© Matthew Tuel — 2025
Continuing on from yesterday, here's today's scripture.
Psalms 1:1 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
1 How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand in the pathway with sinners,
or sit in the assembly of scoffers.
Proverbs 1:7-19 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
Introduction to the Theme of the Book
7 Fearing the LORD is the beginning of discernment,
but fools have despised wisdom and moral instruction.
8 Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father,
and do not forsake the teaching from your mother.
9 For they will be like an elegant garland on your head,
and like pendants around your neck.Admonition to Avoid Easy but Unjust Riches
10 My child, if sinners try to entice you,
do not consent!
11 If they say, “Come with us!
We will lie in wait to shed blood;
we will ambush an innocent person capriciously.
12 We will swallow them alive like Sheol,
those full of vigor like those going down to the Pit.
13 We will seize all kinds of precious wealth;
we will fill our houses with plunder.
14 Join with us!
We will all share equally in what we steal.”
15 My child, do not go down their way,
withhold yourself from their path;
16 for they are eager to inflict harm,
and they hasten to shed blood.
17 Surely it is futile to spread a net
in plain sight of any bird,
18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood,
they ambush their own lives!
19 Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly;
it takes away the life of those who obtain it!
Romans 7:23 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Galatians 2:1-13 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
Confirmation from the Jerusalem Apostles
1 Then after fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, taking Titus along too. 2 I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running—or had not run—in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek. 4 Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves. 5 But we did not surrender to them even for a moment, in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. 6 But from those who were influential (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people)—those influential leaders added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter was to the circumcised 8 (for he who empowered Peter for his apostleship to the circumcised also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles) 9 and when James, Cephas, and John, who had a reputation as pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.
Paul Rebukes Peter
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. 12 Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy.
With Calvin, we see a warning to not be influenced by the ungodly. How many ways are we influenced by the culture? TV, Movies, Social Media, Unbelievers in our daily lives. In today's world, the stream of ungodliness is never ending and ever present. To escape it, you pretty much have to cut yourself from society. How do we defend against this? Philippians 4:13 puts it best: "Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, think on these things." Meditate on the scripture, not on memes.
With Spurgeon, we see a caution on heroes of the faith. We tend to put them up on a pedestal and idolize them. This is wrong, and does a disservice to both us and them. "They need your prayers, not your pedestals" is a very appropriate analysis of this. I find myself falling into that way of thinking often but it's a good reminder that the titans of the faith are (or were) just as human, and just as fallen as we are today. All of us only have one salvation, and that's Christ alone.