Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Corinthians 5-8.

I thought about covering several things in today’s passage, but then I came to what Paul wrote about giving in order to aid the Lord’s people who are in need.  First, he commends the Macedonian churches for giving as much as they were able, sometimes even going beyond that level.  Not only did they give willingly, but they plead with Paul for the opportunity to give.  Paul then goes on to commend the church in Corinth for being the first not only to give, but the first with a desire to give.  He encourages them to continue giving according to their ability, and makes special note that God does not call us to give beyond our means.  So, while Paul praised the Macedonian churches for giving beyond their means, he discourages others from doing likewise.

Paul then warns the Corinthian Church that Titus is on his way to them on his mission of collecting for the relief of Believers in need (from elsewhere I believe this to be Believers in Jerusalem who were suffering economic hardship).  This warning is not as a threat, but rather so that they will not be embarrassed by being unprepared to give when Titus gets there.  However, I want to point out the more important point Paul makes here.  He tells them that Titus is accompanied by men who were appointed by the churches which had given to the cause.  The men accompanying Titus were chosen so that no one could claim that Paul or Titus misappropriated the funds.  Paul makes it clear that he encouraged this arrangement so as to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Corinthians 1-4.

There is a lot of valuable stuff in this passage, but I am going to focus on what Paul writes in chapter three verses four and five.

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

First I want to point out that Paul tells us that we should have confidence.  We should not be timid as followers of Christ, but we also should not be arrogant.  We should have confidence that we will be able to accomplish whatever task God has given us.  This confidence does not derive from our own abilities.  So, we should not necessarily believe that we have better skills to perform a task than others.  God does not call us to do something because we are better than someone else.  God calls us to a particular task so that others can be shown His power (or, perhaps to show us His power).  Paul goes on in chapter four to expand on this point.  He tells us that he refused to use deception or distortion to bring people to faith in Christ and calls on us to do likewise.  Many will refuse to see the light of the Gospel, but that is not our problem.  He writes that we should allow Christ’s light to shine through us, not attempting to gain glory for ourselves but to allow people to see and glorify God through what they see in us.  Our competence to do the tasks which God has set before us does not come from ourselves.  Rather, we can confidently believe that we will accomplish the tasks God has given us because His Spirit will work through us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 15-16.

Paul concludes his teachings in this letter by reminding the Corinthian Church, and us, what he taught as the Gospel.  Paul writes that the tenets of the Gospel of highest importance are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and then rose from the dead on the third day.  What Paul writes here runs directly counter to those who claim that they find value in Jesus’ teachings without believing in His resurrection.  Paul points out that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then those who passed on His teachings were liars because they all claimed that He did indeed rise from the dead and that they had seen Him.   Paul writes that if Christ was raised from the dead, then we who put our faith in Him will also be raised from the dead.  On the other hand, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ was not raised from the dead. Further, he tells us that if our only hope in following Christ’s teachings is for this lifetime then we, and anyone else who follows Christ, is to be pitied.

I use 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.

In today’s passage Paul writes about gifts of the Spirit.  He starts by telling us that no one speaking in the Spirit will curse or condemn Jesus, and no one will praise Jesus except by the Spirit.  Or to put that another way, only through the power of the Holy Spirit will anyone bring honor to Jesus and no one who brings disgrace to the name of Jesus has the Spirit working through them.  Paul writes that while there are different gifts, thee is only one Spirit.  He follows this up with something interesting.  He goes on to say that there are also different kinds of service and different kinds of working, both of which come from the same, singular Spirit.   Then he writes that each of us will receive a manifestation of the Spirit for the purpose of promoting the common good of the Body of Christ.  I draw two conclusions from what Paul writes here.  First, the Spirit will manifest in each and every follower of Christ in a way which will build up others in the Body of Christ.  Second, some of those manifestations will be in the performing of miracles and signs.  Others will have a manifestation of the Spirit which appears more mundane to those around them.

Paul writes that not everyone has the same gifts, not everyone has the same manifestation of the Spirit.  And that we should not think that we are better than others because we have a more glamorous gift of the Spirit, nor that we are inferior to others because we have a more mundane manifestation of the Spirit.   Paul applies the metaphor of the human body to the Church, the Body of Christ in order to make this point.  Paul writes that we should desire and seek the greater gifts (the way he writes this suggests that our desire for certain gifts may make it more likely that we get those gifts).  He then makes the point that the greatest gift of the Spirit is love for others.  Every thing else Paul writes about the gifts of the Spirit follow from what he writes about love.  If we utilize whatever gifts the Spirit gives us out of love for others, we will use them to build others up, not to gain honor and recognition for ourselves.

I use 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 continues to write about our freedom in Christ and our obligation to use our freedom in a responsible way.   He uses himself as an example by teaching that those who preach the Gospel have a right to receive financial support from those to whom they preach.  However, Paul chose not to exercise that right.  In fact, he chose not to exercise that right because, for him, his reward for preaching the Gospel was doing so free of charge (there is a fairly important but complex message in that which I am not going to go into today).  In fact, Paul tried, to the best of his ability, to put himself into the circumstances of those to whom he preached.  When Paul said that he became all things to all people, he does not mean that he pandered to them the way that some politicians do today (and probably always have).  I don’t believe that he means that he pretended to not be a Jew, or that he pretended to be a Corinthian when in Corinth.  Instead, I think it means that he made sure that he did not act in a way which would make those to whom he preached think that he thought he was better than they.

Which brings us to Paul writing about our freedom in Christ.  He started writing about this subject in yesterday’s passage, but has gone onto other subjects a few times.  He gets back on the subject by writing about the idea of taking part in the religious rituals dedicated to idols.  Paul points out that while the idols which idolaters worship are not real things, the people in these ceremonies and rituals are worshiping demons.  I believe Paul was addressing those who sought to take part in the idol worship which was a part of civic life in Corinth in an attempt to hide how being a Christian made them different from the people around them.  His discussion here serves as a counterpoint to his statement about being all things to all people.  Paul goes on to explain that while we have freedom in Christ to do anything, we should avoid those things which are not beneficial.  He makes clear that he does not mean that we should evaluate whether the things we do our beneficial for ourselves, although that should also play a role in our decisions about in what activities we will take part.  No,  we should decide based on what will be best for those around us.

I use 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.

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.