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Rom 2:13 – ‘Those who do the law…will be declared righteous’

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Rom 2:13 – ‘It is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.’

How are we to understand the place of works (‘obedience to the law’) in relation to justification in this passage?

The main options are:-

1. The self-contradiction view – that Paul is drawing on rabbinical thinking here, without bothering to assimilate it into, or reconcile it with, what he will say later about justification by grace. …

Submission, not subordination

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We should speak of ‘submission’, rather than ‘subordination’ when talking about the relationship of God the Son to God the Father.

So argues Robert Letham, in ‘One God in Three Persons‘ (eds. Ware & Starke).

Reason: ‘subordination’ is unilateral.  One person ‘subordinates’ another, who has no choice in the matter.

‘Submission’, on the other hand, is compatible both with equality within the Godhead and order between the diffeent members.  The one who ‘submits’ is a free agent.…

Gal 2, Rom 3 – ‘The works of law’

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The expression ‘the works of law’ (lit. ‘works of law’; NIV: ‘Observing the law’) occurs eight times in Paul’s writings:

Gal 2:16 – We know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.…

How the cross speaks to suffering

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Tim Chester summarises the teaching of John Stott in The Cross of Christ:

1. The cross of Christ is a stimulus to patient endurance. There are times when we must endure suffering as Jesus did at the cross (Heb. 12:1–3; 1 Pet. 2:18–23).

2. The cross of Christ is the path to mature holiness. Suffering can be formative (James 1:2–4), as it was for Jesus (Heb. 2:10; 5:8–9).

3. The cross of Christ is the symbol of suffering service.…

Judges 11:29-40 – Jephthah’s vow

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11:30 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 11:31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites—he will belong to the LORD and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Summary.  This passage appears to teach that Jephthah made a vow that resulted in him killing his own daughter. …

Self sins

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In contrast to the modern tendency to glorify the self, Scripture urges us to beware of the many self-sins to which we are prone.

These include:

1. Self-righteousness or self-trust; as the great hindrance to the acceptance of God’s saviour and salvation (Rom 10:1-3).

2. Self-dependence or self-help. Even after conversion there is a constant tendency to rely upon our own efforts (Gal 2:20; Zech 4:6; Jn 15:4-6).

3. Self-seeking (Jer 45:5; 1 Cor 10:33).…

Trans – a ‘sacred journey’?

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Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is the most high-profile counter-signer of Steve Chalke’s letter to the Prime Minister, which calls for the inclusion of trans people in the proposed ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’.

There is one sentence in particular which has aroused interest:

‘

To be trans is to enter a sacred journey of becoming whole: precious, honoured and loved, by yourself, by others and by God.’

Andrew Bunt has pointed out how this places a Christian veneer over a thoroughly secular outlook.…

2 Thess 1:9 – ‘Eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord’

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2 Thess 1:9 ‘They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength,’

The apostle reassures his readers that God will reward afflicted believers with rest, and that he will punish the afflictors with eternal destruction on the day of judgement.

Two aspects of the present verse are relevant in debates about the duration and nature of eternal punishment.

1. Does ‘eternal destruction’ imply,

(a) everlasting torment, or

(b) annihilation after a period of suffering?…

1 Cor 8 – Puffed up, or built up? – sermon notes

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1 Corinthians 8 – Puffed up, or built up?

Eating food that has been sacrificed to idols doesn’t seem very relevant to us today.

But behind that presenting problem are a number of ever-relevant underlying issues.

First – a bit of background.

Corinth – a temple on every corner, a god for every occasion.

Marriages, birthdays, funerals, banquets and public festivals were preceded by the sacrificing of food to the gods in order to gain their favour and protection.…

Jn 21:1-25 – “Do you love me?” – sermon notes

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John 21:1-25

(Notes of a sermon preached a number of years ago, revised and re-preached recently.)

The dentist had just finished fitting the bishop out with a complete set of new teeth.  As soon as the dentist had finished, the bishop went over to a mirror.  And as he looked at himself and inspected his mouthful of fine teeth, he said, “Jesus Christ.”  And again: “Jesus Christ.”  The dentist was surprised to hear such profane language coming from a man of the cloth. …