Paul's Letters

Ephesians 4 seems to be a passage with which leaders freely engage in pick and choose. We like the fact that God has given us gifts, but we are selective as to which ones he continues to give. We agree...

Ephesians 4 paints a picture of the body of Christ united - with each member living a healthy, mature life, exercising their gifts for mutual benefit. Evangelical like to disparage their Catholic brothers...

Ephesians 3 closes with Paul's prayer for the Ephesian believers. What if we were in the habit of praying such things for one another in the body of Christ. Not just as leaders who those under our mentoring...

Ephesians 3 opens with Paul's confident description of his calling. It's clear, focused, rooted in God's eternal purposes, and actionable. Paul is an architect for the church - the vehicle for unified...

We're familiar with Ephesians 2. Especially the section on being saved by grace through faith. We like that - especially in evangelical circles. We hate to think of anyone getting into the kingdom of...

Ephesians 1 ends with some words about power. Paul describes the power that God showed in raising Jesus from the dead, elevating him to his right hand, and granting him dominion over everything. That...

Paul starts Ephesians with a reminder to the church that God has everything under his control. God not only saw everything from eternity past, he planned it. Christ's redemption, our response of faith...

There's a great deal of fear in the evangelical church about legalism and works-oriented faith. Yet in the final chapter of Romans, Paul emphasizes obedience as the defining evidence that the Gospel...

To a young church in Rome struggling with issues of unity between Jews and Greeks, Paul's final warning is clear - "watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way." You would...

The final chapter of Romans is a Greet-fest. It's filled with a litany of those who have labored with Paul and personal greetings to those in Rome who presumably came in some way through Paul's ministry...

Often skimmed over in Romans 15 is a clear hermeneutic for reading the Old Testament. Paul states that "everything that was written in the past was to teach us." The Old Testament, its characters and...

Though Romans is often treated as a great treatise on the Gospel, chapter 15 provides a clear insight into Paul's agenda for writing to the church in Rome. He appeals to the Jewish believers there to...

Romans 14 is a classic passage dealing with Christian liberty and how we express it in community. Paul gives some clear basic principles. First, he starts with the principle of acceptance. We are to...

Paul ends chapter 14 of Romans with a command to not "think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." Referring back to chapter 12, this is a part of the renewed way of thinking that God seeks...

The second half of Romans 14 speaks about love and its relationship to relational commandments. Paul mentions adultery, murder, stealing, and coveting. And he offers a rather provocative principle...