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”. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
February 8, 2021
So how are you doing 12 months into this COVID-19 era? If the media reports are anywhere close to the heart of the matter you’re not doing well. Infections and deaths increase every day, depression is up, divorce, thoughts of suicide, alcoholism climbing, disturbing increase of abused infants at emergency wards, sorrow on sorrow…we’re suffering […]
Read 1 Corinthians 11
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 11:29 “For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” The early Church used to meet for regular pot-luck dinners. They were called “agape” meals — “love-feasts”. Ideally they were supposed to include everyone and highlight no distinction between […]
Read 1 Corinthians 10
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Why do […]
Read 1 Corinthians 8 & 9
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:22 “… I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” In so many ways the apostle Paul was way ahead of his time. You might even call him a “renaissance man”. He was remarkably free, and admirably mature. And he had absolutely no […]