In today’s section, we read about:
The end of Paul’s letter to the Romans with a reminder of why Paul wrote, details of his intentions for future travel and personal greetings
The first 14 chapters of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians
Some thoughts that occurred to me today:
In chapter 15, Paul summarises the message of chapter 14 and not causing fellow believers to stumble – “accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory” (15:7). He then recalls the universality of the good news of Christ, which has been laid out clearly in Scripture.
15:25-27 enables us to make a reasonable deduction on when this was written, since Paul talks of taking the gift from the believers in Macedonia and Achaia for the church in Jerusalem, which points to it being during his third missionary journey.
I know some accuse Paul of misogyny and wanting to relegate women to a subservient place (mainly based, I guess on 1 Cor 14 we read later today), but I was struck that the first person Paul commends is a woman, and not just that, but she is also a deacon in the church in Cenchrea (near Corinth!!!) and described by Paul as “one who is worthy of honour among God’s people… she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.”
I like the way Paul concludes by pointing out just how enormous and great a thing it is that God has done by revealing this “secret” to gentiles so that God may get all the glory through Jesus.
Yesterday, I tried to summarise the flow of argument in Rom 1-14, and I shall try to do the same for 1 Cor 1-14, although I found this much less straightforward, since whereas Romans appeals to my logic and intellect, 1 Corinthians is where the rubber hits the road in daily life. Anyway here goes:
The flow of 1 Corinthians:
Paul gives thanks that the Corinthian church has received “every spiritual gift”, BUT →
There are divisions in the church, some claiming to follow Paul, some Apollos, some Peter, and other “only Christ”. Paul explains he didn’t come to build a following but to preach a message →
About the power of the cross of Christ and the resurrection, which is totally at variance with the ‘wisdom’ of the world. However, God’s foolishness is wiser than the wisest wisdom of the world, but →
God’s wisdom is revealed not by clever words of men, but by the Spirit. Equally →
Growth comes not from any particular leader, but from God. Christ is the foundation on which we may build, but what we build will be tested. More importantly, since everything comes from God, →
We must at all costs avoid destroying the church that is God’s, as indeed is everything is God’s. Since everything comes from God →
Paul wants to be regarded a s a mere servant of the gospel, but is appalled at the arrogance and “wise in their own eyes” attitude of some in the church there. This is most egregiously shown in the →
Sexual immorality that is worse than would be expected even among the pagans there. Worse, the perpetrators boast of it, and the deleterious effect this has on the church as a whole impels Paul to insist that the culprit be thrown out of the fellowship. (Paul also criticises them for taking their disputes to the public court, instead of being willing to suffer wrong for the sake of the body). The freedom God gives should never be used as licence for anything goes, since →
We have been bought by God, we belong to him and not ourselves. Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Sexual purity is so important since we join with another person through sex, and so should honour God through that. Since sexual purity is so important, →
Paul says that while marriage may prevent a believer from wholeheartedly focusing all their attentions on serving God, it is better to marry than to burn with lustful desires. The key thing is to serve God and live pure lives following him, whether married or single. →
We should also serve by ensuring that we do not cause others to stumble. Indeed, Paul has completely lived out this approach →
Becoming all things to all when as the circumstances dictate, so that some can be won for Christ. Living like this is possible, even though Israel’s history is littered with examples where they failed, where they were concerned with what they wanted to do, which is the case in Corinth, where →
The way the Lord’s Supper is celebrated brings only dishonour and shame, and provokes division, instead of bringing the church together which should also be the case →
With Spiritual gifts, which are all given by the one same Holy Spirit, not for the recipients benefit, but for the body as a whole, in which they are many different parts and roles, but just one whole. These gifts should b exercised with →
A theme which Paul expounds beautifully, reminding them that this should be their highest goal, and encouraging them to structure their gatherings so that this is the outcome.
1:8-9 – “He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1:18 – “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.”
1:30 – “God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.”
2:10 – “it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.”
3:16-17 – “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
4:7 – “What do you have that God hasn’t given you?”
4:20 – “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power”
6:19-20 – “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body.”
7:23 – “God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.”
8:3 – “But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes” – cf 1 Sam 2:30
8:6 – “we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.”
9:22-23 – “I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.”
10:12-13 – “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
In 12:4-11, talking about the different gifts provided by the Holy Spirit, Paul refers 7 times to the ‘same’ or ‘one’ Spirit who provides the gift. Unity is the key, and not division! 12:13 – “Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.”
12:27 - “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”
13:4-7 – “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
13:11-12 – “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
14:1 – “Let love be your highest goal!”
14:20 – “Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind.”
14:33 – “God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people.”
One verse from today - "So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God."
No comments:
Post a Comment