Dennis E. Johnson

 God’s grace in Christ not only heals the rift between guilty individuals and our holy Creator. It also breaks down the walls (race, gender, culture, language, etc.) that divide us from one another.  

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In the heart of his letter to the Galatians, Paul presents God’s glorious, gracious remedy to our alienation, guilt, and spiritual dehydration.

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God’s grace, through the cross of Christ, unmasks us. The cross exposes our guilty secrets and the condemnation and lethal punishment that we deserve, leaving us nowhere to hide to preserve our “image.”  

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As we celebrate the birth of the Protestant Reformation, 500 years ago this fall, that we will meditate on Galatians, which Luther called “my Katie von Bora,” in six Morning Devotions over the semester.  

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You are pioneers about to plunge into new territory. However long you’ve been a Christian, you have an exhilarating, challenging, terrifying adventure before you. This adventure will bring discoveries not only about God’s Word but also about yourself. It will change you from the inside out.

In a world infected by human sin and its toxic byproducts, accomplishing physical, intellectual, and relational goals requires hard labor. 

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 “Dispersion,” scattering, is a bittersweet theme. On the one hand, the Creator authorized his animate creatures and humanity, their rulers, to “fill the earth”—very good. 

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The Lord gives to his church “mercy servants,” whose deeds of compassion complement the gospel witness of his “Word servants.”

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The seven servants were qualified to care for widows’ material needs because Christ’s church discerned that they were “full of the Spirit and wisdom.”  

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The apostles’ response to the need of Greek-speaking widows in the Jerusalem church shows two truths that define how ministry must be done in Christ’s church.

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Not only does the Lord love to lavish his grace to multitudes of people, to see them multiply to become a countless choir to sing his praise (as we saw in the first meditation on Acts 6:1-7); but he also delights in diversity—different kinds of people, speaking different languages and practicing different customs. 

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The Jerusalem church’s appointment of seven servants to care for widows is a pivotal event in the spread of Christ’s gospel after the Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost.

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Office Hours talks to Dr. Dennis Johnson about the Holy Spirit's role in our sanctification.

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Now in the new covenant the Spirit of God (who empowered Israel’s kings, prophets, and priests) distributes to all believers his diverse gifts, to enable every member of Christ’s body to serve others and foster the growth of the whole church.

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"These days, it seems, one sure-fire way to instigate a vigorous discussion in Reformed circles—whether around the Sunday dinner table or in the blogosphere—is to bring up the topic of “application” in sermons."