Paul shares a lot of personal stuff in his letter. So much so that we can conclude that he himself is the message:

So he became the message. He said that in him Christ demonstrated his enduring patience.

1 Timothy 1:16: But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.

Paul called himself “the worst” before Christ found him. But others would say that after he found Christ:

Let’s go back to the focus verse where Paul was beginning to bash human credentials, and let’s see what he thinks about them regarding salvation.

He does not want people to begin a journey to earn God’s favor. That was something he had done his whole life, and later, by revelation, he discovered that he had been backing the wrong horse.

He felt his life had been wasted striving to be in God’s good graces. He taught that being born as an Israelite gave him a leg up. The fostering of such thinking fills many pulpits, where seemingly good things in their own right are turned into principles and precepts for gaining the love, attention, and goodness of God.

They all, without exception, diminish from the finished works of Christ, whom we should all set our gaze on at all times (Colossians 3:1-3).

We must not give these false teachers our time. They speak in the name of God, and many have gathered crowds and make high-sounding claims to truth, perhaps by the revelation they had supposedly seen (Colossians 2:18).

But they mind earthly things (Philippians 3:19). And it is clear they do not know the first thing about the gospel of Christ. It is such a shame that people devote themselves to these work-based, legalistic systems of being in God’s good book. That is a reenactment of those things (if not the exact same thing) that Paul is talking about here, in confidence in human credentials.

The people who are calling people to pure devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3) are called names. But they also called Jesus names.

People would say, “If favor with Christ is already accomplished through Jesus, then we can live anyhow?”

Paul said that it is libel—a misrepresentation of his position by his opponents to discredit it (Romans 3:8).

These people insist (either clearly or subtly, either wholly or partly) on earning your salvation or favor with God because they want something to boast about (Galatians 6:13).

Again, some people would say Does that mean we should not do anything? That is the echoes of the garden of Eden, where it is not enough to trust God and rest in his finished works of the old creation. But Eve took the law into her hands and achieved something in her own strength. And she fell from grace, not depending any longer on the word of God, but rather on how she feels.

That is why the teaching of the finished works of Christ is counterintuitive.

Remember, don’t fall for the smoothness of speech, the flashing light, or the finesse of look. The truth stands on its own two feet - the truth proclaimed by Paul, who is the apostle to the Gentiles (non Jews) (Galatians 2:7-9).

Paul is vigorously rejecting lies. We should, too. It was not for the fun of it that he devoted lines after lines trying to beat back on lies, just as Christ calls us to repent, and to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6, 11-12), who add to the word of God (Mark 7:6-9, 13).

A new reality has emerged, as the scriptures tell us, and we do not need the key of this or that.

Christ is the one who opens that no one shuts and shuts and no one opens (Revelation 3:7), and we rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-29).

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This book lays out the case for the Sufficiency of Scripture, arguing that it is enough to define the life and practice of Christians and the church. It pushes back against both subtle and blatant violations of this tenet, including Tradition, Imagination, Divination, Emotion, Revelations, and Visions (TIDER).Join the author as he explains:Passages that prohibit adding to or removing from God’s word.Scripture has a special quality that sets it apart from anything else that has ever been written or will ever be written.The need for humility so that we can separate our biases from the truth.There are consequences for either adding to or removing from God’s word.How Jesus and Paul argued for the Sufficiency of Scripture.How the devil is the enemy of the Sufficiency of Scripture, and humans willingly cooperate with him for different reasons.How, “The Scriptures, as a fixed set of documents, is a shared body of agreed reference that defines the contours of truth,” and not the preacher’s charisma or eloquence.Holding to the Sufficiency of Scripture one day doesn’t mean the preacher will always do so, hence the call for carefulness.Why it’s wrong to pit one passage of Scripture against another.That “humans have been building up reasonings apart from and against the light of God’s truth for centuries.”Take the journey to deepen your understanding and appreciation for the Sufficiency of Scripture.

The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved