Look at the Book

When Paul talks about waging the good warfare, what does he mean? Where is the battle — and who are the combatants?

Paul handles glories all the time, touching majesty in almost every line. Yet what kind of reality compels Paul into a soaring doxology? Eternal life.

Why did God allow Paul, whom he would later call as an apostle, to become a Christ-persecutor and Christian-killer first?

By his grace, God unites believers with Christ, and from that vital union, the Christian life of faith and love flows forth.

Paul says that he received mercy because he “acted ignorantly in unbelief.” What does that mean? Did Paul’s ignorance merit God’s mercy?

We live the Christian life in the strength of another. When we believe, Christ not only saves us but also empowers us for fruitful labor.

The happiness of the triune God beats at the very heart of reality: the Father has always delighted in the Son by the Spirit. All Christian joy finds its wellspring here.

What is healthy teaching? Teaching that fits with the gospel, agrees with the words of Jesus, and promotes the hearers’ godliness.

God’s old-covenant law is good, but it can be applied in bad ways — such as by demanding that those justified by faith in Christ must keep it.

What does the state of our heart have to do with the content of our speech? Everything.

In his word, God has laid out his household plan, which aims to cultivate love, faith, and purity in his people. Do you know what that plan is?

What separates sound doctrine from speculations? Sound doctrine serves godliness, accords with the gospel, and agrees with the words of Jesus.

Christians experience — not simply know — that God is our Father and Jesus is our Lord by the indwelling witness of the Holy Spirit.

Some relationships run much deeper than blood. The bond between a spiritual father and his children is forged in Christ and lasts forever.

Christians love to refer to Jesus as our Savior. But what exactly does Jesus save us from?

Why does Paul begin his letter to Timothy by identifying himself not only as an apostle, but as an apostle “by command of God”?

When Paul argues that he is an authentic apostle of Jesus, he points to the marks of persecution written on his flesh.

Faith results in two wonderful blessings for the believer: a new standing before God and a new life empowered by the Spirit.

Why should Christians boast only in the cross? Because everything that we have as believers comes through the cross.

Only Christ can take an instrument of death and make it the place where a new creation comes into being. The way of life runs through the cross.

What does Paul mean when he says that the world has been crucified to him and he to the world? He no longer trusts and treasures the world. He trusts and treasures Christ.

Legalism in Paul’s day and legalism in our own day share a similar root: the desire to impress fellow humans.

We may think that what we do with money matters little, but Paul teaches that where we choose to invest has eternal consequences.

The New Testament treats much boasting as sinful, but it also calls us toward a holy kind of boasting. So, how should Christians boast?

Do not determine the value of your work by comparing yourself with others. God calls each person to unique acts of faith, and comparison sours and spoils that calling.

What is “the law of Christ” — and how does our fulfilling of this law relate to justification by faith alone?

Christian love is not passive. When love sees a brother or sister caught in sin, it does not shrink away but confronts in order to renew and restore.

If Christians have the Spirit of God leading and guiding them, why does the New Testament issue over four hundred commands to obey?

Those made alive by the Spirit will keep in step with the Spirit. They will walk by the Spirit, sow to the Spirit, bear the fruit of the Spirit.

If the fruit of the Spirit is a miracle that God produces in his people, what can we do to cultivate that fruit?

How do Christians inherit the kingdom of God? Not by our work or merit, but by our union with the Son of God and offspring of Abraham.

If you live in sin, practice sin, and die in sin, you won’t go to heaven. You won’t be happy with God forever.

How does God give us victory over the desires of the flesh? He reshapes and reorients our desires by his Spirit.

Competing desires war within every Christian — desires of the flesh and of the Spirit. How can we refuse to gratify what our flesh wants?

If Christians are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and if he guides and controls us, are we simply spiritual robots?

All Christians should walk by the Spirit. But how? How do we experience the powerful, omnipotent, merciful, all-wise leading of the Spirit of God?

Paul says that the law is fulfilled in the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” But how does such love fulfill the whole law?

What does it mean to love your neighbors as yourself? It means you seek their good with the same passion with which you seek your own, and you find your joy in theirs.

What prevents us from using our freedom in Christ as an opportunity to indulge the flesh? A life of faith is the opposite of a life in the flesh.

When God sovereignly calls us, he opens our eyes to see and embrace the beauty of Jesus. And that call grants freedom from obeying the law as a means of being justified.

Why does Paul use such shocking language against the false teachers in Galatia — and how should his rebuke inform the way we speak?

Why is the cross so offensive to fallen man? Because the cross declares that no amount of human effort or law-keeping can make us right with God.

More than once, how Paul feels toward certain Christians increases his confidence in their salvation. How does that kind of confidence work?

A little leaven, even just a little, leavens the whole lump. Mix a little law with the gospel, and you surrender the ground of grace.

What kind of faith unites us to Christ so that we are counted righteous before God? The faith that bears the fruit of love.

The church may be mocked, accused, and slandered now. But a day is coming when God will silence any doubt about his people’s righteousness.

When Paul talks about being severed from Christ, does he imply that true Christians can lose their salvation?

Those who seek to be justified by the law sever themselves from Christ, fall away from grace, and commit eternal suicide.

The law cannot be divided — break but the smallest commandment, and you are guilty of all. We cannot be right with God through the law.

If you claim works as part of the basis of being right with God, you trade grace for law, and you cancel every blessing of Christ from your life.