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 12-14

The Holy Spirit gives different spiritual gifts to different people.  The fact that someone does not have a particular gift does not indicate that they do not have the Holy Spirit.  There are three exceptions to this rule.  Everyone who has the Holy Spirit receives faith, hope, and love.  In fact, if we exercise our other spiritual gifts without love they are of no value whatsoever.  Paul even makes sure we know what it means to act in love:

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.

I generally try to rewrite in my own words the meaning of a passage, but this is such a perfect summary of love, and not just romantic love, but the love which God asks us to have for our neighbor.  

Before and after writing about the importance of love, Paul writes that we should desire the less flashy, less attention grabbing spiritual gifts more than their counterparts.  Speaking in tongues is a wonderful spiritual gift, but prophecy is more to be desired.  We should seek the ability to comfort those who are hurting more than the ability to shine in the spotlight.

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 9-11

Paul writes that when he preached to Jews, he lived as a Jew, but when he preached to Gentiles, he lived as a Gentile.  The first part is easy to understand.  When Paul preached to the Jews, he ate kosher and was careful to follow the other traditions which came from the law.    The part about living as a Gentile can be easily misinterpreted.  One could conclude that he took part in their debauchery and religious celebrations.  However, a little later in today’s passage he gives us a clearer picture of how he behaved.  As I noted, when Paul was preaching to Jews, he ate kosher.  However, when he was among the Gentiles he ate whatever was put in front of him.  But, if the person providing the food made a point that it had been sacrificed to idols, and thus made clear to Paul that by eating it he was taking part in a pagan worship practice, he declined to eat.  In the same manner, we should associate with non-believers on a non-judgemental basis.  If someone invites us to a party and we wish to attend, we are free to go and take part.  However, if they were to tell us that the party was so that people could discretely hook up sexually with someone other than their spouse, we should graciously decline. 

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.

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 1-4

Paul discusses division in the Church in Corinth.  Some people are claiming to follow Paul, while others claim to follow Apollos, some another Apostle, and some claim to be just following Christ.  Each group claims that their way of following the Gospel makes them superior to those who chose another path.  Certain non-denominational congregations claim this passage indicates that being non-denominational is the correct way, missing the point entirely (Paul mentions here those who make their claim as following only Christ).  Paul makes here the same point he made in the Book of Romans, none of us are superior to others; we all need God’s saving grace in the same degree.

Paul writes that God chose to use those the world thinks are foolish to shame the wise.  The Jews would not accept Jesus as the Messiah because of His death on the cross.  In that they saw Him as weak, not as the conqueror they imagined the Messiah would be.  The Greeks on the other hand thought the idea of resurrection from the dead was silly and foolish.  The Jews could not see how Jesus’ death demonstrated the power of God’s love.  The Greeks were convinced that resurrection from the dead was a fairy story for simpletons.  The elites were, and are, convinced that they are smarter and wiser than the common man.  Time and again throughout history God has used the simpletons of this world to show that those society deems wise to actually be fools.