Study Desk

You say people should be faithful in marriage. But are you faithful? You hate idols, yet you rob their temples.

You take pride in the Law, but you disobey the Law and bring shame to God.

Being circumcised is worthwhile, if you obey the Law. But if you don't obey the Law, you are no better off than people who are not circumcised.

So everyone who obeys the Law, but has never been circumcised, will condemn you. Even though you are circumcised and have the Law, you still don't obey its teachings.

It is true that some of them did not believe the message. But does this mean that God cannot be trusted, just because they did not have faith?

But the answer is, "No." Otherwise, how could God judge the world?

You might as well say, "Let's do something evil, so that something good will come of it!" Some people even claim that we are saying this. But God is fair and will judge them as well.

and they say nothing but bitter curses.

But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins.

If he became acceptable to God because of what he did, then he would have something to brag about. But he would never be able to brag about it to God.

But you cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in him.

But when did this happen? Was it before or after Abraham was circumcised? Of course, it was before.

God promised Abraham and his descendants that he would give them the world. This promise wasn't made because Abraham had obeyed a law, but because his faith in God made him acceptable.

God becomes angry when his Law is broken. But where there isn't a law, it cannot be broken.

But Abraham never doubted or questioned God's promise. His faith made him strong, and he gave all the credit to God.

just as we read in the Scriptures. But these words were not written only for Abraham.

But that's not all! We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure.

But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.

But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life's blood, we will also be kept safe from God's anger.

Sin was in the world before the Law came. But no record of sin was kept, because there was no Law.