because our hearts have been transformed by God’s grace through Christ Jesus. Never read Paul, never read any of your Bible, without this perspective. And it can be easy to think of all those imperatives as basically about me and my obedience. But they’re not. Read through these books anew as we study them in the next few weeks. It is through the that the wisdom of God should be made church “manifold known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”—Ephesians 3:10—and so it is our life corporately that is at the center of Paul’s focus. Read these books to understand the corporate implications of the gospel. Conclusion As we consider Paul’s letters in the coming weeks, we need to have the backdrop of his life, ministry, and theology in view. We should be asking ourselves certain questions. How does this fit in with a missionary’s concern? What is he saying about our life together? How does this part of the gospel lead to this practical change in my life? To what extent are our lives and decisions driven by the one overarching concern of how we can further the ministry of the gospel? We will see Paul’s letters as a great resource for evaluating ways in which the centrality of the gospel might have been displaced in our own lives.
because our hearts have been transformed by God’s grace through Christ Jesus. Never read Paul, never read any of your Bible, without this perspective. And it can be easy to think of all those imperatives as basically about me and my obedience. But they’re not. Read through these books anew as we study them in the next few weeks. It is through the church that the “manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”—Ephesians 3:10—and so it is our life corporately that is at the center of Paul’s focus. Read these books to understand the corporate implications of the gospel. Conclusion As we consider Paul’s letters in the coming weeks, we need to have the backdrop of his life, ministry, and theology in view. We should be asking ourselves certain questions. How does this fit in with a missionary’s concern? What is he saying about our life together? How does this part of the gospel lead to this practical change in my life? To what extent are our lives and decisions driven by the one overarching concern of how we can further the ministry of the gospel? We will see Paul’s letters as a great resource for evaluating ways in which the centrality of the gospel might have been displaced in our own lives.