I was just studying Galatians and here are my notes from it.
Summary
Paul sent by God not man. Don’t trust any other gospel. Paul sent to uncircumcised Gentiles. We have freedom in Christ. Circumcision is not necessary for Gentiles. Peter, James and John sent to the circumcised. Paul confronted Cephas for being a hypocrite in how he avoided the Gentiles when others were watching. We are justified through faith in Christ not through works or the law. Spirit is received through faith not works of the law. Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. If we believe then we are adopted and heirs to the promise. It is for freedom that Christ has set up free. Flesh vs Spirit. Carry each other’s burdens. Harvest rewards. What counts is that you are a new creation.
According to the notes of my NIV Thomas Nelson Bible, James wrote his letter mainly to the Jewish Christ believers, because there is no mention of slavery or idolatry, and the letter reflects Jewish thought and expressions. It is estimated that he wrote his letter between AD 46-49. James was concerned about these believers from succumbing to impatience, bitterness, materialism, disunity and spiritual apathy. He addressed these issues in his letter in practical ways. James continued to be a practicing or traditional Jew and so there is an emphasis on works in his letter.
I like how the notes explain that Romans 4 and James 2 are just two sides of the same coin.
Paul writes in Romans that we are justified before God through faith, while James writes that our works are evidence of this faith before people. It makes sense to me that Christians obey and do works of faith not to earn salvation or justification, that is already given through Christ, but the works Christian do comes out of a thankful heart of receiving this gift.
Here's my chapter summary list.
1. Persevere. All good gifts are from God. Human anger is flawed. Listen and obey.
2. Faith = Works. Believing God exists is not enough. Even demons believe that.
3. Watch what you say. Watch what's in your heart.
4. Our desires causes arguments. Submit to God. Resit the devil. Do the good you know you should do. No promise of tomorrow. Confess your sins to one another.
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Many false prophets and teachers are popping up these days who take the Bible verses out of context, yet they claim to have the real truth. Even Satan quoted scripture when he tempted Jesus. Not everyone who quotes the Bible truly knows God, nor truly understand the finished work of Christ on the cross. Not everyone who calls Jesus Lord is of God. Even those who perform miracles in Jesus' name could be very far from him.
False prophets and teachers claim to have isolated and unique revelations from Go. They do not adhere to any long standing faith based Christian community where they can be held accountable. Often they aim to be creators of their own community with themselves as the top leader. Watch out for them. You will know them by their fruit.
The book "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart is teaching me to take a different approaching in reading Paul's letters to the churches. This book has made me aware that most often people read the ENTIRE letter when received, especially a hand written letter that took a long time to send with urgent matters, rather than read it sentence by sentence over weeks or months like some (including myself) often have done in reading the Bible. This time around, I've tried to read 1st Corinthians as a whole, and not only focus on just parts of it, or pick out verses out of context. In his letters, Paul often responds to issues or questions that were brought up. It's good to try to understand the big picture before you zoom into the details. I'm also hoping not only will this way of reading help you and I understand the Bible more, but that it will help us better remember where things are found in specific areas of the Bible.
So, here's my simple list to see 1st Corinthians as a whole.
1st Corinthians has 16 chapters and this is how I summarize each one.
- Division
- Wisdom of God
- Co-Workers with God
- Power of God
- Incest
- Sexual Immorality
- Marriage
- Food idols
- Run for the prize
- Don't grumble
- Traditions of head covering
- Gifts
- Love
- Tongues. Orderly worship
- Resurrection
- Final Greetings
I'm still trying to discover how much of this letter is to the Corinthian church and how much of it is to the church as a whole, meaning, to us. How much of this is descriptive and how much of it is prescriptive? I'm discovering not everything in the Bible is prescriptive, meaning, not everything applies to us to do today. For obvious examples, should we worry ourselves in doing the following of what Paul wrote? "Greet Rufus", "Greet one another with a holy kiss" or "When you come, bring the cloak that I left". We know clearly
2nd Corinthians one line chapter summaries.
- God of comfort. Share in suffering. Firm in Christ. Seal of ownership.
- Forgiveness. Don't let Satan outwit you. Aroma of Christ.
- Letters of recommendation is the church. Glory of the new covenant. Freedom in the Spirit.
- God's light in our hearts. Jars of clay. Pressed but not crushed.
- Awaiting the New Body. Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.
- Co-workers. Hardships. We are the temple of God.
- Purify ourselves. Godly sorrow brings repentance.
- Christian Sharing & Equality
- Give generously. God loves a cheerful giver.
- Demolish strongholds. Build Up.
- False prophets. Satan fakes it. Boast in our weakness.
- Paul's thorn in his flesh. God's grace is sufficient.
- Build each other up.
The song "Freedom Reigns" by Jesus Culture Music has the following verse in its song.
2 Corinthians 3:17
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
The song "I'm Trading My Sorrows" by Darrel Evans includes parts of the following verses.
2 Corinthians 4:7-11
"7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. "
Hi, I’m glad you’ve stopped by. Below you will find my journey to faith. From knowing about Jesus, to knowing Jesus personally. From believing that he existed, to believing and putting my trust in him. This invitation to know him is available to you. I hope my story encourages you. I heard that even demons believe God exists and they tremble. It's not enough to know he exists, you need to put your trust in him like you put your trust in the chair you're sitting in, or like one trusts a parachute when they're skydiving.
My Journey to Faith
I was born in Poland to a traditionally Roman Catholic family. Growing up I was surrounded by my loving family and friends. I watched my dear grandmother pray on her knees in the evenings, and my aunt serving the Lord through sewing and church activities.
We attended church, and by the time I was around eight years old, I was in line for my first communion along with the rest of the students in my class. We were taught about the deadly sins, virtues and the ten commandments. It was a lot for an 8 year old to try to understand. Overall it instilled in me a fear of the Lord, and a fear of the Priest. We were taught that if we opened our mouths and stuck our tongues out too much to receive the communion, then the Priest had the right to refuse us communion. I managed to do it right, and I was not rejected. What a terrible way to teach a child if you do not perform correctly you do not deserve to receive the love of God.
Soon after my family moved to Canada. We kept the traditions of breaking bread for Easter, attending midnight mass, occasionally going to confession and celebrating Christmas with lots of food and presents. The traditions were there, but it did not seem like God was very close. The family was busy with work and school.
By my early teens I questioned everything. I also attended a martial arts class called Taekwondo at an evangelical church. Only later, I found out this class was a Christian outreach ministry.
One evening after a class, one of the black belt leaders approached me and asked if I was a born again Christian. I told him that I was a Catholic, and that I know about Jesus. He insisted about truly knowing Jesus, and about believing in Him. He told me to wait as he ran off somewhere. He quickly came back with a little Red Gideons Bible in his hand. He gave it to me and told me to read John chapter 3. I was surprised by his offer, and told him that I already had my Polish Catholic Bible at home. He gave it to me anyways, and I received it. Soon after I opened both Bibles at home, and read John chapter 3 in both languages. I wanted to make sure this new English Bible was the same as my trusted Polish one. It was!
I was surprised by the simplicity of these readings and how I was never taught this before. It’s in the Bible. It did not say you had to do this and that, and then more of that, and make sure you don’t upset the Priest to be saved, but it simply said “BELIEVE” in Jesus.
I contemplated: Did I truly believe or was I just going through the motions of traditions.
I wanted to truly believe.
I gained an interest in reading the Bible that evening, and soon after I discovered a guided sinners prayer with a commitment to faith in Jesus form at the back of the Gideons Bible. I read it, prayed through it, filled it out and signed it. It helped me make my repentance and faith official. No one knew I did this, except God. Jesus and his word became alive to me.
He began transforming my heart to see how present and how much he really cares about my life personally, and not about how many traditions I keep or do not keep. He also showed me there was more to life then pursuing fun and parties.
The Bible says, there is now no condemnations for those who are in Christ Jesus. Many people think that Christians do good works to gain access to God, but the gift of eternal life is a gift. You cannot work for a gift, or it would no longer be a gift. Often people hold on to traditions as if they will bring them closer to God, but often I think it gives a false sense of security. You can go through the motions without trusting Jesus with your life. Traditions have special places in our hearts, but we are not saved by them. Even Jesus said, in Mark chapter 7, that the pharisees nullified the Word of God by their traditions.
I strive to obey and serve the Lord not out of fear of rejection, but out of thankfulness for what he has already done for me.
People looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
I am so thankful to God for the gift of that Gideon Bible, and for the interest of this faithful Christian who encourage me to read it, and to be spiritually born in Christ. To this day he does not know how much he has impacted my life through this one gesture. One day I will tell him in heaven, if I don’t find him here. Praise be to God, for His love and faithfulness is eternal.
That's my story of my first intentional steps into faith in a nut shell.
Soon after I got a drivers license and I went to the Catholic church all alone. I did not know where else I was supposed to go. At church I often endured the formalities of the mass, and the long descriptions of the Priest's golf experiences, just to hear him read and explain the Bible.
One Sunday, as I looked around the church, many people looked like they were falling asleep. As I walked through this hallway on my way out of the church, I walked past a giant picture of Mary with wooden structures in front of it where one can kneel and pray to Mary. At that point and even now, I did not find any place in the Bible that we should be praying to Mary. Mary was not divine and sinless, only Jesus is that. It all seemed off and incorrect. Then I went out through the door just to walk past a whole bunch of young people my age smoking and swearing just outside the doors of the church. I stopped going to that church.
However, God never let go of me. I discovered a Christian radio station, Praise 106.5 FM, that helped me grow in my faith. There I discovered Christian music and preachers who explained the Bible very well. I also had one Christian friend, then later two and more. I ended up going to Youth Ministry, and then of course I started dreaming up of marrying a Christian boy.
I'll stop my story now.
It has been an amazing journey in learning what it means to be a Christian. I want to use this website to share the amazing things I've experienced because of God. I cannot keep it a secret. He is so so good, and I'm convinced it is not right of me to receive the joy, the peace, the freedom, and purpose and not to share it with you.
I pray that you will be greatly blessed, and see that the Lord loves you more than you can imagine, and that he has many plans for you if you choose to join him in creating a miracle in and through you.
