Gentile – Three Minute Bible

January 9, 2025January 10, 2025

Colossians 2:18c – Monkey See, Monkey Do

A picture of Paul the Apostle speaking and in the background is a monkey watching him.

Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen …

Summary: Whether we are kids in grade school or adults at work, we all crave attention. Everyone wants to be popular. When a “new kid” comes to town, they seem to upset the balance of power and suddenly everyone is vying for attention.

Here is an interesting thought: How does going into “great detail” impact a story?

Does adding detail add to the story, or is the purpose of “great detail” to add credibility to the storyteller?

As I ponder Paul’s words in this passage I find myself reflecting on what people say and how they say it. Paul is pointing out a characteristic of a certain type of people. These are not ordinary, every-day people, but these are people who have a mission to corrupt the faith of believers.

December 3, 2024December 3, 2024

Colossians 2:22d – The Mystery of God

…in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ…

Summary: Why does Paul refer to Christ as the “mystery of God?” The answer has to do with God’s love for all of his creation.

In Job’s long-running conversation with his three friends, Zophar the Naamathite challenges Job with this question:

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7)

Paul does not claim to “fathom” these mysteries. However, he claims that God has “revealed” them to him (Ephesians 3:2-5).

April 27, 2024April 27, 2024

Galatians 4:5b – United to God

… that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Summary: “Adoption to sonship” might be a bit of an arcane phrase, but the principle behind it is timeless.

April 15, 2024April 15, 2024

Galatians 3:28 – What They Wanted to Hear

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Summary: In this passage, Paul makes an astounding claim. God doesn’t see differences between people like we do. So what does God see?

March 26, 2024March 26, 2024

Galatians 3:14a – A Light for the Gentiles

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus …

Summary: There is a big difference between the law and faith. Paul explains the gift we receive when we put our trust in Jesus.

February 12, 2024February 12, 2024

Galatians 2:14c – The Wrong Club

“You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”

Summary: Deciphering what Paul is saying to Peter and his companions requires an understanding of past covenants made by God for man.

January 30, 2024January 30, 2024

Galatians 2:8 – World History in Four Parts

For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.

Summary: Looking at the history of the world in four parts helps bring into focus the challenges God faced in redeeming his creation.

July 6, 2023July 6, 2023

Ephesians 4:17b-19 – Garbage In, Garbage Out

… in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

Summary: What we think has a big impact on what we do and who we are. Thinking there is no God is a faulty assumption that leads to faulty — and dangerous — conclusions.

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023

Ephesians 4:17a – A Kind of Test

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do …

Summary: Paul’s problem is that people who believe in God act differently than people who don’t. Being the “Apostle to the Gentiles” carried with it the added burden of educating Gentile believers about this difference.

April 22, 2023April 22, 2023

Ephesians 2:15b – The Challenge

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace …

Summary: God changed the rules when he instituted a new covenant in Jesus’ blood. Trying to figure out what those rules are and how to apply them has been a challenge for humanity ever since.