July 23, 2025

Christ Is Better Than the World

Jesus Saves

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Colossians 2:6-8).

In the verses above, Paul encouraged the brethren in Colossae to remain faithful to Christ, while also warning them of the danger of being taken captive. In essence, there were two paths before them – the way of Christ and the way of the world.

It is just as true today as it was then that the world uses various tactics to make its way seem appealing (philosophy, deception, traditions of men, and the elementary principles of the world). In the verses that follow, Paul explained why Christ is better than the world, so that they would remain faithful to Him.

Let us consider the five reasons Paul gave to explain why Christ is better than the world.Continue Reading

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September 11, 2024

Understanding Legalism

Jewish Rulers Take Counsel Against Jesus

For many religious people, the term legalism has a strong negative connotation. Yet others may be unfamiliar with it. To be fair, it is not a term found in the Bible. Instead, it has been coined to describe a certain approach to the Bible.

Legalism is associated with the idea of strictness, narrow-mindedness, and being judgmental. The Pharisees are the classic example of “legalists.” However, while the Pharisees may have been strict, narrow-minded, and judgmental, there was more to them than that. At times, they justified certain sins and acts of disobedience, including the refusal to help their aged parents in need (Matthew 15:3-6). At other times, Jesus rebuked them for what could be described as spiritual mediocrity as they hypocritically taught others to do what they refused to do (Matthew 23:2-4) and presented an appearance of holiness while being spiritually corrupt in their hearts (Matthew 23:27-28).

Just as there is more to the Pharisees than the common stereotype, I believe there is more to “legalism” than the popular concept of it.Continue Reading

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August 31, 2022

When Every Man Does What Is Right in His Own Eyes

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The book of Judges covers the period between the conquest of Canaan under Joshua to the time just before the kings. It was a time of wickedness, oppression, and anarchy (cf. Judges 2:11-15; 21:25). Toward the end of the book, we read about a man named Micah whose story typifies the culture as a whole. Notice the text:

“Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. He said to his mother, ‘The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.’ And his mother said, ‘Blessed be my son by the Lord.’ He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, ‘I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return them to you.’

“So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest.

“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:1-6).

We do not know much about this man, but there are some important lessons from this account. His example serves as an illustration of what happens when “every man [does] what is right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Since this same attitude is prevalent in our day and age, it will be beneficial to consider some lessons from the text.

So what happens when “every man [does] what is right in his own eyes”?Continue Reading

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May 20, 2020

Remember the Lawgiver

Moses and the Ten Commandments

After delivering the Israelites from Pharaoh and their bondage in Egypt, God gave them the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17). These commandments served as a foundation for the rest of the law.

Yet in a sense, this foundation also had a foundation. The Ten Commandments provided the basis for the law, but the only reason the law mattered was because of the one who gave the law. So who was the lawgiver? That was God. They needed to understand this in order to appreciate the importance of the laws that were given. They were reminded of this in the “preface” to the Ten Commandments:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2).

Continue Reading

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January 8, 2020

Faith Working through Love

Galatians 5:6

In his letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul addressed the problem of Jewish Christians wanting to return to or retain parts of the Law of Moses. If one attempted to do this and be “justified by law,” he would have “fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4).

There are not many Christians today who are trying to go back to the Law of Moses as there were in the first century (at least not as overtly as the early Jewish Christians were). Yet this was the first major controversy among the early disciples. Much of the focus in this controversy had to do with circumcision. Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:10-12) and was a commandment under the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12:2-3); however, it was not required for Christians under the law of Christ (Acts 15:1-11; Galatians 2:3-5). So in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he explained that there was something more important than whether or not one was circumcised.

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

What mattered for these brethren was “faith working through love.” Let us briefly break down what Paul meant by this.Continue Reading

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July 31, 2017

The Real Pharisees (Part 17): The Pharisees Wanted to Hold Onto Parts of the Old Law

The Real Pharisees

“But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses’” (Acts 15:5).

Despite all of the problems that we have seen with the Pharisees throughout this study, some of them had evidently believed and obeyed the gospel. A notable example of this was Paul (Acts 26:5; 9:1-18). However, many of them held onto the same attitudes and continued to be “zealous for the Law” (Acts 21:20).

Because of this, certain ones came to Antioch – a church with a large number of Gentile disciples (Acts 11:19-21) and where they were “first called Christians” (Acts 11:26) – and taught, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). Luke recorded that “Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them” (Acts 15:2) because this teaching would effectively bring these disciples “into bondage” (Galatians 2:4).
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May 30, 2017

A Woman Caught in Adultery (Season 6, Episode 6)

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A Woman Caught in Adultery (Season 6, Episode 6)

On one occasion when Jesus was in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman before Him who had allegedly been caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-11). It is an interesting account, and some have tried to use it to argue that we should not try to strictly follow God’s word. But as we examine the passage, we can see that Jesus teaches just the opposite – we must be careful and diligent to follow what God’s word teaches.

Article: Did Jesus Bend the Rules for the Woman Caught in Adultery?

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