All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons and daughters. 15 You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “ Abba, Father. ” 16 The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. 17 But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.
Conflict is all too common in the church today. But as Frances Taylor Gench reminds us in this book, conflict over scriptural interpretation has been with the church since its earliest days.
Gench reflects on those early experiences of conflict, presenting substantive studies of biblical texts showing that discord (e.g., Rom. 14-15; Matt. 14; Jer. 28; 1 Cor. 12-14; John 13-17), and drawing lessons from each about how it informs current conflicts in the church. In the process, she provides a constructive resource to help Christians wrestle with Scripture in the midst of their disagreements.
This innovative book can be used by individuals and in groups. Numerous helpful study questions conclude each chapter.