Pastor’s Blog

In Galatians 4:21-31 Paul shares that God pours out grace not to those who are attempting faultless obedience to the law (which is impossible), instead His grace is showered on those who rely solely upon what Jesus did at Calvary. Adding anything to the cross of Christ is like pouring raw sewage into pristine water; … Read More

Understanding Paul’s Use of Allegory In Christian culture, a popular allegory can be found in the Chronicles of Narnia movies. Here, the lion Aslan is typically thought of as representing Jesus Christ, even though this is never directly said in the movies themselves. Allegorical interpretation is an interpretive method (exegesis) which assumes that the Bible … Read More

Known “Earlier, before you knew God personally, you were enslaved to so-called gods that had nothing of the divine about them. But now that you know the real God – or rather since God knows you – how can you possibly subject yourselves again to those paper tigers?” (V. 8-9 the Message) “Paper tigers”… different … Read More

Many of the Galatian Christians were idol worshippers before they accepted Christ. In addition, they lived immoral lifestyles which went along with their religion. After accepting Christ many of them still continued in their old religious practices. Paul is now worried about the state of the Galatian Christians because they continue to participate in their … Read More

Paul never viewed the Law as an enemy of God’s plan for salvation (vs. 21). Rather, the Law was put in place to reveal sin and guard God’s people until Christ came (vs. 24). So what are we to do with the Law today? Is it pointless? Is it merely a throwback to a previous … Read More

Interpretation In Galatians three and four, Paul highlights the error of trying to earn righteousness through relying on the Law instead of God’s promises. He parallels the unchangeable nature of man-made covenants like a will to the covenant that God made with Abraham. Wills cannot be altered and neither can God’s way of imputing or … Read More

Use Contrasts to Determine Meaning One useful tool for discovering meaning in literature is the use of contrasts. Whereas comparisons focus on similarities between two words or thoughts found in literature, a contrast focuses on the differences between two words or thoughts. Literary contrast takes dissimilar elements, things, or thoughts that are unlike to make … Read More

Galatians 3:1-14 “Finishing” We all start in the same place: SIN. No one saves themselves. Only our faith in Jesus. But like the Galatians, we become complacent with walls believing they’re just a part of life we have to learn to accept, “I’m stuck in this job, with this addiction, with my past, I’ll never … Read More

In this passage of scripture, Paul talks about the importance of us recognizing that we are not only saved by the Gospel, but we also grow by the Gospel. Paul is stating that we don’t begin by faith and then grow through our works. Verse 2 says, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works … Read More