What if the gospel is not just about being declared right, but about being rescued from a world that keeps trying to enslave us? Cody Cook returns to the show for a conversation about Galatians, law, union with Christ, the present evil age, and the spiritual powers Jesus came to defeat.

What begins as a discussion of Cody’s book Delivered from the Evil Age of the Present becomes something deeper: a reflection on how we read Paul, what Galatians 4 is really saying, and why the gospel is bigger than being declared right.

This episode traces the movement from law, slavery, and the “elementary principles of the world” toward rescue, adoption, new creation, and the kind of allegiance that belongs to Christ alone.

They Explore:

Galatians and the question of law or Christ
old, new, and apocalyptic readings of Paul
union with Christ, adoption, and being made new
the “present evil age” and rescue through Jesus
stoicheia and the “elementary principles of the world”
spiritual powers, slavery, and the scope of salvation
ordo amoris, J.D. Vance, and nation-first love
why Christian nationalism distorts our loves

📖 For Full Show Notes: thebadroman.com/show-notes/episode-159

🤝Connect with Cody Cook🤝

Book: Delivered from the Evil Age of the Present: How Jesus Brought About a New Creation by Subverting the Powers Behind Nationalism and Ethnic Identitarianism
Explore Cody’s Books: The Anarchist Anabaptist, The Pocket Anabaptist, Fight the Powers, What Belongs to Caesar?
Podcast and writing: Cantus Firmus
Libertarian Christian Institute author page
X: @CantusFirmusCC
Podcast: Cantus Firmus
Website: cantus-firmus.com
Bad Roman Episodes with Cody Cook:

Listen & Reflect

Listen: For the way Cody widens the frame of Galatians, not into a narrow debate about law and grace alone, but into a deeper conversation about rescue, slavery, the powers, and new creation.

Reflect: Where have we reduced the gospel to being declared right while resisting the deeper change Christ brings? Where have nationalism, tribe, or political identity competed with our belonging to Jesus?

Read: Galatians 1:3–4, Galatians 4:1–11, Luke 10:25–37, and Philippians 3:20. Pay attention to what Scripture says about rescue, adoption, spiritual slavery, neighbor-love, and the citizenship that belongs to heaven.

Practice: This week, take one identity you hold tightly—political, national, tribal, or religious—and ask whether it has been shaped more by the present age than by the Kingdom of Christ.

Key Moments:

(0:00) Can law make us right, or only Christ?

(1:26) Why Cody wrote this book

(4:13) Different ways people read Paul

(9:27) Courtroom, table, and battle

(15:08)“We wanna be declared right”

(20:23)Why Galatians 4 matters

(34:13) Ordo amoris, J.D. Vance, and nation-first love

(57:48)Athanasius, incarnation, and the defeat of evil

(1:01:23) Christians, weapons, and the words of Jesus

(1:06:16) Where to learn more

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