Category: Flesh

After Matthew records the departure of the young Jesus to Egypt (a fulfillment of Hosea 11:1), the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem, and finally the death of Herod; an angel appeared to Joseph to return with the child and His mother back to Israel.

However, Joseph was afraid to return to Judea because the son of Herod,  Archelaus was reigning the place of his father.  Apparently Joseph’s fear was legitimate as God warned him in a dream about the danger there, and Joseph instead turned to Galilee.

The city of Nazareth was where Joseph settled, and where Jesus was raised. In fact, he was often referred to and known as Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament.  Nathanael, in John 1:46 asked about Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Indicating the city did not have a good reputation in Israel at the time.

This was also a fulfillment of a prophecy concerning the Christ. “He shall be called a Nazarene”, which was written hundreds of years previously, in Judges 13:5.

In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Paul wrote, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”

Nothing is surprising about this text. It relates an obligation that we have to support the Lord’s work in a systemic and regular way. It denotes the Lord’s day as the day when the collection will be taken. We know this to be the day that Christians came together to worship the Lord (cf. Acts 20:7). I states an obligation that we help those in our number (other Christians) who have a physical need (cf. Galatians 6:10).

This is the only place in scripture where there is a pattern established for this financial obligation we as Christians are given toward the Lord’s work. There are other places which give authority to practice benevolence, to support efforts of evangelism and to edify the church, but here alone is the passage that tells us how money is to be gathered in the local church.

What remains is for us to do our duty in a manner that the Holy Spirit prescribes. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

The fifth chapter of Galatians contains a great contrast written by the apostle Paul. On the one hand are the works of the flesh, and on the other the fruit of the Spirit.

First note their opposition. They are antithetical, and Paul gave the advice, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (5:16). In saying they are antithetical, we do not claim that both can’t be present in our lives. Because of our human nature, it is possible for us to have both of these in some amount. Such presence ensures a great conflict in our inner man. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (5:17). Continue reading “A Great Contrast” →