What Is the Offense of the Cross? Galatians 5:11–12, Part 1
Why is the cross so offensive to fallen man? Because the cross declares that no amount of human effort or law-keeping can make us right with God.
Jun 04, 2024
Look at the Book
Look at the Book is John Piper's ongoing series of 8-12 minute videos to help you learn to read the Bible for yourself.
Episodes
Why Such Confidence for the Galatians? Galatians 5:7–10, Part 2
More than once, how Paul feels toward certain Christians increases his confidence in their salvation. How does that kind of confidence work?
Jun 02, 2024
A Little Leaven Is Devastating: Galatians 5:7–10, Part 1
A little leaven, even just a little, leavens the whole lump. Mix a little law with the gospel, and you surrender the ground of grace.
May 31, 2024
The Faith That Counts Produces Fruit: Galatians 5:1–6, Part 8
What kind of faith unites us to Christ so that we are counted righteous before God? The faith that bears the fruit of love.
May 28, 2024
Waiting for the Hope of Righteousness: Galatians 5:1–6, Part 7
The church may be mocked, accused, and slandered now. But a day is coming when God will silence any doubt about his people’s righteousness.
May 26, 2024
Can You Lose Your Salvation? Galatians 5:1–6, Part 6
When Paul talks about being severed from Christ, does he imply that true Christians can lose their salvation?
May 24, 2024
Severed from Christ: Galatians 5:1–6, Part 5
Those who seek to be justified by the law sever themselves from Christ, fall away from grace, and commit eternal suicide.
May 21, 2024
Justification by Law Requires Perfection: Galatians 5:1–6, Part 4
The law cannot be divided — break but the smallest commandment, and you are guilty of all. We cannot be right with God through the law.
May 19, 2024
How to Cancel Every Blessing of Christ: Galatians 5:1–6, Part 3
If you claim works as part of the basis of being right with God, you trade grace for law, and you cancel every blessing of Christ from your life.
May 17, 2024
What Is Christian Freedom? Galatians 5:1–6, Part 2
If you try to be justified under the law, you will remain under the curse. But if you stand firm in the grace of the gospel, you will enjoy true freedom.
May 14, 2024
Don’t Turn Back to Slavery: Galatians 5:1–6, Part 1
Through the gospel of grace, Jesus Christ sets Christians free in order that they may remain free. Don’t turn back to slavery.
May 12, 2024
You Are a Child of the Free Woman: Galatians 4:21–31, Part 8
Christians are not slaves, but free. We are right with God not by works of the law, but by faith. We are born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.
May 10, 2024
Persecuted for Being a Child of Promise: Galatians 4:21–31, Part 7
Children of promise are children born as the answer to a promise. Every Christian is a child spoken of beforehand, a fulfillment of God’s promise.
May 07, 2024
Rejoice, O Barren One! Galatians 4:21–31, Part 6
Abraham’s wife, Sarah, spent her childbearing years barren — but God fulfilled his promise to her. What can this experience teach us about Jesus’s work on the cross?
May 05, 2024
The Jerusalem Above Is Free: Galatians 4:21–31, Part 5
According to Paul, the Christian’s true home is the Jerusalem above — a heavenly city whose citizens are born of God and utterly free.
May 03, 2024
Hagar, the Mother of Slavery: Galatians 4:21–31, Part 4
Hagar represents the effort to be right with God by keeping the law. But human effort can never bring forth the children of God. Hagar only begets slaves.
Apr 30, 2024
Born by Flesh, Born by Promise: Galatians 4:21–31, Part 3
The children of God are not the product of human effort. Like Isaac, they are brought forth by divine promise based on divine prerogative.
Apr 28, 2024
A Tale of Two Mothers: Galatians 4:21–31, Part 2
When Paul read his Old Testament, what implicit meaning did he see in the characters of Hagar and Sarah?
Apr 26, 2024
The Purpose of Allegory: Galatians 4:21–31, Part 1
What is Paul’s main point in the allegory of Sarah and Hagar? What truth does he want his readers to see from this Old Testament story?
Apr 23, 2024
Paul the Matchmaker and the Mother: Galatians 4:17–20
Children of God come into being when Christ is formed in them through faith. Paul compares his whole ministry to a matchmaker and a mother.
Apr 21, 2024
Why Would They Gouge Out Their Eyes? Galatians 4:12–16
If you leave the gospel for the law, you are under an enchantment. To break the spell, remember the blessings that the gospel brings.
Apr 19, 2024
What Does It Mean to Be Known by God? Galatians 4:8–11, Part 3
If God knows everything and everyone, what does Paul mean when he describes Christians as those who are known by God?
Apr 16, 2024
Do Unbelievers Know God? Galatians 4:8–11, Part 2
Even though people can know about God through creation, hard hearts suppress that knowledge. Thus, sinners do not know God.
Apr 14, 2024
The Incomprehensibility of Turning to Law: Galatians 4:8–11, Part 1
For Paul, pagan idolatry and reliance on the law to get right with God amount to the same thing. Neither can offer any help to save our souls.
Apr 12, 2024
The Spirit in Us Cries ‘Abba Father’: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 5
When Paul describes the Spirit’s witness in the heart of believers, he says the Spirit cries, “Abba!” Why is that name so significant?
Apr 09, 2024
Christ Redeems Sinners for Adoption: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 4
Why did Jesus need to be born of a woman as a human being in order to redeem those under the curse of the law?
Apr 07, 2024
Does God Have a Son? Galatians 4:1–7, Part 3
God sent his Son into the world, born of a woman and under the law. Few statements hold more import, wonder, and mystery.
Apr 05, 2024
What Is the Fullness of Time? Galatians 4:1–7, Part 2
Paul says that the law was given by God to act as a guardian until “the fullness of time” had come to pass. When is the fullness of time?
Apr 02, 2024
Slavery to Law Is Like Pagan Religion: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 1
God intended the law to act as a guardian, pointing us to our need for a redeemer. However, when we put our faith in the law, it’s no better than the rules of pagan religions.
Mar 31, 2024
You Are All Sons of God Through Faith: Galatians 3:23–29, Part 3
How do people become sons of God and heirs to his promises? They must put on Jesus Christ, God’s true Son, by faith and not by law-keeping.
Mar 29, 2024