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Choose one question. Read the key verses, open their wider context, and weigh the explanations against Scripture. Scripture chapter links open in a new tab.
Short answer. Paul tells the Corinthians why he was thankful. He wanted to prevent anyone from claiming baptism into Paul’s name. He emphasizes his commission to preach Christ crucified. Acts records that many Corinthians heard the message, believed, and were baptized.
Read in context. 1 Corinthians 1:10–25
Paul writes to the church in Corinth after hearing about quarrels from Chloe’s people. Some claim loyalty to Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ. Paul asks whether Christ is divided, whether Paul was crucified for them, and whose name they were baptized into. He names Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas among those he personally baptized. The discussion leads into the message of the cross.
1 Corinthians 1:14–17 · World English Bible Classic
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.
16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.
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Acts 18:5–11 · Luke reports what happened when Corinthians heard the message.
1 Corinthians 3:4–9 · Paul explains why the workers deserve less attention than God, who gives the growth.
Romans 6:1–4 · Paul describes what baptism means in relation to Christ’s death and a new life.
A fair question to consider. A reader may argue that verse 17 distinguishes baptism from preaching the gospel. Paul does make that distinction about his commission. Verse 15 also gives his reason for being thankful, and Acts 18:8 describes baptism among the Corinthians. Read both before concluding what the distinction means for hearers. This paragraph addresses factional loyalty and Paul’s work. Questions about the relation of baptism to forgiveness require the other passages too.
Reflect. What reason does Paul give in verse 15? What changes when I compare who personally baptized people with what the Corinthians did after hearing?
Short answer. The man acknowledges his guilt, defends Jesus’s innocence, and asks Jesus to remember him. Jesus personally promises that he will be with Him in Paradise. The account shows Jesus’s authority and mercy toward a dying man who turns to Him.
Read in context. Luke 23:32–43
Luke places the exchange during Jesus’s crucifixion. One criminal mocks Jesus. The other rebukes him, acknowledges that their sentences are deserved, and speaks of Jesus’s kingdom. Luke records the request and promise. He gives no account of the man’s previous religious life.
Luke 23:43 · World English Bible Classic
43 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
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Mark 2:1–12 · Jesus demonstrates His authority to forgive sins.
Acts 2:36–42 · After the resurrection, Peter answers a crowd that asks what to do.
A fair question to consider. Some see this as an instance of salvation through trusting Christ without a recorded baptism. Others distinguish Jesus’s personal promise on the cross from the instructions preached after His resurrection. Luke leaves the man’s baptism history unspecified. Read the promise on its own terms, then ask what the apostles actually told their hearers.
Reflect. What does the man acknowledge about himself and Jesus? What does Luke establish about this encounter, and what details would I be assuming?
Short answer. God saves by His grace through faith. The same passage says He creates us in Christ for good works. Jesus describes obedience as a response of love, and James asks what kind of faith leaves a person unmoved to act.
Read in context. Ephesians 2:4–10
In Ephesians 2, Paul reminds believers of their former life and what God did in mercy by making them alive with Christ. He rules out boasting in human works and then explains the place of good works in the life God gives.
Ephesians 2:8–10 · World English Bible Classic
8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
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John 14:15–24 · Jesus connects love for Him with keeping His word.
James 2:14–26 · James tests a claim of faith by the response it produces.
A fair question to consider. Christians describe the relationship differently. Some speak of obedience as the evidence and fruit of saving faith. Others also describe obedient responses as the way faith receives what God promises. Ephesians excludes human merit. James challenges a claim of faith that has no works. Hold both passages together before defining either author’s point.
Reflect. What does Paul say God gives and God creates? How would Jesus’s words about love affect one choice I make this week?
Short answer. To call on the Lord is to appeal to Him in faith. Romans connects calling with hearing and believing. Acts gives concrete examples of the response to Jesus, including Ananias’s words to Saul.
Read in context. Romans 10:8–17
Paul writes in Romans 10 about righteousness through faith and the one Lord who is generous to Jews and Gentiles who call on Him. He quotes Joel. Peter quotes the same promise at Pentecost, then proclaims Jesus as Lord and answers the crowd’s question.
Romans 10:13 · World English Bible Classic
13 For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
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Joel 2:28–32 · Read the promise in its prophetic setting.
Acts 2:16–21, 36–42 · Compare Peter’s quotation with the response he gives the crowd.
Acts 22:12–16 · See how Ananias connects calling on the Lord with his instruction to Saul.
A fair question to consider. Calling can be expressed in prayer. Readers differ on whether Romans 10 describes an appeal sufficient on its own or the larger response of faith seen elsewhere. Romans gives the promise and traces calling back to belief and hearing. Acts 22 connects calling with baptism. The passages supply concrete teaching without specifying a required prayer formula.
Reflect. In Romans 10, what comes before calling? What does Acts 22:16 include that I might miss if I read only one passage?
Short answer. No. Salvation comes through Christ by God’s grace. In Colossians, baptism is described with burial and resurrection with Christ through faith in what God does. Read the passages on baptism alongside those that rule out human merit.
Read in context. Colossians 2:8–15
Paul reminds the Colossian believers of what they have in Christ. He describes a circumcision without human hands, burial and resurrection with Christ, and God making people alive and forgiving trespasses.
Colossians 2:12 · World English Bible Classic
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
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Ephesians 2:4–10 · Salvation is God’s gift through faith.
Acts 2:37–41 · Peter’s instruction connects repentance and baptism with forgiveness.
1 Peter 3:18–22 · Peter connects baptism with conscience and Christ’s resurrection.
A fair question to consider. Some understand baptism as a sign of salvation already received through faith. Others read these texts as connecting baptism with receiving what God gives. Neither interpretation needs to treat the act as a payment for salvation. The point to examine is what the texts connect with baptism and whose work makes forgiveness possible.
Reflect. Who is working in Colossians 2:12–13? How does that shape the difference between responding to God and earning something from Him?
Short answer. Romans 10 connects belief in the risen Jesus with openly confessing Him as Lord. Paul also discusses baptism in Romans 6. Read both passages in their settings to see what Paul emphasizes in each.
Read in context. Romans 10:8–17
Paul has been discussing Israel and righteousness through faith. In Romans 10 he says the message is near, speaks of the heart and mouth, and traces calling on the Lord back to hearing the message. He extends the promise to Jew and Gentile alike.
Romans 10:9–10 · World English Bible Classic
9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation.
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Romans 6:1–4 · Paul also teaches about burial and new life with Christ in baptism.
Acts 2:36–42 · Peter proclaims Jesus as Lord and answers what his hearers should do.
A fair question to consider. Some read Romans 10:9 as identifying a sufficient response of believing and confessing. Others understand those words within a broader obedient response taught elsewhere. Paul’s promise should be heard as written. The absence of another subject in these two verses does not settle how the same letter’s other teaching fits.
Reflect. Why does Paul speak of both the heart and the mouth? What does Romans 6 add to my understanding of how Paul describes coming to Christ?
Short answer. Jesus tells Nicodemus that entering God’s kingdom requires a new birth, brought about by the Spirit. He describes it as birth of water and Spirit. Readers differ about what water points to.
Read in context. John 3:1–15
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, visits Jesus at night. He asks how an adult could be born again. Jesus distinguishes flesh from Spirit and uses the wind to describe the Spirit’s work. He later asks why a teacher of Israel finds this difficult.
John 3:5–8 · World English Bible Classic
5 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must all be born anew.’
8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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Ezekiel 36:24–28 · God promises Israel cleansing, a new heart, and His Spirit.
John 3:22–26 · The narrative turns to baptizing and a question about purification.
Titus 3:4–7 · Paul speaks of washing and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
A fair question to consider. Some see water as baptism, especially when reading John alongside later Christian practice. Others read water and Spirit as images of God’s cleansing and renewal, with Ezekiel as background. Some connect water with physical birth in light of Nicodemus’s question and the contrast with flesh. The passage gives the phrase without explicitly defining water. Test which reading best explains Jesus’s language and why He expected Nicodemus to understand.
Reflect. How does Jesus redirect Nicodemus’s question about physical birth? What helps explain why water and Spirit are mentioned together?
Short answer. Scripture gives believers strong assurance in Christ and serious warnings about turning away. Read the promises and warnings together. Christians differ on whether the warnings describe someone losing salvation or how God keeps His people faithful.
Read in context. John 10:22–30
In John 10, Jesus describes His sheep as people who hear Him and follow Him. He promises eternal life and protection. Hebrews addresses fellow believers with Israel’s wilderness rebellion as a warning against an unbelieving heart. Second Peter warns about false teachers and returning to corruption.
John 10:27–28 · World English Bible Classic
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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Hebrews 3:7–14 · Notice who is warned and what they are asked to do.
2 Peter 2:18–22 · Read the warning about returning to what was escaped.
Romans 8:31–39 · Paul describes confidence in God’s love in Christ.
A fair question to consider. Those who hold that genuine believers will persevere emphasize the strength of Christ’s promise and may understand warnings as means God uses to keep them faithful. Those who believe a person can fall away distinguish being snatched from Christ from deliberately turning away, and point to the language of the warnings. Both readings should explain the whole set of passages.
Reflect. What does Jesus promise, and how does He describe His sheep? What practical response does Hebrews ask of me and my fellow believers?
Short answer. Ask where the practice comes from, what Scripture actually says, and whether the practice serves or sets aside what God commands. Jesus exposes a tradition that set aside honoring parents. Paul also tells a church to hold to teaching the apostles delivered.
Read in context. Mark 7:1–13
The Pharisees and scribes question Jesus about handwashing customs. Jesus quotes Isaiah and uses Corban, a gift dedicated to God, to show how a religious rule could prevent people from honoring their parents.
Mark 7:13, excerpt · World English Bible Classic
13 making void the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down.
Read alongside.
2 Thessalonians 2:13–17 · Paul identifies the traditions by their apostolic source.
Acts 17:10–12 · The Bereans test what they hear against Scripture.
A fair question to consider. Christians disagree over how binding apostolic tradition is recognized and whether it can be known apart from Scripture. Mark 7 gives a clear test for traditions that override God’s commands. The passages also make it important to distinguish apostolic teaching from later family or congregation practices.
Reflect. What command did the practice in Mark 7 set aside? What evidence would establish that a practice I inherited is binding on someone else?
Short answer. Jesus says the Father seeks worship in spirit and truth. Sincerity matters, and Jesus calls worshipers to take God’s truth and instructions seriously.
Read in context. John 4:19–26
The Samaritan woman asks Jesus whether the right place to worship is her people’s mountain or Jerusalem. Jesus points to a coming hour when neither location defines true worship. In Matthew 15 He also rebukes worship that honors God in words while teaching human commands as doctrine.
John 4:21–24 · World English Bible Classic
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
22 You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
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Matthew 15:1–9 · Jesus explains why the source of religious teaching matters.
Colossians 3:12–17 · Paul describes singing, mutual teaching, and doing all in Jesus’s name.
1 Corinthians 14:26–40 · Paul gives the gathered church direction about building up and order.
A fair question to consider. Christians differ over how the New Testament authorizes details in worship. Some require a positive basis for an additional act. Others see room for choices that serve the instructed worship without contradicting it. Distinguish an explicit command, an example, an inference, and a practical decision such as when a congregation meets.
Reflect. What does Jesus say the Father seeks? Which parts of a familiar worship practice come from the text, and which are practical choices?
Short answer. Paul calls Christians to act in word and deed under Jesus’s lordship and give thanks to the Father through Him. Consider whether what you are doing fits what Jesus teaches and represents Him faithfully.
Read in context. Colossians 3:12–17
Colossians 3 tells believers to put on compassion, humility, forgiveness, and love. Paul calls for Christ’s peace and word to shape their life together, including teaching, singing, and thanksgiving. Verse 17 extends the instruction to every word and deed.
Colossians 3:17 · World English Bible Classic
17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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Acts 4:5–12 · The leaders ask by whose power or name the man was healed.
Acts 19:13–17 · The sons of Sceva try to use Jesus’s name as a formula.
John 14:12–15 · Jesus speaks of asking in His name and keeping His commands.
A fair question to consider. Some emphasize specific authorization for what is done in Jesus’s name. Others emphasize being guided by His commands and principles where practical decisions are left open. Colossians addresses the whole life of the Christian. Ask what the text authorizes and whether you are treating a preference as a binding command.
Reflect. How does the surrounding list of virtues help explain verse 17? What would change if I asked whether my next word or action faithfully represents Jesus?
God’s Word is our authority. Ask whether it establishes a belief or practice. Sincerity, familiarity, and what seems reasonable can explain why we hold a belief. Scripture is how we test it.
Salvation is God’s gift through Jesus Christ. We obey in trusting response to His grace. Start with the foundation passages, then choose one short study.
Proverbs 14:12
“There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
Jeremiah 10:23
“Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.”
1 Samuel 15:22
“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”
Luke 6:46
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things which I say?”
Read in context. Luke 6:46–49 · Matthew 7:21–27 · John 14:15–24 · James 1:19–25
What the texts say. Jesus compares hearing and doing His words to building on rock. He distinguishes calling Him Lord and claiming mighty works from doing His Father’s will. Jesus connects love with keeping His commandments. James calls hearers to put the word into practice.
Read carefully. Christians differ on how to describe obedience’s place alongside saving faith. These passages establish the call to obey. Read them alongside Ephesians 2:4–10 to see whose grace makes salvation possible and where good works fit.
Examine your response. Which instruction of Jesus have I heard without putting it into practice? Read the surrounding verses, then choose one way to act on what He says.
Read in context. Proverbs 14:8–15 · Jeremiah 10:19–25 · Acts 26:9–20
What the texts say. Proverbs warns that a way can seem right and lead to death. Jeremiah’s words about human direction are part of a prayer that asks God for correction. Paul tells Agrippa that he once thought opposing Jesus was his duty. When Jesus confronted him, Paul changed course.
Read carefully. A conviction can be sincerely held. The examples show why confidence and religious zeal need to be tested. Jeremiah’s prayer addresses reliance on God and leaves room for people to exercise judgment under His instruction.
Examine your response. What belief am I most sure of? Open the passage that supports it and ask whether I would change my mind if the text pointed another way.
Read in context. Leviticus 10:1–3 · 1 Samuel 15:1–23 · Numbers 20:2–13 · Mark 7:6–13 · Acts 17:10–12
What the texts say. Nadab and Abihu offered fire God had not commanded. Saul spared Agag and some animals despite the instruction he received and appealed to sacrifice. At Meribah, God told Moses to speak to the rock. Moses struck it, and God said Moses and Aaron had failed to believe Him and honor Him as holy. Jesus exposed a tradition that displaced a command. The Bereans show a better response by testing what they heard against Scripture.
Read carefully. Readers discuss the precise offense in Leviticus and which details of Moses’s behavior explain God’s rebuke. Start with the reasons the accounts give. The commands to Israel’s priests, king, and leaders belong to those settings. The application today is to take God’s instructions seriously where they apply to us.
Examine your response. When my preferred plan differs from a clear instruction, do I look for a justification or bring my practice into line with what God says?
Read in context. Acts 2:36–42 · Acts 8:35–39 · Acts 16:30–34 · Acts 22:6–16 · Romans 10:8–17
What the texts say. The accounts record different starting points and different questions. Compare what people heard, what they were told, and what they did. A prayer for forgiveness can be sincere. The question is whether Acts presents a particular prayer as replacing what the hearers were instructed to do.
Read carefully. Some understand baptism as an obedient response in which God grants forgiveness. Others understand it as a commanded sign of salvation already received through faith. Some express an initial profession of faith in prayer. Read the conversion accounts and the passages below before deciding what any practice can claim as biblical authority.
Open one account at a time. Notice what each person heard, what they were told, and what they did.
Acts 2:37–41 · World English Bible Classic
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
40 With many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
Consider. After hearing about the risen Jesus, the people ask what to do. What does Peter say about repentance, baptism, and forgiveness? What do those who receive his word do?
Acts 8:35–39 · World English Bible Classic
35 Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus.
36 As they went on the way, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
38 He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.
In the World English Bible Classic, the wording associated with Acts 8:37 appears in a footnote.
Consider. Philip begins from the Scripture the traveler is reading and tells him about Jesus. What does the traveler ask when he sees water, and what happens next?
Acts 16:30–34 · World English Bible Classic
30 brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
33 He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.
34 He brought them up into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with all his household, having believed in God.
Consider. Paul and Silas tell the jailer to believe in the Lord Jesus and speak the word to his household. What happens that same hour, and how does the account end?
Acts 22:6–16 · World English Bible Classic
6 “As I made my journey and came close to Damascus, about noon suddenly a great light shone around me from the sky.
7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
8 I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.’
9 “Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn’t understand the voice of him who spoke to me.
10 I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.’
11 When I couldn’t see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.
12 “One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus,
13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him.
14 He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.
15 For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.
16 Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
Consider. Saul asks the Lord what to do. What does Ananias tell him about baptism, washing away sins, and calling on the Lord? Compare Acts 9:10–19, where Saul is already praying when Ananias is sent.
Read in context. Acts 2:37–41 · Acts 9:10–19 · Acts 22:12–16 · Romans 10:8–17
Paul connects believing, confessing, and calling on the Lord. Acts records Saul praying before Ananias’s further instruction. Compare what each passage actually asks of a hearer with the claim that saying a particular prayer completes the response.
Read in context. James 2:14–26 · John 12:42–43 · Romans 6:15–23
James challenges a claim of faith without works. John records rulers who believed but withheld confession because of what others might do. Paul describes obedience from the heart. What difference do the passages make between acknowledging a fact and trusting Christ enough to follow Him?
Read in context. Acts 2:38–41 · Acts 22:16 · Romans 6:1–4 · 1 Peter 3:18–22
Read how these passages connect baptism with forgiveness, calling on the Lord, union with Christ, a good conscience, and resurrection. Even traditions that emphasize symbolism may regard baptism as commanded. What would each interpretation have to explain in the actual wording?
Read in context. Acts 8:12 · Acts 8:35–39 · Acts 16:13–15 · Acts 16:30–34 · Acts 2:38–39 · Colossians 2:11–13
Acts describes people hearing and responding, including households. Lydia’s account does not list the ages or responses of everyone in her household. Some infer a place for infants from household accounts and covenant connections. Others understand the examples of hearing and faith to call for baptism of believers. Separate what the accounts state from what is inferred.
Examine your response. Which account helps me examine what I was taught? Identify what it explicitly says, what I infer, and which other passages I need to read.
Read in context. Mark 7:1–13 · Acts 17:10–12 · 2 Thessalonians 2:13–17 · Colossians 3:12–17
What the texts say. In Mark, Jesus shows how Corban, a religious dedication, was used to set aside the duty to honor father and mother. In Thessalonians, Paul tells the church to hold to teaching the apostles delivered by word or letter. The source and effect of the tradition matter.
Read carefully. Christians disagree on how apostolic tradition is identified and whether binding apostolic teaching can be established apart from the written Scriptures. Mark 7 condemns a tradition that overrides God’s command. A family habit can be a useful custom. Its age alone gives it no divine authority.
Examine your response. What do I practice because I inherited it? Identify its source. Ask whether Scripture teaches it, whether it is a practical choice, or whether it displaces something God has said.
Read in context. John 4:19–26 · Matthew 15:1–9 · Colossians 3:12–17 · 1 Corinthians 14:26–40
What the texts say. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that the Father seeks worshipers who worship in spirit and truth. He warns against teaching human rules as divine doctrine. Colossians calls Christians to teach and admonish one another in song and to act in Jesus’s name. Paul tells the assembled Corinthians to do all things for building up and in order.
Read carefully. Christians disagree on how Scripture authorizes practices in gathered worship. For example, Colossians names singing and leaves instrumental accompaniment unspecified. Some see accompaniment as an aid to singing. Others see it as an additional act that needs authorization. The text’s command, an inference about its scope, and a choice such as a meeting time belong in distinct categories.
Examine your response. Choose one practice. What does Scripture explicitly teach? If I consider a practice an aid, how does it serve the instructed act? What would establish that I may require it of others?
Read in context. Romans 3:21–26 · Ephesians 2:4–10 · Titus 3:4–7 · Romans 6:15–23 · James 2:14–26
What the texts say. Romans says all have sinned and identifies redemption in Christ. Ephesians calls salvation God’s gift through faith and says we are created in Christ for good works. Titus grounds salvation in God’s mercy. Romans 6 describes obedience from the heart and ends by calling eternal life God’s free gift. James calls faith without works dead.
Read carefully. Christians differ on how Paul and James use the language of justification and describe obedience in relation to saving faith. Read what each writer is addressing. Paul excludes boasting in human merit. James challenges a claim of faith that produces no action. God’s grace through Christ makes salvation possible and gives us reason to obey Him.
Examine your response. Where am I relying on my own record? Where am I claiming faith without acting on it? Read Ephesians 2 and James 2 together, then decide how to respond to God’s mercy.
Read in context. Acts 2:41–47 · John 15:1–11 · Hebrews 3:12–14 · 2 Peter 2:18–22 · 1 Corinthians 10:6–13 · John 10:27–30 · 1 John 2:1–6
What the texts say. The Jerusalem believers continue in teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers. Jesus calls His disciples to remain in Him. Hebrews warns against an unbelieving heart and calls believers to encourage one another. Peter warns against returning to corruption. Paul warns the person who thinks he stands. John points Christians who sin to Jesus as their Counselor with the Father.
Read carefully. Christians differ over whether the warnings describe a genuine believer falling away or warnings through which God preserves His people. Read the warnings alongside Jesus’s promise that no one will snatch His sheep from His hand. In both readings, taking the warnings seriously, remaining with Christ, and turning back when we sin matter.
Examine your response. What would continuing faithfully look like this week? Choose one step in prayer, obedience, fellowship, or helping another Christian persevere.
Am I following the Word of God, or am I following something that seems right to me but cannot be established from Scripture?
Read one passage again in its setting. Identify what it asks of you and take one step in response.
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Scripture quotations are from the public-domain World English Bible Classic.