Do this until your kingdom is so complete and perfect that in it you are all in all.

made fully complete the moment you put your faith into Christ; you are instantly justified (declared righteous

been able to maintain a laser like focus on preaching and teaching the gospel despite the continual persecution In other words, God's sovereign control in our lives is not just limited to the times that we're in perfect

we have no access to God except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor: Jesus Christ the Righteous

But we don't need any help - it's the same self righteous theys who'd been criticizing Jesus' grace since

of imitation  as in former times the Pelagians would have it  but by way of the propagation of their perverted This reminder is necessary even here near the very beginning of the Bible, since that perfect creation

It means that knowing God is not just a lofty ideal, attainable only by self righteous monks who climb

evangelism by overstating the Bible's promises for a good life while downplaying God's demands for righteousness

this way: God is the real, the true being, the fullness of being, the sum total of all reality and perfection

true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness