Tag: freedom

What kind of church? A free church (1 Corinthians 9)

We sometimes get into disputes about how Christians are to relate to “The Law”.  Are we under Law or under grace?  Now, for obvious reasons, there doesn’t tend to be much discussion or debate about whether or not we are under any requirement to not murder or steal.  So, the focus when it comes to… Continue reading What kind of church? A free church (1 Corinthians 9)

This is Paul signing off

We are coming to the end of Paul’s letter. If he had leapt quite abruptly into the challenging stuff at the beginning without the extended prayers, thanksgiving and commendations we get used to with his other letters, it also finishes fairly abruptly without the personal greetings we find in other letters such as in Romans… Continue reading This is Paul signing off

Reaping what you sow

This next section reinforces the point that we’ve seen developed through chapter 5-6, we cannot fix our lives and our relationship to God by making external adjustments to our behaviour through rule keeping and rituals.  Instead, our lives will bear fruit in accordance with the roots. A look at the text (Read Galatians 6:7-10) An… Continue reading Reaping what you sow

Misrepresentation

In Galatians 2, Paul talks about the circumcision party who had previously caused trouble in Antioch as those who “came from James.” The implication there may have been that James himself was endorsing their position.  However, that isn’t necessarily the case.  In 5:11, Paul is himself  compelled, to deny and refute that he was a… Continue reading Misrepresentation

Fruitful

So, if Christians are to be godly and to say no to sinful desires and temptation? How are we meant to go about that? Paul has been clear throughout that it isn’t by legalistic means or ritual that we pursue godliness.Is there a better way? A look at the text (Galatians 5:22-25) Paul contrasts “works… Continue reading Fruitful

Fleshly

Paul has set up a contrastbetween Flesh/human sinful nature and The Spirit/Life in the Spirit.  He now spells out in detail what those types of life look like. A look at the text (Galatians 5:19-21) Paul says that “the works of the flesh/human sinful nature are obvious”.  It doesn’t take too much to work out… Continue reading Fleshly

What am I paying for if I open a bank account with you?

The Nigel Farage and Coutts saga highlights something significant about our culture.  My friend Steve Kneale also wrote about the saga here and he takes a much stronger line that Coutts were morally wrong to close Farage’s account and were discriminating against him. My position would be that, yes they were discriminating against him but… Continue reading What am I paying for if I open a bank account with you?