Down at the University Library this morning, reading, browsing, and thinking. This book is a sobering read for those who ever think Christian Nationalism is a valid form of Christian existence.
The parallels are clear between what happened in Germany in the 1930s and what is taking place in some forms of so-called evangelicalism embedding itself in the machinery of State power. What happened then was the reduction of the German church to the will of the State, the neutering of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the collaboration of religious authorities with the values, policies and actions of the Nazi party, in exchange for protection and power.
Out of the threat of such dangerous compromise and, let's use the word, apostasy, came the Confessing Church. These were people and communities of faith who refused to toe the party line, who rejected the Aryan paragraph, and who formulated the Barmen Declaration.
Many of these courageous witnesses were persecuted, imprisoned or martyred for their adherence to the teaching and final authority of the teaching, person and truth of Jesus Christ. They knew, to the depth of their souls, that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, not Hitler, and not any other who claims and is given the adulation of those who claim uncritical allegiance over their lives, their values and final loyalty.
Just to be clear. This is a book of original documents, showing what was actually written by those who fully supported the church being co-opted into the Nazi propaganda machine. There are huge resources of historical and theological scholarship conducted over the last 80 years analysing the how and the why of the State church capitulation to Hitler. The evidence of how and why is in documents like these. And with that evidence the most severe of warnings that such capitulation can become a reality in any age given the right circumstances of discontent, grievance, scape-goating of others, and a church desperate for secular approval and cultural status.
Note the photograph on the book cover, with the swastika as the central panel, dominating the cross. The official banner of the German Church
Category: Uncategorised
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A Sobering Read About the Dangers of a Church Subsumed to the State.
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TFTD March 24-30 2025 Sermon on the Mount: “But I Tell You…”
Monday
Matthew 5.20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The law of God was always intended as a guide to life, a way to be walked and a light in dark places or at dark times. It was not a set of rules to keep, but a way of loving God that sets the heart free. Jesus calls us, his followers, not to break the rules, but to go further. When the law is written on the heart, then our personal obedience becomes a matter of love, a way of showing we are God’s children. In other words, obedience is love for God made personal.
Tuesday
Matthew 5.21-22 “You have heard that it was said to people long ago, “Do not murder.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgement.”
It’s about the heart, that mixture of thoughts and feelings and motives that governs how we behave and treat others. Anger is many things: simmering resentment, corrosive envy, gnawing bitterness, wounded grievance, toxic jealousy, inflammatory rage. Those inner thoughts and emotions that create in us the will to harm someone else. That, said Jesus makes us subject to judgement. To wish harm is to cause harm, to the other, and to us.
Wednesday
Matthew 5.22b “Again, anyone who says to his brother or sister ‘Raca!’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says ‘You fool’, will be in danger of the fires of hell.”
The Jewish law provided for those public insults, which could be dealt with at the level of the magistrate’s court (Sanhedrin). Jesus is talking about the inner springs of such insulting language. To ridicule, to humiliate, to despise, to diminish another person – these words and actions spring from a heart that default is to insult rather than respect. And it’s not good enough says Jesus! The danger is that left unchecked, devaluing others, and taking pleasure in their hurt, demonstrates a heart no longer caring about God or others. And that’s a dangerous place to frequent.
Thursday
Matthew 5.23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
These words are amongst the most challenging in the whole Sermon. We can’t come to worship a God of holiness and faithful love while there is resentment and hurt are churning away in our hearts. Sure, we can’t force reconciliation if someone is determined to keep the hurt and the grievance going. But as Paul said, “So far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Yes, practice a righteousness that knows how to go further than the strict rights and wrongs of a situation.
Friday
Matthew 5.27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ’Do not commit adultery’. But I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
“But I tell you…” Six times in chapter five Jesus shows his authority by making it very clear, obedience isn’t just about what we do; it is about the state of the heart. Adultery is hardly the most edifying subject for a ‘Thought for the Day’, you might think. But faithfulness, trust, covenant promises – these are the moral supports of a community, and Jesus knows the threat to them starts in a heart that has already betrayed them. It matters what we think, because out of the heart comes the motive and energy to act, for better or worse.
Saturday
Matthew 5.38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Those who know the Gospel story know that Jesus was assaulted repeatedly at his trial. This is not a call to pacifism; it is the way of Jesus in which the chain reaction of violence is halted by personal non-retaliation. The same principle says by walking the second mile willingly you take back control from the one who uses force. These are hard sayings, and each of us has to find how they apply in the relationships and circumstances of our everyday. Following Jesus will take us into unfamiliar and even uncharted territory in our relationships – it’s called the way of the Kingdom of God!
Sunday
Matthew 5.42 “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
Really? But let’s ask, how does God treat us? Or at least, how would we want God to treat us? How should God answer our prayers? Generously, we would hope, and responsively, as one who knows our need. Right first time, says Jesus! Now go and do likewise! Be the answer to someone else’s asking for help. And if they don’t deserve it, give anyway, and demonstrate you are salt that has not lost its saltiness!
Tapestry of 'Wild Goose, Celtic sympbol of the Holy Spirit.
Photo of King's College Aberdeen.
Painting, David Hockney, The Sermon on the Mount.
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TFTD March 17-23: “Kept by the Power of God.”
Monday
1 Peter 1.1 Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia…”
None of your informal “Hi”, the casual greeting of the digital age. This letter comes from Apostle Peter, and its recipients are geographically all over the place. Those early Christians are special people – God’s elect, therefore chosen for blessing; strangers in the world so they can expect to be either ignored or given a hard time; scattered so separated into small communities trying to find ways of being faithful to Jesus. Not much has changed. Those following Jesus are still strangers, a scattered minority, but – God’s elect, “kept by the power of God.” That’s you, and me.
Tuesday
1 Peter 1.2 “Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying power of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.”
Each Christian is held within the triple lock of God’s electing grace, the Spirit’s working in our lives, and the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. This is both privilege and calling, to blessing and service. We are chosen ‘for obedience to Jesus Christ”. It is the sanctifying work of the Spirit that enables and empowers that glad obedience. Peter is telling Christians faced with all the pressures of a suspicious and powerful culture, you’re not on your own. Through Christ you are drawn into the eternal purposes of the Triune God – and “you are kept by the power of God.”
Wednesday
1 Peter 1.2 “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”
Or as in another translation, “Grace and peace be yours to the fullest measure.” Grace and peace, as much as you can contain, and then God expands our capacity. Grace is God’s self-giving in Christ, undeserved, utterly unlooked for, free, but always seeking the response of an answering love of grateful glad obedience. Peace is that pervasive sense that nothing can separate from God’s love, and that God’s grace is sufficient whatever comes our way. These are the signs of God’s work within and amongst the people of God. Elect, strangers, scattered, but graced with peace.
Thursday
1 Peter 1.3 “Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
Praise is one of the highlighted words in the Christian vocabulary. Likewise mercy is one of the key words of the Christian Gospel. Paul says, “Because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ…” God’s mercy is experienced as forgiveness, a renewed heart, a cleansed conscience, in other words a new birth into a living hope. Peter and Paul had their differences, but on the meaning of the cross and resurrection they used the same terminology – mercy and hope.
Friday
1 Peter 1.4 “…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.”
I wonder if Peter was remembering the words of Jesus about having treasure in heaven where thieves can’t steal it, and rust doesn’t corrode it? There is nowhere safer than heaven for all that is most important to us. Our inheritance in Christ is “untouched by death, unstained by evil, unimpaired by time.” This is the kind of assurance we sing of in a hymn like “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine”! Peter is building up the faith and hope of a community wondering what kind of future lies ahead. It’s one in which all that matters most is secure, because “kept in heaven.”
Saturday
1 Peter 1 “…who through faith are shielded by God’s power till the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time.”
Kept by the power of God, through faith shielded by God’s power, our inheritance guarded in heaven. Despite all the odds loaded against these small Christian communities, immersed in the power of the Roman Empire, exposed to massive temples and the cultural pressures of not conforming, they are ultimately, and finally safe. The elect of God, kept by the power of God, sanctified by the Spirit, sprinkled with the blood of Christ which is a defiant statement of identity – this is who we are, and Christ is to whom we belong. Salvation will surely come – till then we are safe.
Sunday
1 Peter 1.6 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Peter knows about suffering first-hand. His own psychological and spiritual collapse after denying Jesus; then witnessing the trial and execution of Jesus, his death and burial. Then there was the morning the earth moved with the news of Jesus risen, and that meeting of the guilty and broken-hearted Peter with One who simply asked, “Do you love me?” “God has not promised, sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain.” Peter could have written that – and we each know the truth of that mixture of suffering and joy that is our life. Read 1 Peter 1.1-5 again. You’re safe.
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TFTD Mar 10-16: Yes, Jesus Meant Every Word He Said.
Monday
Matthew 5.1-2 “Now when he saw the crowds, Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:”
Right, let’s ask the hard question first! Did Jesus mean what he said? Is the Sermon on the Mount (SM) meant to be a template for how we live our lives? Is it practical, sensible, even possible, to live up to the commands and promises of the Sermon on the Mount? If so, why do we find it so hard? Why have there been so many wrestling matches with the text to make it easier to live up to the demanding words of Jesus? SM test 1: Do I forgive others as I have been forgiven?
Tuesday
Matthew 5.1-2 “Now when he saw the crowds, Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:”
“The Law was given by Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (Jn 1.17) The Law was given on a mountain; grace and truth are now spoken in a new covenant, the law written on the heart. Jesus as a teacher with authority, sits, and teaches, and speaks the grace and truth that is the manifesto of the Kingdom of God. The Sermon on the Mount (SM) gathers together the values and principles, the guidance and commands, of the One who comes to teach and to live the life of loving obedience to God. SM test 2: Do I follow (understand and do) what Jesus says?
Wednesday
Matthew 5.13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again.”
Saltiness is the unique quality of our personal devotion to Jesus. Saltiness is our determination to seek first above all else the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. Saltiness is also wise determination to build our life on the rock-solid foundation of hearing and doing the words of Jesus. Jesus teaches his followers to live differently, to act and think and behave in ways that enact before the world the ways of Jesus as signs of the Kingdom of God. We have only followed what Jesus says when his teaching is followed up by who we are. Salt serves it purpose by making a difference by its presence. SM test 3: Am I maintaining my saltiness?
Thursday
Matthew 5. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Jesus is the Light of the World, and his disciples, those of us who confess him as Lord and follow his teaching, are the reflected radiance of that light. The Sermon on the Mount is the handbook that describes the spiritual power source of “the light that gives light to everyone in the house.” You, (plural) – the Christian community, are like a city visible in the darkness for miles around, because the accumulated light makes it stand out. Those who believe Jesus meant what he said, by relying on God’s grace, and who seek to live out, and live into the teaching of Jesus, will stand out in the surrounding gloom. SM Test 4: So, as followers of Jesus and practitioners of his teaching, do we stand out in the surrounding gloom? See Philippians 2.14-16.
Friday
Matthew 5.16 “Let your light shine before everyone, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
What good deeds? Those actions of kindness and compassion that go the second mile. Those words that rather than obscure the truth, are words where yes is yes, and no is no. That way of being in which Christian anger management uses the levers of forgiveness, applying the brakes that restrain and retrain the way we speak to and about others. Those attitudes to others that seek reconciliation, and work towards neighbourliness, so that we can come to offer worship without embarrassment. SM Test 5: Am I light that by my good deeds gives light to everyone in the house?
Saturday
Matthew 5.19 “Whoever practises and teaches these commands, will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
By practising what Jesus teaches, we teach others the ways of the Kingdom of God. Forgiveness is a practice; truthful speech is a practice; compassion to those who suffer, considerate neighbourliness, generosity with our stuff – these are practices in which we work out the teaching of Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount is a Highway Code for those seeking to follow faithfully after Jesus. Of course some of Jesus’ saying are hard to put into practice, but in the everyday life that is ours there are countless times when we are called to be salt and light, to take up our cross and follow. SM Test 6: Is my life a persuasive lesson in what it means to follow Jesus?
Sunday
Matthew 5.48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
No pressure there then! No, in this life on this earth we will never be perfect, but that is the goal and the end of Christian life. The word does not mean flawless, it means complete and whole. God loves his enemies, we should too. God blesses people like the rain, generous and un-choosy; likewise our love for others can’t be just for those that we think ‘deserve it.’ God is most revealed in Jesus. He is our paradigm, the single criterion by which we examine ourselves. SM Prayer: “To be like Jesus, all I ask, to be like him.” Amen
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What Jesus says about empathy: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
In a week when Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, dubbed empathy a weakness and a threat to Western civilisation, and at a time when a new film on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is currently in cinemas, these words of Bonhoeffer remain an astringent and authentic interpretations of the words of Jesus against such a dark view of human compassion and the way the world works:
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." These people without possessions, these strangers, these powerless, these sinners, these followers of Jesus live with him now in the renunciation of their own dignity, for they are merciful. As if their own need and lack were not enough, they share in other people's need. They have an irresistible love for the lowly, the sick, for those who are in misery, for those who are demeaned and abused, for those who suffer injustice and are rejected, for everyone in pain and anxiety.They seek out all those who have fallen into sin and guilt. No need is too great, no sin is too dreadful for mercy to reach….They know only one dignity, and honour, the mercy of their Lord which is their only source of life….This is the mercy of Jesus, from which those who follow him wish to live, the mercy of the crucified one.Blessed are the merciful for they shall have the merciful one as their Lord."(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Works, Volume 4, pages 106-7.) -
An Exegetical Master Class on the Letter of James.
A week or two ago this book was only available in Hardback at £168. The paperback is now available at £27.99. It has just arrived. This is the premier critical commentary on James, and widely regarded as magisterial, and an exegetical masterpiece.
I spent most of yesterday evening reading and browsing all over the place in the 800 pages, and as with all Allison's writing it was like sitting at the feet of Gamaliel.Each small section is preceded by a section History of Interpretation and Reception, tracing the way the verses have been understood, preached and practised in the 2,000 years since it was written. These are superbly done.The main exegetical sections are jam-packed with details of grammar, syntax, semantic analysis, social context, theological reflection. Last night I read the whole treatment of James 1.19-21 as a sample – 22 pages on three verses, and I'm not sure any of it could be edited out without real loss of insight. Over the years I've preached on this passage "Quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger". Allison's' treatment is thorough, discerning, and emerges from deep textual reading that is intertextual and intra-textual. It's interpretive gold.The wide ranging Bibliography includes the latest academic and technical studies, a rich harvest of periodic literature much of it distilled into Allison's exegesis and interpretive moves. He is a master of the history of exegesis of James, ranging from Augustine to Calvin, Luther to liberation theologians, John of the Cross to Thomas Manton the Puritan, sermons from social gospel exponents to evangelical preachers and the Scottish Congregationalist Ralph Wardlaw.T&T Clark are to be commended for producing such a valuable scholarly volume at a more than fair paperback price. It's a brilliant commentary – it won't displace other important volumes such as Scott McKnight, Dan McCartney, or Luke T Johnson, but to use a word often overused, it is indispensable for serious study of the Letter of James.I have one major complaint – the book has no indices which significantly limits the user friendly quality of an 800 page book bursting with technical detail. This isn't a one off either. The most recent volume in the series, on Galatians is also missing indices. I confess myself perplexed that such a prestigious publication has no detailed roadmap to where the treasure lies. I'm going to email the publisher to suggest a rethink if this is the approach going forward. -
The Premier New Testament Scholar and Professor, and Durham Prison.
Chasing something else, I read again N T Wright's remembrance of C. E. B Cranfield. Of course, he wrote in fulsome praise of Cranfield's "patient faithfulness, the gentle wisdom, the ferociously precise scholarship, and the pastoral heart of Charles Cranfield."
But in that long tribute of one scholar to another, there was this comment on another side of this 'ferociously precise scholar'."Though I did not see his pastoral or churchly side but the word among people in Durham was that he hated ecclesial pomp and ceremony, including the wearing of academic hoods in church; that he went regularly and voluntarily to Durham Prison early in the morning to meet men being discharged and to take them for a cup of tea and see if he could be of any practical help…"And there in those early morning encounters is the pastoral heart underlying the scholarly precision, and living into the words of Jesus.The two green and well used volumes of Cranfield's ICC are permanent fixtures on my Romans shelf. I bought volume 1 in the Christian Aid book sale in Woodlands Road, Glasgow, in 1976, in mint condition and probably a discarded review volume – priced at 50 pence! (At the time the retail price was £6) I've always interpreted that memorable find as a singular providence -
TFTD March 3-9 – “Immortal, invisible, God only wise…”
Monday
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great Name we praise.Worship is a balance between intimacy and awe. Praise is the recognition of God’s glory, the acknowledgement of our limited understanding, and a celebration of God’s grace, wisdom, mercy and love. This verse is a confession of the heart that God is beyond our grasp, his purposes are from everlasting to everlasting. In a world of flux and uncertainty, when our hearts are anxious and life seems uncertain, take time to look beyond the horizons of our sight to the only wise God, the Ancient of Days.
Tuesday
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.Behind, above and within the swirling currents of history, and the daily situations and circumstances of our lives, God is active, purposeful, all-seeing, and ever present as Creator, Redeemer and Judge. As Psalm 121 says, “God neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Justice, goodness and love are only three of the attributes of the God made known to the prophets, and revealed in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. But they are important to remember in these our own times – God’s justice is like a granite mountain range, durable, immovable, solid in its moral reality, and like mountains, there, always!
Wednesday
To all life thou givest—to both great and small;
In all life thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but nought changeth thee.Life is gift, every single day of our lives. In God we live and move and have our being. Every time we say “Our Father” we are reminded that God is the source of our lives. But life isn’t forever, everything changes, including ourselves as we grow and mature and grow older. But our lives are hidden with Christ in God, and God is unchanging in his faithfulness, love and purpose for each of us. In a world that is changing, in ways that are alarming and unfamiliar, nothing changes the nature of God. What’s more, nothing will change God’s redeeming, reconciling and renewing purposes in Christ; and nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Thursday
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render: O help us to see
’Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.The writer has James 1.17 in mind: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” So when it seems God is absent, and the world around us is scary, remember darkness cannot exclude God. In Christ, by His Spirit, God is actively present throughout creation, in the history of our world, in our own lives and stories – the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not extinguished it. The splendour of God’s light radiates from an empty tomb, and a heavenly throne.
Friday
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the veil from our heart.These are the original words, and lines 3 and 4 are too good to be edited out in the modern version! The greatest grace is to have our eyes opened to the glory and grace of God. And the greatest blessing is for us to know God’s merciful grace is both operative and active in all the times and moments, ways and places of our lives.
Saturday
I Timothy 1.17 “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever, Amen.”
Strange that the two verses echoing loudly in this hymn, come from 1 Timothy and James, and are both 1.17! They are both worth memorising! When the world is too much with us, the news comes at us in an endless stream of anxiety, people’s misery, and aggressive, divisive political shouting, these two verses, and the words of the hymn, provide a balancing perspective. When the clouds gather in threatening grey, consider those other clouds of God, which “are fountains of goodness and love.”
Sunday
Faithful one, so unchanging, Ageless one, you're my rock of peace; Lord of all I depend on you; I call out to you again and again.
You are my Rock in times of trouble, you lift me up when I fall down. All through the storm, your love is the anchor; my hope is in you alone.
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The Sayings of Jesus 1: “Each tree is known by its own fruit…”
"There is no such thing as a good tree producing bad fruit, nor yet a bad tree producing good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit: you do not gather figs from brambles, or pick grapes from thistles. Good people produce good from the store of good within themselves; and evil people produce evil from the evil within them. For the words that the mouth utters come from the overflowing of the heart." (Luke 6.43-45. REB)
Well that's one test of character it's hard to deny. And a quick and straightforward test to apply to what we hear from political leaders, and influencers, pundits, social analysts, and from the cacophony of voices purveying the opinions that populate that part of the online environment where we prefer to live and move.Words betray the contents of the heart; words reveal our moral condition; words are judged by whether they produce evil or produce good. "What kind of person would say those things, in that way?" is a clarifying question. It's not only what the words spoken mean; it's what those spoken words say about the moral values of the one who speaks them. That is an important analytic criterion in deciding the moral quality of a person, and the consequent value of their words."Each tree is known by its own fruit…" So says Jesus. Such alert discernment of character and words is required of all those who follow Jesus, and confess the Lordship of Christ. So if we self-identify as followers of Jesus where is the evidence – it's those acts, words and attitudes whose point of origin is the heart, the place where the evidence lies of who we truly are. -
TFTD Feb 24-Mar 2: “By grace you are saved, through faith…”
Monday
Ephesians 2.4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions –“
Paul is never short of comparatives and superlatives when it comes to speaking of the love and mercy of God. God’s love is greater than any other we can conceive, and beyond compare in the whole universe of possibilities. This is love that makes alive, that forgives and cleanses, that sets free and restores. “God, who is rich in mercy”, draws us from death to life giving us a new heart, creating a new centre from which to live, replacing previous disobedience with grateful obedience, and loving service.
Tuesday
Ephesians 2.4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.“
Grace. The word also gives us the word gift. For Paul Christ is the ultimate gift, for in Christ God gave himself in love, grace and mercy. Paul never tired of telling of Christ, the gift of God’s self in his Son. It is in and through the once for all gift of Christ that God’s great love is made known, and in whom God, who is rich in mercy, enacts his saving grace. In Christ we are saved, by grace, love and mercy. Saved from our sins and delivered to a life of freedom and obedience. Saved by grace! No wonder Paul ran out of superlatives! “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.”
Wednesday
Ephesians 2.6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…”
The old hymn had it right: “You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.” Yes, we serve a risen Saviour, but Paul says, there’s more. We are raised with Christ, and we live in Him and Christ lives in us. The resurrection of Jesus has reverberations that extend to the whole of creation, and to the whole of our life. We are made alive with Christ, raised with Christ, seated with Christ. Being saved is a rich incorporation into the life of the risen Lord Jesus. Our lives are now hidden with Christ in God. There is no safer place to be than “with Christ.”
Thursday
Ephesians 2.7 “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Paul’s back to his word search, looking for words that describe the riches of God’s grace: unsearchable, extraordinary, outstanding, incomparable, surpassing, immeasurable. All of these have been used to translate that dense and nuanced word Paul uses to distinguish God’s grace from any other kind of generosity. In the end it is reduced to a lovely generality – “his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” It was that word that inspired the lines, “Let us with a gladsome mind, praise the Lord for he is kind.” The word is an understatement of something that can never be overstated anyway. It is by such grace, kindness toward us, that we are saved.
Friday
Ephesians 2.8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Just to be clear, so there is no misunderstanding, for the avoidance of doubt, Paul repeats the truth that is the cantus firmus, the supporting underlying theme of the Gospel: “by grace you have been saved.” We are not saved by faith, we are saved by the grace that enables us to believe, trust and surrender ourselves to the call of God in Christ. Such faith is itself a gift of God’s grace, mercy and love. None of this is our doing. No wonder Paul struggles for words to describe “the unsearchable riches of God’s grace toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Saturday
Ephesians 2.10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Each one of us is a unique piece of art, crafted with skill, love, and imaginative care, called to be a walking demonstration of the creative mercy of God. We are God’s workmanship. Each of us is unique and uniquely valued, someone in whom God has invested without limit of time, effort or trouble. There is cost in the work of the artist and skilled craftsman; creative excellence can be exhausting. Behind God's workmanship is one whose whole creative purpose is gift, grace and self-giving for the sake of the finished work. We are created in Christ Jesus, to be formed into the community and communion of Christ, God’s masterpiece.
Sunday
Ephesians 2.10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
To do good works" literally to walk in good ways, so that as God's workmanship, as an exhibit of God's work, we reflect the style and the character of the Artist. We are not saved by good works, but to fulfil all that God has purposed for us when he called us to faith and obedience. In the gift and grace of our salvation we become implicated in the work and mission of God. We are both called and sent, created in Christ Jesus as collaborators in the mission of God, and ambassadors of Christ.