Monthly Archives: November 2022

Daily Bible Study

December 1, 2022 Bible Study — God Has Chosen Each And Every One Of Us To Fulfill A Role In His Body, And All Of Those Roles Are Important

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 12-14.

In today’s passage Paul writes about the gifts of the Spirit.  Often times we split chapter thirteen out and look at what Paul says there about love independently of chapters twelve and fourteen.  I have known all of this for many years.  So imagine my surprise when I noticed that Paul talks about more than the gifts of the Spirit in this passage.  In chapter twelve, verses four, five, and six, Paul writes that there are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, and different kinds of working, but the Same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God behind them.  So, this whole passage is not just about the gifts of the Spirit, it is about the roles each of us play in the Body of Christ.  And the gifts of the Spirit which we have been given are not the whole of how we determine what role God intends us to play in His Body.  We tend to seek the flashy spiritual gifts, and the roles which stand out, but Paul tells us that, while those gifts and roles are necessary, there are more important roles for us to fill.  Paul writes that if one of us suffers, we all suffer, and if one of us is honored we all rejoice.  Then he tells us to seek the greater gifts and, in order to make his point clear, goes on to describe how God’s love, which is the greatest of the gifts which God offers us, will cause us to behave if we live in it.  So, if chapter thirteen tells us  to use God’s gifts, and to fill the role He has given us, in service to others out of the love God has given us, then chapter fourteen tells us that we should interact with others in an orderly manner so as to clearly communicate God’s message.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 30, 2022 Bible Study — Freed By Christ To Seek The Good Of Others

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 9-11.

Paul covers several different topics in today’s passage, but one theme runs through his advice on dealing with each of those topics.  Early in the passage, while he was writing about paying those who preach the Gospel, Paul says, “we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.”  Then later, he writes, “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”  Throughout today’s passage I see Paul referencing that idea repeatedly.  Paul applies this them of seeking the good of others to each of the issues he addresses in today’s passage.  Paul writes that we have been freed by Christ so that we could, theoretically, do anything, but we should do only that which is beneficial.  How do we know what is beneficial?  That which promotes the good of others.   Paul subtly makes the point that seeking the good of others is beneficial to us.  As we discipline ourselves to seek the good of others we learn the ways which God gives us to resist temptation.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 29, 2022 Bible Study — Paul Explains Human Sexuality And How Sexual Immorality Impacts Our Spiritual Life

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 5-8.

The focus for most of today’s passage is on human sexuality.  Paul makes the point that when we have sex with someone we become physically and spiritually united with them.  Therefore if we become sexually promiscuous the constant connect and disconnect that entails damages us both physically and spiritually.  In fact, Paul suggests that the optimal answer is to avoid sexual entanglements altogether, but acknowledges that not everyone has the physical and spiritual makeup to do so.  For those of us who need a partner, either because we need the spiritual support or because we need the physical release, Paul commands that we form such a bond with one other person*.  Paul makes it clear that such a relationship is marriage (with all of the commitments that entails), whether we make that official or not.  Paul expresses the opinion that the highest calling for a Christian is to be asexual.  He makes it clear that when he says this he is expressing his own opinion, not a revelation from the Holy Spirit.  He also tells us that not everyone can live up to that, and that those who cannot should get married.  After much thought I conclude that God calls some people to minister to Him by marrying and others to minister to Him by remaining single (and celibate).  The Church should encourage young people to consider whether or not they have been called to the latter (not try to convince them that they are called to such a path, merely to consider it)

 

*NOTE: I do not believe that Paul explicitly condemns polygamy, but the implications of what he writes about marriage and sexuality strongly favors monogamy.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 28, 2022 Bible Study — Do Not Destroy God’s Temple With Divisive Arguments

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 1-4.

In his first letter to the Corinthian Believers Paul first addresses the issue of faction within the Church.  In particular, he addresses the issue wherein we attempt to win arguments over living out our faith by appealing to the authority of one teacher or another.  Paul tells us that there should be no divisions among Believers.  As long as the teachings someone is following build upon the foundation which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ (elsewhere Paul speaks about what the “Gospel of Jesus Christ” is, so I will not write about what that is here), we should not argue with them to the point of division, to the point of unfriending them and casting them out of all of our social circles.  That does not mean that Paul is saying that all teachings are of equal value.  Paul writes that we together as a group of Believers are God’s temple.  So, we should choose carefully which teachings we use to build our temple of faith.  However, as long as our foundation is the Gospel of Christ, our temple will survive God’s judgement.  Arguing divisively in the Church destroys the temple to God which the Body of Believers is intended to be.  Those who bring about such division will be subject to God’s judgement.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 27, 2022 Bible Study — Accept Others As Christ Accepted You

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 15-16.

Paul concludes the treatise which was his letter to the Roman Church by  telling us that those who are strong in their faith should bear with the failings of the weak.  If you believe that you are weaker in faith than another person, so that they should bear with your failings rather than you bearing with their failings, you should not attempt to instruct them in faithfulness.  Paul tells us that we should accept each other as Christ accepted us.  Earlier in this letter Paul told us that Christ died for us when we were still sinners, which means that Christ accepted us, loved us, when we were still in opposition to Him.  Let us seek to be accepting of others in the same way.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 26, 2022 Bible Study — Becoming Transformed By The Renewing Of Our Minds

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 11-14.

There are several things which struck me as I read today.  I am not sure how many of them I will get to writing about.  First, Paul explains why Christians cannot hate Jews.  It seems clear to me that Paul wrote chapter 11 because there were some, perhaps a growing number, of Gentile Christians who had open hostility towards Jews who had not accepted Christ.  His explanation is simple.  Since we have only received righteousness because of God’s grace, how dare we presume that those to whose ancestors God made promises could not at some point in the future accept that same grace?  Further, since their rejection of that grace has resulted in the blessing of us receiving that grace, think how much greater the blessing when they do accept that grace.  Paul does a much better job of saying it than I do.

Paul transitions to his next point by pointing out that God’s grace should inspire us to offer ourselves up as a living sacrifice.  The word “living” plays an important part in that instruction.  To a large degree the rest of today’s passage merely expands upon that first sentence:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

He begins expanding on that by telling us that we should not conform to this world (with the implication that hating Jews, or anybody else is confirming to this world), rather we should be transformed by the Spirit renewing our minds.  We experience the first step in that transformation by humbly recognizing that we are no better than anyone else, but also that we are no worse than anyone else either.  As we are transformed we will use whatever gifts God has given us to build up and honor others.  In this world, when others do evil to you, you are justified in doing evil back to them (“Do unto others as they do to you”).  Paul tells us that we should be transformed so that when others do evil to us, we respond by doing good for them (“Do unto others as you would have them do to you”).   Paul undermines the world’s argument for responding to wrongs with payback by reminding us that God reserves to Himself the right to avenge wrongs.  I find it interesting that Paul did not mention that God has graciously done good for us by offering us His grace despite the many wrongs we have done Him.

Today’s passage concludes with Paul pointing out that this transformation should result in us not striving to win arguments about the proper way to live faithfully.  If one can hold a different position on an issue while still being faithful to God, we should not try to force others to live according to our interpretation.  Interestingly, Paul’s example is that one should not try to convince those who have a more rigid understanding of acceptable Christian behavior to take a more lenient position: if you genuinely do not believe something is wrong, do not attempt to convince someone who does believe it is wrong to do it.  In matters which are disputable, be the stronger person and allow the other person to live their faith in peace.  This last paragraph could be an entire blog entry of its own, but I do not have the time to flesh it out.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 25, 2022 Bible Study — Nothing Can Separate Us From The Love Of God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 8-10.

Paul finishes his exposition on salvation by grace through faith in today’s before moving on to some of the implications it has for us.  First, Paul tells us that if we have the Spirit of God living in us we will live according to the spirit (or possibly the Spirit) not according to the flesh.  So, we need to set our minds on what the Spirit desires and turn our minds from what the flesh desires.  Paul also tells us that if we do not have the Spirit of Christ we do not belong to Christ.  One could easily misinterpret what Paul is writing here to think that since we need to live according to the spirit rather than the flesh that the physical world is irredeemably evil.  But Paul recognizes that and points out that God raised Christ from the dead as an example that He will give life to our mortal bodies.  That is, just as Christ’s physical body was raised from the dead, so too our bodies will be raised from the dead (should we die before the day of transformation arrives).

From there Paul goes on to point out that as we live in these untransformed bodies we suffer in various ways, perhaps just the pain of our bodies getting older, but perhaps pain and suffering inflicted on us because we profess faith in Christ.  However, we have the hope of God transforming our bodies, just as He did Jesus’ body.  In the meantime, God’s Spirit will help us in our weakness.  While we do not all for which we should pray, the Spirit does and it will intercede for us according to the will of God.  Further Paul tells us that God works in all things for the good of those who love Him.  Knowing this, why should we fear anything?  If God is defending us, is working for our good, who can bring harm to us?  Perhaps you fear being separated from God, but Jesus said that no one can snatch us out of His hand and here Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from Him.  In fact, one of my favorite declarations of faith is here:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I too share that conviction.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 24, 2022 Bible Study — Our Good Works Do Not Make Us Righteous, But The Righteousness Which God Has Given Us Makes Us Do Good Works

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 4-7.

Paul continues on his exposition about salvation by grace through faith in today’s passage.  He points out that Abraham was credited as righteous because he believed God.  This righteousness was credited to Abraham before he was circumcised, and before Isaac was born.  It came even before Abraham fathered Ishmael.  Abraham did not earn his righteousness by his actions, rather God gave it to him as a free gift.  In the same way God will credit those who believe in Jesus with righteousness.  After further exposition on God’s grace in giving us righteousness, Paul then explains the situation we were in before we received God’s gift: we had sinned and were therefore slaves to sin.  However, when we believed in Christ we died with Him to sin, freeing us from that slavery.  It is God’s grace which allows us to stop sinning.  Doing good does not make us righteous, rather, the fact that God has made us righteous causes us to do good.  Some people think that because God’s grace has made us righteous, because our goodness has no impact on God’s love for us, that we have no reason not to sin.  They fail to understand that God’s gift of righteousness is the only reason we need to not sin.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 23, 2022 Bible Study — No One Has A Claim To Be Superior To Anyone Else

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 1-3.

On Sunday I wrote about how Paul had those to whom he considered himself accountable.  In today’s passage we see another example of Paul not considering himself above others.  Here he writes that he wants to visit the Roman Believers in order to impart some spiritual gift which will build them up.  Then he immediately clarifies that he wants them (he and the Roman Believers) to be mutually encouraged in their faith.  We should take this lesson to heart.  If Paul felt that he was not “above” the Believers in Rome with regards to faith in Christ and following Christ, who today can consider themselves above other Believers, and who may we consider as being above ourselves?  We all have something to teach our fellow Believers, and we all have something to learn from them.

Paul finishes his introduction to this letter by saying that the righteous live by faith.  He then explains in depth what that means.  Paul begins by pointing out that all people of all time have no excuse for not acknowledging God and following His laws because God has made both Himself and His laws clear in the nature of Creation.  Nevertheless most people have foolishly chosen to attempt to appear wise by denying that God and His rules for human behavior exist.  Rejecting the truth about God results in us instead embracing lies that our lust, greed, and other wickedness are good and beneficial.  Paul points out that even those of us who have embraced the knowledge of God and sought to obey His laws have failed to truly live according to them.  We have nothing to hold over those others which would allow us to claim ourselves superior to them.    Paul points out that our only hope of righteousness is to put our faith in Christ.  We will not, cannot, be righteous by our own efforts.  However, if we trust God, if we have faith in Jesus Christ, God will transform us so that we can indeed follow His commands.  This means that we do not do good because we think it will benefit us to do good, but because we are inspired by the example Christ gave us, and by the power of the Holy Spirit within us, to emulate that righteousness which Christ exhibited.  Whatever righteous behavior we have belongs not to us, is not reflective of our goodness, but rather reflects the gift which God has given to us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 22, 2022 Bible Study — Do Not Trust What Those Who Hate Christ Say About Those Who Believe In Him

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 26-28.

When Paul was speaking before Governor Festus and King Agrippa he said something which struck me.  He told them that when he was working to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth, he would seek out Believers and attempt to force them to blaspheme in order to have them put to death.   So, Paul, when he was still Saul, thought that followers of Jesus should be put to death, but knew that he needed to convince others that they were guilty of some crime deserving death.  To accomplish that end, he sought to get them to say something which he could twist to being taken as blasphemy.  In the same way today, many who oppose Christ will seek to get His followers to say things which they can use to convince others that His followers are hateful people.  Be careful not to let such people turn you against other Believers.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.