“Through His Divine Power” ( 2 Peter 1: 3, KJV ) by Carley Evans

Knowledge

Notice the great, the precious promise — you can be a partaker of the divine nature! You can escape the corruption that is in the world! You can be called to glory and virtue! And this is accomplished through God’s divine power. He gives us knowledge of Him and also “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” To His gift of faith, we find added both virtue and knowledge. Give diligence, says Peter, to these three. He writes:

“³According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

⁴Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

⁵And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;”

“Let God Be True” ( Romans 3: 4, NIV ) by Carley Evans

God is faithful. He brings “a righteousness from [Himself], apart from law.” This righteousness “comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Romans 3:21,22) All people “sin and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) All people “are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that comes by Jesus Christ.” (Romans 3:24)

God is faithful. “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4)

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All turn away.” (Romans 3:10-11,12) “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:18)

So, what point is Paul making? He’s saying, “Let God be true; every man is a liar!” “Every mouth is silenced and the whole world is held accountable to God. Therefore no one is declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Romans 3:19,20)

Now we are not left “conscious of sin.” Rather than leaving us drenched in guilt, God provides us a simple albeit costly solution. God “justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)

Therefore, says Paul, boasting is excluded. Pride in self is inappropriate for “we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (Romans 3:28)

Let God be true. Let God be faithful.

“Why Is My Freedom Judged?” ( 1 Corinthians 10: 27, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

If an unbeliever invites me to dinner and I want to go, I “eat everything that is set before [me], without raising questions of conscience.” “Everything is permissible,” says Paul although he admits that “not everything is helpful.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)

That’s a perfect way of looking at consumables  — whether meats, vegetables, breads, milks, sodas, coffees, teas, beers, wines or liquors. All of these are permissible; not all are helpful. Some definitely offend others’ consciences. When my consumption of any one of them offends, I “do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who tells [me]” for the sake of their conscience, not my own. “For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience?” (1 Corinthians 10:29)

“If I partake with thanks, why am I slandered because of something I give thanks for?” (1 Corinthians 10:30) “Therefore, whatever I eat or drink, or whatever I do, I do everything for God’s glory.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) On top of this, I “try to please all people in all things, so that they may be saved.” (1 Corinthians 10:33)

How is it that pleasing others in all things leads them to salvation? Paul says that he does not seek his own profit, “but the profit of many.” (1 Corinthians 10:33) Seeking the good of others by imitating Jesus, according to Paul, enables salvation. After all, something attracts unbelievers to Christ. We may as well be attractive. As Paul says, “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

“For God Loves The World This Way” ( John 3: 16, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

I admire and appreciate the way in which the Holman Christian Standard Bible words John 3:16. The verse we know from childhood as beginning with “For God so loves the world” is translated in the HCSB version as “For God loves the world this way” and proceeds to tell what God does to reveal His love for the world.

Clearly, God loves the world a lot. He loves the world so much that He gives His only Son, Jesus as a sacrificial lamb to wash away its sins and justify it before Him. The wording of the HCSB version emphasizes not how much God loves the world, but how God loves the world.

God’s method is espoused. His motivation is clear — to avoid His own judgment against the world. His method is simple. The Light comes into the world, and those who “live by the Truth come to the Light.” The works of those who come to the Light are subsequently revealed as “accomplished by God.” (John 3:21) From beginning to end, the work is God’s. For this is the way God loves the world.

“By Faith He Condemned The World” ( Hebrews 11: 7, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

Noah condemns the world by his faith in God’s Word. God tells Noah to build an ark, to gather two of every kind of fauna, to put his family into the ark, and to wait while the world drowns via non-stop rain for forty days and forty nights. When Noah obeys God, he condemns the world — the world which does not believe and obey. “The waters surge upon the earth 150 days.” (Genesis 7:24) And, “[God] wipes out every living thing that is on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they are wiped off the face of the earth. Only Noah is left, and those that are with him in the ark.” (Genesis 7:23) For over ten months, Noah waits in the ark for God to release him and those with him. Forty days after the tops of the mountains are finally visible, Noah sends out a dove who returns. The second dove he sends out returns with an olive leaf; the third dove does not return at all. Noah waits a few months longer before God tells him to exit the ark with those saved through Noah’s obedience to God’s Word.

The world drowns in God’s rain; and by his faith, Noah condemns the world.

I’m not completely sure I understand why it is that the faith Noah has condemns the world except that his faith leads him to obey God in spite of the world’s derision. That Noah does not stand on a pedestal and shout, ‘repent for the end of the world is at hand!’ is revealing. Rather than striving to save the world from its destruction, Noah strives to do God’s will, continuing to build the ark in preparation for the flood he has been told is coming upon the whole world. Noah regards God as more important than his neighbors and friends, building the ark even as the world goes about its business of ignoring God.

By his faith, Noah saves himself and his family.

“We’re Going To Die!” ( Luke 8: 24, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

Jesus sleeps through a windstorm, even one in which the waves threaten to swamp the boat. Both Jesus and His disciples are in real danger of drowning in the lake. In panic, Jesus’ disciples wake Him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” (Luke 8:24, HCSB)

Jesus stands up, “rebukes the wind and the raging waves” so that a calm falls over the lake. (Luke 8:24) Jesus turns, looking at the disciples, wet and sheepish I am certain. He says to them, “Where is your faith?” They don’t know who He is which is why “they are fearful and amazed.” (Luke 8:25)

Jesus, in complete trust in His Father, sleeps during the storm. The disciples, not recognizing the Son of God who sleeps in the boat with them, are terrified, certain of their impending deaths. Jesus is simply resting after a long day with the crowds; He is crossing to the other side of the lake. The disciples are simply afraid. “We’re going to die!” they say to the Son of God. And He asks, “Where is your faith?”

Our faith, even faith as tiny as a mustard seed, is enough that we also can rest through the windstorm and the raging waves; even enough that we can calm them with a word.

“Sent To None Of Them” ( Luke 4: 25 – 27, ESV ) by Carley Evans

Jesus apparently is not sent to his hometown to perform miracles, but to tell his neighbors that He is not going to be accepted by them. He says to them, “No prophet is acceptable in his hometown.” (Luke 4:24) Then He proceeds to provide two examples of this truth. Jesus speaks of the widows in Israel that Elijah was not sent to “when the heavens were shut up for three years and six months.” (Luke 4:25) Instead Elijah was sent to Zarephath, a widow from the land of Sidon. Jesus also speaks of the many lepers in Israel that Elisha was not sent to cleanse. Instead Elisha was sent “only to Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:27)

Yet, when the Canaanite woman asks Jesus to have mercy on her and drive out a demon from her daughter, Jesus ignores her completely. So, she cries out to His disciples. They beg Jesus to “send her away.” (Matthew 15:23) He says to them (and not to her), “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) The Canaanite woman persists, saying: “Lord, help me.” (Matthew 15:25) Jesus responds, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” (Matthew 15:26) The woman does not appear to be insulted or even surprised by our Lord’s attitude. Instead she agrees with Him. She says, “Yes, Lord.” But then she uses a perfectly logical argument with Him. She continues, “Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (Matthew 15:27) Jesus is impressed with the level of this Gentile’s faith, and He proclaims, “Be it done for you as you desire.” (Matthew 15:28) He gives her the desire of her heart because of her persistence and her logic.

The Canaanite woman’s persistence, her acceptance of Jesus’ rejection, and her logical argument are opposites from the reaction of the crowd in Nazareth when Jesus finishes reading from “the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.” (Luke 4:17) When Jesus tells His friends and neighbors that He fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah, at first the crowd “speaks well of Him and marvels at the gracious words that are coming from His mouth.” (Luke 4:22) But when Jesus gives examples of how the prophets Elijah and Elisha were sent to persons not within the house of Israel, “all in the synagogue are filled with wrath.” (Luke 4:28)

Jesus’ neighbors “rise up and drive Him out of the town and bring Him to the brow of the hill on which their town is built, so they can throw Him down the cliff.” (Luke 4:29)

Jesus “passes through their midst” and literally leaves them behind. With the Canaanite woman, He turns the tables just as Elijah and Elisha once did; He gives her that which is meant only for Israel, only for the children of God. He gives her the desire of her heart.

“Before Faith Came” ( Galatians 3: 23, ESV ) by Carley Evans

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” Paul identifies the law as “our guardian until Christ came.” (Galatians 3:24) This guardian kept us under lock and key, safely shut up in a cell. Once Christ arrived, we became “sons of God, through faith.” (Galatians 3:26) Having been made new, and given our freedom; we “are no longer slaves, but sons, and if sons, then heirs through God.” (Galatians 4:7) We are suddenly able to “put on Christ” and step out of the purview of the law. (Galatians 3:27)

Once you leave the law behind you, once you throw off those chains that once bound you; you don’t usually “desire to be under the law” again. (Galatians 4:21) You are not of Mount Sinai, but of the Jerusalem above, says Paul. “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.” (Galatians 4:30-31)

“For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

“Once For All” ( Hebrews 9: 12, ESV ) by Carley Evans

Christ, as High Priest, “enters once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Christ enters the holy places one time; that event is the only one required to “secure an eternal redemption” “for all” and a new covenant. “A death — [Christ's] — occurs that redeems [us] from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9: 15) Simultaneously, Christ “does away with the first in order to establish the second.” (Hebrews 10:9) “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4) Instead, “Christ offers for all time a single sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10:12) “By [this] single offering He perfects for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14) And so,”where there is forgiveness of [sins and lawless deeds], there is no longer any offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:17,18)

“Eyes On Jesus” ( Hebrews 12: 2, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

Let us “keep our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.” Once again, the Holy Spirit gives us a succinct picture of the good news. The gospel is here in this single statement — Jesus is both the source and the perfecter of our faith.

Therefore, our attention — our eyes — should be focused on Jesus, not on others and certainly not on our selves.

Now this is not to say we should not “lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us” and “run with endurance the race that lies before us.” (Hebrews 12:1) Indeed we are called by the same Holy Spirit to do both. We are called to put off the old man and put on our new nature.

The good news, however, is that we “have been taken hold of by Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:12) Yet, we “pursue as [our] goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13) After all, “our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20) And our Savior has “the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.” (Philippians 3:21)

Therefore, “everything that was a gain to [us], [we] consider to be a loss because of Christ.” (Philippians 3:7) Think of those things we once considered as gains: status, church standing, friends, obedience to rules and regulations. Now these have no value in our walk with God — Why? Because only Christ is the source and perfecter of our faith.