The Texas Tea

by Dr. Chris Blumhofer, Associate Professor of New Testament

“No one will be justified by works of the law.”

Perhaps, like me, you have lost count of how many times you have heard these words. Perhaps, like me for a long time, you have read them so quickly as to overlook that Paul draws them directly from Psalm 143. In that place, David prayed: “Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living will be justified before you” (v.2). The conviction that it is only by grace that people stand before God did not begin with Paul—here, at least, Paul repeats a gospel lesson preached first by David.

I often wonder about the practices that shaped the apostles. Surely they were soaked in Scripture, but knowledge alone does not seem to be their advantage. When Paul expressed the heart of what Christians believe with a passing phrase from (let’s admit it) an obscure psalm, we glimpse what must have been for him a practice of slowing down and turning over a word from Scripture, of hearing something familiar and being blessed to recognize in it something fresh.

The practices of holiness and wisdom often include time that is “inefficient” by the standards of our age: time spent pondering a word or phrase, lingering over a thought in conversation with oneself or a friend, re-reading something you have read a thousand times, praying. In short, creating space for the Spirit of God to work in slowness. During these long, hot days of summer, many of us will naturally move a little slower or find ourselves with a few extra minutes of daylight. May we say yes to some of this slowness and invite the Spirit of God to work in prayer and pondering, in reading and conversation. May the Lord help you, and me, and all of his people to hear his word afresh in slowness.