Pentecost (81)
  1. This is what faith holds on to, which, despite appearances, transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ.
  2. The Gospel is not hampered by the faithful preacher or missionary or average Christian’s circumstances. Even prison presents itself as a forum for gospel proclamation and the making of disciples.
  3. God is no respecter of persons. Persons are justified by divine grace alone, through the gift of faith alone, on account of Jesus Christ alone.
  4. We do not want to live by the law of the jungle. We want to live as human beings in an ordered, properly functioning society.
  5. When the preacher placards this model and example, Jesus Christ crucified, before his auditors, all these fourteen admonishments will make sense. Conversely, it makes no sense to a world that does not know Jesus Christ.
  6. The Apostle, through these well-known passages, depicts a Lord sovereign in all His dealings, that the Lord God is no respecter of persons, and no one can claim an obligation on the part of the Creator. Indeed, the Lord God acts by grace and mercy, and for this, He is most worthy of praise.
  7. There is a new criterion for what makes an Israelite, a son of God, namely faith in Christ Jesus, not ethnic heritage.
  8. Jesus has led a far greater exodus, one that includes Jews and Gentiles, indeed, an exodus achieved by a Passover Lamb never to be eclipsed, whose blood established an everlasting new covenant.
  9. Paul speaks out of deep passion and great love for the salvation of all people, especially those bound to his ethnic heritage. Here we have Paul the evangelist. Paul is compelled by the love of Christ.
  10. But praise be to God, Christ has the last word on death and the word is “Resurrection.” Death is not a permanent form of bondage.
  11. The Earth itself, into which the blood of Christ seeped, will be redeemed and renewed, just like our spirits in Holy Baptism, and our bodies on the day of the resurrection.
  12. The more the Christian imagines the Law of God provides a way to life (that is, by obeying God’s commands we can run clear of death), the more distant from life in the Spirit he becomes.
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