From friend to enemy - Galatians 4:12-16

"You have done me no wrong; but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (Galatians 4:12-16)

Paul once wrote Timothy, "continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them." (2 Timothy 3:14) This was not Paul's first letter to the Galatians. He obviously had written previously to them, warning them to steer clear of the Judaizers and their message, warning them of those false brethren who desired to return them once again to bondage; bondage to the law. However, those who thought to deceive them had convinced them that it was because Paul had been offended by them that he wrote so sternly to them. They had convinced them that Paul's stern warnings were the result of his anger and offense he had toward them, not the result of any true and real concern for them.

Paul writes back to assure them that they had done nothing to hurt or offend him; he was not offended nor writing out of a sense of hurt in their relationship. In fact, Paul reminds them of his first contact with them. He was sick and suffering in his body yet, in his weekend state, he nonetheless preached the Gospel to them which they readily accepted. So much was the love of Paul for them that he would share the truth with them even when he was hurting and in need himself. So much was their love for him that, if they could, they would have given their own eyes for him to relieve him of his pain. Their relationship began with such love and mutual care, how could Paul feel anything but love for them now? Paul is saying, "remember, its me! Nothing has changed. I love you and care for you just as I did in the beginning."

There will always be times in our lives when we need to hear stern things from our friends. The process of maturing often means hearing things we don't want to hear; hearing we are wrong, hearing we need to change, and hearing we need to grow up. At times like that, we need to take stock of who it is who is telling us these things. In the pain of their words we can easily take offense. Worse yet, we can latch onto other people's negative opinions of them to confirm the offense we have taken. However, we need to remember who they are to us; who they have been to us throughout our lives. For those who have loved and cared for us, we need to receive their words in the same manor; as loving and caring. We must not allow our pain to damage or weaken relationships that have been forged in love and care.

How do we gauge our response in this matter? Paul asks, "Where is the sense of blessing you had?" When we have lost our sense of blessing, maybe we have also lost our true perspective of our friends. When we have lost our sense of blessing, maybe we have also lost sight of the love and care of others. We need to lay aside the feeling that others are out to get us or that they are angry and offended at us, and we need to see afresh their love and care for us in their words and actions, even when those words and actions may sting just a bit.

David Robison

Becoming Gentiles - Galatians 4:12

"I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are." (Galatians 4:12)

The problem for the Galatian church was not idolatry or polytheism but legalism. Those false brethren who had infiltrated the church were seeking to return the church to the ways of Judaism; to re-institute the law and to make the Galatian believers act and behave as Jews. They had taught observance of the old Jewish customs including their dietary requirements and the observance of days, weeks, and feasts. None of which, in and of themselves, were bad but it was a distraction to the believers and it turned their focus, affection, and trust away from God and onto external conformity to the Law. They sought their life and salvation in legalistic rigidity rather than in the simplicity of being sons and daughters of Christ.

For some Christians, the Jewish roots of their faith has fascinated them to the point where they romanticize everything Jewish. Their dress, their symbols, and their religious observances. They collect prayer shawls, shofars, and even keep the feasts with their families. It is as if they are trying to become Jewish themselves believing that by doing such they will grow closer to God and understand Him in some new way. They look to the ancient ways for revelation rather than to the Spirit who have been given to us to teach us all things.

Paul's cry to the Galatians is, "Why are you trying to become Jewish? Look at me! Do I look like a Jew anymore? Do I not live like one of the gentiles too? I'm trying to leave Judaism behind, why are you trying to embrace it?"

If Paul was here with us today he would counsel us with the same words. The goal of Christianity is not to become Jewish but to become children of God. God has made it clear that the old ways are over and done with. Jesus came to open up for us a new way to God. Paul reminds us that, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (Romans 10:4) And the writer of Hebrews testifies that "we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh." (Hebrews 10:19-20) So why do we persist in pursuing God by those outdated means which never brought anyone closer to God nor made them clean enough to stand before God? God has put those times behind Him and so must we!

One final thought, do we have boldness to speak as Paul did? Paul was implying that the Galatians should follow his manor of life. He had begun to live as a Gentile and so should they. But what about our lives? Are we living in a way that is worthy of being imitated? Paul says, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV) Can we say the same thing with the same confidence? If not, then let us first look to ourselves before we attempt to guide and direct others. Let us live our lives in a way that others may imitate us and share in the blessings we have found in God.

David Robison

The church calendar - Galatians 4:8-11

"However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain." (Galatians 4:8-11)

Paul understood that the Galatians had not lapsed into idolatry, into serving another god, but they had turned to serve those things that weren't, by nature, even gods. Their error was not that they served another god but that they gave their service to, and invested their hopes into, dead practices of religion without any reference to god, or a god, at all. When we serve religion, we are not serving God but rather are placing our hope and trust in a pattern of behavior that we hope will save us and endure us towards God. However, if we have the Father, what need do we have for dead religious practices?

Paul speaks of the "worthless elemental things." These are the well-ordered and regular practices  of people whom find in them some since of solace, hope for betterment and redemption, and acceptance among their piers and, perhaps, even God. The key ideas are regular and orderliness. That is why Paul references the adherence to religious observances such as days, months, and season. Most religions have a set order of days, feasts, and observances that happen with regularity and in order. Sadly, the Christian church too has adopted much the same approach to religion. In some orthodox branches of Christianity their church calendar is almost completely filled with observances, holy days, days of remembrance, and feast days. As much as we might enjoy the orderliness and regularity of these observances, they do nothing to help us, save us, or draw us nearer to God Himself. They are, in the end, just dead religion. Perhaps useful for the one who is lost and still does not know God, but useless for the child of God who is growing in the knowledge and understanding of God.

Paul warns us that, when our focus and attention turn to the "worthless elemental things," then we stop growing and the grace and truth of God in our lives becomes "in vain"; we render the work and grace of Christ null and void in our lives. These things once filled our attentions but now is the time to leave them behind and press on to know God through our relationship with Him as sons and daughters.

One final note. Paul speaks of being "known by God." How could God not have know us? How could there ever have been a time when God did not know us intimately and in every minute detail? It seems to me that the difference is not so much God know us but us knowing that God knows us. The Greek word for knowing could also be translated as perceiving. When we come to Christ we not only come to know God but we also open our lives up to Him, to be known by Him, and to let our lives, good, bad, or indifferent, to be perceived by Him. When God opens up His life to us and we open up our lives to Him, what need have we further of dead religion? When you have intimate relationships what more need have you of artificial efforts to achieve what you already have? Let us strip away all that remains of the past and of the beggarly things of our former lives that accomplished for us nothing, and learn the simplicity of being sons and daughters of God.

David Robison.

In the fullness of time - Galatians 4:1-7

"Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son... that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." (Galatians 4:1-7)

In referencing our progression from childhood, to adulthood, to being the inheritor of all things, Paul is not referring to our natural growth but the growth of the human race. It would be wrong to interpret the words of Paul to mean that we must all start under the law and then, only when mature, enter into the grace that is in Christ Jesus. In our present age we are all born into the age of grace and grace is available to all of us regardless of our stage of development or maturity. Rather, Paul is referring to the growth of the divine revelation among mankind.

The promise given to Abraham was given almost two thousand years before the birth of Christ. For tow thousand years mankind lived as minors in reference to the promise of God. The promise was ours but was kept on account for us against a set date when the Father would make it available to us. Though we were to inherit the promise, at the time we differed not from other humans who were in bondage to the "elemental things of the world." This phrase refers to those things that have been set in "order" like an "orderly" march of an army. Such things make up a "common morality" that most nations and people ascribe to and which regulate our lives and our relationships. Such morality that would condemn theft, murder, lying, and many forms of violence has common agreement in many societies and cultures as it is easily seen and understood by the "orderly" nature of the world around us.

The law expresses such a morality and, for nearly two thousand years, we were held in bondage to its commands. The Law was to us "guardians" and "managers" watching over us and regulating our behavior until the day that we might be given what was promised. However, now having received the promise we no longer need those guardians and managers. Through God's promise we have been give the grace and strength to live up to a higher standard of morality and no longer need the law and its bondage to lesser things. We are now full-fledged daughters and sons of the Most High. All that He has, and all that He has promised in the past, is now ours in abundance. We are now living in the fullness of time.

However, many still live in bondage; as slaves to an old way of living. They have yet to experience the adoption as sons and daughters; sons and daughters of God. They have yet to receive His Spirit into their hearts; the Spirit that bears witness with our spirit and empowers us to live godly lives. The transition from bondage to sonship all begins with our relationship with Jesus. If we will repent and believe the Gospel, believing in Jesus, then we too will make the transition to sons and daughters and will experience with the rest of God's family what it means to be the inheritors of all things.

David Robison

Universal equality - Galatians 3:27-29

"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:27-29)

It always surprises me how something so simple as baptism could cause so much trouble. Many a church split there has been over the means and modes of baptism. Many have been called heretics over the wording they use during baptism. Even during the middle-ages, thousands of Anabaptists lost their lives at the hands of Catholics and Lutherans because they did not believe in infant baptism. Just try to mess with the baptismal formula of your church and you will see just how strongly it is ingrained in the church and how strongly the church is invested in its traditions.

Baptism was never meant as a means of church membership, even when that church views baptism as the point of salvation. Baptism was meant to be a transition point between our old life and our new. It is the place where we are united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul writes, "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4) Baptism prepares us and initiates us into our new life in Christ; a life of power and grace to live differently than before. Here, in our context, baptism is the means by which we are crucified with Christ so that "through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God." (Galatians 2:19) Baptism is important, but not as a means to separate one believer from another, but rather as a means to unite us with Christ and in our new life apart from the law. "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." (Galatians 2:20)

During the first few centuries of the church, the church was one place where there was universal equality. During the first century, most Christians were poor and many were slaves. Many communities took little notice of them due to their low status in society. However, over the next two centuries, the christian apologist began making in roads in the ranks of the philosophers and upper class in Greek and Roman society. The church began to take on a more cosmopolitan makeup. The church became one of the few places where aristocrats, philosophers, the poor, and slaves could meet and fellowship as brothers and sisters; where each one was the other's equal in Christ. Philip Schaff describes the Agape feast of the early church as follows. "It was a family feast, where rich and poor, master and slave met on the same footing, partaking of a simple meal, hearing reports from distant congregations, contributing to the necessities of suffering brethren, and encouraging each other in their daily duties and trials." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church Vol. II, Section 68) Lactantius, an early Christian Write, describes church in his day this way. "Should any say: Are there not also among you poor and rich, servants and masters, distinctions among individuals? No; we call ourselves brethren for no other reason than that we hold ourselves all equal. For since we measure everything human not by its outward appearance, but by its intrinsic value we have notwithstanding the difference of outward relations, no slaves, but we call them and consider them brethren in the Spirit and fellow-servants in religion." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church Vol. II, Section 97)

It is unfortunate that, over the years, we have allowed our gatherings to become segregated. Sometimes via race, nationality, and social status, but even today by gender and age. It's not uncommon for a church to have its youth church, its children church, and its functions for men and women. Even small groups are divided into unmarried, married with children, and empty-nesters. Our fellowship should unite us not segregate us. It should bring us into contact with others different from us so we can see that, in Christ, we are the same.  In our fellowship we should be joined with all others, not just those similar to ourselves. Let us dispense with distinctions and learn once again to be truly one in Christ Jesus.

David Robison

Before faith - Galatians 3:23-26

"But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:23-26)

While the promise was made to Abraham, it would be two thousand years before faith would appear allowing us to believe in the promise. For two thousand years the promise would have to wait for those worthy to receive it; those who's walk was by "by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7) How would mankind survive and not kill each other while waiting for the promise to be realized? How could God guarantee that after two thousand years there would be a people prepared and desirous of the promise? The answer was the Law.

The Greek word rendered here for "kept in custody" means to "protect by guarding." It comes from two Greek words that literally means to "stare ahead" as a guard on a tower would watch the horizon for any trouble that he might keep the city safe. The law kept us for the time that faith would appear. The law did not keep us from faith, but kept us safe until faith should come. The law taught us how to live, how to relate to others, how to form civil societies, and to understand the basic character and nature of God so that, when faith came, we would be ready for it. Even today, the law of our parents keep us for manhood and womanhood. It teaches us how to live rightly, obey the rules, and it keeps us safe till we reach maturity. What good is the message of salvation if one has no means to keep them safe until they can understand it and receive it for themselves? This is the role of the law; to guard, teach, and protect us until we can grow to maturity and receive faith.

The Greek word for "tutor" is a beautiful word that is transliterated as "pedalogue" and means more than a tutor. Strong defines the word as "boy-leader." In those days, especially among the well-to-do of the Greeks, there was usually a servant whose job it was to escort the children to school; to ensure that they made it there and made it there safely. The pedagogue not only showed the children the way but protected and defended them from any harm along the way. The closest thing we have to day are crossing guards and these are not quite the same. The Law was our pedalogue. It not only showed us the way to Jesus but it also kept us safe along the way.

One of the things the law teaches us is our need for Jesus. Through the law we find that we are unable to keep the commandments of the law and we realize that, if we are to be righteous, we need a savior. Then the law takes us on a journey to find that savior; one who has kept the law without blemish yet who has also died in our place that His righteousness might be credited to us as well. The law is often a necessary step leading us to salvation.

However, now having made it to school, having been entrusted to the schoolmaster, we no longer need our pedalogue. Faith has come and the promise has been granted. There is no need for what had previously intervened and mediated between us and God. The fullness of the promise has come. Let us therefore no longer seek to go back to the law but journey forward with Christ as we learn from His who is our new Schoolmaster.

David Robison

Why the law? - Galatians 3:19-22

"Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." (Galatians 3:19-22)

One of the main ideas that Paul continually tries to drive home to us is that the Law was never meant to be our pathway to righteousness. As good, wholesome, and righteous as the law was, it was never able to produce righteousness in its hearers or doers. This is not because of some defect in the Law but rather because of the defect in us. The sin that lies within us shuts us out from true obedience to the Law and renders the law as death to us rather than life and peace. The Law cannot give us life and it cannot make us righteous.

The second point Paul is trying to make is that the law was extended to man through a mediator while His promise to man was announced in person. The law places us under the custodianship of a mediator, that being the Law. Our access to God is mediated by our obedience to the law. So thorough was that law that it regulated every aspect of civil and personal life. Even our conduct in the bathroom is specified under the law. "You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement." (Deuteronomy 23:12-13) The presence of God in their midst was mediated by their obedience lest God, "see anything indecent among you" (Deuteronomy 23:14) and turn away from them. However, our life under the promise of God is not mediated by anything or anyone. God made it personally to Abraham and we are personal inheritors of the same promise. The law no longer mediates the presence of God, rather we are free to know and love Him directly, personally, and inanimately apart from obedience to the law.

So why the law? Paul says it was given because of transgressions. It is interesting that, even before the law came, we still transgressed the law, we just did not know it. People were still sinning even without the law. Paul speaks of those who sinned but "had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam" (Romans 5:14) in that they had not violated a definite command of God. The law came to make us aware of sin, to show us what sin was, and to counsel us how to live righteously according to the ways of God. Paul says that the law came so that sin  "might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful." (Romans 7:13) The law came so that sin might be shown to be sinful so that we might hopefully avoid it personally and in our relationships with one another. For the next two thousand years the law would be our intermediary, teaching us how to live and mediating our relationship with God, while we all waited for His promise to come true; while we all waited for His Son. The law stood in between, between the promise and the fulfillment. However, once the promise was fulfilled so was the purpose and usefulness of the law. We are no longer under the law because we are now under God's promise.

David Robison

The Law and the covenant - Galatians 3:15-18

"Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as referring to many, but rather to one, 'And to your seed,' that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise." (Galatians 3:15-18)

Paul is beginning to setup his position on the Law and the Christian's relationship to it. What must be understood is that, while the law was important and necessary, it was not the main event. It stood as an intermediary, an interlude, between the promises made to Abraham and their fulfillment in Christ. The Law was never intended to be the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises nor did it serve to modify or nullify those promises.

As Christians we sometimes misunderstand the promises and message of God because we view them through the lens of the Law. We see the promises made to Abraham but we see them through the intervening years in which the Law was in effect. Sometimes, it is hard to understand our redemption without reference to the Law. How can one be redeemed and walk as a Christina and yet not keep the Law as given by God? For some, this leads them from grace back into the bondage of the Law. For others, it causes them to try and mix law and grace. These, while calming to be Christian, seem to be desiring to become Jewish, maintaining their law, feasts, and customs. However, God has not called us to be Jewish but to be Christ-like. The Christian walk is not a walk back to becoming Jewish but a walk forward into the blessing and freedom God previously promised to Abraham.

The Galatians, while trying to add elements of the Law to their faith, were in reality re-building the wall that separated them from the blessings and promises of Abraham. Later on, Paul will warn them, "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:4) The law and grace are incompatible; we must choose one or the other. John put it this way, "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17) One is not found in the other, we must choose which font we will drink from. Either the font of Moses bringing the law or the font of Jesus bringing us grace and truth.

We are a people of covenant, a covenant made with Abraham and those descended from "his seed". Let us not get caught up in the trappings of the Law but live the life of freedom we have in Christ and in His grace. Let us choose Grace not re-immersion back into law.

David Robison

The promise of the Spirit - Galatians 3:6-14

"Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham... So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse... Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident... However, the Law is not of faith... Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us... in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Galatians 3:6-14)

The faith Paul is talking about is what he previously described as "hearing with faith." (Galatians 3:5) God has spoken. We have heard and read His promises. It is now ours to chose if we will believe the words and promises of God or not. For those who believe, the fulfillment of those promises await them. For those who do not, there remains only a curse.

Faith is not new. It existed long before the Christian era began. Our participation in the redemptive history of God can be traced back to a man and a woman who exemplified the faith God is looking for. Abraham heard the promise form God, "one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir," (Genesis 15:4) and he believed God. His "hearing with faith" was reckoned to him as righteousness. Centuries later, a people would once again here God but it would be the law they would receive. They would be asked to live by the law and it would be their "obedience to law" that would be accounted to them as righteousness. However, it quickly became clear that no one could ever find righteousness through the law because, "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them." (Galatians 3:10) What the law promised it was unable to deliver.

It was always through faith that God intended to impart righteousness to mankind. It started with Abraham and now God is looking for those who have like faith with Abraham that He might impart righteousness to them as well. We have seen the result of those who tried to live by the law, but now we are called to "live by faith" (Galatians 3:11) that the promises and blessings might also be ours as they were with Abraham. Through the death of Christ we have been set free from law and released to faith; we have been set free from death and given over to blessing. The time for the law is in the past, ours is now again the tine for faith as it was once also for Abraham.

The end result of faith is the inheritance of promises. So what is the promise of faith made to Abraham? The Spirit! Our faith in Jesus opens up to us the presence, grace, and help of the Spirit. Christianity is not merely an intellectual or political system where one agrees intellectually with its tenets and chooses to live under its politics. Christianity is a religion of the Spirit. It is for this reason, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit, that Jesus came to live and die. A life without the Spirit is not the life God intends for us, rather, such a life is really a life spent apart from faith.

It is time to leave behind the law; to leave behind all human effort to achieve righteousness and the presence or the Spirit. It is time to be renewed in faith; a faith that leads to righteousness and welcomes the presence and activity of the Spirit in our lives and churches.

David Robison

From Spirit to flesh - Galatians 3:1-5

"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?" (Galatians 3:1-5)

The literal understanding of the Greek term for "foolish" means one who fails to exercise their mind. Our lack of thinking can be our undoing. If we blindly go along with everything that seems right or looks exciting and spiritual then we are in danger of wandering into error and missing the mark. We must use our minds to understand the gospel and to test and examine new teachings and doctrines as they come along. Not everything that is shiny is spiritual or of the truth.

The Galatians had become fascinated (bewitched) by some new doctrine and teaching and, in their lack of mental examination of the truth, they were leaving behind the doctrine that Paul had previously preached and set before them (publicly portrayed). They were in danger of leaving the realm of the Spirit for the realm of the flesh; of exchanging dependence on God for dependence upon themselves. They were on a path that sets aside the efficacious work of Christ for the previously proven ineffectiveness of the works of the flesh.

Paul's counsel to them was to consider how they started and to stay the course. They had started well and, if they continued in the manor in which they started, they would end well too. So how did they start well? Their beginning in Christ was marked by the Spirit both in His presence and His working. His presence is what captured their love and transformed them and gave them courage to face the difficulties of being a Christian in the first century. It was a beginning that was birthed and sustained by their faith. It was through their faith that the Spirit moved and super-abundantly provided for them all they needed to live a Christian life.

For some of us, we must ask ourselves, "How have we started? Did we start in the Spirit by faith or in works by our flesh?" If we find our beginning was not as their beginning, then maybe we did not start as they started. Maybe we need a fresh infusion of faith that the Spirit may be released in our lives and in our midst. How can we finish well if we don't first return to start well?

For the rest of us, we must ask ourselves. "Are we continuing as we started or have we exchanged the Spirit for our own efforts?" If the Spirit has grown cold in our lives and in our gatherings, then maybe we need to return to a simpler time and a simpler faith; maybe we need to return to trusting and depending upon the grace of God and the presence of His Spirit among us. Let us not loose what we have, or what if available to us, trying to finish in our own strength. Pride would say we can do it, but faith reminds us that it is only in Christ that we find our life.

David Robison