
The path is narrow. On the one side, we have the error of thinking that our good deeds will get us into heaven; and on the other side is the error of “cheap grace,” the attitude that once we are saved we can slack off and simply rely on the atonement of our sins.
Getting back to our passage, Paul finishes his argument with a rhetorical question that encapsulates the major theme of Galatians: We are saved from our sin by hearing and believing, not by following the law.
Meditating on this can bring us to a remarkable insight. Say we have a problem with pornography and lust, or with buying expensive things we don’t need. The answer is not simply to try to stop our activity and put it out of our mind. It is not even fully answered by praying to God, to send us a spirit to help, as he promises He will do (1 Cor. 10:13).
We must resort to the gospel itself; ultimately our problems with sin have a spiritual nature and therefore require a spiritual healing.
When we sin, there is something in us, some need, that we feel is not being fulfilled. If we are watching dirty movies, or have a hundred pairs of expensive shoes but want to go shopping for more, there is something missing in our lives. We are looking to the world to save us from something: and the path to overcoming persistent sin is to know more fully the true source of our salvation and joy, the crucified Christ.
Meditation : Prayer : Now that we have sensitized ourselves to the dangers of “eisegesis” — reading our own thoughts into the Bible — we can examine instances where we can correctly extend the meaning of a teaching beyond its literal limits. Oddly, as we see in Galatians 3, a question is not generally such an opportunity. There is only one correct answer to each of Paul’s five “rhetorical” questions in this passage. Angel outside tomb of Jesus But we must be able to extend the meaning of the term “in the flesh,” because it immediately evokes Judaism’s most vivid symbol: circumcision. On a broader level, flesh symbolizes an act of a human being living in the physical world; Jews seek to obtain righteousness before God by complying with the law, and compliance with the law consists of physical acts. So “in the flesh” signifies actual circumcision — there were people trying to get Gentile converts to be circumcised after they had already received the Spirit. But it also signifies a broader principle, trying to become justified by following the law, or even more broadly, “by relying on ourselves.” People do get the answer wrong, at least in practice, today as then. We recognize at our baptism, or confirmation, or whenever we become fully convicted, that we receive the Holy Spirit by our faith in Christ. And thereafter, we certainly try to avoid sin. But in trying to avoid sin, we must not fall into the trap of thinking that how well we behave is the source of our salvation. The path is narrow. On the one side, we have the error of thinking that our good deeds will get us into heaven; and on the other side is the error of “cheap grace,” the attitude that once we are saved we can slack off and simply rely on the atonement of our sins. Getting back to our passage, Paul finishes his argument with a rhetorical question that encapsulates the major theme of Galatians: We are saved from our sin by hearing and believing, not by following the law. Meditating on this can bring us to a remarkable insight. Say we have a problem with pornography and lust, or with buying expensive things we don’t need. The answer is not simply to try to stop our activity and put it out of our mind. It is not even fully answered by praying to God, to send us a spirit to help, as he promises He will do (1 Cor. 10:13). We must resort to the gospel itself; ultimately our problems with sin have a spiritual nature and therefore require a spiritual healing. When we sin, there is something in us, some need, that we feel is not being fulfilled. If we are watching dirty movies, or have a hundred pairs of expensive shoes but want to go shopping for more, there is something missing in our lives. We are looking to the world to save us from something: and the path to overcoming persistent sin is to know more fully the true source of our salvation and joy, the crucified Christ. |
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