From time to time, I like to repeat a statement that I once read or heard— “I don’t know how to act my age. I’ve never been this age before.” It’s humorous because while it is silly, it is also true. It can be easy for us to feel the same way about thinking, talking, and acting like saints. We don’t know how.

Father works to make our desires consistent with His own. He does not do this through coercion or manipulation, but rather by compassionately guiding us and demonstrating for us His gentle Love and genuine care. In this way, we become fascinated by the Lord Jesus, bound to Him and captivated by Him. It is from this wonderful place that we should consider the guidance that follows.

Don’t project your New Covenant self onto what the Bible reports about the way God dealt with people under the Old Covenant. The way He interacted with them is not the way He interacts with you.

The word behind “sanctify” (hagiazo) in verse 23 uses a rare form called the optative mood. Out of 28,121 verbs in the New Testament, this form occurs only about 68 times. It is the form used in Romans 6:15 when Paul asks whether we should just keep on sinning since we are not under Law, but under grace. His response is an emphatic “Far from it!” or “God forbid!” This verb form indicates the word is to be applied in the strongest terms. That’s why the translators render it “sanctify you completely.”

To have greater faith, or grow in faith, means coming to believe with greater certainty, and that, to me, is trust. That's why I say “trust gives legs to faith.” It is by growing in our knowledge of Him, His vastness, His character, that our temporal lives are transformed without striving in the flesh.

This is his prayer for the saints of Ephesus, and it is one on which we can pattern prayers of our own. First, we might be reminded that Christ does indeed dwell in our hearts. We don’t see Him there nor physically feel Him, yet by faith we are assured that He is there.

This verse closes out Paul’s lengthy parenthetical comment. It is a bit difficult, and the Greek syntax allows for three potential ways of understanding Paul’s meaning. The best of these, which fits well with his urging them to remain strong despite the difficulties Paul is facing, has a parallel in Philippians 1:27–30

Note here that Paul is saying he is less than the least of all saints because he is deeply grateful for the grace of God. He knows that without grace, his religious righteousness, which looked to be perfect to those around him, was worthless and had him just as hell bound as any other murderer.

Clearly there are things that were said to the Jews primarily for their use, just as some things are said to the Gentiles primarily for our use. But in the end, there is one Gospel that applies to everyone on earth equally and in the same way. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

Before we get too far into this passage, I want to take a moment to talk about this word “dispensation”. I think this is important so that you have some background for the day when someone comes along and starts talking about “rightly dividing” scripture according to dispensations.

Paul, who elsewhere wrote that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free, refers to himself as the prisoner of Jesus Christ. This immediately brings to mind his comments in Romans 6:18 “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”

Sometimes what it says may be unclear. Sometimes what it says is different from what we initially think it says. To figure that out, we examine a particular text using a few rules to help us avoid reading our own ideas into it.

Reading these passages in context, we find Jesus stating that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword. This is very curious since He is called the Prince of Peace.

In a recent article, I wrote that God cursed the ground, but if we read this passage carefully, we see that the ground was cursed because of what Adam had done. So, there is deeper truth here that was not addressed in what I wrote earlier.

In places like 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, we read about works that endure and works that are burned up. This seems concerning and a bit frightening. Here is what I have come to see about this.

I and the Father are One

Father is leading me more and more toward deep and careful study and I am really excited at the prospect of being able to spend more time doing that this year.

In Romans 8:1 a few translations read, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (KJV 1900) Most more modern translations read, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (NASB)

It would be very easy for me to spend my energy refuting errant teaching. I could argue from scripture, call out poor interpretive practices, and criticize exegesis. I could point out scriptures missing from the "proofs" put forward for the doctrine being presented.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christ.
His birth was announced by angels.
They brought good tidings of great joy for all people.