If you were to ask one hundred random people what freedom means, most of them will tell you something that looks like, sounds like, or maybe even feels like freedom, but really isn’t.
People regularly show a total incomprehension of freedom by their perpetual abuse of it.
They settle for all sorts settling for a myriad of experiences and states-of-being that are freedom-ish, but in and of themselves are not genuine freedom. They define freedom with things like:
Being able to do whatever you want.
Being able to be whoever you want.
Not being obligated to anyone else.
Being able believe whatever you want.
Wave the flag, catch the baseball and pass the apple pie. Call in Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood, the fireworks are about to start.
Contrary to popular opinion, freedom isn’t being unfettered from responsibility. It isn’t release from consequence or accountability. It isn’t entitlement, license, or absolution. It’s not unchecked, unregulated thoughts, attitudes, or actions.
Ask the alcoholic who needs an “eye opener” to get the day going, a lunch-time cocktail to make it to quitting time, and who can’t go home until he’s had a few drinks “to take the edge off” if he’s free.
Ask the porn addict who daily has to clear his internet history to hide his habit from his wife and children and is terrified of anyone using his computer, his tablet, or his phone if he’s free.
Ask the shopaholic whose paycheck is gone before she gets it because she’s paying 30% interest on credit cards that are maxed out if she’s free.
Ask the gossip who nobody trusts and nobody opens up to, because she takes friends’ vulnerability and uses it to her own advantage if she’s free.
Ask the guy who’s working 80-hour weeks to pay for a home, cars, toys, and vacations he can’t afford if he’s free.
Ask the over-eater who can’t drive by the drive-thru line without stopping for a snack and a Super Sized drink if she’s free.
Ask the person who lies so much he can’t speak the truth and is so self-deceived he actually believes the lies he’s saying if he’s free.
Ask the person who explodes with anger at every conflict, lives in bitterness and blames everyone else for every problem she has if she is free.
Ask the church that is so mired in debt that it can’t pursue God’s mission if it is free.
Ask the church that is so focused on being hip, cool, and relevant that it can’t ever speak on moral issues and has lost its voice for crucial messages if it is free.
sometimes, what looks like flavored pretzels or boho jewelry are actually chains that bind
What’s sad is that if you were actually to ask them if they are free…most of them will not only affirm they are free, but will pound their chests in pride about it.
Indeed, if there is anything that has mastered the ability to deceive the “duck test,” it’s the lambskin-wearing wolf of slavery draped in the faux fur-lined cloak of freedom.
No one ever experiences freedom until and unless he has been unshackled from that which holds them in bondage. Only then may he be free to chase this most noble pursuit. However if the now-free person chooses to instead pursue a different quarry, he unfortunately will capture only another oppressor, another enslaver.
To understand freedom, you must understand why you have been created. If you believe that you were created to enjoy the sensuous pleasures of life, that is what you will pursue. Subsequently, you will be enslaved by that those things that you think make you free, imprisoning you in sensuous torture. If you believe you were created to fulfill the consuming appetite of vanity, then you will be shackled poolside, wasting away your life gazing in Narcissisine puddles that appear much deeper than they actually be. As a humbled man once said, “I gave my heart to know knowledge and madness and folly. I now perceive that I was grasping at the wind.”
Freedom is described by but not defined by what you have been freed from; rather, freedom is defined by what you have been freed for. You have been created for the purpose of loving the one who loved you first. If (and when) If you pursue your loving Creator, only then can you be free. If you chase any other purpose in life, then no matter how free you may feel, you are really living under bondage.
Freedom is the ability to pursue without restraint who God created you to be.
Here’s the fun…and funky…part of being set free by loving your Creator. You experience and express this freedom by being…you gotta be kidding me…in bondage to Him. The only way to experience true freedom is by doing what the Creator has called you to do, exactly as He called you to do it, for as long as He called you to do it.
And nothing else.
Quite a simple paradox. Compounding the simplicity of it all is that you do not earn God’s love by what you do (for this is the mark of a slave). Instead, you are empowered, enabled, equipped to do God’s will because of His love (which, by nature, is a distinction of freedom’s empowerment). You do not “do” because of who you hope to be, you “do” because of who He promised that you already are. “Doing” is the expression of your freedom. By refusing to “do” as freedom’s manifestation, you demonstrate only an ongoing bondage of self-incarceration. (I had to re-read that a couple of times to make sure I understood it. And I wrote it. So read it as many times as necessary to get it, too.)
Do not fear the prospect of being a slave to God. After all, the yoke of the God is light. Much lighter, in fact, than the one from which you have previously been freed.
Your joy is complete only when you are free to accomplish that for which you are created. You are only free when you are worshipping God with every breath, every thought, every step, every deed of your life.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Philemon Overview – Philemon was a leader of the church in Colossae (spelled Colosse in Immerse). Philemon had a former slave named Onesimus who had run away, but was now returning as a deliveryman of Paul’s letters. Paul sent this letter as a guide/encouragement for their impending face-to-face meeting.
Paul also intends for this letter to be read by the church that is meeting in Philemon’s house.
Paul commends Philemon for his faith, for his love of God, and his generosity.
He asks a favor of Philemon (mentioning that he could demand it, because what he’s asking is the right thing to do). He asks Philemon to show kindness to Onesimus.
He reminds Philemon that Onesimus is no longer a slave to him, but that he is now a beloved brother.
understated point: we offer more to one anotheras kin in Christ than we do in any earthly relational dynamic.
Colossians overview – Colossae was a Roman province of Asia (modern day Turkey). Religious heterodoxy was prevalent and continually evolving. Paul emphasized the preeminence of Jesus and the consequential expressions of loving relationality.
Paul commends their faith, that a good report has become their reputation.
Paul desires for them to have a complete knowledge of God’s will that gives to them spiritual wisdom and understanding. Having this, they will be able to live honorable, spiritually productive lives that please the Lord.
Even more important to Paul is that while this maturing happens, the people of Colossae will grow relationally with God, getting to know him better.
This hope of Paul is effectual, too, evidenced in his expression that the Colossians will be strengthened with God’s power to give them the resources necessary to endure with patience all that will come before them in the context of the challenges that they will face as faithful followers of Jesus.
With this patience, Paul prays for them to be filled with joy that, regardless of circumstance or adversity, overflows because of their being rooted in Jesus who has reduced them. It is no small thing that Jesus purchased our freedom and forgives our sins.
Paul then extols who Jesus is (to this community who has been given erroneous teachings on him, because of their spiritually eclectic culture):
Jesus (alone, exclusively) is the visible image of the invisible God.
He is eternal.
He pre-existed before creation
He is sovereign over all creation
He is the creator (because he part of the triune God).
He created everything in the heavens and on the earth
He made everything that we can see and cannot see (macrocosmic to microcosmic, from physical to spiritual)
He made all kingdoms, rulers, and authorities (human, ideological and spiritual)
Everything he created, he created for his own purpose
He holds all of creation together – Not only did he create everything, but he sustains and maintains all things (including you)
Jesus is the head of the church
The church is his body
He is pre-eminent in all things
He is the full embodiment of God.
Through Jesus, God recoiled everything to himself.
Jesus brought peace to everything in heaven and earth by his spilt blood through crucifixion.
understated point: this includes you, who were once far away from God. You were his enemy, but now you have been reconciled to God through Jesus. Now you stand before Godwithout a single fault. So stand firm in this truth and don’t drift away from it.
Paul is compelled by God to communicate this life-changing message.
It has been kept secret for centuries, but has been revealed to God’s people.
This is the secret: Christ lives in you, which gives you the assurance of sharing in Christ’s glory!
This is why Paul so passionately preaches Jesus to everyone wherever he goes.
He wants to present every person to God, perfect in their relationship with Jesus.
To accomplish this, he depends wholly on Christ’s power working in him.
He wants the Colossians to be firmly established in the truth of who Jesus is and who they are in Jesus, and who the broader community of true faith is because of (and through) Jesus.
Paul exhorts the Colossians to continue in Jesus, just as they first trusted in him. He desires that they grow deep roots of faith.
He warns against their being misled by “empty philosophies” and “high-sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and the spiritual powers of the world, rather than from Christ.”
When people come to faith in Christ, he excises our spiritual nature, and we identify with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection.
Having been spiritually vivified by Jesus, you are no longer subject to the powers of earthly spiritual authorities.
Therefore, you don’t have to be shamed by anyone for your disagreement with their ceremonies, rituals, or commemorative dates. Nor should you let anyone condemn you for not participating in pious self-denials or unbiblical practices like the worship of angels.
These extra or non-biblical practices don’t help in your own spiritual development.
bad theology is trash
You, though, because you have raised to new life in Jesus, can affix your sights on Jesus.
Think about the things of heaven, not about the things of earth.
Put to death the sinful things lurking within you.
Instead, put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator Jesus and be more like him.
With this mindset, you can realize it doesn’t matter where you came from, or how you might be categorized by your current situation or circumstances.
understated point: Jesus Christ is all who matters and he lives in everyone who puts their faith in him.
Because God chose you to be part of the holy people that he loves, your life should be characterized by:
tenderhearted mercy
kindness
humility
gentleness
patience
forgiveness
love – above all, because love binds us together in perfect harmony.
peace – the peace that comes from Christ alone should rule in your heart.
gratitude – be thankful!
the message of Christ – in all its richness, let it fill your life.
teaching and counseling others with the wisdom that God alone gives.
praise
bottom line – whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father.
some contextual examples of how this plays out:
wives – these instructions are realized in the practice of relational submission with husbands.
husbands – these instructions are realized in the love and gentle treatment with wives.
Children – these instructions are realized in the determination to obey parents.
Dads – these instructions are realized in the encouraging, positive parenting of children (“do not aggravate” them)
Slaves – these instructions are realized in the determination to obey masters in all things, by being hard-working and consistent, with the mindset that they are ultimately working for the Lord and not a person.
Paul expresses the depth of the sincerity of his convictions in the truth of the Gospel, explaining his willingness to be accursed (separated from God) if it meant that his fellow Jews would be saved.
Paul’s selflessness overwhelms me every time I read this declaration
He explains that God’s love for Israel has been evident in many ways:
He chose them as his adopted children.
He revealed his glory to them.
He made covenants with them
He gave them his law
He gave them the privilege of worshipping him.
He gave them the opportunity to trust in his promises.
He gave them a spiritual heritage through the generations
He arrived incarnationally through this lineage, as Jesus.
Truly, Israel is God’s people.
BUT…not all of Abraham’s physical descendants are included in as God’s children.
The promise of God is issued to the descendants of Isaac because he was the child of promise.
Isaac and his wife Rebecca were the parents of twin sons (Jacob and Esau). God, for his own reasons and completely apart from anything either of these boys would ever do, chose Jacob for the continuance of his promise.
God is not unfair in this (this reinforces that God’s grace is based on who he is, not on who we are or what we do or do not do). He has mercy on who he will, and we cannot choose it nor work for it.
Likewise, God revealed to Pharaoh that he had chosen the ruler for the purpose of displaying God’s divine power in him, and for making himself known throughout the world through his dealings with the ruler.
The example of Pharaoh shows that God shows mercy to some, but to others he does not. A key to understanding this dynamic is the exposition of Romans 1, where God judges fallen people by giving them over to their fallenness. Here, hardening of the heart and mind are seen as aspects of that same type of judgement.
Paul predicts the argument against this truth (perhaps he’s heard it a time or two…hundred). So he rebuts it.
We (humans) are in no position to judge God, because he is the creator and we are the creation.
God has every right to judge man. Yet, he does show unmatched patience in dealing with us.
He demonstrates this patience by saving some of the Gentiles.
He has not abandoned Israel despite it rebelliousness and insistence on being justified by the law (which cannot justify, but only condemn).
Paul reiterates his fervent desire that the people of Israel be saved by trusting in Jesus as Messiah.
He understands their zeal, but clarifies that it is misplaced. Their trust should be in Jesus alone.
The message is plain: If you openly declare that Jesusis Lord and believe in your heart that Godraised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Belief makes a person right with God.
and by openly declaring that belief you are saved.
anyone who trusts in him will not be disgraced.
Jew and Gentile alike can trust in this promise.
everyone who calls on Jesus will be saved.
The message is here…believe!
Paul then reasons with his Roman audience…
He asks, “How can they call on Jesus unless they believe? And how can they believe if they’ve never heard about him? And how can they hear unless someone tells them? And how will someone tell them unless they are sent?”
This chain of rhetoric is addressed with the prophetic message, “how beautiful are the feet of the messengers who bring good news.”
He acknowledges, though, that not everyone receives the Gospel as good news, which he answers with Isaiah’s prophecy, and summarizes this:
understated point: faith comes by hearing the good news about Jesus.
Paul explains that the Jewish people have indeed heard this message because it has gone throughout the earth.
And that the people of Israel understood it and largely rejected it, so the message was extended to the Gentile people.
In no way did God reject his own people. He chose them from the beginning.
Still, many of them have rejected God. But not all (and more than might be assumed).
Consequently, those who have rejected God have had their hearts hardened.
Even so, in extending the Gospel invitation to the Gentiles, the opportunity to be saved still exists to the Jew.
Paul earnestly desires that his fellow Jews will trust in Jesus.
Paul compares the family of God to a tree.
He explains that the Jews are branches, but some of them have been broken off because of their unbelief.
Gentiles were branches from a different tree, but some of these branches were grafted on the root of God.
This imagery shows both the kindness and severity of God.
Paul offers understanding to this mystery of God (in saving Gentiles and in his dealing with the Jewish people).
This should result in humility, not in pride amongst the Gentiles.
There is a finite number of Gentiles who God has determined will respond to this invitation.
The Jewish people will largely turn to Jesus in the future.
This is the promise of God.
God knows and tells how this all will unfold.
Because of the reliability of these promises, Paul begs the Romans to give themselves over to God. Living in holiness is a type of “living sacrifice” that God finds acceptable, and is a way to worship him.
Don’t be like the world. Conformity = bad
Instead, be different. Transformation = good.
Change the way you think, and in so doing, you can know the good will of God.
Be humble. Be honest in your self-evaluation, using the faith God gives you.
See your part in the “body” of the church.
Use the spiritual gift that the Lord has given you for the service to the Body.
Love others.
Hate the wrong.
Love the good.
Take delight in honoring one another.
Don’t be lazy. Work hard.
Rejoice in the hope of the Lord.
Be patient.
Keep praying.
Help those in need.
Be hospitable.
Bless those who persecute you.
Be happy with the happy, and cry with the sad.
Live in harmony with others.
Hang out with normies, and be cool about it.
Don’t be a know-it-all,
Don’t repay evil with evil.
Live at peace with everybody.
Don’t take revenge (vengeance is only found at God’s pay grade and you aren’t there).
Don’t be conquered by evil.
Conquer evil by doing good.
It helps Frank…maybe it will help you, too.
Submit to governing authorities (not just the ones you like).
Government leaders are in their roles by God’s appointment.
Rebelling against them, then, is rebellion against God.
Similarly, pay your taxes.
Don’t accumulate debt.
Honor your obligation to love your neighbor. This fulfills the requirement of God’s law (in all its commandments)
Realize how close/near salvation is for you, and it grows ever nearer. So don’t participate in evil.
Accept others who are of weak faith, and don’t argue about non-essential things.
Don’t get side-tracked about ceremonies, dates, or food rules (all as examples)
You will stand before the Lord regarding your own convictions and actions, not for those of someone else.
Live in a way that doesn’t cause another person to stumble.
Prioritize living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Living this way serves Christ, pleases God, and wins the approval of others.
Live in harmony with others as much as it is possible
Accept others just as God in Christ accepted you.
Paul’s prayer: that God the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of his Holy Spirit.
Paul’s interest is in presenting the Romans as complete, recognizing that the Holy Spirit alone makes them holy.
He solicits their prayers for his efforts there and abroad.
He sends his regard for dear friends and beloved partners in his ministry.
He gives a final warning against divisive people, and to be obedient to the Lord.
Overview – Dated AD 56. Paul writes this letter to arrive before he does, to a mixed audience of Jewish and Gentile believers. First part (11 chapters) is comprehensive doctrinal teaching, including the salvific history of God through Israel being extended to all people. The second part of the letter (last 5 chapters) is the practical application of these theological riches.
Paul is writing this letter because God chose him to be an apostle to preach the good news that God has for the world. This good news is the person of Jesus – Jesus is God’s son, a fact that is proven by his resurrection from death by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
He is Jesus Christ our Lord – Jesus is the Christ (the Greek word for the Hebrew concept of Messiah, the God-anointed and -appointed Savior who would rescue people). As Christ, he is the Lord over all people (boss, king, sovereign, ruler…pick your synonym).
Through Christ, God had appointed people (including Paul) to spread this message of who Jesus is and what God is doing for people (in saving them), which will cause people to believe in Jesus, and bring glory to (a positive report) to his name.
The audience of this letter is all who live in Rome and have been called to be his own people (the Christians in the region).
Dear Romans…
Paul loves the Roman Christians, prays for them, longs to visit them. He wants to encourage them, and to be encouraged by them.
Paul felt a spiritual burden to all people, regardless of their spiritual heritage (or lack thereof)
This burden catalyzed an eagerness in him to share the Gospel of Jesus with all people.
He was completely unashamed of the Gospel because its existence and efficacy were the demonstration of the power of God – to save anyone who believes in Jesus.This salvation is accomplished exclusively and totally by faith – faith which brings life those who believe.
But this message is communicated in the context of the real world:
This world filled with people who experience God’s anger instead of God’s favor.These people receive his anger because they, by their wicked deeds, suppress God’s truth.God’s truth is both knowable and known because God has made the truth about himself known to all of his creation from the beginning of time, from the evidence of creation itself.
The totality of God’s creation demonstrates/evidences/manifests God’s invisible attributes; namely, his eternal power and divine nature. So nobody has an excuse for not believing in God (or functioning in life without faith in him)Despite knowing that God is real, these people determined not to worship him or even give thanks to him. Instead, they created their own false gods, created by their own imaginations. The result of this foolishness was that these very same people became confused and limited by their own wayward thinking. When they spoke about these false gods and errant beliefs, they thought themselves to be pretty awesome, but showed themselves to be utter fools.
St. Ron – The Patron Saint of Bloviation
Not only were they saying foolish things, they worshipped (showed reverence, devotion, and spiritual hope) the things that God created rather than God himself, which they made idols out of as a way to direct this worship.
God further judged this idolatrous worship, by giving them over to the desires that controlled them (See Ps. 81:12).
The consequence of this judgment against them was excessive indulgence in these activities with one another.
These actions demonstrated that they exchanged the truth of God for lies of their own creations.
In doing this, they demonstrated that they were worshipping created things rather than the creator.
Because, in their foolish thinking, they thought it foolish to worship God, he showed his judgment against them by giving them over to the license they created for themselves.
Lives of unbelievers became characterized by every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malice, and gossip.
They hate God, back stab one another, and are insolent, proud and boastful. They are rebellious and are creative only in finding new ways to do wrong. They are stubborn-minded, promise-breaking, heartless and unmerciful.
They do all this, knowing that doing it deserves punishment. Worse still, they encourage this behavior among others.
sin leading to judgment leading to sin leading to judgment…
Yet, Paul warns the audience not to break their arm patting themselves on the back, because…”you are just as bad and have no excuse!”
It isn’t enough just to say these things are bad and do the very same things yourself.
God is kindly revealing truth to lead you out of these sins that God has judged and will ultimately judge.
But refusal to stop doing evil is storing up impending judgment, on the day when God judges all deeds done by all people.
Good deeds will be rewarded by those who seek the good things that God offers (through Jesus).
But for those who live for themselves, they can expect God’s anger and wrath because they refused to obey the truth and lived wickedly.
God will give his judgment and justice fairly and impartially (both good and bad).
The people who had the law (the Jews) are accountable because they had the law.
The people who didn’t have the law (the Gentiles) are still accountable because their lives demonstrate that God’s law was “written on their hearts” because their consciences either affirmed them for doing right (by the law) or condemned them (by their offenses against the law).
Regardless, there is a day of judgment coming for all people, when God will openly judge the things that were assumed to be secret (or unknown)
Religious heritage offers no deliverance from this judgment.
Everyone is under the power of sin.
no one is righteous.
not one.
no one is wise.
no one (on their own) seeks God.
All have turned away
all are useless (on their own)
No one does good.
not a single one.
nope, not even one.
Consequently, people (without God) did horrible things and didn’t fear God in anyway whatsoever.
The purpose of the law isn’t to give an attainable standard that even one person could meet.
It was to show that nobody would have an excuse.The entire world is guilty before God.
Clear back in the time of Moses, God showed his plan to make people righteous apart from the law, through trusting in Jesus.
This way was available to all people, everywhere.This way is available exclusively through faith, apart from any work a person could do.
Only when we have faith do we fulfill the law.Abraham exemplifies this truth – his faith (not his deeds) was credited to him as righteousness.Wages are what people earn for their work. Wages are not a gift, they are earned. Righteousness is a gift, not something earned (wages).Abrahams’ circumcision was not a deed that earned his righteousness; rather it was an expression of the gift of righteousness that God had already given him before he could do anything to earn it.
His example offers inclusion to non-religious people who trust in Jesus, apart from religious rituals or ceremonies.His example offers inclusion to the religiously observant people, but only if their faith is like that of Abraham’s.God’s promise to Abraham (and his descendants) is based on faith, not on works.
understated points: these promises are reliable because they are given by the God raises the dead and creates things out of nothing. We believe in God and we trust his promises.Abraham trusted God, even when there was no hope. He and Sarah were too old to become parents, yet God kept his promise to them.
They kept trusting, even when it made no sense. And God blessed their obedience (their faith trust in his promise).That same faith is what’s necessary to believe in Jesus, who died to forgive our sins and who was resurrected and will return again.
The same faith that makes a person righteous is the faith that brings a person into peace with God.
Having confidence that a person is at peace with God makes it possible to live amidst daily adversity and to look forward to the future fulfillment of God’s promises.
Facing adversity offers opportunities to develop endurance.Endurance matures strength of character.Strength of character instills confidence in the expectant hope for the future.This hope will not be disappointed.The presence of the Holy Spirit is evidence of God’s love for us.We are utterly helpless without Jesus because of our sins.Jesus met us in our pit of helplessness and saved us.
This is remarkable because most people won’t die for someone else, even for a really good person.Rarely, someone might be willing to sacrifice their own life for someone who is extraordinarily good.
understated point: God’s love is shown in this most profound way: when you were at your worst (as a sinner), Jesus did the most by dying on the cross for your sins.
Christ’s sacrifice made us right with God.
This saves us from condemnation.
This restores relationship with God.
Through Jesus, we are friends of God.
total coincidence that a Stallone movie is on while I’m writing this.
The sin problem, unpacked and addressed:
Sin entered the world through the sin of the first person, Adam.
That sin brought death, so death spread to everyone; so, everyone sinned.
Sin was in the world even before the law was given.
So even though the sin was not imputed on people because the law hadn’t been given, the evidence that sin was in the world was demonstrated in the fact that all people died (the consequence of sin).
So the sin wasn’t merely the violation of Mosaic law, it was the rebellion against God that spread from Adam to all people.
Adam, though, serves as a symbol of sorts who points to Jesus.
Just as how sin spread from him singularly to all people is symbolic how salvation spreads to all who believe from the singular source of Jesus.
Adam’s sin brought death to many (because all earn it through our own sins)
Jesus’ gift is far greater because it is God’s grace extended, giving forgiveness to all who receive him.
Adam’s sin led to condemnation.
Jesus’ gift leads to righteousness.
The law’s role in this is to show humanity its sin problem.
As sin becomes more prevalent, God’s grace is more glorious.
God’s grace doesn’t give license to keep sinning, or to sin more abundantly.
Instead, Christians who identify with Jesus is baptism must remember that they identify with him in his death. Baptism is a picture of being buried with Christ, and it is a picture of being resurrected with Christ, too.
Because of this, we are no longer slaves to sin.
Dying with Christ set us free from the power of sin.
We are now alive in Christ.
lil Jon gets it.
If you’re alive in Christ, don’t be a slave to sin.
Don’t give in to sinful desires.
Instead, give yourself fully to God – mind, body and soul.
understated point: live under the freedom of God’s grace.
(The next extended passage reiterates and restates this in the context of slavery and freedom…I’m jumping ahead)
The law is good because it reveals sin. The good law “inflames” the sinful nature of man, and makes known the sinful, fallenness afflicting every person.
Sin uses what is good (the Law) to bring about death. It uses God’s own commands for evil.
Paul understands that the problem isn’t with the law because the law is good.
Rather, the problem is with Paul (or, more accurately, with each and every one of us).
On our own, we are slaves to sin.
We don’t really understand ourselves.
We want to do the right thing, but we don’t.
We don’t want to do the wrong thing, but we do.
Conviction over these dilemmas demonstrates that the law exists and that it is intrinsically good.
This contradictory behavior is the sin present in us, doing these wrong deeds.
Paul says it succinctly: I know that nothing good lives within me; that is, in my sinful nature.
Loving God’s law isn’t enough.
The power of sin enslaves all and overcomes even the best intentions.
Paul’s great lament: who will free me from this body of death?
Explains the human condition, Yoda does.
Thankfully, Paul’s message doesn’t end with this lament.
“Thank God!” Paul proclaims, “the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The body is a slave to sin, but the mind (redeemed in Jesus) is a slave to Christ.
There is no condemnation for anyone who belongs to Jesus.
By belonging to Jesus, the life giving power of the Holy Spirit frees the person from the death-bringing enslavement to sin.
God did what the law couldn’t do – bring life to the person sentenced to death by sin.
Jesus’ death on the cross fully satisfied God’s wrath against sin.
So now we no longer follow the sinful nature, but the life giving Spirit of God.
Live then, according to the Spirit.
Being dominated by the flesh brings death,
Submitting to the Spirit brings life.
You are no longer any obligation to your sin nature.
Through the power of the Spirit of God, you have freedom from and victory over the lure of sin.
understated points: through the power of the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the flesh. Those who are led by theSpirit of God are God’s children.
God adopted his children.
As his children, we are also his heirs.
iAs his heirs, we will share in his glory.
Until then, we will also share in his suffering.
the present suffering pales in comparison to the awaiting glory.
This current time is marked by a weakness that struggles in the tension of the present suffering expectantly awaiting the future glory.
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit helps us in our present weakness.
For example He helps us in our prayer communication with the Father.
He tells us what to pray, using words we can’t really hear or even discern.
IN fact, the Holy Spirit prays for us,
The Father knows exactly what the Spirit is praying for us, because the Spirit always prays in perfect harmony with the Father’s will for us.
We can be encouraged in this because God works all things together for His good in the lives of his children, who are the people that he has called according to his purposes.
And God knew all his people (his children) in advance, and chose them to be made into the likeness of his Son,
Having chosen them, he called them to follow Jesus.
Having called them, he gave them righteousness.
Having given them righteousness, he gave them glory.
understated point: These actions of God are completed acts. God’s children experience them in the course of life, and will experience receiving God’s glory in the judgment.
If all this is true (and it is), what can be said?
Since God is for us, it doesn’t matter if anyone tries to oppose us.
God didn’t spare his Son from the evil of this world, so we can’t realistically expect to be spared, either.
It doesn’t matter, though, because we have God’s righteousness. And nobody in the world can condemn us because we already have received GOd’s approval.
Jesus actively advocates for us before God, overcoming any attempts to condemn us before God.
nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.
Neither death nor life
angels nor demons
today’s fears nor tomorrow’s worries,
not the powers of hell
no spiritual or earthly powers,
nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.
This summer, one of our community groups is being led through the first 15 chapters of Genesis by our groups pastors. They both happened to be on vacation this week, so I stepped in and taught Genesis 8. Here are my notes:
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. (8:1a)
Remembered – This word can be a little distracting to us, but we must remember that the narrative exists for our benefit and for God’s glory. So this word that we translate as ”remembered,” is better understood as “turned his attention to.” Even this, though fails to fully capture the magnitude of what’s taking place, in that God isn’t multitasking in the way that you and I would multitask.
God is omnitasking…as he always does…giving his full attention to all matters at all times, simultaneously.
So when we see this “remembered,” and that he turned his attention to Noah etc., it’s not that he turned his attention away from something else. For us, as observers, we see God giving his attention to Noah.
This is why the “but” is a big deal…it serves as a counterpoint to what came before….so what came before? The flooding of the waters and the prevailing of the waters for 150 days (the 40 days of rain occurred within the 150. See 7:12 & 8:4)
And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. (8:1b)
Remembered – the remembrance of God is important for this detail, too, for a couple reasons. First, it seen in this word “and,” which connects that which follows to that which precedes it. This very act of wind blowing over the earth is not “just nature,” or coincidence. It is the deliberate, intentional act tied to the “giving full attention to.” This show that God is putting actions to the promises. In this regard, it evokes that understanding of Yahweh, the God of covenant relationship.
God, here, though is the Hebrew Elohim, and he is the same God of Genesis 1.
The Hebrew word for wind is ruah, which is the same word from Genesis 1 used for Spirit, where God’s Spirit hovered over the waters. Remember that the promise was to start anew with these people aboard this ark, and just as His Spirit had been present and active in the creation of the earth, He was actively at work delivering Noah and the surviving creation from these dangerous waters. This is the same wind that Moses would later witness driving away the plague of locusts in Exodus 10, and that would part the waters of the Red Sea delivinghis people onto dry ground in Exodus 15, and the same wind that would bring in quail in Numbers 11.
God regularly makes use of nature (see Joshua 10; Psa. 104:3-4)
The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained,3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. (8:2-3a)
This passage reverses the action of 7:11-12
all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. (Ge 7:11–12)
At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. (8:3b-5)
Exactly 150 days, 5 months to the day. It’s interesting that this very specific date has been included as a detail.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Exactly 150 days, 5 months to the day. It’s interesting that this very specific date has been included as a detail. (Romans 15:4)
Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. (Ex. 13:4)
In the month of Nisan (Neh. 2:1)
This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. (Ex. 12:2)
When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruitsof your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it (Lev. 23:11)
Passover occurs on 14thof Nisan…Jesus was offered as our Passover lamb on the 14thof Nisan. Three days later, the morning after Sabbath after Passover is the Feast of First Fruits.
3 days after the Passover sacrifice, Jesus “waved” to the people… He truly is the first fruit of the Lord, the offering that makes us all accepted.14+3 = 17…This 7thmonth would eventually become the first month, and this day of the Ark landing aground offering mankind and all of creation a new beginning on the same day in advance that Jesus would do in full through his resurrection.
Note that this says in the mountains of Ararat, not Mount Ararat. The location of the ark has been a provocative matter of speculation for a long time, and continues to be now.
the Mountains of Ararat
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. (Genesis 11:1-2)
Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (Genesis 6:14b)
This would indicate that the descendants came from a region of Iran, not Turkey (the North).
What’s interesting is that the wood of the ark is covered inside and out with pitch (tar). There’s the functional aspect that it would be waterproof…and that it would be functional on the inside. The byproduct of it is that it is amazingly well preserved. It could be that someday, the testimony of the Ark still has more to say.
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. (Genesis 11:1-2)
This would indicate that the descendants came from a region of Iran, not Turkey (the North).
Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (Genesis 6:14b)
What’s interesting is that the wood of the ark is covered inside and out with pitch (tar). There’s the functional aspect that it would be waterproof…and that it would be functional on the inside. The byproduct of it is that it is amazingly well preserved. It could be that someday, the testimony of the Ark still has more to say.
While it took 40 days for the rains to fall, it took 5 long months for the waters to recede to the point where the new beginning could commence.
Isn’t this an apt picture of our calamities, too? How often do our calamities go away as swiftly as they come?
While we wait for it to “come to pass” where we can go forth again, don’t we feel like Noah and his captive family?
At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. (Gen. 8:6-7)
40 more days passed, and the waters continued to retreat.
He sent out this raven….there’s a couple interesting thoughts here, perhaps inspired.
First, the raven is an unclean bird. It is an eater of dead things. So it is reasoned that it could fly about and eat from the carcasses floating on the water surfaces.
Its ”flying to and fro” is indicative that the raven could likely fly longer than could a dove, and because it was good for neither food nor sacrifice, it was expendable. This language indicates being sent out repeatedly, not that it just flew and flew and flew until it found a place to land.
Also interesting, the raven is associated with the predicted desolation of Edom in Isaiah 34:11. Some scholars reason that the raven, therefore, is a picture of the impurities of the past being removed, and that creation indeed has a fresh new start.
Or, it’s just a raven.
a raven with a filthy habit
Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove,and she did not return to him anymore. (Genesis 8:8-12)
This dove serves as his eyes.
The dove, though, is both a bird associated with sacrifice and food. It is appropriate both as a burnt offering and as a sin offering. The dove is also a symbol presented in the Lament imagery, but also beauty and innocence. Where the raven was a picture of what was left behind in judgment, the dove is a picture of what is ahead in new beginnings., A dove would be included in the burnt offering (at the end of the chapter).
When at first the dove could find no place…the Hebrew word for place is monoah, derived from the Hebrew word for rest which is…Noah. (He will find rest). When the dove couldn’t find rest….Noah retrieved the dove himself….giving it rest. The dove, a picture of purity, is welcome.
After 7 days, he releases the dove again, and it returns with the first sign of life outside the ark. This is an indication that the earth had completed its season of destruction, and was creating anew. The olive leaf would have been significant to the early readers of this, for their awareness of the importance of the olive, the oil of which is used to fuel the menorah in the tabernacle, and anointed the tabernacle and furnishings. It was a plant with good, blessed connotations. Don’t miss, too, that both the oil and the dove are symbolic of the Spirit of God (the anointing of Jesus – Luke 4:18; Matt 3:16)
Finally, another week later, the dove is sent out a 3rdtime and doesn’t return, a proclamation of freedom to the ark’s inhabitants.
In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. (Gen. 8:13-14)
It has been almost a full year (see Genesis 7:11) 314 days. Noah had known about land, but he still couldn’t see it for himself. Yet, here, now, he sees it for himself.
Yet, it wasn’t until 370 (or 371 depending on your counting) that the ground was dry enough for the next events.
Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. (Gen. 8:15-19)
This divine message from God parallels the command to enter the ark (7:1).
We don’t have any indication that God spoke to Noah during the entire time he was in the ark.
Yet, we have Hebrews 11 telling us everything he did, he did by faith, and so we have no reason to suspect that he was somehow without faith while he waited on the Lord.
That is instructive to us in our waiting…
What do you do while you wait? Meet with God (James 1)
Eventually, according to God’s timing, God speaks.
The language of 18-19 also parallels the entrance, but it is indeed pointing forward to the blessing of repopulation.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Gen. 8:20-22)
We have information here of Noah building the altar and sacrificing clean animals of every kind…before the law was given. This indicates a superintentionof God to illuminate Noah on these matters.
Worship had existed clear back to Cain and Abel, but here we see an altar built for this purpose. And the worship was directed to the Lord.
God responded positively to this act of worship.
Compare 8:21 with 6:5 – The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that everyintentionof the thoughts of his heart was onlyevil continually.
We continue to have a sin problem – it has ruled us since Adam.
Yet, God makes 2 vows – not to despise man (though we haven’t changed, cannot change)…and he will not destroy us.
Instead, God promises regular predictable weather and seasons and provision.
parallels in the creation account and the re-creation account. This graphic was a nightmare to produce.
Overview: This letter is pointed, addressing a specific attack on the doctrine of grace.
Paul identifies himself as the author, noting that he is apostle appointed by Jesus himself (and by God, who raised Jesus from the dead).
He dives right in, not devoting much content to pleasantries (apart from a brief, gracious greeting), exclaiming his alarm that the Galatians are departing so swiftly from the truth that he had brought them.
He tells them that the message that they are now following is not good news at all, and an entirely different Gospel that what he had shared with them.
He proclaims that God’s curse is on anyone who would preach an alternative Gospel than the one shared by authentic Christians (this alternative Gospel being anything that deviates from authentic Christianity).
Paul acknowledges that this bold statement steps on some toes, but he only seeks to please God.
Larry David gets it.
Paul explains that his message is not of human origin, but comes directly from Jesus.
This is the same Jesus he zealously persecuted earlier in life, when he hunted down Christians and had them imprisoned and put to death.
Yet, he declares that before he had been born God had chosen him and called him by grace for this work that he was now doing.
He recounted his history of conversion, giving them a historical timeline of his walk of faith and highlighting the pervasiveness of grace he has experienced that has made his ministry possible.
He mentions an experience where he had experienced conflict that was similar to what he was addressing now with the Galatians. When it had happened earlier, he sought (and received) agreement from the Jerusalem Apostles because he wanted to be certain that he himself wasn’t the one teaching aberrant doctrine. The Apostles agreed with him, and they were unified that they wanted to preserve the true Gospel and protect it from heretical teachings that attempted to add additional requirements to the grace of God.
The Apostles added nothing to Paul’s teaching and recognized that he had been set apart to take the Gospel to the Gentile world, just as Peter had been appointed to the Jewish world — both of whom were serving the same Lord with the same message.
Yet, despite this initial agreement (or perhaps more accurately, because of it), Paul later opposed Peter to his face when he witnessed Peter behaving hypocritically when he initially would eat with Gentiles but later would not when he was in the presence of other Jews. This hypocrisy was soon mimicked by other Christians, including Barnabas.
Paul made the point to Peter that to return to these old ways and to abandon grace was to rebuild that which has been torn down.
He explained that because of grace he had stopped living for the law that could only condemn, which freed him to begin living for God.
understated point: to live in Christ means to identify that the old (pre-belief) life has been crucified (put to death) with Jesus when he died on the cross. Thenew life is realized (experienced) because of and in the power of the resurrected Jesus.
Focusing on the main point of his letter, he takes them back to the origins of their new faith in Jesus, explaining that it came as a result of the Holy Spirit, and not in following the laws of Moses. Therefore, it was illogical and unreasonable to go back to the law to try to add to the grace God has shown them.
He then educates them on Abraham, the familiar father of their religion. Paul illuminates that God’s favor shown to Abraham was grace, and his belief in God’s promises was credited to Abraham as righteousness, apart from obedience to the law (which had not yet been given).
understated point: it is by faith (alone) that a righteous person has life.
The promises God gave to Abraham were not undone, cancelled, or surpassed by the law God gave to Moses 430 years later.
The law was given, therefore, to show people their sin. As such, the law cannot give life, it can only bring death.
The law exists to show the holiness of God and the depravity of man – the vast chasm between them.
In this, the law serves as a guardian to people that speaks to the human conscience, until Jesus was revealed as the way from death to life, available to all people everywhere,
To further illustrate this truth, he compares people’s relationship to the law as children who are heirs to a wealth who are under a guardian until they are old enough to claim what is theirs. The law is that guardian that controls and directs people. Jesus, though, came and lived to pay the price to free all people who are subject to the law’s enslavement/guardianship.
Now, because of Jesus, you are no longer a slave of the law, but you are an adopted child of God.
Paul appeals to the Galatians to live in their freedom, rather than choosing to return to their enslavement to the law.
He tells them that the false teachers who were advocating this old way were people with bad intentions.
To further illustrate the argument of living under grace, Paul returns to Abraham, but this time illustrates the point by showing them how Isaac was a child of God’s promise, but Ishmael was a child of human effort.
God’s promise was long in development, but Abraham always believed God, and increasingly expected it to happen.
More specifically, Hagar (the handmaiden) represents Mount Sinai where the law (that brings death) was given, and Sarah (Abraham’s wife) represents Jerusalem, the free city.
The Galatians were like now like Isaac, free children of promise, who were now being persecuted by children of Mt. Sinai (a picture of Ishmael’s persecution of Isaac).
Just as Hagar and Ishmael were expelled, Paul exhorted the Galatians to expel the heretics now.
understated point: determine to stay free! Refuse to be enslaved to the law again.
if you choose to be enslaved by even one law (in the case of the Galatians, it was a post-belief requirement to be circumcised), then you are submitting yourself to the requirement of keeping all the law.
don’tmiss this: what matters (what is important) is faith expressing itself in love.
Paul reminded the Galatians that they had started well in their belief, but this new teaching was a sin that was poisoning their faith.
He told them that their freedom in Christ was the new paradigm that gave them life.
He warned them not to misuse their freedom to fulfill selfish (sexual) desires.
Rather, he told them to love and serve one another.
He explained that their ability to accomplish this was found in letting the Holy Spirit guide their lives.
The human nature continually wars against the Holy Spirit.
But because you, Christian, are controlled by/ are free in the Holy Spirit, you are not enslaved to the cravings of your fallen human nature.
Human nature-controlled behaviors are predictable, and consistently destructive and divisive. People whose lives are characterized by these behaviors will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Similarly, Spirit-controlled behaviors are predictable and consistently constructive, unifying, and God-glorifying. These behaviors are known as the “Fruit of the Spirit” because these are the expressions or manifestations of God’s Spirit inner-workings in a believer’s life.
There is no law against these expressions of the faith life.
Paul exclaims, because we live in the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit!
Paul also encourages the Galatians to help restore fellow believers who stumble in their grace walk (or sin in any general manner).
He warns them to be gentle and humble in this gracious work of restoration, and to not fall into the same sins that ensnared those they are restoring.
understated point: share one another’s burdens, and in so doing you fulfill the law of Christ (the singular law to love others sacrificially)
He also admonishes them not to think they’re too important to help others. Because they aren’t.
one gentle serving of humble pie, coming up
Interestingly, in the shadow of the command to help cary one another’s burden, Paul admonishes them to work hard to live a life free of comparison, because we are each responsible for our own conduct.
He offers some final directions:
Don’t think that God can be mocked, you’ll harvest whatever you plant.
If you live for the flesh, you’ll harvest the fruit of human nature.
If you life for the Spirit, you’ll harvest the fruit of the Spirit.
understated point Never grow weary doing good!
What counts is whether or not we’ve been transformed into a new creation.
Overview: We see from the Immerse overview, that the Corinthians had at least 2 other letters from Paul (which are not included in Canon), and that there are no copies of.
Paul addresses the letter to the people in Corinth, and to all believers in the region of Greece.
He begins by positioning God as the great bringer of comfort to his people. And this comfort enables believers to comfort others out of this divine source of comfort.
This encouragement is directly applied to the context of suffering. The reality of sharing in suffering offers the promise of being able to share in the comfort that God freely offers.
Paul addresses the adversity that he has faced, and that the ministry offered by him and his colleagues exists by God’s grace alone. and not of their own effort or ingenuity.
He acknowledges his travel plans had changed. He explains that the plan was deliberate and shouldn’t be interpreted that Paul (nor his God) are unreliable.
He affirms that Jesus is indeed reliable, and that Christians (being under God or representing God), are likewise reliable. He also points out that the Holy Spirit’s presence in the life of believers is a further evidence of the reliability of God. He then explains he didn’t return to them earlier because if he had, he would have had to arrive with a stern rebuke of them for their ungodly behavior.He calls out the unnamed man who had been sowing discord amongst them, and instructed the people that it was time to forgive the man. #gracebomb
Paul explained his ministry as an offering that pleases the Lord.
The Corinthians, among the beneficiaries of this ministry, were themselves an encouragement to Paul and his colleagues, that their lives were a testimony written on their hearts, written by the Holy Spirit, and in view to the entire world.Paul makes a big deal out of the Holy Spirit, the facilitator of this new covenant, or the new way for man to relate with God.
Explaining that the old way (the Law) brought condemnation, but this new way makes it possible to “be right” with God.
This new way was the source of confidence for this missionary team who delivered it.
This empowered them to boldly bring this new way wherever the old way was still being taught or promoted.
Not only does the new way lift the veil of understanding to those who received it, but it (and really, him, the Holy Spirit) transforms its (his) people to more readily reflect (glorify) Jesus.
perhaps the worst gif to illustrate an otherwise great truth
Because Paul and all Christians enjoy living in this new way, there is no need to resort to old tactics of religious control, chicanery, or manipulation.
They preach the Gospel openly and plainly.
Only those who fail to receive it are being blinded or bound by Satan
Christians preach Jesus, never misdirecting people back to themselves.
Consequently, Paul explains, Christians are persecuted, and otherwise oppressed, but not overcome by the world and dark spiritual forces.
This suffering becomes a witness to the world of the truth of Jesus.
This witness is power-filled to compel them to continue to share him with others.
This perseverance brought more suffering, which brought more glory to Jesus.
To persevere, the Christian looks not at circumstance nor trial, but with an eye toward eternity and the future hope.
The future hope is in a bodily resurrection and eternal experience in the presence of God himself.
The current presence of God’s Holy Spirit is evidence of the reliability of that promise.
This perspective offers some provocative paradigms:
That as long as we are alive in these bodies, we are not yet at home with the Lord.
Life is lived by believing, rather than by seeing (so, rather than “seeing is believing,” life be “believing is seeing.”)
So, whether living in these bodies, or eternally in his presence, the goal is to please God, knowing that we all will one day have to give an account for all things said and done in life.
Part of this effort was seen in their determination to persuade as many people to believe as they could.
They were were controlled by the love of Christ.
They saw themselves as wholly purchased by the sacrifice of Christ…that because he died for all, they died completely for his will and work.
This new perspective transforms how they look at other people, too.
When a person becomes a Christian, they are a new creation
the old life has passed away, and a new life has begun.
This new life is truly a gift from God.
So God has assigned this task of reconciling other people to Jesus, giving the world the message of reconciliation in the person of Jesus.
Paul: “We are Christ’s ambassadors.” God makes his appeal to the world through us (all Christians, not just Paul and his team).
As such, we plead with people to accept the gift of Jesus, and not ignore it (him).
Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time of salvation.
Christians model authenticity and integrity, faithfully preaching God’s message of Jesus.
God’s power worked mightily in them.
Despite opposition and persecution, they are honest.
They are ignored, or when not ignored, beaten. They remain joyful despite adversity. They continued serving, even though in poverty. They were spiritually rich and, despite having nothing, lacked for nothing.
They love the Corinthians and appeal for that love to be reciprocated.
Talking to you, Corinth
Paul exhorted the Christians there not to “team up” with nonbelievers. This is commonly understood best in the context of marriage (but isn’t exclusive to this context)
Paul explains that he wrote his ‘harsh letter’ (of which no known copy exists), to bring the Corinthians to a place of godly repentance (which it appears it did, which pleased Paul because it allowed for them to reconcile and advance their relationship positively and productively).
Paul then moved on to discuss giving, using the Macedonians as a foil (of sorts) for explaining the principles he was conveying.
generosity is a prevailing value.freely give, rather than giving out of coercion or compulsion.excel in giving.finish what was started. Have good follow-through.Consistency and eagerness are hallmark traits in proper giving.give out of what youhave, not out of what you don’t have.give toward an aim of equality, not of self-inflicted poverty that enriches the recipients.Model generosity so reciprocity can be facilitated.
Paul and his friends worked hard to protect against attacks on their integrity.They traveled together and instilled accountability.
Generosity in giving generally precedes generosity in “harvest.”
understated points: God loves a cheerful giver.God will meet all your needs. Miserly giving reflects self-sufficiency and weak faith.Generous giving enables you to share in the blessing of others.Generosity glorifies God to unbelievers.
Paul addresses spiritual warfare, explaining that warfare for Christians is different than warfare (or conflict) for the unbeliever.
We don’t fight with the conventional tactics of the carnal mind and worldly thinker.
He “connects the dots” that this aplomb in spiritual tactics evidences the Christian’s authority that exists to build up believers, not tear them down.
Paul acknowledges that his letters are harsh, but that he is often much more gentle in person, because of his gentle heart toward people (and wanting to build them up).
He reaffirms his credibility with the Corinthians and his consistency amongst them.
He expresses concern that the Corinthians will be led astray and be deceived.
He explains his concern is rooted that even Satan presents himself as an angel of light, so that it shouldn’t be missed that many other people with evil intents will present themselves as ‘do-gooders.’
Paul explains his credentials as one who experienced unmatched suffering for the Gospel.
In addition to all the ways in which he suffered, he faithfully cared for the people he was appointed to shepherd.
He experienced unparalleled spiritual visions (which he did not detail here)
Yet, his bragging is all in the primacy of Jesus.
In fact, he is led to only boast of his own weaknesses, how God demonstrated the sufficiency of his grace in the context of his suffering from a persistent source of adversity (which has been much discussed, but remains only speculated upon).
understated points: God’s grace is all I need. when I am weak, then I am strong.
He tells them he will return to them, but doesn’t want to have to depend on them.
He worries that they won’t listen to him, and that they will persist in their sin, be unrepentant, and continue to indulge in sexual sin and immorality.
He exhorts them to examine their faith to determine if it is indeed genuine.
He tells them he cannot compromise truth, and he prays they will mature in their faith.
He exhorts them to be joyful, to mature, to encourage one another, to love one another, living in harmony and peace.
Paul addresses the congregation on the topic of marriage, because they were apparently confused about whether or not it was sinful to be married. H assured them it was not sinful for virgins to marry.
He was clear that he was not commanding them one way or another (since he had not received a clear command from the Lord to do so), so he was only offering advice that they could follow or decline.
He acknowledged that married couples would face challenge. Scholars don’t have agreement on what this means…could be normal timeless challenges facing all couples, could be Corinth-specific challenges, or it the challenges could be related to the expectation of Christ’s impending return.
Because of these problems, he wasn’t recommending marriage, but he wasn’t forbidding it.
His priority for Christians is that they will prioritize serving the Lord. If marriage is a distraction to this priority, singleness is preferred. However, if singleness is a distraction to the priority of Jesus, marriage is preferable.
Those who are married should not divorce (using this priority as the rationale to do so).
Next, he addresses the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols.
the first points made on the subject are bigger than the subject itself:
While knowledge is important, it is love that strengthens the church.
anyone who claims to know everything, actually knows very little.
the person who loves God is someone who God recognizes.
the teachings on eating idol-sacrificed food, then, are to be understood within this love/knowledge paradigm.
idols are not really gods.
There is only one God.
But…not all believers (?) know this. Some translations say “all people,” while others make the reference to believers or Christians. Regardless the obligation to the mature of knowledgeable Christian who knows that idols are not gods, is not governed by knowledge but by love.
A believer doesn’t lose anything (of spiritual value) by eating this food, but nor do they gain anything by abstaining from it as a matter of conscience or principle.
The new guiding principle isn’t a believer’s liberty (though it certainly exists). the guiding principle for a believerselfless consideration for others.
The believer must be determined to not cause any person with a more delicate conscience to stumble.
Applying this principle to this context means abstaining from meat (even though a believer is free to eat this type of meat), if doing so means causing a person who thinks its wrong to do this (and, in so doing, sinning).
Paul comments about his own God-given authority, mentioning how his own self-supported ministry should not be understood as the prescription for a church’s relationship with their spiritual leaders.
He told the church it was right to support the spiritual leaders.
His own determination to serve independently was accomplished in response the Lord’s compulsion upon him to do it this way.
In this regard, Paul saw himself as a servant to all people. And he was governed by the principle of selfless consideration for others.
To people who were under the Law (Jewish people), he conducted himself as someone who was still under the law.
To people who were not under the Law (Gentile people), he conducted himself as someone who was no longer under the law.
This others-centeredness made it possible for him to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel.
He compared this discipline to two athletic endeavors:
training to win a running race.
training as a boxer.
He was in it to win it (“It” being “seeing people trust Jesus.”)
When Rocky Is Paul, and the side of beef is others’ unbelief
To make his next points, Paul reminds the Corinthian Jewish believers of their ancestors who were united in their following of Moses, and illustrating that their common behavior was a baptism of sorts. He points out that their sharing in the water from the rock was a picture of Jesus.
From this, he reminds them of Israel’s waywardness (idolatry, pagan revelry, grumbling, etc.) This judgment against Israel was given as an example to believers now (and “now now,” too).As such, we must not put Christ to the test, the way the ancestors tested God.We must not succumb to temptation.
Deliverance from temptation is possible. The temptation will never be greater than what you can bear.God will always provide a way out of the temptation.Therefore, we must flee the worship of idols (an offense of our spiritual ancestors)He gives instruction to abstain from knowingly eating food sacrificed to idols, on the principle that it is food really offered to demons and to stay away from this evil. He acknowledges that this is permissible, but counters that it is still not advisable, because it isn’t beneficial. He reiterates the understated point: Don’t be concerned about your own good, but for the goodof others.
The application of this is explained contextually with advice that if you are offered food, go ahead and eat it, but if the matter of conscience is raised, then abstain. bottom line: whatever youdo, do it for the glory of God.Paul offers himself as the example in this, and tells them (and us), “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
Paul moves on to matters of order.
This commentary will be brief on on these matters, as they address an internal conflict of the Corinthian church and reflect the cultural practices of the time. A thorough commentary is offered here, via The Gospel Coalition.
My focus here isn’t on the custom; rather, on the clear teaching that God is characterized by order. As such, worship directed to him should likewise be orderly. Disorderly or chaotic worship is indicative of misdirected, ineffectual worship.
Continuing on the topic of order requires addressing the matter of unity. God is unified with himself. So, too, must we be unified. Apparently there was disunity regarding the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.
Paul recounts the history that establishes the importance of the Lord’s Supper. He admonishes the Corinthians to examine themselves before participating in the Lord’s Supper and to approach the table with a clean account before the Lord.
He instructs the church to wait for the congregation to participate in it together.
Still under the topic of order is a proper understanding of Spiritual Gifts. He explains that these gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, and are not of human origin.
He clarifies that everyone who believes receives at least one spiritual gift.
The purpose of the gift is to help one another (not for personal benefit or gain).
There are many different gifts given to the church.
God alone gives and distributes the gifts.
He compares the peoples’ spiritual giftedness to a human body to illustrate the principles of unity, coordination, and interdependence.
He exhorts people to desire the gifts that will be most beneficial to others.
understated point: spiritual giftedness reinforces that you exist as a follower of Jesus for the purpose of serving others.
Whether or not the gray stuff is delicious, we do, in fact, live to serve.
This discourse on order is paused, for a reenforcing and even transformational, discourse on “a way of life that is best for all.”
He says that knowledge without love makes a person like a noisy gong or clanging symbol.
A person who can teach God’s truth authoritatively, or possessed great wisdom, or possessed unsurpassed knowledge, but didn’t have love, was useless.
Even a person who was excessively sacrificial, if dispossessed of love, would gain nothing for all their sacrifice.
Paul describes love’s attributes:
love is patient and kind
love isn’t boastful or jealous or proud or rude
love doesn’t demand its own way
love isn’t irritable, and it doesn’t keep records of wrong
love doesn’t rejoice in injustice, but rejoices when truth wins out
love never gives up, never loses hope
love endures through everything
Paul explains the preeminence of love.
Spiritual giftedness will eventually become obsolete.
Love, though, will continue forever.
The current expressions of spiritual giftedness are incomplete, but when the end comes (the time of perfection), these incomplete things will be useless.
Eventually, the incomplete things we only partially understand know will become complete and we will understand them fully. When that happens, only three things remain…faith, hope, and love. And love is the greatest of these three things.
This translation says these three things last forever. Most translations render this phrase as “remain” or “abide,” connoting a different idea than what is communicated by the NLT. I’m more comfortable with the other translations, because I’m of the mind that my hope will be fulfilled and my faith will one day be realized. If so, these two will come to an end. But love will remain. understated point: Love is the apex, transcendent experience (and expression of relationship).
With the exhortation from Paul to pursue love as the highest goal, he encourages believers to desire special spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of prophecy (or to speak forth truth for the edification of other believers).
attention is returned to the “sticky wicket” of the spiritual gift of tongues, mentioning that prophecy is a better gift because it benefits more people than does the gift of tongues.
Paul offers some descriptive guidelines for the orderly presentation/expression of tongues in the life of a congregation.
tongues or languages must be understandable, or else the indistinguishable words will be useless.
Every language of the world has meaning, but if it is unknown or unknowable, it is useless. Because of this, Paul entreats you to pursue the gifts that will most benefit others.
Paul reasons through this thread arriving at the same conclusion repeatedly: simple, straightforward, known articulation of God’s truth is always best.
Paul summarizes points on orderly worship, emphasizing that orderliness affirms God’s involvement amongst the congregation, both internally and externally (as affirmation and witness).
Has this ever happened to your worship?
Paul reiterates the Gospel, encouraging the audience to stand firm in the truth of what Jesus accomplished. He explained that he is who he is by God’s appointment, Jesus’ Lordship, and the Spirit’s empowerment.
He then reaffirms the resurrection of Jesus, refuting the false claims of those striving to deny the historicity of the event.
In this, he explains the resurrection as an essential doctrine of the Christian faith.
The resurrection of Jesus overcomes the curse that came to humanity through the first man, Adam.
The resurrection of Jesus affirms the promised return of Jesus. He can only return (and will return) because he was resurrected in the first place.
There is a strange, singular reference to “baptism for the dead.” It isn’t affirmed or criticized. It is merely acknowledged that some practice that is commonly known is practiced at the time. Paul’s point isn’t whether it is right or wrong or good or bad, but that if there were no resurrection of Jesus, then there would be no justification whatsoever for the practice.
Moreover, even the overall efforts of Paul would be foolhardy without the resurrection.
Paul moves on to addressing the question of “how” bodily resurrection will happen.
He uses the comparison of a seed in the ground giving way to the growth of a plant.
The physical. body will give way to a spiritual body.
With all this, Paul encourages the congregation to do all they can for the Lord, because this is always productive and useful.
Bert, reading Immerse, realizes for whom he labors…
Paul closes with a quick instruction on how to support the offering for the church in Jerusalem, and then with closing remarks, with final exhortations:
Be on guard
Stand firm in the faith
Be courageous and strong
Do everything with love
Submit to spiritual leaders with devotion and appreciation.
In parting, he casually mentions “If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed.” (grace and love to you in Jesus)
Corinth was a Greek city famous for its immorality.
The people there had many non-Christian cultural influences.They were trying to meld their new faith with their established culture.One area this bore out had to do with understand what were good and permissible and honorable ways to honor their bodies.Paul wrote this letter in AD 50. He had stayed in Corinth for a year and a half before moving on to Ephesus. They had corresponded with him while his was in nearby Ephesus.Paul wrote them in response, and addressed several (12) topics of importance to the congregation in Corinth.
Paul identifies himself as the letter’s author, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ. Sosthenes is listed as being present, too. There is not agreement about whether or not this is the same Sosthenes mentioned in Acts. If it is (the same Sosthenes), it would indicate him being a Jewish believer.
He addresses this to God’s church in Corinth. God has called these people to be believers. The church is not a human-conceived or organized institution. Jesus makes his church holy.
In his general benevolent greeting, Paul mentions how the people of Corinth have been blessed with every spiritual gift needed, and that God will keep the church strong until the day of the return of Jesus.
He appeals to the church to live in harmony with one another, to be unified and free from divisions. The congregation was divided, creating artificial and unnecessary schisms around following Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, or Jesus. Paul corrected that by reminding everyone of the preeminence of Jesus, and the singularity of the Gospel of Christ resurrected.
He reminds them that he came to them with the simple message of the Gospel.This simple message is considered foolishness to those who are perishing (who consequently don’t receive this message as truth). Yet, for those who are being saved, this Gospel message is the power of God.Here, the Gospel is presented in terms of power and wisdom, perceived as weakness and foolishness toward those who are powerful and wise (from a worldly perspective), but eternally mighty and wise to those who are weak and unimpressive to the world. God regularly uses the weak and unimpressive things of this world; accordingly, this keeps people from boasting. If you boast, boast only in the Lord
Paul reminds them of his coming to them in the simplicity of his message, relying only on the power of the Holy Spirit to be effective.
He explains that when he is with mature believers, he does use words of wisdom (to speak of more in-depth matters)
He explains this wisdom is articulated in the mystery of God; that is, the church. The plan of the church had been hidden from the beginning of time, but now was being revealed.
He further explains that nobody has ever understood this or comprehended it (for if they had, they would have misused it).
God has revealed these things now, to the church, and to the Jewish and Gentile believers alike.
God has revealed these things by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We learn here that the Holy Spirit is the revealer of the secret things of God because the Spirit alone knows God’s deepest thoughts.
understated points: Godhas given you His Spirit! This Spirit, who alone knows and reveals God’s secrets, lives within the believer and communicates with you these very details!
This is why we can say confidently that we speak with God’s wisdom and with God’s power.
Succinctly stated, we can have the mind of Christ.
understated points: the entirety of the triune godhead is present and available to you -knowing God’s thoughts (secrets), thinking with mind of Christ, and receivingthe Spirit’s wisdom and power.
Despite all this, Paul acknowledges having had to speak to the Corinthians not as mature believers, but as spiritual infants, using simple words to communicate foundational truths. He gives as evidence of their immaturity:
They are jealous of one another and quarrel.
They unnecessarily divide over which teacher/leader they follow.
Paul reminds them that all these teachers work in union under the primary headship of Jesus. They have different responsibilities towards a common goal (that is, making and maturing believers)
He compares his efforts to constructing, in them, a building of faith. He explains that he has laid the foundation; that is, Jesus.
Other teachers are now building atop this foundation, and he warns the people to be careful with what how allow their faith to be constructed, because any other faith where Jesus is not the cornerstone will not survive God’s judgment.
Furthermore, the very things that any person uses to construct their own lives (so to speak) serve as the building blocks of life (in this construction of faith). The totality of all these things will be judged, too. If any of these things are on a different foundation (meaning they aren’t built upon the premise of Jesus), they will not pass through judgment.
Conversely, anything that is “of faith,” it will pass judgment and be rewarded.
Paul makes it clear that a person with a solid foundation of Jesus is still capable of building foolishly upon it. In these cases, the person will survive the judgment because their foundation is secure, but suffer the loss of everything foolish that was built upon it (that is not of faith).
Paul reminds the reader, “you are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives within you.”
From this reminder, Paul tells the Corinthians to stop deceiving themselves with their own sense of self-importance and misperceptions of being wise…encouraging them to pursue the simple wisdom of God that is perceived as foolishness by the world.
Better that the world thinks you a fool and God makes you wise, than be wise to the world and a fool before God
Paul keeps progressing, encouraging the Corinthians to be faithful before God, and not to be distracted by judging others (or even self). Paul learned he can’t even trust his own conscience, but he wholly trusts the Lord to examine him.
Toward this end, he encourages people not to judge others prematurely.He employs some hyperbole and sarcasm as literary devices here to drive home the point that the Corinthians had “not yet arrived,” and weren’t as rich or authoritative as they thought themselves to be.To offer a stark counterpoint, he offers himself and the apostles for consideration.
To the world, they were the spectacles on display living under the sentence of death. They were perceived as fools to onlookers (while the proud Corinthians proclaimed themselves to be so wise). The Apostles were perceived as weak, in contrast to the Corinthians who presented as being mighty. They were ridiculed, while the Corinthians were honored.They were starved, beaten, homeless, overworked, cursed, abused, and mistreated. To the world, they were scum.
Paul tells them all this because he is uniquely positioned as their spiritual father to tell them…and he encourages them to imitate him, because in so doing, they will honor God.
This is why he sent Timothy to them, to remind them of these matters.
He loves them enough to tell them these hard truths.
The fact is, these hard truths are necessary because they are living immorally, with sexual practices that not even the unbelievers were doing.
He mentions specifically a man in a sexual relationship with his stepmother.
Not only is this man guilty, but the church, too, for not mourning over this sin.
Paul says this man should be ejected from the faith community.
This is a challengefor me. Not because I don’t agree with it, because I do. I’m just having a challenge reconciling this with the earlier exhortation he gives not to judge to prematurely. I ultimately resolve this challenge by the nature of the offense listed, that itis so patently egregious that it demands a response, as an expressionof God’s clear opposition to the evil being committed.
Paul makes clear that this expulsion not punitive in nature, but to drive the man to the end of self, so that he may ultimately be saved.
His admonition points to the church itself in its culpability regarding this offense and offender, in that its coddling of him and unwillingness to be humble and pure created and environment where this type of evil could flourish.
This sinful environment is seen in the church’s willingness to boast about allowing such licentiousness in its midst (thus cheapening the grace of God).
He compares this sin to a yeast that works its way through an entire lump of dough. He exhorts them to get get fresh dough (so to speak) that is without yeast (or sin); in this, he is pointing the church to return to the simple foundation of holy Jesus Christ.
He clarifies here that these exhortations regarding a pure sexual ethic are specifically targeted toward believers.
Then he drops this truth bomb…and it addresses my earlier challenge, somewhat…that Christians are called to judge those inside the church, but not those outside the church.
This judgment means to be able to rightly pass the judgment of God because of alignment with truth.
It doesn’t mean having a judgmental attitude or a critical spirit.
It requires knowledge of truth, a humble attitude, and a restorative, gracious spirit.
He chides the believers who have made a practice of dragging other believers to court. We mustn’t do that, because when we do, we allow the unbelieving world have judgment over us, and we are operating out of order. We betray our faith in this regard, and we convolute and distort the order of God by abandoning the sense that God’s wisdom is superior to man’s wisdom and God’s outcomes are superior to human outcomes.
This teaching is accompanied by a listing of the types of carnal behaviors typified by the lost person that will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul reminds his audience that they are not like the unbelieving world. They were made right with God by calling on the name of Jesus.
Paul returns to a brief discourse on fleeing sexual immorality, because the notion that we have the liberty to do anything we want (particularly with our bodies) is wrong. He makes the point that fornication and adultery are unholy unions that corrupts the sanctity of marriage.
Sexual immorality is a sin against a person’s own body (which is the Temple of God, the God who lives within you).
understated point: you are not your own. you have been bought for an expensive price, so honor God with your body.
Paul then moves into answering some questions that had been posed to him:
Abstinence was virtuous.
So is monogamy.
Mutual submission in a marriage relationship is honoring of one another and functionally beneficial.
Depriving one another (husband and wife) sexually is not good.
Singleness is virtuous, but not realistic for all people.
If you can’t live a virtuous single life, pursue marriage.
For those who marry, stay married.
Abandoning a spouse is not good.
If you leave your spouse, don’t make matters worse. Either stay single or eventually try to reconcile.
If you are married to someone who is an unbeliever, stay married.
There is a chance your unbelieving spouse will come to belief.
However, if your unbelieving spouse leaves, you are no longer bound to the spouse who abandoned you.
Generally speaking, try to live in the circumstances in which you find yourself. Strive to be faithful in the circumstances of where you are.
Reiterating: don’t idealize or idolize marriage. Singleness is beneficial if you can thrive in it. Marriage offers benefits, but also its own challenges.
Marriage relationships are for life, but when the life of a spouse ends, the marriage commitment ends. A widow/er is free to remarry, but must remember to marry a fellow believer. (There’s no expiration date for the truths of God).
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