Ray of Sunshine. art

We are in the final stretches of finishing out the 2024 Chronological Bible Reading Plan! I November we finished up The Gospels and began to comb through Acts, all of James, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and 1st Corinthians. This section of the Bible seems to focus on what a church body should look like and how those who follow the Messiah should present themselves in this world. There is a lot of controversy in these pages as those who follow Replacement Theology would argue that “church” should look vastly different now that Jesus has come. This argument usually looks like, Jesus changed everything and now we are covered under grace so all of the stuff in the Old Testament no longer applies to us. However, we know that Jesus came to fulfill the law, not take away from it (Matthew 5:17). These books show further evidence of that and how Jesus is a continuation of the Jewish belief system with a Messiah who has already risen.

Acts

I am currently on a year long study of Acts through The Sent Ones, a Torah Club study through First Fruits of Zion. I believe I have talked about them in previous recaps. Acts is the telling of the Apostles and what they went through as they spread the message of Jesus to other parts of the world. Many of the Apostles were born Jewish and had witnessed the risen Messiah. Some of the Apostles were born Greek and assimilated to become Jewish. It is because of these Greek speaking Apostles that we today are able to have a Bible translated into English. In this book we also see how the Apostles were on trial similar to Jesus for their beliefs. When you really dig down into the messages of the Apostles you see how they confirm a lot of “Old Testament” thinking and elaborate on that thinking with how Jesus has fulfilled those things and by giving prophecy of what is to come. If you have time in the upcoming year, I highly recommend doing a deep dive of the book of Acts!

James

The book of James is another example of calling on Jewish and Gentile believers to live life in good faith and according to the word of God. James’ main message is to live in good faith and if you are truly obedient to God, your deeds will produce good fruit. There is an age old battle of being a good person and doing good things will earn you favor from God versus you are saved by grace and therefore covered from any miss steps. James reminds us that one, you are covered but you still need to repent and change your ways and two, if you are truly living to accordance to God, your deeds will automatically be good. James encourages us to use discernment and seek wisdom so that we have understanding. He also encourages us to live by the Golden Rule, to love thy neighbor as thy self. There are a lot of good bits of advice in the book of James. The Daily Grace Co has a wonderful study on James: The Steadfast Life that I completed a few years back when steadfast was my word of the year. The study can be found here: https://thedailygraceco.com/collections/books-of-the-bible/products/james-study-1

What has been a takeaway you’ve had from this month?