In today’s section, we read:
The last two chapters of 1 Corinthians, where Paul expounds at length on the resurrection
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians
The first three chapters of the letter to the Galatians, where Paul detects a false gospel being preached, which teaches justification comes not by faith but by the law and obeying Jewish customs
Some thoughts that occurred to me:
· 1 Cor 15 is one of my favourite chapters in the bible, as it spells out the centrality of the resurrection, and how if it didn’t happen and isn’t a real, historical event, we are deluded and pathetic. But the amazing thing is that it *REALLY IS TRUE*. 1 Cor 15:20, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.” The tone is similar to John 6:66-69, “At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”” I.e – we’re stuck with you, we have nowhere else to go, but it just so happens that of all the people we could possibly be stuck with, we would have chosen you anyway since you have the words of eternal life.
I don’t think trying to summarise 1 Corinthians like I did Romans was a success, so instead for 2 Corinthians, I shall try to summarise the structure:
Paul gives thanks for God’s comfort
The reason that Paul changed his plan to visit Corinth was to spare them a severe rebuke
Paul urges the church to forgive the sinner who had caused the trouble before
We are ministers of the new Covenant, written on our hearts, the glory of which outstrips that of the old
However, we carry this treasure in fragile clay jars, but we have the hope that we will have an eternal body
We belong to God’s kingdom as new creations, and he chooses us to be his ambassadors, charged with a ministry and message of reconciliation
When Paul was with the Corinthians he endured all hardships and was not a financial burden on them
Instead he urged them as a spiritual father to live righteous lives
Paul rejoices in their repentance and return to the truth
Paul urges them to generosity, comparing them to other churches he has planted, and encouraging them to give to the church in Jerusalem
Paul defends his apostolic authority and even resorts to “foolish boasting” over his sufferings and his visions
Paul’s final warnings to them to examine themselves and see how this matches up to the truth
1:20 – “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”
1:21-22 – “It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, 22 and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first instalment that guarantees everything he has promised us”
3:6 – “He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.”
3:17 – “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
3:18 – “all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
4:17-18 – “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
5:5 – “God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.”
5:15 - “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”
5:17-21 – “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,[e] so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
7:9-10 – When the Holy Spirit convicts us, it is always specific, not a vague feeling of condemnation. “It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”
8:9 – “You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”
9:7-8 – “don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”
12:9-10 – “Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
I shall discuss Galatians in tomorrow’s posting.
One verse from today – “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die” (Gal 2:20-21)
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