|
No matter what walk of life you have come from or what your own history is, there is a place and a purpose which God has for you. At St. John’s we meet to encourage one another as we find our common purpose in Jesus Christ.
St. John’s Cathedral encompasses an extraordinary diversity of community life. We would love you to join us and we want to invite you to be part of our community and purpose. Across every age group and across the cultures that make our city – our goal is to know Christ and to make him known. |
Dear Family and Friends of St. John's,
Preaching the letter of James seems to be a little like holding a loaded gun. It has a powerful word for us from Jesus Christ. And part of the power of the letter is the different perspective that James brings to the idea of Gospel and Faith.
James writes from a Jewish perspective. For James, the gospel replaces the law of God. It is a new law which he calls the Law of Liberty (Law that brings freedom). So far as James is concerned the Gospel of Jesus Christ takes up the function that the Old Testament law had previously. The Gospel is our new covenant with God. But as such the Gospel must prescribe our living and behaviour. It must direct our actions so that they are pleasing to God just as the Law of Moses directed the actions of the Israelites so that they would be pleasing to God. For this reason, James' letter shows us that faith without works is like a body without a Spirit. Faith without works is dead. Rather, faith must be accompanied by works in much the same way that a faithful Israelite would obey the law.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
