In today’s Bible reading*, we read the parable of the Kingdom of God through the vineyard manager. In it, some day laborers are hired in the morning. They agree to work for a day’s wage. Several other times during the day, new workers are hired and agree to work for a day’s wage. At the…
I’m glad the Navigators (the organization that designed this year’s Daily Bible Reading Plan) placed the readings from James to follow Galatians. Some — even the Reformer Martin Luther — don’t like James. But this is a good way to show the balance between faith and good deeds. In today’s Bible reading*, James concludes the…
In today’s Bible reading*, Paul talks about rebuking Cephas (Peter) for his hypocrisy. It’s very appropriate for Paul to bring this out in light of the heresy of the Galatians. They had deserted the real Gospel for a false gospel (Galatians 1:6–7) that said if you want to be a good Christian, you have to…
Well, things finally come to a head in today’s Bible reading*. The Judaizers have raised such a ruckus that the church has its first council, the Jerusalem Council, to codify how the church should handle its first major problem. The problem: Does a new convert to Christianity have to be a good Jew to be…
Paul paints a pretty grim picture of fallen mankind in today’s Bible reading*. We saw him paint the same picture a few weeks ago in the beginning few chapters of Romans. But God …. He says we were dead. He says we were alienated from God. He says we lived according to our fleshly desires (that’s all we had!). He…