Women in the Church (1 Cor 11:3-16)

Some of my more faithful readers might remember how I started this blog - as a summary/overview of First Corinthians. At first I attempted to do a chapter at a time, but I quickly became acquainted with the fact that sometimes chapter breaks make no sense whatsoever, and other times, I simply have too much to write. For example, the last two entries I've given have been on 1 verse each!

My entry is going to be a little bit different today, as it requires your input! That's right, we'll see how many people read this thing still... and care enough to send me some insight. The real reason I have taken so long with this part of 1 Corinthians is not because I don't have time. It's because I just don't get it. I've tried to examine it and think about it, but I seriously don't understand. I don't want to just copy down MacArthur's notes here either. There are study Bibles for that.

I have a few questions for you to attempt to answer:

What constitutes praying or prophesying?
Is Paul focusing on a certain setting, or whenever a woman prays/prophesies?
Do you think the word here for "woman" is better rendered "wife" as in the ESV?
Does verse seven mean that women are NOT made in the image of God?
What is Paul getting at in verses 8-10?
Is Paul giving us permission to adjust to culture in verses 13-15a or is it just rhetorical?
Does 15b mean that only bald women need an auxiliary covering?
Does 16 mean that if someone doesn't like it, Paul is ok with setting it aside for their sake?

Let me know what you think! Thanks all. Grace be with you.

Continuing an Old Tradition

I thought about writing a blog about everything I'm thankful for (and believe me, there is a lot), but I just thought I'd do something a little different. For all you old-timers, you might remember that I started this blog as a commentary on 1 Corinthians , but got "sidetracked" at chapter 11, verse 1. Quite honestly, there are some verses there that I didn't know what to do with, and I was getting better at finding other things to write about (not a bad thing). Anyway, I thought I'd pick up right where I left off and try to tackle ONE of these verses that deal with obscure areas of church behavior and theology.

Since I left off at verse 1, I think I'll pick up at verse two! That makes sense. Lately I've been quite active on the Facebook boards having nice conversations with my Catholic buddies, and verses like this one just have to come up. Now, if you know anything about Catholicism, you'll know that they rely heavily on their traditions to "interpret" Scripture. Of course, I'm convinced that plenty of the time, no interpretation is needed; it just needs to be read! So let's read it:

Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things
and the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

The Roman Catholic would gladly quote this verse to support their emphasis on tradition in the church. Of course, I don't think this verse can be used to justify such a position for several reasons:
1) Paul is talking about specific traditions he delivered to the Corinthians, not tradition in general.
2) Paul doesn't directly tell us what this tradition is. For all we know the tradition could be a reference to staying faithful to the Word of God!
3) Paul isn't advocating the interpretation of Scripture via tradition! In fact, Paul warned the Colossians to "not be taken captive through...the traditions of men" but rather to base our thinking on Christ (Col 2:8).
4) The tradition could be the very next thing he addresses: the hierarchy of authority in the church and proper conduct during prayer (vv. 3-16). In that case, we have it in Scripture anyways, and still are without need of "tradition"!

And ultimately, tradition is never allowed to violate Scripture, but this is exactly what Catholic tradition does. This is the real reason I do not accept the Catholic idea of tradition, because it's gotten to the point where it goes against the Word of God so much so that I cannot even consider the Roman Catholic Church a Christian church. The works salvation wrapped up in the sacraments of Catholicism is directly forbidden in Scripture (Gal 3:10) and those who preach it (a different gospel) are declared anathema (Gal 1:8-9).

We need to be committing ourselves only to Christ's sacrifice and not trusting in our own righteousness to save us. Silly things like eating bread and drinking wine, getting dunked in water, praying repetitiously, and giving money to the church (among others) do not affect our salvation! Perhaps they are effected by our salvation, but they have no effect themselves on our standing before the just Judge.

I hope this encourages you that you can rest assured in your salvation because Christ has paid the full penalty, and requires no merit from you. I also hope this encourages you to live an all the more full and holy life (Lev. 20:7), now that you Christians are free from the control that sin used to have over you. Now these are definitely some things we can all be very thankful for!!!

Well... it's time to get to some homework. Yes... they assigned us stuff over break... >_<

Leadership (1 Cor. 11:1)

Recently I’ve been going through a book by John MacArthur on leadership. Actually, it’s called The Book on Leadership. Go figure. In this book he goes through 26 characteristics that he came up with for the ideal leader and examines Paul as he fulfils all of them. So far he’s strayed once to take a look at Nehemiah, but other than that it’s been all focused on Paul. I have much enjoyed the exciting stories, especially in the first few chapters, where MacArthur outlined Paul’s situation on the ship during his trip to Rome. Paul started out as the lowest slave on the boat, but he ended up with the influence to tell the Roman centurion, who was in charge, to cut off the lifeboat so that no one would try to escape! That’s crazy. Now, I haven’t read the entire book, but I peeked at the list of 26 characteristics and noticed that the last one was: “A leader is Christlike.” This connected perfectly with the first verse of 1 Corinthians 11. Apparently, Paul knew he was a leader. He knew where his heart was and he knew what his goal was. He was confident, but not arrogant. In verse 1 Paul says: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” That seems to me to be an extremely bold statement, but that’s what leaders are supposed to be. We are supposed to be examples for others to follow, and the best example to imitate is Christ.

Last year I ran for the new King’s Academy Student Council. I was very excited about having a designated position in which to lead, a place I imagined would be filled with a person who’s character everyone in the school could admire and desire. I did get accepted into the list of candidates that people could vote on, meaning that I was considered a qualified leader of respectable character. Apparently I didn’t advertise myself enough, though, and ended up being one of the 10 that had to hear the “sad” news that God had plans for us elsewhere (sad is in quotes because of this verse: Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”). Looking back at it I realize that perhaps it would have just added to the stress of my already overly busy summer. Perhaps God was saving me from that, or perhaps God was freeing up my time so that I could be open to serve with something else later this year. Either way, reading John MacArthur’s book reminded me of something: effective leadership doesn’t spawn from an impressive title. I can still be just as much a leader at school (or anywhere) without having the title of “The King’s Academy Student Body President.”

I was also reminded of this when I had the privilege of meeting the new head wrestling coach for this year’s wrestling team. I had an excellent first impression: a humble, yet confident God-fearing man who put being a champion into perspective and had high soaring goals for our small team this year. He reminded Stephen Thalin and me that this year we are seniors and therefore have certain responsibilities to lead the team, whether it’s sweeping off the mats or making sure the freshman aren’t messing around. He was inspiring, encouraging, and God-fearing. He always brought Him into the picture and I just thought it was so great – exactly the kind of coach I could ever have wanted. He is a good leader, and hopefully his example will encourage me to be a good leader too.

We can be leaders anywhere, from any position. It doesn’t take an impressive title or job description for us to be godly leaders. If we follow Christ’s example, we can be leaders for anyone anywhere, revealing to people the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:12-33

I went to Oceanside yesterday with my youth group, and it was very interesting. It seemed to be different than the other Oceansides I’ve been to before. Oceanside is basically our Wednesday night Bible study, but we go to Capitola and Twin Lakes from 10am until 10pm. We get to play Ultimate Frisbee a lot and dig holes and basically just have a good time walking around town and getting to know one another. The interesting and different part is that I am a senior, and somehow between the moment I walked into the gym as a freshman that first Sunday and now, I have changed. I have, without at all intending to, earned the respect of my peers and those leading the group as a person of character, capable of leading.

At one point during the day I was waiting for my pizza, and Bobby walked by and said, “Evan, Christa and I are going to move our cars. You’re in charge until we get back.” Well, honestly I didn’t have to be in charge of anything, and I wasn’t even really sure what I was expected to do when he said that. Just the fact that he said that to me was overwhelming. It implied to me that anything that may have had to be done, he thought I was capable of handling. That was overwhelming to me. Another time later in the day, Ty and I were tossing around the Frisbee. I can’t throw as well as he can, but I’m more than happy to run after anything he tosses. It was about time to come in for dinner when Ty walked up to Bobby and said, “This guy really hustles.” Now this is right in front of me, and as if it’s not enough to be spoken highly of in how much effort I put out when I play Frisbee, Bobby adds, “Yea, this guy hustles in everything he does.” So much for Super Slow Winslow huh, Bobby? I had no idea how to respond. It was quite overwhelming to be spoken of like this, and very encouraging too. I can testify how great it is to “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth” (Proverbs 27:2).

All of this leads into the first verse in the next section I’m writing about: 1 Corinthians 10:12. It says simply this: “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” In light of all that was said to and about me yesterday, this is a perfect verse, because it reminds me that I am not the one doing these things. Without God I can honestly say that it would be impossible to have been brought to this point. I probably wouldn’t care enough to push myself as hard as people say I’m pushing, and I certainly wouldn’t have earned the respect of any God-fearing friends. It reminds me to give the glory only to Christ for what he accomplishing in the pot of clay that is myself. God alone is good. God alone is powerful. Anything good that comes out of anyone is only coming through them from God. It is not I who have victory over sin, but Christ. Verse 13 says that the temptations come from within myself. The temptations that I experience are human, a result of the flesh. God provides the path of escape. That verse is encouraging in another way too. There is a great promise in there! God is faithful, and he will always provide a way out. Always! Without fail there will always be a way to overcome our sin.

We need to remember that we are weak, and God is strong, but also that God offers his strength to us in the Holy Spirit. What an exciting proposition! Stop holding that power back and you will truly be able to do the impossible!

Paul then goes on to tell the Corinthians to “flee from idolatry” (v.14). Idolatry meant mainly worshiping idols in those days, but it could be referring to anything you put before God. I wrote about this in my last post 1 Corinthians 10:1-11, so check that out if you want a more detailed explanation. Then Paul gives them a challenge. He challenges them to test what he says, like wise men (v.15). We should have this same attitude when we hear other people talking about anything. It could even be our Pastor. We need to test what people say about the Bible or about any truth, then if we find out they are right, we fully understand it – not to mention we just studied the Bible, but if we find out they’re wrong, we aren’t led astray by a false teaching.

In this case, he’s challenging them to test him concerning what he says about idols, and he makes his case in the next few verses. First of all, he makes reference to the ceremonies of Passover. Today we don’t celebrate Passover, but instead we take communion symbolizing out unity with Christ. And since we are united with Christ, we are united with each other. (vv.16, 17). By eating this food at communion, we are symbolizing our unity with Christ, and acceptance of His authority over our lives. In the same way, people who ate food that was offered to idols were usually also the ones who offered it to the idol in the first place (v.18). This makes it clearer why some Christians would have a problem eating the food. Paul clarifies that idols in themselves are nothing (v.19), but that worshiping them is effectively worshiping demons. We are not supposed to be worshiping demons, but God (v.20). It is inconsistent for a Christian to be communing with demons, to accept their practices and authority over their lives (v.21). That’s an oxymoron – a Christian idol-worshiper. Paul warns of the consequences of such actions.

I love verse 23: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.” Many things we have the freedom to do as Christians. Many things aren’t wrong necessarily, but they aren’t right either. We should aim to do what’s right, instead of being content with doing what’s simply not wrong. We are to put off sinfulness, and then turn around and put on God’s robes of righteousness. Paul then goes to introduce his next section with this convicting verse: “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well being” (v.24). There isn’t much to explain here, except how radically we are supposed to apply that verse to our lives. Paul gives an example in the next few verses that I wrote about before in 1 Corinthians 8, so check that out if you want an in depth explanation of verses similar to verses 25 through 30 of this chapter.

Verse 31 is one of those verses that people would never think to do on their own: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We have the ability to give God glory in everything we do, even the simplest things like eating or drinking. This also, is a very convicting verse, because I know that I don’t do absolutely everything for God’s glory. Often it’s for my glory, or perhaps it’s just for fun. The purpose of it is to bring me pleasure, not glorify God. At those times I’m forgetting how much God deserves glory more than me, and how much pleasure is involved with following God’s Word. We studied Psalm 16 this summer for our Wednesday night Bible studies, and verse 11 says: “You show me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” There are great rewards for following God, for remaining in His presence, and for making Him your number one delight (Psalm 37:4). These rewards are far greater than we can imagine, and certainly greater than any immediate gratification we get by sinning and not giving Him the glory He deserves.

Paul ends in exhorting the church to give no one a reason to be offended by them (v.32). He says he pleases “all men in all things.” In context we can see that this doesn’t mean he was encouraging hypocrisy, or anything of the sort, but that since he was putting another’s well being above his own, he became a servant to all, adopting their culture in order to be a more effective witness, that more might come to Christ (v.33). He feared God rather than man.

Well… It seems like this one has been especially long, but I hope reading it all did not become a burden. Thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say, and if you didn’t get every word, I understand. ( God Bless, and have a good time in the few days we have left of summer!

1 Corinthians 10:1-11

I don't know about any of you, but it seems like I am one to open up the New Testament about 5 times as often as the Old. I have often wondered why that is. It's not that it's wrong. I'm just curious, and I haven't really come up with any reason except that I might have this misperception that the Old Testament is boring and you really have to search in order to find something meaningful to you. Well, while that may or may not be true, we can thank God for people like Paul, who did the searching for us and directly interpret some of the stories in the Old Testament! That's exactly what Paul does in chapter 10:1-11.

Paul practically explains why the Old Testament was written the way it was. Verse 11 says: "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." There are many stories in the Old Testament, and they are meant to be real life examples showing us how to live and act toward God. It actually amuses me a little when I think about it: isn't that the way Jesus taught while he was here? What a coincidence... Apparently God really likes telling stories.

Paul gives us five examples from the story of Israel in the desert:
The first is not to lust as they lusted (v.6). This in context is not restricted to just lusting after people of the opposite gender, it could be any form of sin that we actually desire to do. The verses that this one is referencing (Numbers 11:4,34) speak of people yielding to a craving. We should not yield to a fleshly craving, but seek God's righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

The second admonition is to not become idolaters as they were. Paul is referring to the story of the golden calf, and the little fiesta they had around it. They worshiped the calf as the one who brought them out of Egypt. I'm not sure what they were thinking - maybe it was just so easy for them to worship something they could constantly see and have control over. But we don't worship a God that we control. I don't even want to worship something like that - it would negate it's worthiness of my worship if I was greater than it. It's interesting though how quickly something that shouldn't have control over us can gain it. Videogames are a great example - some people can't put them down - gotta play 1 more level! Who really has control there? Ironically it's not the one with the controller. Again, it could be anything. Money, a significant other, AIM, food, etc. God wants us to be free to devote our lives to something that's actually worthy of being worshiped by us: Himself! (Exodus 20:3,4) The story of the golden calf can be found in Exodus 32.

The third admonition is to stay away from sexual immorality. God takes this very seriously, seeing as 23,000 people died because of this sin. Compare that to 9/11 to get a more lifelike picture of indeed how serious it was. If you check out Exodus 32 and don't find any references to this type of sin, keep in mind the phrase "and rose up to play" is a euphemism. Now, if we want to stay away from the "bigger" sins, it follows that we would stay away from the "smaller" sins as well - lusting in the mind and heart, flirting, or talking about sex in inappropriate ways and out of the context it was meant to be kept in. If we live a lifestyle of purity and void of compromise in this area, it will be impossible for something like what the israelites did to "just happen so fast."

The fourth admonition is to keep from tempting Christ. The Israelites questioned the goodness of the one who was leading them through the wilderness. They mocked God and acted like being in Egypt was better than being miraculously provided for by God every day. They even described the manna as "worthless bread." We do not have to wonder whether God will be good to us - that is guaranteed for those who trust Him and fear Him (Psalm 31:19).

The last example Paul uses from this story of the Israelites is to not complain! At survival camp recently we memorized Philippians 2:1-15. Verse 14 says "Do everything without complaining or arguing." I love when the Old and New Testaments so obviously connect to eachother like this! It's good to know that the Bible was written by just one God. In any case, concerning complaining: I definitely don't have that under my complete control yet. It seems like if anyone other than my parents asks me to do something for them, I'm overjoyed to oblige, but if my parents ask, it's the hardest thing in the world. It doesn't make sense, and I need to strive to be consistent in my obedience.

Well, that's all I have time for today, I've got to get to work on these wonderful A-sheets, but I'll strive to do them without complaining and without envying the life that my peers have, free from summer reading. I hope this post encouraged you to see that the Bible is one Bible, just as God is one God!

1 Corinthians 9

It's about time for another post. I've been on this book for quite some time now. I only expected it to last a couple weeks, but hey, the Spirit has led me to say other things, which I suppose was the whole idea of the blog in the first place. I might decide to move those to another blog and post there instead of in 1st Corinthians whenever I get the chance or the inspiration. That way if one wanted to learn about 1st Corinthians they could come here, and if they wanted to figure out what Evan thinks about other things... they could go somewhere else. Just a thought.

1 Corinthians 9 is a great passage with what seems to me to be a challenging spiritual principle, and that is to go above and beyond what you are called.

Theres a synopsis at the bottom if you find yourself short on time.

Self Denial

In verses 1-18 Paul defends his apostleship to the Corinthians, and also explains that this gives him the right to marry, and have his family be materially sustained by the church (v.1-5). Instead of claiming this right, he gives it up in order to bring no hindrance to his success in ministering to the people. That would be the equivalent of the senior pastor taking on a full time job on top of shepherding the church so that he can care for his family! I imagine that would be an extremely challenging task. Now, since Paul had no family, I suppose this made the prospect of not receiving a church salary plausible. The idea here is that we as Christians, in order to bring in the greatest spiritual harvest, should be willing to give up as many material rewards as possible (v.12b). This is the self-denial that Christ preached being manifested to the extreme in the apostle Paul.

Now, I said that a great spiritual principle is to go above and beyond what we are called. Well, I must confess that isn't really true. The Bible calls us to conform to the mindset of Christ, who did everything imaginable. I suppose the point I was trying to make was this: We should not only be hating sin, but loving righteousness. And although I think the former is hard, the latter can be harder.

For example, some people may struggle with crude jokes, gossip, and cussing. It would be difficult for that person to stop doing those things of course, but to take that one step further and turn those sins of the tongue into encouragement and speech full of grace - how much more do we need Christ for this? James 4:17 says: "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." We need to keep ourselves separated from sinfulness and put on the righteousness of God which is manifested in the difficult qualities of love that covers sin, joy in all circumstances, peace that passes understanding, and daily self-sacrifice - among others I am sure.

Effective Witnessing

The next few verses are, once again, great verses (honestly, which ones aren't?! It seems to me that all of them have great and simple yet profound truths that we all need to learn or be reminded of). These verses describe a certain style of witnessing that Paul thought to be effective. That was to explain to people the truths of the gospel on their level. "And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (vv.20-22). Paul had experience being all of these things. He never tried to be something he had not already been before, but he took on all these characteristics when he was with these people so he could show them that all of these were appropriate positions from which to seek after Christ. In my case it would probably be something more like: to the philosophers I became as a philosopher, to the scientists I became as a scientist, to the Indians I became as an Indian (HAH!)

...Ok bad joke (Only those who saw or know about the Green skit at Survival Camp 2005 will get it). Anyways, I hope you are getting the picture I am attempting to paint. When we think like the group of people we are witnessing to, we become more effective ministers for Christ because we touch on what matters the most to them. We touch the heart, and that's what Christ wants to do: He wants heart change and an intimate relationship with the Truth, not simply a head-based knowledge and acceptance of the truth.

The Christian Life

In the last few verses if this chapter, Paul compares the Christian life to a race, explaining how we should live it. The first way he says to run is with desire (v.24). We are to live up to the motto Carpe Diem. But this isn't for ourselves, it's for God. We should renew the time and make the most of the days that God gives us here on earth to battle sin and witness to others. We need to run after Christ as if we want to win the only crown that Christ is giving out. How fast would you run?

The second way he says to run is by the rules (v.25)! You can't be taking shortcuts all the time and expect to win the prize at the end. There's no excuse for that - none of this "oh it was just a little bit" stuff. You cheated. You are disqualified. There isn't any excuse. Whether you "meant to" or not, you cannot be considered a candidate anymore because you didn't follow the track. In the same way we should strive to run the race of life with flawlessness, resting in God's grace alone to forgive us for our faults that everyone seems to so easily assume we are bound to fall into.

The last way Paul says to run is with purpose (v.26). We know where we going and what we're doing. If you find yourself ignorant of a purpose in the Christian life, sit down with someone and figure it out, otherwise you are just going to run yourself farther and farther off course. Or stop running completely - I'm not sure which is worse. As Josh Storrer put it: we're aren't just running in an endless circle around a track, we are aiming to get the heck out of that forest as fast as we can! (Again only Survival Campers will fully understand).

A Quick Overview

Deny yourself, and do it regularly. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." ~ Luke 9:23

Get to the heart of the audience you are witnessing to. "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." ~ Hebrews 4:12

Live life with a desire for Christ. "And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." ~ Mark 12:30

Life life by the rules. Trust me, it's better that way. "Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." ~ Psalm 37:4

Live life with purpose. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31

1 Corinthians 8

All right. It's been a little while since I last posted, over a week, so I'm getting one of the posts up that I wrote while I was on my vacation in Mexico! And here it is:

The first time I read through this chapter of 1 Corinthians I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to apply it to real life. It's about food sacrificed to idols. No one (that I am aware of) sacrifices to idols these days, so you can see my dilemma. This passage is, however, a great example of an appropriate time to take a principle and apply it to other areas of life, so let's do that.

In verse one, Paul says: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." That in itself is enough to write a book on, but I'll sum it up as best I can. Without love, knowledge only makes us arrogant and self-righteous, consequently tearing others down and making them feel inferior. This is the antithesis of love, which by definition builds others up and encourages them. We can see this from our life experience as we examine the reactions of people and see that this is obviously true. People like being loved. They crave it. No one looks forward to anyone making them feel lowly and ignorant, which is what knowledge will do without love. Simple enough, right?

Now, why is Paul telling us this? It's because he's giving us a reason to prefer love, so that the consciences of the weaker brothers are not violated by what those with stronger consciences do. In the case of the Corinthians, it was over which foods they could eat, but it could be appled to a multitude of other situations. A specific example eludes me at the moment, but I'm sure you all are intelligent and can think of an example from your own life. Perhaps it is over decided whether to send one's child to public or private school, or deciding whether to go to Christian or secular college. Oh! Dancing, now there's a grey area if I've seen one. Some people's consciences are pierced by doing this, whereas other people have no problem with it. The point is that as Christians we can have a great freedom in the things we do (v.8) bar sinfulness, so long as it doesn't violate our consciences or anyone else's (v.9).

The idea here is that if you cause a defiled conscience, you have sinned against your brother and against Christ. If we excercise our freedom without concern for our brother, it can have very serious remifications (v.11). This destruction is the opposite of love and what Christ calls us to, therefore it is sin against that person, and consequently against Christ (v.12). Paul further explains how serious the matter is in verse 13 when he says: "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." we see here that Paul is completely devoted to his fellow Christians, regardless what the cost is to himself.

We need to strive to be like Paul, as he strove to be like Christ in this way. Christ was always looking out for the good he could do for us, and was willing to pay any penalty for that good. All the way up to death on a cross, as well as the numerous other pains he endured prior to that so that we can be saved. This especially applies in light of Bobby's message today concerning the family. We can always be looking out for how we can prefer them over ourselves, and I'm confident that we won't have to look long to find an opportunity to do this good work that God has laid before our feet.

"But the man who loves God is known by God." ~ 1 Corinthians 8:3


P.S. Christa's pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Corinthians 7:17-40

All right. The last time I tried to write this, it got lost. That was Sunday evening. It's Tuesday afternoon now. Hopefully the bad "luck" has passed by now. But perhaps it was not simply a case of bad luck. When I wanted to continue writing this on Monday, I had already spent an hour on it and just wanted to finish it and move on. Well that should be a red flag right there. That kind of apathy is unacceptable, and will not help us to continue move closer to Christ. Now, the fact that I try to do this on a regular basis could have the effect of making it a routine and numb me to doing it, but is that any reason to stop doing it? I think not. Reading our Bibles every day could get routine, however that does not in any way imply we should not do it every day. This last Sunday at Bible study, Bobby brought up a great point. This is a relationship! As such, it should have all the aspects of a successful and exciting relationship... Like spontaneity! A schedule should be there to guide you, not control you!

This blog is supposed to be all about 1 Corinthians, but that did not stop me from taking a day to write my post about Faithfulness. After that I got right back onto my "schedule." Bobby and Christa's marriage (or any other marriage for that matter), he said, could be completely planned with a bunch of nice activities to do together, but how predictable! There's no room for emotion or surprise, and I doubt anyone would like their life or relationships to be like that. Sure, a plan is nice sometimes so you have some idea of what you want to do, but when that plan decides what you do instead of you planning what you do, well, that just sounds dangerous. At that point apathy can hit, and you will have no power to resist it, since you have completely committed yourself to doing something you no longer want to do.

On that note, let us dive in to the last half of chapter 7. Verses 17-24 are pretty straightforward, and seem to just be a continuation of the theme of contentment. Paul says that we need not worry about changing our social status simply because we are saved. The Lord has a place for each of us, and that place is where we should walk and serve the Lord (v.17). He reassures us that religious status and social status is nothing, "but keeping the commandments of God is what matters" (v.19).

On a side note: It seems that Paul has a tendency to repeat himself a lot, perhaps he got that from the Old Testament. I seem to remember it happening there quite a bit too. Verses 17,20, and 24 are very similar. I would not even start to accuse him of being a bad writer (we always learn not to be repetitious in English class at school), since he may have felt this was necessary. These Corinthians were hard-headed and proud, so he may have felt that it would take a few times to really make his point

In verse 25 Paul decides to give advice rather than a commandment, since he knew of no command from the Lord (Christ or the Old Testament) that he could give. He advises people to stay as they are, if single to remain single, and if married to remain married. He does say that if one decides to get married, that is perfectly legitimate, although marriage will inevitably produce some conflict. He again wishes that men could be like him, and not have to worry about the troubles of a marriage (v.28).

In verse 29 Paul makes a little shift, encouraging the Corinthians to seek the Lord fully. He says that "those who have wives should be as though they had none" (v.29). This is not to say that marriage is not important or that physical needs should not still be met, but to say that the marriage should not take away from one's service to the Lord. This is not a problem if the one we marry encourages us toward that end in the first place! This is an urgent message, too, to be started immediately, not put off until some future date, because the "time is short" (v.29).

Paul urges that there be no distractions coming between us and the Lord (v.32). Marriage is not inherently a hindrance, although it does bring up potential distractions that could get between us and God. One of these is seeking to please our spouse (vv.33,34). That could be an encouragement to humble oneself and be Christ-like and more of a servant, or it could dominate our thoughts, and become an obsession taking higher precedence in our lives than God. Single people need not worry about this distinction, because they can simply focus on seeking the Lord and keeping themselves holy in body and spirit (v.34). At the end of this paragraph Paul once again reiterates that this counsel is not meant to hinder them, but to encourage them to remove distractions from their life in whatever way possible (v.35).

Verses 36-38 are Paul's advice on what to do in the case that the father had dedicated his daughter to lifelong chastity. If histhe man's daughter had a problem with this, and wanted to get married, he should not feel that breaking his vow would be sinning. It is no sin to allow one's child to marry. However, if the daughter was not bent on marrying anyone, he should not feel compelled to have her marry. Keeping her as a virgin would not be wrong. This was simply a matter of preference, not a choice between wrong or right.

Verses 39-40 are about the wife and restrictions on marriage and remarriage. Basically, the commitment lasts until one person dies, at which point the living spouse may remarry if they please (v.39). Paul says that he thinks they would be happier staying single, and for many that may be true, then adds (and this is actually funny, as it would seem obvious) that he thinks he has the Holy Spirit in him.

This passage at a first glance may seem somewhat dry, focused on an aspect of human living that does not specifically apply to me, but distractions are anything but missing from my life! The idea that we should "be without care" (v.32) and "serve the Lord without discation" (v.35) still apply! Jesus Christ once told us to be radical about dealing with distractions and sin. He told us we should cut off any inlet it has into our lives, so that we can serve Him perfectly without worrying about other things. He used an analogy of eyeballs being plucked and hands being severed. That is how radical I should treat these things that are getting in my way of serving Christ and getting to know Him better (Please note that it was just an analogy ~ He was not condoning self mutilation). What I can continue to do at all times is search for ways to destroy those sinful desires that creep up to take away from the joy I have in this relationship with my Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:1-16

I definitely won't have time to write on the entire chapter today (It's 39 verses long!). But I'll get through as much as I can, stopping at 16 or 24 depending... Here we go!

The Classic Opening Verse: #1 ~ "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." That sounds radical, but it's actually a Jewish eupemism for intercourse. So... It is good for a man - and we'll use the English euphemism - not to sleep with a woman. Paul is referring to single people here, as in the next verse, he condones marriage in order to avoid immorality. In the next few verses he goes over how sexuality in a Christian marriage should be. Married people can read verses 3-5. I'll just move on. In verse 6, Paul clarifies that he is not commanding people to get married (i.e. Marriage is not required for the believer. It would not be sin for a man to remain unmarried his entire life). On the contrary, Paul wishes that all men could be single like him, but each man has his own God-given abilities (7/8). He agrees that it would be better for them to fulfill their passions the way God created them to be fulfilled than to remain single and unable to concentrate on working for the Lord.

The next section (verses 10-16) is about faithfulness in marriage. Verses 10 and 12 might seem confusing, like Paul is denying inspiration in verse 12 but affirming it in verse 10. However since this is Scripture, and all scripture is God-breated (2 Timothy 3:16), we know then that this cannot be the case. John MacArthur says that what Paul means by these phrases is that verses 10 and 11 are him reaffirming what God has already stated in older Scriptures, while verses 12-16 are new information coming through Paul. That makes sense.

Verses 10 and 11 are pretty straightforward. Christian couples are not to divorce. And if they do for any reason other than marital unfaithfulness (see Matthew 5:32), they are to remain unmarried to anyone else or be reconciled again to eachother. Paul makes it clear in verse 11 that neither partner has special priveleges for divorce (e.g. The woman isn't allowed to divorce, but if the man wants to he can). You have to clear this up with people. No loop holes.

Verses 12-16 address unequally yoked couples. Being married to an unbeliever (hopefully due to a conversion after marriage) is not defiling, and the Christian is to remain faithful to their spouse if s/he is willing. In verse 13 Paul once again clarifies that this applies to both the believing husband and the believing wife. Neither has special priveleges over another in divorce. Verse 14 should not be mistaken with salvation, although it can sometimes be including in the "sanctification." By saying that the unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing one, he means that the blessings received by the saved spouse will pour over and be shared with the unsaved. The same is said of the children. One Christian spouse will bless the children and possibly save them. The Christian parent doesn't need to fear what the non-Christian might do to make the children "unclean," but remain faithful.

He also then says that if the unbelieving spouse wishes for divorce, the believing one need not hold on (although I can't imagine it would be easy to simply let them go). Paul is speaking morally here in verse 15: the believer doesn't have to worry about sinning because a divorce is occurring. He says they are "not under bondage in such cases." Also, the believer need not be preoccupied with saving their spouse: that is not their job. There is no guarantee that they will be the one to save their spouse anyways. God decides who is saved, so it would be better to be at peace with that believer than to create more strife by resisting the separation.

A common theme in these verse is contentment. We as Christians should be content with our social or marital or whatever status that God has placed us in. There is no need to fight the circumstances God has placed us in, but we need to trust Him and do our absolute best to serve Him wherever and however we are: in this case, single or married. I as a highschooler can be content with simply being single and being able to serve the Lord with all my heart, without loyalty owed to another person. I don't need to worry about searching for a girlfriend or getting married because God has provided my singleness as a blessing and a time to focus on growing in Him (possibly even to prepare for such a relationship). My job is to wait on the Lord, and I can do so eagerly with great anticipation and excitement. What a way to live!

"My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning -
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning."
~Psalm 130:6

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).

1 Corinthians 5

It's great to feel free to write what God puts on our hearts as I did yesterday, but I am also excited to get back in the Word with you and all of my other faithful readers. I know you're out there! Anywho, time to stop kidding myself. Onto 1 Corinthians 5!

This one's nice and short. Just 13 verses! I have a feeling they are going to be intense though, since Paul is specifically addressing the immorality in the church. Verse 1 starts with Paul bringing up the fact that the sexual immorality going on among some of the members is hideously gross, and that not even the pagan's practice such things. Beyond that, they brag about it! They think they're so great that they can do these horrible things. Paul counsels that they need to be sent out of the church (ie. Excommunicated!). I've never heard of anyone getting excommunicated before, at least when people mess up they know it and leave on their own. Paul says some harsh words that might almost sound like condemnation to hell, but a closer look says they are not. Verse 4 reads: "deliever such a one [an immoral person] to Satan for the destruction of the flesh*, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Paul takes sin so seriously, that he instructs the church to cast this person (and these kinds of people) out into the world - away from the blessings of God. He reasons that in this manner, even if they might die, they will realize their error and his soul shall be saved. It would actually be more beneficial and more productive if he learned the life outside God's protection.

It would be good for that man and the church as well. Paul uses the analogy of leaven and bread to symbolize the effects of even the smallest tolerance of sin on a congregation. If even one person's sin is tolerated, that one person could single handedly bring down the entire collection of believers simply because his sin was not taken seriously. He urges them to "purge out the old leaven, that [they] may become a new lump" (v.7). If they repent, they can start anew once more, and if they remove the people in sin who are unwilling to repent, they can once again call themselves God's people. He wants them to start over again "not with old leaven [past sins], nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread** of sincerity and truth" (v.8). It's never to late to be forgiven, as long as we are willing to come back to Christ broken and open with our sins, ready to turn from them using whatever means necessary.

Verses 9-11 are very straightforward and easy to understand. How easily accepted are they, though, is the question. In these verses, Paul clarifies what he wrote in an earlier epistle to the Corinthians. He instructed them not to associate with immoral people. What he intended was that they not associate with immoral people who profess to be Christian. He could not say they shouldn't associate with immoral people outside the church, because they wouldn't be able to do anything with anybody - including evangelize! That would be bad. We are commanded to evangelize those who have not yet found Christ, but if a brother should be habitually committing these sins of sexual immorality and idolatry, we are not even to eat with them! We need to be radical when dealing with sin and show each other in it that what they are doing is not ok!

Paul explains himself in the last two verses. Our job is not to judge those outside the sphere of believers. There is no reason for them to stop sinning! Trying to make them a better person ultimately will not help them. We are to share the gospel with them, and if they believe it, then we can talk about seeking God and repenting from sin. Our job is to examine those on the inside (especially ourselves) and keep them accountable for seeking the Lord. If someone is not willing to change, that is probably a sign that they do not have Christ is them, and they should be cast out before the can have a negative effect on the rest of the members.

Perhaps you didn't, but I thought that was intense! I love the radical nature of so many Biblical passages. It's inspiring. Some of these are hard words that even some pastors have a tough time swallowing. Dismissing people from the fellowship is probably not an especially enjoyable activity, but clearly - and sadly - it is necessary for healthy church development. I can only wonder what I would do were I in that position.

*Emphasis added
**Not in original text

1 Corinthians 4

Wow... Last night was the all-nighter at church, and I'm glad we don't do that more often. It's very difficult on the body. You do gain the night, but you lose a lot of energy, and most of the next day. That day being today. I did, however, get to go to the King's Senior Class Graduation. That was fun. They did a good job of making the time reasonable. Speeches were short and sweet, and it was quite organized. I got to be a flag bearer with Lindley Graham. That was fun. Well... I'm not sure how much time I have to write this entry, so I'll stop blabbing about my day and start getting to chapter 4.

It's 21 verses long, and starts with Paul telling the Corinthians that we as Christians are "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (v.1). We are responsible for keeping and dispensing the words of the New Testament - the mysteries of God that have now been revealed. One requirement for these servants is that they are faithful (v.2). We need to be loyally obedient to Christ, taking up our cross daily as we also deny ourselves. However we need not worry what other people say of our faithfulness, but what God's verdict is with respect to our faithfulness. This was Paul's attitude as he expressed it in verse 3 and 4. Only God can decide for sure who has been faithful (v.4). Paul was even sure enough to say that he knew nothing against himself. He had a clear conscience before men and before himself and before God, but knew that since he was still imperfect he couldn't be justified by this fact (v.4). He reiterates the fact that only God can be the judge in verse 5. This verse is another verse on heavenly rewards, when God will judge who has been faithful and to what extent, at which point he will applaud us for our inner devotion.

The next section, as I read it, seems to imply that the Corinthians had been caught up in the sin of pride. Verses 6 and 7 contain Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians, showing them that they have no reason to boast - since everything they have was given to them, not earned or deserved. Then verses 8-13 are quite surprising, and I must wonder whether this was a mistake: sarcasm as a form of rebuke. I have often wanted to get sarcastic with some people who were being arrogant or hypocritical, but I resisted, fearing that I would become just the same as them. Perhaps Paul knew the correct attitude to be taken when doing this, and was careful enough to not fall into a pride of his own.

Basically in these verses Paul "praises" the Corinthians for being high and mighty while he and the other apostles are considered the lowest of the low (v.13), poorly cared for (v.11), and doing the work of slaves (v.12). He tells them that they are wise is Christ, while he and the apostles are fools and that they are strong, while he is weak (v.10). Certainly he couldn't have meant these things, as he was just rebuking them for being proud, so it would seem sarcasm is no new concept. Not even to an apostle. And here I was, thinking sarcasm was not an appropriate way to go about correcting.

Paul does explain himself in the last verses. He assures them that he is not simply their teacher, but that he cares deeply for them as a father (vv.14,15). In the same way, we should seek to be fathers to those we are discipling, not only teaching them, but caring for them as for family. After all, if they are Christians, they are family to us in Christ. We then also need to be examples to them, as if they were looking up to us as if a parent, which is what Paul intended when he exhorted them to imitate him. He was bold, but convinced that since he was following Christ, they could follow him and so be led to Christ.

Paul wanted to come to them, but could not come right away, so he sent Timothy, a trusted disciple (v.17). And apparently some didn't care (v.18). They took the "I haven't broken the law until I am caught" attitude. Paul challenged them, since he knew that probably they were not as powerful as they made themselves out to be. He explains that - excuse the cliche - although some people can talk the talk, they can't, or don't, walk the walk (v.19). The kingdom of God is about the walking (v.20). Walk with Christ - that is the power of God, not simply being able to give the right answer to every question.

Are you living by the power of God? Or are you just flapping your lips?

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

Sorry about that... I really had not enough time to write on all of 1 Corinthians 3. Hopefully that won't happen again, but then I can't guarantee it. A lot can be said when every word is truth. Today I will simply be finishing up the last part of chapter 3, which shouldn't be too long, but who knows what could happen??

Alrighty, time cruch ~ 1 hour till I must leave for the all-nighter ^_^. That'll be great fun.

Continuing straight from last week, verses 16-17 are quite disturbing to me. If you want to read this, it's very much like a threat. I like it, because people sometimes think the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament are different (one being war hungry and the other being lovey dovey and ultra forgiving). Not here. No way. No how. God dwells in Christians, and if anyone tries to mess with that, they're on God's hit list. You don't want to be on God's hit list.

Now, the final verses of chapter 3 Paul devotes to cautioning the Corinthians to avoid relying on worldly wisdom. Verse 18 sounds much like Christ's view on leadership and rank in the kingdom of heaven. What that does for me is it further assures me that this is indeed from God, not from men. Who in their right mind would say "become a fool that you may become wise" (v.18)? What is that? Foolishness of God, that's what it is. And I'll take that any day over the wisest wisdom of man. The wisdom of man doesn't seem to be very impressive anyways when Paul starts quoting Old Testament scripture describing it (vv.19-20). Read it for yourself, I can't say it any better than God.

Most mind boggling verses in the Bible I've come across in the Bible so far: 21 and 22. When I first read 21 I thought to myself "Everything is the Corinthians? Well... maybe he doesn't really mean that and he's just being... philosophical or something." So I read on. And what did I find? I found verse 22! Surprise! Paul then clarifies: yes indeed, life, death, Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world! All are theirs! Shoot, it's all mine too! Wow. God is good isn't He? I'm not really sure of all the implications of what Paul means by saying "These things are yours," but John MacArthur seems to think Paul means that God has provided all these good things for us. Awesome, but something in me says there's more. Maybe I'm just being greedy and power hungry... Well, let's not have that shall we?! Onto verse 23.

It simply says believers belong to Christ as Christ belongs to God. That is so encouraging to me, because that tells me that our relationship with Christ is (or should be) the same as Christ relationship with God. And that relationship is the most intimate relationship ever. It's oneness! Some religions want to be one with nature. We'll do them one better here. Let us strive to be one with Christ, just as Christ is one with God. That sounds like an amazing adventure, with great rewards at the end as well! For those of you who haven't started - or who aren't working towards that end at the present - I highly recommend it.

Well, thats all for today. Forgive me if it seemed rushed, but I hope it wasn't any less encouraging! Come back tomorrow for chapter 4!

1 Corinthians 3:1-15

Another glorious day! It's kinda funny... I feel more busy now that I'm out of school than when I was in school! Perhaps it's just because I have so much free time I feel like I need to fill, and when I don't have anything to fill it with, I can turn to this! I'm always doing something... It's great, I highly recommend it. Now: on to chapter 3!

Forgive me that I forgot to mention this, but I would definitely advise you to have a Bible while you go over these since I don't quote every verse I reference. It's best to hear what God has to say straight from God's word. It has a bit more power that way. I use NKJV so if you have one of those it would be easiest to follow.

Chapter 3 is 23 verses long and begins with Paul in verses 1-4 condemning the divisions and strife among them. He goes so far as to say that these behaviors place them in the "carnal" category. It seems that unity is quite a big deal, and anger between brothers and sisters in Christ is unacceptable. Once again (if you remember from chapter 1) the sort of divisions he's talking about sound eerily like present day denominations... I am still trying to decide however, whether this present day battle is a battle over separations in the church, or false teaching? Perhaps its a mix of both, who knows? I just know that Paul never intended church to be the way it is today. If someone has insight, don't hesitate to share!

Another one of those "in passing" moments caught my eye in these few verses as well. Paul makes mention of milk and solid food as representation of truths in the gospel that are to be taught based on a certain spiritual maturity level. Now, I know there isn't much chance of determining a certain standard for this. "When they have given 50% of their earnings to the church, then you can tell them that lots of people go to hell" or something ridiculous like that... Obviously we as humans can't really come up with a definite standard for spiritual maturity since we can't see the heart, but Paul seemed to know they weren't ready for what he wanted to tell them since they were still acting like carnal people (v.3). Now, that doesn't exactly explain a standard, but I certainly don't want God's truth held from me because of what I do, even though God's grace wont be held from me based on what I do. This, I suppose, gives me at least one more incentive to follow God and commit myself to Him, letting Him live through me, since if it were up to me... Well I would know very much lets just put it that way.

Wow... Time to move on, we still have 19 verses to go! This next section is on the longer side and indeed has much more to say, although I'll do my best to keep it reasonable.

Paul continues from the last section by reasoning with the people of the church who claim to be "of" a certain person. Perhaps they were accrediting their salvation to that person because Paul asks "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord have to each one?" What the Corinthians apparently didn't understand is that they were not saved by Paul or Apollos. They weren't following Paul's gospel, they were taught the Gospel of Christ and believed it. Again, this bears great resemblance to denominations (in my opinion) as some are named for those who founded them. Paul explains that we as witnesses and preachers of the gospel are not responsible for saving people: "So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (v.7). Only God can make people grow into Him, our job is to provide the necessary information and truths in order to make that happen.

Paul then describes in the next paragraph the Christian life in general. He says that our foundation that we build our life on should be Jesus Christ, but to be careful what we build on it (v.10). It is possible to be saved, yet still waste my life doing worthless things through my own strength, and in the end when it is tested by fire it will become clear how I spent my life. Each person will then receive a reward based on what remains after it is tested (vv.14). This should not be confused with punishment for sin. Christ paid that penalty for all Christians - we will never have to endure that if we have accepted his gift. However, their are heavenly treasures and rewards spoken of in various places in the New Testament - this being one of the - and this is how God will decide what each person gets. Sadly, some people may get nothing and "be saved, yet so as through fire" (v.15).

Well... Chapter 3 still has a lot left to say, and I don't have a lot of time left to say it! I'll be putting up the rest of it tomorrow for those who are interested. I hope you enjoyed 1 Corinthians 3:1-15. Thanks for reading.

1 Corinthians 2

Alrighty... Chapter 2!!!

This chapter is actually on the shorter side - at just 16 verses, but I'm sure we'll discover it isn't any less meaningful than the last chapter we went over.

If you remember from chapter 1, Paul had asserted that he did not come "with wisdom of words" (1:17). This chapter begins with Paul doing just about the same thing in his usual, what I am tempted to say, overly humble state. He simply came to them "declaring the testimony of God" (2:1). The first few verses outline, I think, how we are supposed to act as witnesses for Christ. We need not know every argument for the existence of God. Paul said he knew "nothing...except Christ Jesus and Him crucified" (2:2). We as witnesses are responsible for knowing nothing but the facts of what we believe and what Christ has done in our lives. This message is powerful, because it then becomes not our smooth speech or persuasive logic that connects people to God, but God Himself working in them! (2:4,5) Paul understood what it meant to be a witness of Christ. I want to have the confidence that he had, not needing to know every facet of physical evidence for God in order to validate my faith. A man with experience trumps the man with evidence.

For the rest of the chapter (vv.6-16) Paul speaks about spiritual wisdom, how we as believers can come about it, and why non-believers can't have it.

...I must take a break from the path this chapter follows and go to a different subject. Hopefully I won't do this often, because as I explained yesterday, if I went through every facet of the large amount of scripture I plan to truck through, I would be stuck here forever (that would be nice - dont get me wrong, but then what chance would I have to apply my learnings to my life. After all that is the point isnt it?) and we cant have that. I realized upon reviewing this chapter that many of the most profound sayings in Scripture - the ones that seem to hold the most truth and that dive deepest into the heart of God - are the ones that we miss because they seem to be said "in passing." For example, verse 6 reads as follows: "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing." Now, yes, that is an good verse on wisdom. That probably seems like the maint point of the verse, and you'd probably be correct in saying so.

But take a look at this: "the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing" (v.6). !_! Wow. Those are some strong words, and looking at this chapter as a whole, we would miss the implications of such a phrase. I just thought I'd alert you that both views of scripture are necessary - the general, basic, fundamental truths as a foundation, and then those details that seem so obscure but have endlessly wonderful implications such as this one. (I just wrote 2 paragraphs because of 10 words that i read). I'll leave you to explore those. Perhaps I should just make a section at the end of each blog with phrases that caught my attention...

Back to verses 6-16. Spiritual Wisdom. Paul reiterates in verse 7 that some things taught in scripture are a "mystery." They cannot be understood without the Holy Spirit in us! (v.10) That is the one difference between Christians and non-Christians isn't it? We have the Spirit in us. And He is the only one qualified to teach us these things - Paul makes an analogy: "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (v.11). Only Evan can tell you for sure what is going on inside Evan - doctors might be able to tell that I'm dreaming (by looking at the movement of my eyeballs when im asleep), or that I'm thinking(by checking out my brain waves), but to tell what I'm thinking is impossible for them. Only I can tell you what I'm thinking, and you will then have to trust me to be telling the truth. In the same way, only the Spirit of God can tell you what the mind of God is like! Therefore, those who do not have the Spirit of God cannot know the mind of God.

Paul then gives us one of the reasons we have the Holy Spirit in us: "that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God"(v.12). Again asserting that the Holy Spirit teaches us (or better understood: helps us to understand) (v.13) and that spiritual things are foolishness to the "natural man" (v.14).

Verse 15: Too intruiging for me to attempt to explain: "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one."

Paul ends in verse 16 assuring believers than we can know the mind of God because we actually have the mind of Christ! amazing...

Well, that will have to do for today. I hope this is helping those who read to think more about spiritual matters and that it might be encouraging to all. Tomorrow is 1 Cor. 3!

1 Corinthians 1

Alright, I've gotten a request to continue "blogging." The thirsty for more comment convinced me, plus the fact that I haven't been totally focused on my reading or anything. So I'll be starting a new series on 1 Corinthians, hopefully being able to do a chapter a day. As a chapter is a fair amount for each day, obviously I cannot examine every cross reference and dig into the deepest depths of every verse. That would take years, if not forever (who knows really how deep this book goes?). I'll be doing a little overview of each chapter, inserting my thoughts here and there - these obviously not to be taken immediately as absolute truth.

A fair sized chapter, at 31 verses long it takes up 2 pages and then some in my MacArthur Study Bible, and most of those are notes. It would seem that Paul has a way of conveying many more ideas than the words he writes, no?

An intoduction to this book: 1 Corinthians (as well as 2 Cor.) was written by Paul, as the first verse indicates, and is named for the church of the people to whom it is addressed, Corinth (indicated also by the second verse). Corinth was located in southern Greece, and prospered as a major trade city, since captains would pass over the ithsmus with their boats on rollers in order to avoid the otherwise long and dangerous 250 mile journey by sea. Corinth also hosted the Isthmian games, apparently second only to the Olympic games, and as a result of all the people traffic, became extremely morally corrupt, even when compared to the godless standards of the day. Some of these sins such as incest, were still discovered among church members! Obviously, Paul needed to address these issues.

Paul begins by asserting his apostleship and introducing also a friend who was with him named Sosthenes. John MacArthur explains in his notes that since the letter Paul was about to write was meant to rebuke and correct, he needed to present himself as an apostle speaking the very words of God, implying that rejection of his words would be rejecting God.

In light of the circumstances in which he writes this letter, the first few verses are quite amazing to me, because had it been I writing, 1 Corinthians would not have started out this kindly. Paul begins by addressing the Corinthians as saints(v.2), sancitified(v.2) and enriched(v.5) by Christ. He tells them that he is always thankful(v.4) to God for them as they fall short in no gift(v.7). Paul often used this method of speaking with people, first affirming where they had gone right, then alerting them of their faults.

Now, verse 8 catches my eye. It reads as follows "who [Jesus Christ] will also confirm you to the end, that you may be* blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." The bold word is the one that sparked my curiosity. This word is often associated with perfection, which most people - if not everyone - believes to be impossible in this life. Interesting...

In this next section (vv.10-17), Paul admonishes the Corinthians in their dissent over certain issues. The Corinthians had been quarelling amongst themselves over "who they were of." I'm really not sure what that means, but Paul quoted them in verse 12: "'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas [Peter],' or 'I am of Christ.'" Notice that he doesn't try to say that following him is right and others iswrong (in fact he does just the opposite in vv. 14-17), nor does he say that those who claim to be of Christ are right, and everyone should agree with that group. No, he admonishes everyone for dissenting with eachother and encourages them to be unified in their testimony (v.10). Maybe you can see the correlation between the Corinthians and the churches of today? What is Paul saying about denominations? Perhaps we should be doing more to remain unified as Christians rather than separated between denominations... would that not help our testimony? I cannot count how many times I have heard the line "you Christians cant even agree on what you believe, look at all your denominations!"

Onto the next section! This one is a really fun one... I'm including the end of verse 17 as well as vv.18-25. This chunk of Scripture is really freeing in that it allows us to escape from the burden of explaining away Scripture. It openly admits that there are some things that non-believers simply will not be able to handle without the help of the Holy Spirit. Basically it starts at verse 17 where Paul seems to imply that if those who had been saved had been saved by "wisdom of words" (ie. eloquent) that the power of the Gospel would actually be weakened! Verses 18-25 are basically him repeating the idea that God's message is foolishness to the gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews. It's ironic really, if anyone hears something along the lines of: "What your gospel? Savior on a stick? Hahaha!" that person should be further convinced of the truth of what the Bible teaches, since Paul predicts this will be said of the cross, right here in verse 23: "but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness." We don't have to be ashamed of our foolish gospel, though: "but to those who are called [a reference to the elect, which people also seem to have trouble with] Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (v.24), explaining that: "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (v.25).

In the last part of this chapter, Paul informs the Corinthians of a curious fact among those who are believers. "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (v.26). Not many of the great people according to the world's standards are called to be believers. This affirms Christs motto of the last first and the first last. This is not to say that smart people are less likely to be saved, or buff people wont come to Christ as easily simply because they are buff, but it certainly would imply that humbling oneself is an integral part of coming to God. As long as we rely on our own strength or our own smarts, God isn't going to seem necessary, and therefore we won't be willing to come to Him. After all, what would be the purpose? Paul explains the reason why God does this in verse 27: "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty." God wants us to know that He alone is strong, that He alone is wise, and therefore that He alone is worthy of worship.

Paul ends with a quote from Jeremiah 9:24 "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."**

Thanks for taking time to read my 1 Corinthians 1 overview - I'll attempt to go through chapter 2 tomorrow! (This one took about an hour and a half so we'll see...) Leave me comments. ^_^ Time for me to go, hope you found this insightful!

*Italics denote implied words in the original greek text that are technically not there.
**In this case, the words were italicized in my Bible to denote a quote.