Galatians 1:1-24

For Reading and Meditation:     Matthew 27:32-44

What humiliation and shame our Lord endured for us on the cross of Calvary. Cicero, a Roman philosopher, said of crucifixion: "Far be the very name of a cross not only from the bodies of Roman citizens, but from their imaginations, eyes and ears." But He, our Lord, though sinless, was crucified on a cross. Although...

For Reading and Meditation:     Romans 5:6-21

An ancient theologian - St. Augustine - suggested that "the answer to the mystery of the universe is God and the answer to the mystery of God is Christ." If this is so then I would like to make a further suggestion: the answer to the mystery of Christ is to be found in His sacrificial spirit, the supreme evidence of...

THE whole world lieth in the wicked one, as the devoted child in the arms of Moloch; or as the putrid corpse in the grave, over which is written, "HERE LIETH." We were once dead in sin, and buried in corruption, but Jesus Christ interfered for us. "He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from the present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." The world is evil, therefore we are delivered from it. Jesus died to deliver us from its spirit, by which we are...

"God has shone in…for the shining forth." Here we learn that we are not meant to be the terminals of God's blessings but only the channels. The expression "God has shone in" refers to our conversion. Whereas in the original creation He commanded light to shine, in the new creation He Himself has shone in our hearts.

But He did not do it in order that we might selfishly hoard the floodtide of His blessings. Rather He did it so that the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ...

By these words our Lord indicates that we cannot at the same time seek man's approbation and the approval of God. He also affirms that once we embark on a quest for human accreditation, we have dealt a body-blow to the life of faith.

In similar vein the Apostle Paul expresses the moral inconsistency between coveting man's praise and God's: "…for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10 b).

Let me...

After Saul of Tarsus was converted, the churches of Judea heard that this arch-persecutor of the Christian faith had become an ardent preacher and defender of the faith. It was a remarkable reversal.

In more recent times, there have been spectacular incidents where men have done a similar about-face.

Lord Littleton and Gilbert West decided jointly that they would overthrow the faith of those who defended the Bible. Littleton would disprove the records of the conversion of Saul,...