Category Bible Studies

1   Brethren, indeed the delight of my heart and the prayer to God over Israel is into salvation!

αδελφοι η μεν ευδοκια της εμης καρδιας και η δεησις η προς τον θεον υπερ του ισραηλ εστιν εις σωτηριαν

Paul was not at all interested in seeing Israel abandoned to her faithlessness. If Paul had understood the prophets and Christ’s words regarding Israel, to mean that God had finished all dealings with that people, and had replaced them in His plan with the church, as some believe, Paul would not have wasted his prayers...

“Now it was not written for him only, that it was reckoned to him, but also for us to whom it is being reckoned, who believe on Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Who was given up because of our offences and was raised for our justification.”

The essence of the gospel: God’s righteousness shall be imputed to us also if we trust Him Who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, Who was delivered to death for our offences and raised that we may be justified. We must trust the Lord Jesus Christ – Who He is, What He says, What He has done on our behalf. How very simple. How very plain.

Christ died for our sins, He rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will return to judge the living and the dead...

“Is this blessedness then upon the circumcision, or also upon the uncircumcision? For we are saying that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.  How then was it reckoned: in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe, though uncircumcised, that righteousness might be accounted to them also; and the father of circumcision to those, not of the circumcision only, but also to those who walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham while yet uncircumcised...

But to him who is not working, but trusting in the Justifier of the ungodly, his faith is reckoned to him for righteousness, even as also David says the man is blessed to whom God accounts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions were pardoned, and whose sins were covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not be reckoning sin.”

The person who works to justify himself to God is spinning his wheels in sand, digging a progressively deeper pit in which he will become inextricably buried...

Now to him who works the wage is not accounted according to grace, but according to debt; yet to him who is not working, yet believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted to righteousness”

When someone works, he earns his reward; his reward is deserved. Grace is the extension of some benefit which is not deserved. There is no grace in paying someone what they have earned; the wages are owed; they must be paid.

When someone does not work, he earns nothing. Any benefit he receives is undeserved, and imparted through the grace of the one who gives. A man who does not work to earn God’s benefits, but trusts God, has acknowledged God as God when he believes what God has said...

“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No: but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is He the God of the Jews only? And not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God, who shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.”

We know that, if God were to require our justification by the deeds of the law, we would all perish, for we are all guilty of all the law. The Jew cannot claim the Law for his salvation, for he knowingly violates its written precepts. The Gentile cannot hide from the Law for his justification; he is equally guilty and equally condemned. 

But praise be to God, who has justified sinful men, not by our deeds, but by fa...

“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No: but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is He the God of the Jews only? And not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God, who shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.”

Indeed, if all men are proven to be sinful, and every individual of us guilty before God of violating His righteous law, how does anyone have anything of which to boast? Indeed, anyone with a requirement for propitiation is excluded from boasting, for whatever ‘good’ he  might claim to his credit is sullied by the wrong he has committed.

So then, pitiful men must fall upon the grace and mercy of a loving God or suff...