Legalism Starves Our Souls and Feeds our Pride (Packer)

This is an excellent brief summary of legalism by J. I. Packer. The Scripture reference is Matthew 23:3-5. Here are Packer's comments: The New Testament views Christian obedience as the practice of “good deeds” (works). Christians are to be “rich in good deeds” (1 Tim. 6:18; cf. Matt. 5:16; Eph. 2:10; 2 Tim. 3:17; Titus …

That Will Only Make You A Pharisee (Willard)

Dallas Willard's "The Great Omission" is a collection of his articles and lectures that had to do with discipleship and spiritual formation. Although I don't agree with everything in it, "The Great Omission" has been a blessing to read. Here's a helpful section of it I highlighted earlier today: The genius of the moral teachings …

Corban

What does the concept and word “Corban” mean in Mark 7:11-13 and Matthew 15:5? James Edwards has a helpful explanation of “Corban” in his commentary on Mark.  This is the story where Jesus tells the Pharisees that their religious traditions have led them away from the commandments of God and have made them hypocrites who …

Barth on Horrified Repentance

Commenting on Philippians 3.7 (Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ [NRSV]), Karl Barth writes well. "To repent - one surely turns here involuntarily to this concept - does not mean to be liberalized, to become indifferent to what we formerly were, to the former objects of …