One of the things I have been learning recently is how quickly the Lord can humble us. One moment I can feel strong and able and in a swift moment the ability to do things for myself is taken away for a season. It is truly humbling to know and remember how frail we are as humans even though there are moments when we think we are on top of the world. One of the main things that we see in this chapter is the call James gives to the church to humble themselves. The reason they need to humble themselves is because there seems to be a lot of problems at this church. Let’s take a dive. ...
This chapter at first glance seems like it will contradict the teaching of justification in faith alone because of what James says in verses 14-26. James is not teaching something contrary to scripture, but I think what can be summed up is the commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Taking the chapter as a whole, I think that loving your neighbor as yourself will help with both the sin of partiality and showing works that derive from our faith. Let’s dissect this....
Philemon is the third shortest book in the New Testament and being that we are covering the entire book in one shot I will write a little longer than usual. Philemon is probably a man that is wealthy, first because only wealthy people had enough room in their houses to gather multiple people, secondly because he owned a slave. I think it is important to keep in mind that slavery back then was very different to what it used to be as we know it now. According to Benjamin Gladd “In the Greco-Roman world, slaves were granted many rights, such as worshiping, marrying, and making money.” I think it is also worth noting that this book does not condone slavery as we have seen in the very early stages of this country. What we have in this book is a runaway slave and a master who have both been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and what we will see is how the gospel plays a part in that relationship. Some scholars think that Onesimus was either in charge of finances or stole something from Philemon according to (v.18). Onesimus must have done something which caused him to run away from Philemon and he fled to Rome where he came in contact with Paul providentially. It is very possible that Onesimus knew who Paul was and sought him out or Paul knew of Onesimus and called for him. It is not sure but one thing we know is that when Onesimus came to Paul somewhere down the line he got saved (v.10). It seems like once Onesimus was saved he grew immensely very quickly by the way Paul speaks of him. So, what can we glean from this book? Two things....
One of the things I have been learning recently is how quickly the Lord can humble us. One moment I can feel strong and able and in a swift moment the ability to do things for myself is taken away for a season. It is truly humbling to know and remember how frail we are as humans even though there are moments when we think we are on top of the world. One of the main things ...
Keep ReadingThis chapter at first glance seems like it will contradict the teaching of justification in faith alone because of what James says in verses 14-26. James is not teaching something contrary to scripture, but I think what can be summed up is the commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Taking the chapter as a whole, I think that loving your neighbor as y...
Keep ReadingPhilemon is the third shortest book in the New Testament and being that we are covering the entire book in one shot I will write a little longer than usual. Philemon is probably a man that is wealthy, first because only wealthy people had enough room in their houses to gather multiple people, secondly because he owned a slave. I think it is important to keep in mind that s...
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Keep ReadingI think there are very few people who would say that they enjoy it when they are disciplined. I remember being disciplined as a child and it was not fun. That is because being disciplined is uncomfortable and it hurts. Even though it is an uncomfortable thing, we see in this chapter how good it can be through the eyes of God. Here are three things that discipline does....
Keep ReadingIf you remember from the first notes, I sent out on Hebrews we establish that this book has an emphasis on Jesus being THE High Priest. The writer of Hebrews continues by showing us the importance of the sacrifice. We know that every year on the day of atonement the high priest would enter the most holy place, make an animal sacrifice, and then sprinkle the blood of the an...
Keep ReadingNo matter how big a ship is it will still require the use of an anchor. The size of the ship does not matter when it comes to mother nature and the strength of the ocean's current or the winds that blow in storms. Anchors are used to keep a ship on course and to keep it in the same place when the ocean and wind are trying to move it in the opposite direction. In this chapt...
Keep ReadingOne thing that you will notice through the book of Hebrews is a big focus on the office of priest. Jesus is often referred to in this book as the high priest. If you are familiar with the Old Testament, you will know that the office of the high priest was the most important role/job within the Israelite community. ...
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Keep ReadingThis chapter of Hebrews is very humbling, for two main reasons, it shows us the humility of Christ and it shows how much God is mindful of us....
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