Author Archives: Steve Hankins, Th.D.

“Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3, ESV) We all have been raised in a do society. It is a culture in which we must do things to improve ourselves. Often when I pastored, people would come to me and say things likeContinue reading “Matter of the Heart”

“Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:2, ESV) I was teaching a Bible study to a group of single adults one Friday evening. We read through a passage in the Book of Acts where Peter was preaching to theContinue reading “The Gift of God”

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:21, ESV) When I was a young man, I had many pursuits. I had many dreams. I dreamt of being a multi-millionaire. I dreamt of being a great military leader. I dreamt ofContinue reading “Divine Purpose”

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for ifContinue reading “The Power of Grace”

“But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might liveContinue reading “A Higher Call”

“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, becauseContinue reading “Becoming Two Peas in One Pod”

“But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”” (Galatians 2:14, ESV) One of the difficultContinue reading “Gentle Timely Confrontation”

“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewiseContinue reading “Chain Reactions”

“Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” (Galatians 2:10, ESV) Sometimes in our zeal to build the church we can turn the church into an empire rather than the gathering of people who are in need. When we do this, we will fail in our effortContinue reading “The Empire or the Ekklesia”

“and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” (Galatians 2:9, ESV) In the mid-seventies, I served in the United StatesContinue reading “Lines of Demarcation”