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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

685. Is Everything in the Bible Written to Us Directly?

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Everything within God’s written Word is there for a reason. Sometimes this can cause Christians to assume that everything within each passage is somehow meant to be applied directly to our lives. God must have some sort of secret meaning or hidden message that we need to tap into in order for us to gain wisdom for our current situation or for the next step in our lives. Millions of sermons continue to be built upon this premise. Often, we’re trying to figure out how to make “verses” relevant for us today, but there are times when that isn’t why it was written. Our conversation this week revolves around the importance of context within the Scriptures. Not only the context of the passage, but the context of the two primary covenants upon which the entire Bible is based upon.



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EXTRA: On this week's podcast Kap mentioned a public speaking appearance of his from last year. Here is his 40 minute message on YouTube.


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681. 1 John 1:9 (Part 5) When a “Verse” Is Taken out of Context

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There may be dozens of passages contained in New Covenant writings from the apostles about God’s permanent forgiveness that came through the cross of Christ, but frequently they are resisted by people who will stumble over a single “verse” which may appear to contradict the good news. 1 John 1:9 is just one example when it is not understood in the proper context with the rest of the gospel. When this scenario occurs, we should compare the verse in question and consider why it isn’t lining up with the other passages. After all, we’re growing in our understanding of God’s grace and the powerful message of the gospel.

Other examples include the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus was hammering the Mosaic law to Jewish people. Here He told them they would not be forgiven unless they first forgave others. How does that match up with the cross? It doesn’t. The “sermon” was not the gospel because there was no blood in it. That statement by Jesus was completely contrary to what the Apostle Paul stated on more than one occasion about our forgiveness after the cross (because two different covenants were being ministered between Jesus and Paul). Jesus was pointing out their inability to attain righteousness and forgiveness by what they do.

People will often say, “the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins.” In context, Jesus said the Spirit would convict the world of sin “because they do not believe in me.” Unbelievers need to understand the sin problem they were born into and why a Savior is needed. But Jesus said the Spirit would convict believers of righteousness. That’s who we are in Him… the righteousness of God, cleansed and perfected by His blood… no longer seeking His forgiveness over and over but living in it as we’re renewed day by day through the very life of God within us.



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633. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 4): We Can Learn from Adam’s Mistake

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Part 4 of our series includes some final thoughts about Adam and the fall that took place in the beginning. We often still struggle with the same thing as Adam, but the good news is we’ve been provided with a solution since the cross. We can avoid the tree that forced humankind to live for centuries by The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God always wanted His creation to live by His life, which we can do now that we’ve been placed in Christ. Next week we’ll talk about Abraham and how he made faith possible for a multitude of generations to come.



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In this episode we briefly reminisced about our past days in Christian radio, and some of the grace-based songs we used to play. We specifically mentioned these two songs that we both really like.



632. Adam’s Temptation to Be More Like God

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This week we get rolling with our series of summarizing the Scripture with the purpose of helping us to shrink the Bible into one big picture, so to speak, in order to connect some dots and how the Word is primarily a picture of Jesus Christ. Adam’s temptation revolved around the desire to be wise and more like God. The serpent challenged him on the basis of identity, much like the devil did with Jesus in the wilderness. One chose not to believe God and failed (Adam). The other chose to believe the truth and overcame (Jesus). We are challenged in a similar way today when it comes to our identity in Christ.



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632. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 3): Adam’s Temptation to Be More Like God

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This week we get rolling with our series of summarizing the Scripture with the purpose of helping us to shrink the Bible into one big picture, so to speak, in order to connect some dots and how the Word is primarily a picture of Jesus Christ. Adam’s temptation revolved around the desire to be wise and more like God. The serpent challenged him on the basis of identity, much like the devil did with Jesus in the wilderness. One chose not to believe God and failed (Adam). The other chose to believe the truth and overcame (Jesus). We are challenged in a similar way today when it comes to our identity in Christ.



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630. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 2)

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We continue to lay the foundation for our series, as we look at some key parts of the Bible that led from Adam to Jesus, and then to the New Covenant. Is everything written specifically to us today or was it simply given as a reference point to help us see the redemptive plan God had for man all along? What motivated Adam to make the wrong choice? Why did God give Moses the law, and why did the Israelites agree to the (old) covenant? Are the Psalms and Prophets telling us how to seek comfort in our lives, or were they more about pointing Israel to the Messiah, who had not yet appeared? What was is it about the Old Testament that had convinced some of the Jews that Jesus was that Messiah? What was the purpose of Jesus’ ministry and when did the New Covenant begin? We’ll be covering some of this and more in future programs, after this week’s second half of our introduction.



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629. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 1)

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This will be the first program in a series where we will focus on key points in the Scripture with the goal of helping us to see the bigger picture when it comes to the Bible. Our primary stops on the route will include Adam, Abraham, Moses and the law, the Psalms and the Prophets, and also Jesus and the New Covenant. The idea is to step back from the many trees (verses) that are often taken out of context in order to gain a better view of the forest and help summarize the Biblical map. Ultimately, our hope with this series is to gain an improved understanding of the gospel and God’s Word as a whole.



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629. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 1)

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This will be the first program in a series where we will focus on key points in the Scripture with the goal of helping us to see the bigger picture when it comes to the Bible. Our primary stops on the route will include Adam, Abraham, Moses and the law, the Psalms and the Prophets, and also Jesus and the New Covenant. The idea is to step back from the many trees (verses) that are often taken out of context in order to gain a better view of the forest and help summarize the Biblical map. Ultimately, our hope with this series is to gain an improved understanding of the gospel and God’s Word as a whole.



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628. Thinking Outside of the Verses

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This week’s program continues on the topic of context among the forest of Bible verses. Christians have been trained to think of the Bible as one book, when in fact, it is made up of many different books recorded over hundreds and even thousands of years. We’re not saying it’s wrong to memorize individual verses, but they should always be considered within the context of the passage, the gospel, the New Covenant, and the Bible as a whole. We touch quickly on a few examples that you may have heard from a different perspective than what the context is communicating. These include: the law of shaving thy face; you will know them by their fruits; this is the day the Lord has made; and the tithing verse from the book of Hebrews.



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627. Bible Verses Versus Bible Context

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Chapters and verses in the Bible were added by publishers for reference purposes. It’s a handy tool in being able to locate specific passages in Scripture. Most of us have been taught to memorize by these individual verses, but there is an element of danger in doing this — it risks the assumption that a complete thought from the writer is contained with an individual verse. The writer may be communicating a point that is being shared over the course of many verses, or even several chapters. Plucking verses out of context not only leads to a misunderstanding of the passage, but of the gospel itself. This practice can cause Christians to slip into confusion and even despair, while often leading people into religious cults. While all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, this isn’t to be assumed that everything in the Bible is meant to be applied to us in a direct, personal way. Our understanding of the written Word will grow as we rightly divide this Word of Truth… not only from the context of the passage, but of the context of the gospel from a New Covenant perspective.



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608. Jews, Gentiles and the Gospel

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Today in the New Covenant, Jew and Gentile have been merged together as one. However, gaining an understanding of the separation or the differences between them prior to the cross will help us to see a clearer picture of the gospel, and why Jesus ministered (to the Jews) in the way that He did. Because it is often erroneously assumed by Christians today that Jesus was always ministering a New Covenant teaching that was meant for everyone, believers will lack understanding that references to Gentiles were simply non-Jewish people — those born outside of the Jewish race. Coming to a realization of this will help us to avoid getting confused when it comes to the (expired) old covenant law, and the New Covenant that we abide in today.



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583. The Context Leading Up To 1 John 1:9 (Confession)

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A common doctrine found in Christianity is that of confessing sins in order to receive a renewed forgiveness from God. Interestingly, the Apostle Paul, who wrote more books in the New Testament than anyone, never once instructed us to confess our sins in order to be forgiven. Considering previous scriptures we’ve covered which declare we’re already forgiven in Christ, where does this concept come from? It basically revolves around one verse in the entire Bible. This week, we look at the context leading up to that verse, who John was speaking to, and what his message was really meant to communicate.



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