Look at the Book

By Desiring God

Religion & Spirituality Christianity

What's Look at the Book about?

Look at the Book is John Piper's ongoing series of 8-12 minute videos to help you learn to read the Bible for yourself.

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Look at the Book episodes:

04.19.2024
Why Would They Gouge Out Their Eyes? Galatians 4:12–16
If you leave the gospel for the law, you are under an enchantment. To break the spell, remember the blessings that the gospel brings.
04.16.2024
What Does It Mean to Be Known by God? Galatians 4:8–11, Part 3
If God knows everything and everyone, what does Paul mean when he describes Christians as those who are known by God?
04.14.2024
Do Unbelievers Know God? Galatians 4:8–11, Part 2
Even though people can know about God through creation, hard hearts suppress that knowledge. Thus, sinners do not know God.
04.12.2024
The Incomprehensibility of Turning to Law: Galatians 4:8–11, Part 1
For Paul, pagan idolatry and reliance on the law to get right with God amount to the same thing. Neither can offer any help to save our souls.
04.09.2024
The Spirit in Us Cries ‘Abba Father’: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 5
When Paul describes the Spirit’s witness in the heart of believers, he says the Spirit cries, “Abba!” Why is that name so significant?
04.07.2024
Christ Redeems Sinners for Adoption: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 4
Why did Jesus need to be born of a woman as a human being in order to redeem those under the curse of the law?
04.05.2024
Does God Have a Son? Galatians 4:1–7, Part 3
God sent his Son into the world, born of a woman and under the law. Few statements hold more import, wonder, and mystery.
04.02.2024
What Is the Fullness of Time? Galatians 4:1–7, Part 2
Paul says that the law was given by God to act as a guardian until “the fullness of time” had come to pass. When is the fullness of time?
03.31.2024
Slavery to Law Is Like Pagan Religion: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 1
God intended the law to act as a guardian, pointing us to our need for a redeemer. However, when we put our faith in the law, it’s no better than the rules of pagan religions.
03.29.2024
You Are All Sons of God Through Faith: Galatians 3:23–29, Part 3
How do people become sons of God and heirs to his promises? They must put on Jesus Christ, God’s true Son, by faith and not by law-keeping.
03.26.2024
The Law as a Guardian unto Christ: Galatians 3:23–29, Part 2
Paul calls the law “a guardian” meant to lead us to Christ. What does that mean? How does the law guard us and guide us to Jesus?
03.24.2024
Centuries of Prison Before Christ: Galatians 3:23–29, Part 1
Paul reveals that God gave the law to pave the way to faith in Jesus, who fulfills the law completely.
03.22.2024
The Law Came Through Angels: Galatians 3:19–22, Part 2
The New Testament authors insist that the law was given to Moses by angels. Why would they repeat that?
03.19.2024
The Law Imprisoned People Under Sin: Galatians 3:19–22, Part 1
If God made the promise of life to Abraham based on faith, then does the law contradict that grace? Does the law present a different way of life?
03.17.2024
Not Seeds, but Seed, Namely, Christ: Galatians 3:15–18, Part 2
Why does Paul insist that the promises made to Abraham were made to his singular seed? That nuance is vital to our salvation.
03.15.2024
The Law Did Not Teach Life Comes Through Law: Galatians 3:15–18, Part 1
Does the law given through Moses somehow contradict the covenant of faith made with Abraham? Why does that matter to us?
03.12.2024
Christ Became a Curse for Us: Galatians 3:10–14, Part 3
The only result of attempting to be justified by works will be curse, but Christ took our curse on the cross. How does that exchange work?
03.10.2024
The Law Is Not of Faith? Galatians 3:10–14, Part 2
Obedience to the law can never make a person right before God, but the faith that saves produces works that conform to the law.
03.08.2024
The Law-Path to God Is Cursed: Galatians 3:10–14, Part 1
Trying to be right with God through works is an all-or-nothing enterprise. If you do not keep the whole law, you have violated the whole law.
03.05.2024
How Do Gentiles Become Sons of Abraham? Galatians 3:6–9, Part 3
How do Gentiles become sons of Abraham? And what is the blessing promised to all of Abraham’s true heirs?
03.03.2024
How Is Faith Counted as Righteousness? Galatians 3:6–9, Part 2
Galatians says that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. What did that mean for him, and what does it mean for us?
03.01.2024
The Law Refutes Justification by Law: Galatians 3:6–9, Part 1
We know that the New Testament teaches justification by faith alone, but what about the Old Testament? Does it teach salvation by faith or by works?
02.27.2024
The Spirit Moves Through Hearing with Faith: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 4
The Spirit is both the gift of faith and the agent of faith. We receive him by faith, and he grants the very faith by which we receive him.
02.25.2024
God Works Wonders Through Faith: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 3
Neither the beginning, nor the middle, nor the end of the Christian life is left untouched by the saving might of the Spirit.
02.23.2024
Begin and End by the Spirit: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 2
The Christian life both begins and continues by the work of the Holy Spirit.
02.20.2024
Shifting from Legal to Experiential Salvation: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 1
The Christian life consists of more than a right legal standing before God. By the Holy Spirit, we can experience actual fellowship with God.
02.18.2024
I Do Not Nullify the Grace of God: Galatians 2:17–21, Part 4
Christ gave himself for our sins. He was punished for our sins. He paid the penalty for our sins. And, therefore, his death was not in vain.
02.16.2024
I Have Been Crucified with Christ: Galatians 2:17–21, Part 3
What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? What does it mean to have him live in us? These are two crucial questions for every soul.
02.13.2024
Justification by Law-Keeping Breaks the Law: Galatians 2:17–21, Part 2
To depend on your works to earn a right standing with God is not only to reject grace but to break the law itself.
02.11.2024
Did the Gospel Make Paul a Sinner? Galatians 2:17–21, Part 1
Do you know what words like “sinners,” “righteous,” and “grace” actually mean? A key to studying Scripture is to not let key words remain vague.
02.09.2024
What Is Justifying Faith? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 5
What is saving faith? Historically, the answer has included three basic elements: knowing, assenting, and trusting.
02.06.2024
What Are ‘Works of the Law’? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 4
If we choose to get right with God by our works, we continue under a curse. Only through faith in Jesus can we be justified.
02.04.2024
How Could God Acquit the Guilty? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 3
One reason we don’t enjoy salvation as we should is that we don’t feel the weight of what it means for a holy God to forgive sin.
02.02.2024
What Does Justification Mean? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 2
Justification is at the heart of the Christian faith. Yet since the days of Jesus, people have repeatedly gotten it wrong.
01.30.2024
Are Jews at an Advantage for Justification? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 1
Even though Jews had unique blessings from God, when it comes to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles are saved by faith alone.
01.28.2024
An Apostle’s Failure to Live the Gospel: Galatians 2:11–14
As Paul’s confrontation of Peter demonstrates, fear of man leads to walking out of step with the gospel and denying the freedom of grace.
01.26.2024
The Most Important Handshake in the World: Galatians 2:6–10
The most important handshake in history happened when the apostles extended the right hand of fellowship to Paul in Jerusalem.
01.23.2024
The Gospel of Freedom Imperiled: Galatians 2:3–5
The gospel of grace justifies by faith alone. To add any amount of good works or law-keeping to the gospel creates slavery instead of freedom.
01.21.2024
Was Paul at Odds with the Apostles? Galatians 2:1–2
In Galatians, Paul unpacks his encounters with the other apostles. Were they really at odds with one another?
01.19.2024
Let All Apologetics Aim at Worship: Galatians 1:21–24
Through rational, logical arguments, all Christian apologetics should aim to cultivate heartfelt, affectionate worship.
01.16.2024
Paul Has Won My Trust: Galatians 1:18–20
When you read the letters of Paul, hear him argue, witness how he deals with controversy, and witness his character, he will win your trust.
01.14.2024
Why Did God Let Paul Persecute Christians? Galatians 1:11–17, Part 4
Even though God chose Paul for salvation, he permitted him to become a persecutor of the church and a zealot for false teaching. Why?
01.12.2024
The Sovereign Roots of Paul’s Apostleship: Galatians 1:11–17, Part 3
Election, calling, grace — how do these elements of God’s plan come together in Paul’s conversion? How do they come together in ours?
01.09.2024
Paul’s Argument for His Authority: Galatians 1:11–17, Part 2
Paul’s conversion from being anti-gospel, anti-church, and anti-Christ can only be explained by a genuine revelation of Jesus Christ.
01.07.2024
This Gospel Did Not Come from Man: Galatians 1:11–17, Part 1
Where did the apostle Paul learn the gospel? What does he mean when he says that his message is “not man’s gospel”?
01.05.2024
A Man Who Refused to Please Men: Galatians 1:10
In this verse, the apostle Paul utterly rejects man-pleasing, but elsewhere he says he seeks to please everyone in everything. How can he say both?
01.02.2024
Authority Above Angels and Popes: Galatians 1:6–9, Part 2
The Reformation leaned on the power of Galatians because this letter champions the supreme authority of Scripture over all other authorities.
12.31.2023
How to Lose the God of Grace: Galatians 1:6–9, Part 1
Paul was astonished because the Galatian church had abandoned God and the gospel. How were they leaving the truth, and why?
12.29.2023
How Ultimate Is the Glory of God? Galatians 1:3–5, Part 4
God expresses his grace to sinners in the giving of his Son, which results in the deliverance of God’s people for the glory of his name.
12.26.2023
Delivered from the Present Evil Age: Galatians 1:3–5, Part 3
Why do many people today fail to see the beauty of God in Christ? Because this present age is evil, characterized by darkness and death.

What's Look at the Book about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Look at the Book episodes:

Why Would They Gouge Out Their Eyes? Galatians 4:12–16

What Does It Mean to Be Known by God? Galatians 4:8–11, Part 3

Do Unbelievers Know God? Galatians 4:8–11, Part 2

The Incomprehensibility of Turning to Law: Galatians 4:8–11, Part 1

The Spirit in Us Cries ‘Abba Father’: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 5

Christ Redeems Sinners for Adoption: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 4

Does God Have a Son? Galatians 4:1–7, Part 3

What Is the Fullness of Time? Galatians 4:1–7, Part 2

Slavery to Law Is Like Pagan Religion: Galatians 4:1–7, Part 1

You Are All Sons of God Through Faith: Galatians 3:23–29, Part 3

The Law as a Guardian unto Christ: Galatians 3:23–29, Part 2

Centuries of Prison Before Christ: Galatians 3:23–29, Part 1

The Law Came Through Angels: Galatians 3:19–22, Part 2

The Law Imprisoned People Under Sin: Galatians 3:19–22, Part 1

Not Seeds, but Seed, Namely, Christ: Galatians 3:15–18, Part 2

The Law Did Not Teach Life Comes Through Law: Galatians 3:15–18, Part 1

Christ Became a Curse for Us: Galatians 3:10–14, Part 3

The Law Is Not of Faith? Galatians 3:10–14, Part 2

The Law-Path to God Is Cursed: Galatians 3:10–14, Part 1

How Do Gentiles Become Sons of Abraham? Galatians 3:6–9, Part 3

How Is Faith Counted as Righteousness? Galatians 3:6–9, Part 2

The Law Refutes Justification by Law: Galatians 3:6–9, Part 1

The Spirit Moves Through Hearing with Faith: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 4

God Works Wonders Through Faith: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 3

Begin and End by the Spirit: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 2

Shifting from Legal to Experiential Salvation: Galatians 3:1–5, Part 1

I Do Not Nullify the Grace of God: Galatians 2:17–21, Part 4

I Have Been Crucified with Christ: Galatians 2:17–21, Part 3

Justification by Law-Keeping Breaks the Law: Galatians 2:17–21, Part 2

Did the Gospel Make Paul a Sinner? Galatians 2:17–21, Part 1

What Is Justifying Faith? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 5

What Are ‘Works of the Law’? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 4

How Could God Acquit the Guilty? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 3

What Does Justification Mean? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 2

Are Jews at an Advantage for Justification? Galatians 2:15–16, Part 1

An Apostle’s Failure to Live the Gospel: Galatians 2:11–14

The Most Important Handshake in the World: Galatians 2:6–10

The Gospel of Freedom Imperiled: Galatians 2:3–5

Was Paul at Odds with the Apostles? Galatians 2:1–2

Let All Apologetics Aim at Worship: Galatians 1:21–24

Paul Has Won My Trust: Galatians 1:18–20

Why Did God Let Paul Persecute Christians? Galatians 1:11–17, Part 4

The Sovereign Roots of Paul’s Apostleship: Galatians 1:11–17, Part 3

Paul’s Argument for His Authority: Galatians 1:11–17, Part 2

This Gospel Did Not Come from Man: Galatians 1:11–17, Part 1

A Man Who Refused to Please Men: Galatians 1:10

Authority Above Angels and Popes: Galatians 1:6–9, Part 2

How to Lose the God of Grace: Galatians 1:6–9, Part 1

How Ultimate Is the Glory of God? Galatians 1:3–5, Part 4

Delivered from the Present Evil Age: Galatians 1:3–5, Part 3