For Reading and Meditation:      2 Timothy 1:1-18Several of the world's religions, when faced with the perplexing issue of Christ's return from the dead, explain it in terms of reincarnation. A proponent of one of the Eastern religions says: "Christ's resurrection was really a reincarnation - another soul in another body." I once heard a Christian minister declare that Paul's reference to Christ as the firstborn from among the dead (Colossians 1:18) was a clear allusion to reincarnation. There is no doubt that our Lord came from a virgin womb and a virgin tomb, but the body that emerged from the sepulchre was not fashioned in the tomb as it had been when He was an infant in Mary's womb. The body was the same one as before. Others try to explain Christ's resurrection as living on in the recollection of others. "To live in the minds and hearts of those we love," goes a well-known saying often heard at funerals, "is not to die." It has to be acknowledged that some live so vibrantly that it is hard to think of them as dead even after one has attended their funeral. But when we talk about Christ's resurrection, we are not saying He survives in our memories. Recollection is not resurrection. The body which died upon the cross and was laid in the cool tomb on the evening of the first Good Friday was miraculously infused with life once again early in the morning of the first Easter Day. It is as literal and as factual as that. This - nothing less and nothing else - is what we mean by the resurrection of our Lord from the dead.Father, I am so thankful that in bringing Your Son back to life You brought 'life and immortality to light' through the gospel. I know this to be true for in You there cannot be such a thing as death. Life is so sure - as sure as You are. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Ephesians 1:1-20</li><li>Romans 4:25</li><li>1 Corinthians 15:3-5</li><li>1 Thessalonians 4:13-15</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Paul say was of first importance?</li><li>What does this mean for those who have experienced resurrection life?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

" ... our Savior, Christ Jesus ... has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light ..." (v. 10)

James does not say that the man in today's verse has faith. The man himself says he has faith, but if he really had saving faith, he would have works also. His faith is a matter of words only, and that kind of faith cannot save anyone. Words without works are dead.Salvation is not by works. Neither is it by faith plus works. Rather it is by the kind of faith that results in good works.Why then does James say in verse 24 that a man is justified by works? Isn't this a flat contradiction of Paul's teaching that we are justified by faith? Actually there is no contradiction. Both are true. The fact is that there are six different aspects of justification in the New Testament, as follows:We are justified by God (Romans 8:33) - He is the One who reckons us righteous.We are justified by grace (Romans 3:24) - God gives us justification as a free, undeserved gift.We are justified by faith (Romans 5:1) - we receive this gift by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.We are justified by blood (Romans 5:9) - the precious blood of Christ is the price that was paid for our justification.We are justified by power (Romans 4:25) - the power that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead is the power that makes our justification possible.We are justified by works (James 2:24) - good works are the outward evidence to all that we have been truly justified.It is not enough to testify to a conversion experience. We must demonstrate it by the good works that inevitably follow the new birth.Faith is invisible. It is an unseen transaction that takes place between the soul and God. People cannot see our faith. But they can see the good works that are the fruit of saving faith. They have reason to doubt our faith until they see the works.Abraham's good work was his willingness to slay his son as an offering to God (James 2:21). Rahab's good work was betraying her country (James 2:25). The reason they were "good" works is because they demonstrated faith in Jehovah. Otherwise they would have been bad works, namely, murder and treason.The body separated from the spirit is dead. That's what death is - the separation of the spirit from the body. So faith without works is dead also. It is lifeless, powerless and inoperative.A living body demonstrates that an invisible spirit dwells within. So good works are the sure sign that there is saving faith, invisible as it is, dwelling within the person.

With reverence, humor and skill, William MacDonald wove a daily devotional tapestry that challenges the reader to think deeply and Biblically, and apply God's Word to their lives.

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?." (James 2:14)

That we might not fall into the hands of the living God, Christ was delivered into the hands of sinful men. He stood before an earthly tribunal where Injustice sat in state, in order that we might escape the dread tribunal where infinite Justice sits. He was delivered up by sinful men to sinful men. Yet he was delivered up by a righteous God, with his own glad consent, to all the sufferings that man could inflict. He that was delivered up, was the only sinless being that ever walked this earth; was divine as well as human; his sinlessness as a man made him a meet sacrifice for the sins of men; his divine nature gave infinite value to his sufferings, so that it became right in view of them to offer all men deliverance from all the woe that they are obnoxious to, by sin. How amazing that there should be found in all the wide world a single being reluctant to avail himself of the expiation thus made for sin. The utmost eloquence of men, the most terrible warnings in providence, the profoundest experience of the misery springing out of their league with sin, all fail to obtain for this wondrous gospel of the grace of God, entrance into the hearts of men. They say unto God, day by day, hour by hour, " Thou holy God, impute unto us all our offenses. Let it be with us as though Christ had not died. Let there be no Gethsemane or Calvary for us. We know that we are not sinless beings and must forever drink without draining the cup which threw him into an agony of unutterable Buffering; that we are not invested with omnipotence, and cannot rise from the grave victorious; our Calvary conducts us to endless torment. Nevertheless we wish to appear before the tribunal of divine justice with all our sins upon our head. Had we any other wish, we would express it by believing on Christ." As for thee, semi-believer, convinced of thy sins, sensible of their enormity, longing for deliverance, assured that Christ alone can give it, yet stopping there, spending thy days in lamentation, imploring grace and yet neglecting to appropriate it, why dost thou live as though Christ were still in the tomb? The unbeliever lives as though Christ had not died; thou livest as though he had not risen. Repent of this thy folly, and hasten to bear before the world thine own special testimony to the truth of Christ's resurrection, by a joyful trust in him that ever liveth to make intercession.

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

"Who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification." - Romans 4:25. 

He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him … The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all … For the transgressions of My people He was stricken … It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. Jesus our Lord … was delivered up because of our offenses. § Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. § [He] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Evening Daily Light

 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? 

25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

He was delivered over to death for our sins<cr>1</cr> and was raised to life for our justification.<cr>2</cr>

Romans 4:25

 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins   and was raised to life for our justification.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 He was delivered over to death for our sins  and was raised to life for our justification. 

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

 He was delivered over to death for our sins   and was raised to life for our justification.  

Bible Verse of the Day

May 12, 2017

Romans 4:25 NIV

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