Growing In Grace

I am sure that many of you will recognize the title of this post as being spoken by Cotton's Parrot in the "Pirates Of The Caribbean." Whatever your take on the movie may have been, this is a deeply theological statement and one that I want to unpack from Scripture. I believe that this is one of the most misunderstood Biblical teachings, and the implications of misunderstanding this teaching are huge for our understanding of the gospel. Ephesians 2:1a&4-6 says, "And you were dead in your sins and trespasses ... But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul spells out for us just how bad a state we were in - we were dead. To be sure this is not to say that we were "mostly dead" but completely and totally de...

Galatians 3:13-14 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us - it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree' - 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." Abraham was promised a blessing, a Descendant, and land, and in Galatians 3 we see that Christ is the fulfillment of the 'blessing promise' by bringing salvation to the Jews and Gentiles. Paul quotes the Old Testament saying, "Cursed is everyone that does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, to perform them." Jesus became cursed for us by hanging on the tree so that the blessing of Abraham would be passed on to those who believe through faith. Paul goes on in vs 16 to say that Christ is also the ultimate fulfillment of the Descendant or Seed promise. Paul is exegeting (interpreting/expounding) the promises to Abraham from Gene...