1 Corinthians 6

Another day, another chapter! I haven't had much time this week to do these studies, but bear with me, the busyness is coming to a close.

I don't really have any explanation for the first verses. Paul says that we will judge the world (alongside God I assume) and angels. John MacArthur says that the Greek word could mean "to rule or govern," so who knows what Paul actually meant. From the context it looks like he means judge since he's talking about judges and court and such, but I don't know for sure. Paul then says something along the same lines Christ did. He says we should actually let ourselves be wronged and cheated, if it avoids going to court before unbelievers. Instead of this, the Corinthians had been cheating, and that to each other! Paul then addresses a critical issue, stating clearly that those in habitual sin will not go to heaven (not because they have disqualified themselves, but because this is clear evidence that Christ is absent from their lives). He then goes on in verses 9-10 to list a bunch of examples of actions that characterize people who will not enter heaven. And then verse 11 ~ awesome news! We used to be there! We used to be on our way to hell. Now we're justified through Christ, washed clean of our sin, and sanctified for his purpose! This is the story of every Christian's life, and what a great story it is! I heard Bobby today talking to his 4th graders about what happens when a person gets saved, and he compared it to being saved from a fire by a fireman. "If that happened, wouldn't you want to tell everyone about it? That's the way it should be with Jesus!" Good point, Bobby.

If you're ever in a tight spot, wondering what you should do, which choice to make, turn to 1 Corinthians 6:12!!! This is such an awesome verse and seriously brings to light what things we should be living for. We should be wondering "Is this right (beneficial, helpful)?" If so, then that's what we should do. If not, then why waste our time? An attitude of "there's nothing wrong with this" is probably not the best attitude to take, since you can see someone letting themselves slide into sin a lot more than someone who asks "How is this working for my good? How is this encouraging others? Is this going to control me?"

A practical application in High School would be with... Dating! So many people it seems want to know who to go out with. Scratch that. Lots of people know who they want to go out with ~ that person they've got this crush on of course! Many people, however, don't know why to go out with people, and they want someone else to validate their desires. Well, often times they won't find that validation or encouragement because the relationship is not centered around Christ. The other person is not ready to encourage them towards Christ (and vice-versa), or this relationship will only be a further temptation for sin, or this relationship is going to take hold of their life and everyone else will seem insignificant. Probably the most common pitfall of high school relationships is that they turn idolatrous. It's very easy for this to happen and can be very subtle, and often times the relationship with that person becomes more important than anything else - including the relationship with God. The other person is supposed to be encouraging that spiritual relationship, not distracting you from it! In any case, this verse (12 if you forgot) is a great way to test your intentions and your motives in order to see whether or not you should do something. I caution you, though, be prepared to accept the answer you don't want to hear if it comes to that.

Wow... Ok that was a lot for 1 verse its time to move on.

The last verses from 13 to 21 all deal with the issue of sexual immorality in the church. The Corinthians had bought into lies about sex and allowed themselves to become promiscuous. Verse 13 seems strangely placed in this case, but apparently it's actually a reference to a false philosphy of the day. This theory was the idea that sex is only biological and is morally and spiritually inconsequential, since it is purely physical (like eating). Paul doesn't even wait until the next sentence to rebuke this idea. Our bodies were made for God and God alone. Our bodies are members of the body of Christ (the church), so to make them members of a harlot through sex is out of the question. Sex has many spiritual implications that cannot be ignored - it is not just a physical act. We are commanded to "flee from sexual immorality" (v.18). It of all sins has the greatest potential to corrupt, control, and destroy, physically and spiritually. We are to treat our bodies as temples of God, taking care of it, because it is not ours to defile! It belongs to God! He bought us, therefore we should seek to glorify God physically as well as spiritually, because both our body and spirit are His (v.20). We can do that by waiting until marriage and celebrating this act that God created under the circumstances that he created it to be celebrated.

Well, I hope you find that insightful. If you didn't, I don't know what to tell you! It's straight from the Bible. It was good to get another post up today and I hope to have many more coming in the future. There are 10 more chapters left in this book, so that means at least 10 more days of blogs for me to write, not including the ones that I may be inspired to write apart from 1 Corinthians like "Faithfulness." Tomorrow is chapter 7! I'm exciting to see what other wisdom Paul has to share with the Corinthians (and myself).