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As we read in Ephesians 4 - Raised in the ways leading to Righteousness, how people are raised will effect how open they are to receiving the gospel, and in turn how close they might get to God.  Basically, people who are raised in the ways of God have a foundation for assessing what is happening when God tugs at their heart; those who are raised outside a God-fearing home will have less such foundation.  Though they have the same need for God as the churched, those who grow up unchurched consequently develop hearts that are hard, insensitive, and dark, when it comes to Jesus Christ. They still …

How we come to righteousness matters.  That is, how we live, where we look, what we do, will determine whether or not we actually come to the point of believing God and obeying him.  This is why Paul writes the following in Ephesians 4:
 17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so …

Following is every verse on righteousness in Galatians.  They show a thorough understanding of righteousness by Paul, and are ordered quite logically.  I present them together, instead of separately because they help explain each other.  They tell the story we’ve been seeing in scripture all year… 
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! - Galatians 2:21

Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” - Galatians 3:6

Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. - Galatians 3:21

But by faith we eagerly await through the …

13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Paul has just finished “boasting” of the purity of his message, and his delivery of it, compared to other preachers who have been coming around to preach “the gospel” to the Corinthians… but a false one.  Based on what Paul is boasting on, my guess is that these other preachers have been making their living off their traveling Jesus show.  But, they are not really concerned about the …

Monday, I said the following scripture needed no commentary.  Well, this morning I changed my mind…
 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
   ”He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
      his righteousness endures forever.” 10Now he who …

Sowing Generously
 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
   ”He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
      his righteousness endures forever.” 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase …

2 Corinthians 6
 1As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2For he says,
   ”In the time of my favor I heard you,
      and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul’s opening for 2 Cor. 6 is interesting.  He has just finished writing 2 Cor. 5, explaining to the Corinthians that the only distance they have from God is Christ.  Whatever distance they have, Christ spans it. He is now their “distance” from God… literally their “sin”.  Truly such a connection to God is by grace, because one could never accomplish it on our …

My post 2 Corinthians 5 - Being Reconciled to God makes a point about Catholism that many protestants make through less direct means, and that is the intercessory nature of saints and priests in one’s walk with God.  Now, I was never Catholic, and mean no insult, especially to whatever degree I might unwittingly misrepresent what Catholics believe.

That said, it is my understanding that Catholics pray TO Mary to intercede for them with God.  They pray TO the saints as well.  Finally, they confess their sins and receive absolution from their priests.  If I have this right, then I would consider these to be unbiblical practices, because it places a …

 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. …

“If Young Earth Creationists are out of their mind, it is for the sake of God; if Old Earth Creationists are in their right mind, it is for you.” — 2 Corinthians 5:13

Okay, I’m kidding.  People who believe in a young earth are not insane, but they are out of their mind… in the way 2 Corinthians 5:13 says.  Oh wait.  That isn’t really 2 Corinthians 5:13, is it?  Sorry about that.  Couldn’t resist.  As much as I emphasize that YECs have admirable faith and should not be converted to being Evolutionists at the cost of their faith and fellowship, the very tension of the Creation debate sometimes finds its release in potentially offensive jokes.  So for that, I apologize.  …