Greyfriars Church

Sunday 9th June, 9:30 service, George Eapen. Earlier in the chapter, Paul sets the theological framework: that because Jesus died and rose again so we are dead to sin and alive to His life. In this part of the chapter, Paul begins to unpack what that life looks like when it’s lived out. We might be tempted to think that because we live under grace, that we have free license to sin and live however...

Sunday 2nd June, 6:30 service, Chris Hall. We are dead to sin. It no longer has a claim or any power over us. Jesus is alive and so are we. Paul uses baptism to illustrate his point in this passage: as we go under the water we are buried with Him, and we are born to the new life He won for us in His resurrection. The penalty for sin is death, and as death is defeated so sin has lost its power. We...

Sunday 26th May, 9:30 service, Alyssa Carey. We are made righteous through Jesus. Although we were made sinners through the actions of Adam, we have been justified through Jesus and His obedience to God. There is no depth of sin that grace won’t meet us in as a result. This grace and righteousness ultimately leads us into eternal life. Righteousness and justification are words that carry a lot of...

Sunday 19th May, 9:30 service, David Walker. Paul starts this section with a reminder of where we’ve been: that we are all under sin and death which came to us through Adam. Since the fall death has come to all people even before the law was given. But, as many died through Adam, how much more are we saved through Jesus? We are given the free gift of grace and righteousness which reigns in our liv...

Sunday 12th May, 9:30 service, Dan Bright.

Sunday 5th May, 6:30 service, Natalie Worsfold. Would you die for anyone? What is it about someone that means you would die for them? In Jesus’ death we see the clearest demonstration of love. Although we hadn’t done anything to deserve it, in fact we were enemies of God, Jesus still chose to go to the cross. God’s love for us is so powerful that He could not leave us as enemies but chose to recon...

Sunday 28th April, 9:30 service, David Walker. Paul links Abraham’s faith with hope (an important concept for him) and brings out the truth —Abraham and Sarah were in a hopeless situation when they received the promise of God. Abraham’s faith was profound and its being reckoned to him for righteousness has meaning for all subsequent believers. It is clear that Paul has concluded his basic account...

It is central to Paul’s position that the way of salvation he has just been outlining, the way of salvation by God’s grace, is no new thing. Now he proceeds to show that this was true of Abraham, the great father of the Isreal. God had acted in grace towards Abraham, and Abraham had been justified by faith - that is Paul’s argument. Whereas if Abraham had been accepted on the grounds of his works,...

Paul asserts that salvation is exclusively attained through the death of Christ, which can be perceived from multiple perspectives. He emphasises that salvation is obtained solely through faith, reiterating the importance of this concept. He highlights that there is no justification for human arrogance or boasting and that a right understanding of faith is necessary if we are to uphold the law.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free - but what does this look like, and how do we live in the power of Jesus' resurrection day by day?

Jesus' resurrection means everything!

Paul presents to us in Philippians 2 the servant of all, Jesus, who willingly gave up his life for us on the cross, and challenges us to love others the way Christ has loved us.

All the talk of sin might seem heavy, but it all leads to Paul’s point: we have righteousness through faith in Jesus. This righteousness and forgiveness is available to all who believe in it. As all have sinned and fallen short, all are justified by grace. As our righteousness is through faith alone and not by our own efforts, we cannot claim that we are more righteous or godly than anyone else. G...

God is not like us. He is faithful, true, righteous and good. Some people in Rome were saying that our human sin and unrighteousness was ultimately a good thing as it would serve to highlight God’s goodness and righteousness more. This is not the right way to think! We can’t earn our righteousness as we have all fallen short, but that’s what makes the Gospel of Jesus such good news for us. Where m...

Circumcision acts as a physical marker for the Jewish people of their covenantal identity: that they are called to be separate from those around them in obedience to God and His law. Paul here is making the case that outward, physical circumcision has no value if it is not partnered with inward obedience, or circumcision of the heart. God calls us to inward obedience that sets us apart from those...

Paul uses the law as a means of exposing the hypocrisy of the Jewish people, which culminates in the final verse of the passage: “Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.” Ultimately, their outward appearance of obidence does not match up with what is truly going on in their lives. How does hypocrisy play out i...

God judges impartially. God is concerned with the state of your heart, not the family you were born into. It is your love of God that makes you part of the family of God. Paul speaks to the Jewish people of Rome and reinforces that they are not saved simply because of their national identity but rather their personal identity. Paul is undermining their theology by equalising those who listen but d...

Sin plays a large role over the first three chapters. To understand the concept of grace, we must first get to grips with sin. Here, the big picture story is told of God’s wrath in response to our deliberate “turning away from God”. God’s wrath culminates in the “giv[ing] them over to sinful desires of their hearts”. Although God is both slow and reluctant to execute his wrath, we see it here in t...

The chapter starts in a familiar fashion with an introduction of the author, Paul. But in it, there is so much depth. The short introduction is an introduction to the gospel, a succinct explanation of the Christian reality (v1-7). Paul then lays out his intentions to see them face to face and his desire to “impart some spiritual gift to make you strong” (v11). The passage ends with the triumphant...

As this “hall of faith” draws to a close, the writer to Hebrews reminds us that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. We are to flee from sin, run with perseverance and fix our eyes on Jesus, the one who endured the greatest sacrifice of all. The call for us all is to keep going – not to lose heart or grow weary. But fix our eyes on Jesus and see His example of sacrifice and glory. K...

Just in case we thought God’s story through these people of faith was glorious, the writer of Hebrews tells us that their stories involve great trials and battles. They stood against powerful kingdoms and injustice (vs33), enemies in the form of lions (vs33), flames and swords (vs34), torture, destitution, stoning and death. But God……..had something far greater to come (vs40), which we now know as...

As we continue the “hall of faith”, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that being part of God’s story involves us being tested (vs17), remaining faithful to God to the very end of our lives (vs21), standing firm for God (vs23) and choosing faithfulness over our own desires (vs25). Christ is introduced in verse 26 as an example of how we are to live lives of sacrifice (vs26) and perseverance (vs27)....

Introduce the “hall of faith” as this chapter is known. The writer of Hebrews begins with his definition of faith (verse 1), with an example of faith (verse 3). He then leads on to give the examples of faith through Genesis, with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. In amongst these inspiring examples are some helpful reminders for us: ‘without faith it is impossible to please God’ (vs6); ‘holy f...

Dan and Alyssa take us deeper into the Christmas story.

David takes us back to the heart of Christmas and the One it's all about - His name is Jesus!