Author: Jim Cantelon

Read 2 Corinthians 5

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” I call it “The New Year’s syndrome”. Every new year, people make resolutions. “I’m going to eat less”, or “I’m going to watch less television”, or “This year I’m joining that fitness club”, or “This is the year I read through the Bible”. The message is, “I don’t like what I’ve been doing. I’m going to change.” But we...

February 22, 2021

Photo by Doğukan Şahin on Unsplash We’ve passed the one year mark in the Covid era. Vaccinations and variants are vying for victory. Who will win? Seems that both may prevail. The experts are predicting that Covid is here to stay but vaccination will see a plague becoming some sort of ever present flu. Who knows? One thing we know is that predictions are just that. Our sense of vulnerability has not only been heightened but burned into our social, familial, and spiritual lives. We suffer and remember how it used to be. But that “new normal” we lightly referred to a year ago has become...

Read 2 Corinthians 4

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:2 “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Paul continues to defend his ministry. He speaks of the integrity and vulnerability to which he has committed himself. There’s nothing secret, shameful, or deceptive about his ministry. He doesn’t distort the Word of God for personal profit or popularity. He tells it like it is; and what you see is what you get. What...

Read 2 Corinthians 3

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 3:6 “…who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” As I pointed out in the introduction to this letter, there is more than a little of self-justification on Paul’s part throughout. Perhaps the amount of time spent in this regard is directly proportionate to the vehemence of the reaction Paul received from his first letter to the Corinthians. They were exceedingly angry at his reference to their immorality, and it would appear that there were...

Read 2 Corinthians 2

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 2:17a “For we are not, as so many peddling the word of God…” A relative of mine, who is a television producer, called me recently from Washington D.C. He’d been watching 100 Huntley Street in Boston a few days earlier. “Your program is so unlike typical televangelism,” he said. “Sometimes I get the impression that televangelism is just another version of the home-marketing channel. They’re not presenting the gospel as much as selling themselves and hoping to entice the viewer to ‘buy’ into their ministry.” I...

Read 2 Corinthians 1

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (NIV) I think a lot of us suffer from “performance anxiety” when it comes to Christian faith. It is especially acute just after hearing a Sunday morning sermon. After listening to the typical sermon with its “should”, “moulds”, and implied “what’s-the-matter-with-you’s”, there is little wonder you have...

Read 1 Corinthians 16

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 16:18 “For they refreshed my spirit and yours; therefore acknowledge such men.” There is a difference between being driven and being committed. Commitment springs from conviction, whereas “drivenness” is the product of some sort of neurotic compulsion. One can never be driven and sleep well at night — because drivenness betrays an inner discontent. Commitment, on the other hand, can be fully embraced even while “peace that passes understand” floods the soul — your work is the outflowing of a deep well within. But even the...

Read 1 Corinthians 15

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:17 “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! What does your faith stand on? Personal experience? Anything else? The Gospel? What is the Gospel? For those of us who need a refresher course, let’s analyze the basic ingredients of the “Good News”. By the way, if you need a refresher, you’re not alone. The Corinthians church needed one, too. “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you received and on which you have taken your stand”...

Read 1 Corinthians 14

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Fruitfulness, however, is not an end in itself. There’s a greater end in view: God’s glory. Even the “common good” is subject to this greater end. The ultimate goal of spiritual giftedness and fruitfulness is to point men and women to God. Paul puts it this way: when a person, still in his sins, comes into contact with a vibrant, functioning church, “he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!'”...

February 10, 2021

Alms, Prayer, & Fasting 6:1-18 Our Father in Heaven v. 9 (Part 3) “Your name” is a subject all of itself. I’m tempted to write an essay here, but space won’t permit. Rather I’ll make a few summary observations. In the biblical view there is nothing more holy on this space/time spaceship we call earth than the name of the “Holy one of Israel”. His name evokes his presence. So much so that Orthodox Jews to this day will not pronounce it. One cannot pronounce YHWH and live. So, when reading the Torah aloud in synagogue, YHWH is pronounced ADONAI, which...

Read 1 Corinthians 13

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Fruitfulness, as distinct from giftedness, is what this chapter is about. Generally, we tend to take the “love chapter” out of context. It is important in Bible interpretation to remember context — and in this case, chapter 13 comes right in the middle of Paul’s attempt to dispel ignorance about the “gifts of the Spirit”. Here he is bluntly declaring the ineffectual nature of giftedness when it is independent of fruitfulness. Imagine...

Read 1 Corinthians 12

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:7 “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (NIV) Unity in diversity: that’s the story on the body of Christ. We’re all different, and we’re all one — or, at least, we’re supposed to be. Paul begins a three-chapter dissertation designed to dispel “ignorance” about spiritual gifts. They Corinthian church didn’t need to be motivated in this area — they were the most “charismatic” of all his congregations. But they were so keen on their individual gifting...