Queen's Road Cell

We ran through Paul's sequence of thought in Romans 10. In Romans 9 he has began to answer the question of why the Jews, God's chosen people, have remained unsaved. And there his answer is, "They were not elect". In Romans 10 his answer is that they were "disobedient and contrary people" (v.21). So here we see the 2 truths that must always be held together: God is absolutely sovereign, and man is is absolutely morally responsible. Paul begins the chapter by declaring that the Jews (like he was) had a zeal...but not according to (true) knowledge of God. They did not know His righteousness provided for them and did not submit to its revelation in Christ, who is the 'end' (= the terminus, the fulfillment) of the law (v .4). Then he goes on to a more complicated argument based on a passages in Leviticus 18:5 and Deut 3):12-14. Here he takes the accessibility of the law spoken of in these passages and applies it to Christ. Christ has come from heaven ...

The FFMC Disciplemaking Handbook (yes, we have one!) defines disciplemaking in the words of Edmund Chan as: "the process of bringing people into right relationship with God, and developing them to full maturity in Christ through intentional growth strategies, so hat they might multiply the entire process in others also" . Disciplemaking, then is the whole process from conversion to spiritual growth to maturity. Disciplemaking is the mission of the church (Matt 28:19-20) which every Christian, no matter how young a disciple, is called to participate in. We do this in different ways (e.g. evangelism, teaching/preaching), not necessarily in a way that involves walking alongside individuals.(c.f. 1 Cor 3:5, Jn 4:37) So when Ian Malins mentions spiritual maturity, commitment, relationship and spiritual formation as key factors applied to the lives of a few as the principles of discipling. I thought that the way he used 'discipling' was more akin to what we would call ...

1 Cor 9:1-18 is Paul’s defence of his apostleship to a difficult church. He insists from commonsense (v.7-8), Scripture (v.8-10), natural justice(v.11-12) and Jewish custom (v.13) that he is totally entitled to material support from the Corinthians. However, he refuses to exercise this right, and takes pains to ensure that mentioning his right is not misunderstood as an attempt to exercise it. He is concerned for the purity of the gospel, which must not be sullied by greed on the part of the preacher. He will never be put in a position where his integrity is compromised by accusations of personal gain by his preaching (v.15). He will “boast” that he can present the gospel free of charge. Here we made a note that boasting is not necessarily a bad thing. Boasting that takes glory away from God and directs it to ourselves is wrong (1 Co 1:29), but boasting about one’s weaknesses to glorify God’s provision (1 ), God’s people (2 Co 1:14), and our ministry enabled by God (Ro 15:17ff) is...

The Greek word for ‘draw’ in Jn 6:44 is used in the NT to connote actions with a degree of forcefulness. It is used to describe Paul and Silas (Ac 16:19) getting dragged before the authorities and Paul getting dragged by a mob (Ac 21:30). The rich compel/draw the poor before the courts (Jas 2:6) as well.   It is also used to describe the drawing of a sword by Peter (Jn 18:10) and the drawing of a net of fish (Jn 21:6, 11). So 'draw' does not mean 'woo' or 'persuade'. Selwyn gave the analogy of a magnet drawing something. There is a sense of active action on God's part before one can be saved. Perhaps the most useful passages in John’s gospel that throw light on Jn 6:44 are Jn 12:32 (Jesus ‘draws’ all men to Himself) and Jn 6:65 (“This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father”). So Jesus speaks of a sovereign work of God in salvation. Of ourselves, we cannot seek God and be saved. Matthew’s gospel says the sam...