Tag Archives: 1 Corinthians 8

Daily Bible Study

November 29, 2023 Bible Study — Judging Our Fellow Believers, and Being Judged by Them

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

In today’s passage Paul teaches on how we should deal with human sexuality.  He begins with an example of a situation going on within the congregation in Corinth.  Paul writes that we should have nothing to do with those who actively sin while claiming to be followers of Christ.  Paul tells us that we should do this in order that these people might turn from their sin and enter back into fellowship with Christ.  And even though the proximate cause of Paul writing about this was a case of sexual immorality, Paul points out that the same principle applies to those who allow themselves to be consumed by greed, or who slander others, or swindle people, or who allow themselves to become controlled by alcohol (or other substances).  From the context, I believe Paul is speaking about those who embrace these behaviors to the point of believing that it is OK to do any of these.  I want to point out that while Paul tells us to completely avoid those who claim to be Believers who practice these things, he makes clear that he is not talking about those who make no profession of faith.  Even the judgement he calls us to make against Believers is merely to treat them as one who does not believe.

In discussing passing judgement on Believers who embrace sin, Paul suggests that, as Believers, we should turn to someone in the Church to judge between us and fellow Believers when we have a dispute.  In fact, he suggests that we should allow ourselves to be wronged, we should allow ourselves to be cheated, before we take our disputes with fellow Believers to the judicial system outside of the Church.  I think that we do not put enough focus on Paul’s teachings regarding keeping our disputes out of the courts.  If we have a disagreement with those who claim to be followers of Christ, we should take that disagreement to another member of the Church for resolution.  If the party with whom we have the disagreement will not accept such a resolution we should allow the wrong we think they have done us to stand rather than take it before the civil authorities.  I want to note that it is not clear to me that Paul tells us not to defend ourselves before the civil authorities should a fellow Believer take us to court.

 

 

 

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 29, 2020 Bible Study We Belong To God, Not To Ourselves

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

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

Everything in today’s passage comes down to two central points which Paul makes (I hope that I can tie these two points together, but we will see).  First, we do not belong to ourselves, but rather we belong to God.  Therefore we should not live to please ourselves, but rather to please God.  This runs exactly contrary to the argument our society makes about human sexuality (and many other things).  Our society makes the argument that people need to fulfill their sexual desires, whatever those desires may be.  Paul tells us that sexual immorality effects our bodies, bodies which have been joined with Christ.   Paul reiterates what Genesis taught about sexuality, that having sexual relations with someone joins us to them.  In fact, Paul tells us that this joining causes a potential conflict with our being joined to God, which is why he recommends that Believers remain unmarried and refrain from sexual relations.  However, he also tells us that not everyone is capable of such sexual discipline and those who are not should marry.  What I find interesting about today’s society is that the most libertine among us have decided that being blessed with little or no sexual desires belongs among their perversions.

The other main point which Paul makes in this passage regards judgement in the Church, among Believers (I still hope to show how this connects with the other point, but I am not yet sure I will be able to do so).  He tells us that as Believers we should not take our disputes to secular courts.  Instead, when we have a dispute with another Believer which we cannot work out between us, we should take that dispute to someone in the Church whose judgement we both trust and allow them to decide between us.  If the Believer with whom we have the dispute is unwilling to submit to such a resolution, it is better to allow ourselves to be cheated rather than take our dispute before those who apply worldly wisdom to such things.  Paul makes this point after telling the Corinthians to put the man bragging about sexual immorality out of the Church, thus connecting the two ideas.  First, Paul tells us that we should not associate with those who claim to be Believers who indulge in sexual sins, are greedy, worship idols, are abusive, or are drunkards.  He explicitly tells us that those who place themselves outside of the Body of Christ are not subject to our judgement on such behaviors, but we should judge such behavior among those who claim to be one with Christ and with us.

Daily Bible Study

November 29, 2019 Bible Study — Resolving Disputes Between Believers

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

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

I do not know that I ever noticed the connection between Paul’s teaching about Believers going to court against each other and what he writes before and after.  The entire passage follows a natural progression from one topic to another, with a real overlap in the guiding principle behind most of Paul’s instructions here.  Paul starts off by telling the Church in Corinth that they have someone among them who is doing something that even the pagans living around them recognize as wrong.  But instead of confronting this Believer with his sin, the Church was bragging about their tolerance.  Paul instructs them to tell this man that what he was doing was wrong.  Then Paul takes the same idea, that the Church has people who can recognize when someone is doing wrong, and applies it to situations where business deals between believers go wrong.  If you think another believer has cheated you, take it to the Church.  Let the Church appoint someone knowledgeable in such matters examine the facts of your disagreement and render a decision on how to resolve it.  If the other party is unwilling to accept the Church’s judgement, let yourself be cheated rather than exposing the name of Christ to ridicule before unbelievers.  Paul does not say it, and we should be extremely careful before going there, but he seems to hint that if someone in a dispute refuses to accept the Church’s judgement of the matter they should, perhaps, be treated as the man he mentioned at the beginning of the passage.

Daily Bible Study

November 29, 2018 Bible Study — Dealing With Sin In the Church

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

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

    Paul writes about sexual sin in today’s passage. He addresses an issue where, rather than discipline someone for sexual sin, the Church in Corinth bragged about it. They were proud that they accepted someone going beyond what was acceptable in the very libertine city in which they lived. Here is where it gets interesting, Paul had previously told them not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. Apparently, the Church in Corinth had concluded that was impractical because so many of the people of Corinth indulged in sexual sin and chose to ignore Paul’s guidance. So, Paul reiterates and clarifies what he had written previously (in a letter which is lost to history). And the clarification point is important because many Christians today fail to pay attention to it. We as believers should not associate with those who claim to be followers of Christ who indulge in sexual sins. But not just sexual sins, we should also not associate with those “Christians” who is greedy, abusive, a drunkard, or cheats people. However, this guidance does not apply to those who are outside of the Body of Believers, who do not claim to follow Christ. In order to avoid associating with those who practice the sins Paul mentions who do not claim to be Christians we would need to isolate ourselves from the world in a way which would make reaching people for Christ impossible. In the Church today, we have both those making the same mistake the Corinthian Church made, boasting of their acceptance of sinful behavior, and those who try to stay away from all sinners.

    After addressing the issue of the Church member who was sleeping with his father’s wife, Paul discusses lawsuits between Church members, then returns to the issue of sexual sin. Because of the way Paul addresses the issue we often separate these two teachings, but in fact they are closely linked. Paul states that other sins should be handled the same way as sexual sins. In addressing the issue of lawsuits between believers, Paul is giving an example of evidence of those other sins, and the logic which shows that the lawsuits are because of sin. The lawsuit is evidence that one believer is greedy and/or trying to cheat another. If both parties to the lawsuit genuinely believed that it was a legitimate disagreement over the meaning of their agreement, they could have, and should have, brought their disagreement to the Church for resolution. Further, if the other party would not abide by the decision reached by the Church, it would be better to allow them to cheat you than take the case to unbelievers for resolution.
    After finishing his message on sexual sin, Paul discusses marriage in the Church. From what Paul writes here it is clear that some in the early Church thought that marriage was an obsolete institution. However, Paul makes it clear that this is not the case. Paul advocates for the benefits of remaining single, but makes it clear that not everyone is called to remain single. Paul tells us that remaining single should be the default assumption for Christians, but that not everyone is called to such a life. Marriage is neither the preferred state for followers of Christ, nor something for them to avoid.

Daily Bible Study

November 29, 2017 Bible Study

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

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

    Paul starts off today’s passage by addressing a particular situation which was happening among the Corinthian believers. However, he extends his commands (I want to note that, unlike much of what Paul writes which is direction and advice, here he gives a command to the Church in Corinth) to a more general applicability. He tells the Corinthians that they must not associate with immoral people. greedy swindlers, or idolaters. He quickly clarifies that when he says this he is not referring to those outside of the Church. Instead, he is referring to those who call themselves followers of Christ yet do these things. It is not our place to hold those outside of the Church accountable for their behavior, but we are to take a different tack with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Not only are we to judge those in the Church who sin, and call them to repentance (Paul speaks more on this in his second letter to the Corinthian Church) we are to take our legal disputes with fellow believers before the Church rather than to government authorities. It is better to be taken advantage of than to take our disputes with fellow believers before nonbelievers for judgment.

Daily Bible Study

August 13, 2015 Bible Study — It Is Wrong To Encourage Others To Do What They Believe Is Wrong

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 21:8-10

    The first of these proverbs represents a basic fact that many people do not understand. I have known people who were secretive about their behavior and went out of their way to leave people confused about what they had, and had not done. They could never understand why people were always suspicious of them when those people had never actually caught them doing wrong. They would get angry when they were accused without evidence for the wrong they had done, demanding to know why the person thought they had done the deed, and insisting that the only reason the person thought they were guilty was because of unjust prejudice (even though they were indeed guilty as charged). They did not realize that the very tactics they were using in an attempt to hide their guilt gave it away.

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Psalm 33:1-11

    This psalm reminds me of many great hymns and songs of praise, even though I cannot think of one I know based on it. Let us praise the Lord and make music with any and every instrument we can find to honor His name. His word holds true for all time. It does not change with the seasons, nor with the latest fad. People may insist that God did not really mean what He said when He called this or that wrong, but when the consequences of doing those things come home, they will realize that God did not forbid those actions because He was a killjoy. Rather He told us not to do certain things because He loves us and does not want to see us hurt.

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1 Corinthians 8

    The first point Paul makes here is that anyone who thinks they know all the answers does not know all that much. Knowledge makes us feel important, but love causes us to make OTHERS feel important. Therefore love is more valuable than knowledge. Let us seek to act out of love for our fellow believers rather than out of a desire to be right.
    Paul goes on to discuss the fact that we know that there are no gods besides God. Therefore idols are not actually gods, so anything dedicated to an idol is not really dedicated to anything. The result of this is that there is no harm in using an object (or eating food) which has been dedicated to an idol. However, some people are used to thinking of an idol as a god. For such people using an object (or eating food) which has been dedicated to an idol is an act of worship of something other than God. If by our actions we cause someone else to commit a sin, to worship an idol, we are more in the wrong than they.
    It is the responsibility of those with the stronger faith to look out for those of weaker faith. If you believe that it is not a sin to do something, and thus believe that you are more knowledgeable about Christian faith than those who believe that it is a sin, it is your obligation to make sure that none of your actions encourage them to do that which they believe to be a sin. If you encourage others to do something they believe to be wrong, you are sinning against those other believers and against Christ.

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Nehemiah 5:14-7:73

    Nehemiah gives us a good example about what is needed in a leader in troubled times. He did not use his position to enrich himself at the expense of the people. Instead he used his own wealth, the wealth which had allowed him to gain a position of leadership, to supply the needs which resulted from his position of leadership. This is not a criticism of those who need the support of those they lead (whether as political leaders or in some other leadership role) in order to fulfill their obligations as leader (Nehemiah lays out some of the obligations he had). This is a criticism of those who use their position of leadership to extract wealth for themselves from those whom they lead.