We need more Christians who take their place alongside believing and unbelieving neighbors in the daily gift exchange

As Paul argues, it is the righteousness of God that is revealed in the law, and this condemns us all (Ro 1:18 - 3:20), while the gospel reveals the righteousness from God, namely, that we "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Ro 3:24).

The object is evident in the name of the discipline. Similarly, theology (theologia) is the study of God. The object of theology is not the church's teaching or the experience of pious souls. It is not a subset of ethics, religious studies, cultural anthropology, or psychology. God is the object of this discipline.

The gospel frees us to confess our sins without fear of condemnation.

If you want to be an athlete, there's no way around it: You have to go to the gym. You can't Google your way to it.

If the focus of our testimony is our changed life, we as well as our hearers are bound to be disappointed.

The proper focus of holiness is not on being set apart from something (i.e., the world), but on being set apart for something.