1 Corinthians 6:1-8 – How far it seems that the church is from this spirit today. While perhaps not in lawsuits, though those certainly happen, but in terms of bickering and fighting amongst each other. We look no different than the world! Paul says “Why not rather be defrauded?” than to drag our disputes before a worldly court. Once we’ve taken them public, we’ve already lost the battle for their souls.
Jesus says that we will be known as His by our love, so if we trot out our disputes outside the church either in the media or the courts, we are now known as folks who cannot get along and can’t settle our own disputes. If we are no better off than the world, what attraction is there in Christ to those on the outside looking in?
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – Paul finishes his rebuke of their public disputes by reminding them, as he does so often, of who they were and who they now are and why. Jesus has washed you and pulled you out of the wicked, greedy and swindlers, yet you return to them to settle your disputes? Have you forgotten the transformation Christ made in you?
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 – Here Paul implores them to flee sexual sin, making a distinction between it and any other sin. This is a sin against his own body, others are outside the body. Keep things in perspective, your body is made for the Lord, it is a member of Christ himself. Would you bring Christ into the bedroom with you along with one who is not your spouse? Would you invite Jesus along for your tryst? Certainly not, but yet he is there, you are part of him so He comes along.
This has ramifications beyond immorality, I think. If that is who we are, if we really understand that we not only belong to Christ but are members of Christ, how then would we live? What would you view (He Jesus, take a look at this video …), how would you speak (He Jesus, tell that so and so …), how would you act (that’s it, hit him Jesus …)?
If we are members of Christ, then every act should be seen as an act of Jesus. What would Jesus do? Whatever you’re doing, he’s doing it.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5 – In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul stressed that it is the Lord who judges, imploring them not to judge before the proper time. Yet here in verse 3 he says he has already passed judgment on the immoral brother. I suspect that he’s referring to two different kinds of judgment, one eternal and final which will only be done by God and not until the appointed time. The other, however, is entirely appropriate for church leadership, which is what he’s talking about here. In fact, he rebukes them for essentially not doing it yet. Leaders should judge what is proper behavior for those in the church. It’s certainly a sticky matter, fraught with peril and ripe for leadership to be criticized. It should be done with the utmost care and lots of input from others. But the situation Paul describes, immorality between a man and his stepmother, is a severe and clear cut case and should be dealt with swiftly. We are not talking about disputable matters.
I can’t help but draw a parallel between this passage and the current news of the Catholic church. These situations, assuming they are verified, are not disputable matters, they are grave and hideous sins involving some of the most vulnerable in the church. Yet, the church leadership did not act decisively on behalf of justice or righteousness, instead it seems they acted to protect the church first. I’m certainly not privy to details or facts of each and every case, however, from the news accounts a pattern of cover up and protection the church structure over the innocent victims or even God’s honor seems to be emerging. Rather than standing for His righteousness, they’ve stood to protect their own.
Paul instructed the Corinthians to publicly deliver the man in an adulterous relationship to Satan. The Catholic church ought to do the same to the men involved in these sinful relationships instead of quietly shuffling them off to another location.
1 Corinthians 5:7 – Why remove the evil men from among you? “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” If Jesus was willing to sacrifice himself for us, we ought to be purely devoted to him.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 – Paul clarifies that his judgment is not for everyone, only for those within the church, going as far as proclaiming that they (and by extension, we) should not associate with a man who claims Christ but blatantly persists in sin with no intention of repentance. I think the church today holds a much lower standards, we tolerate sin with the false platitude that everyone is a sinner. Certainly, that is true, however a man who knows his sin, is confronted by it and refuses to do anything about it has no place in the church. It is far easier to look the other way, or even not dig very deeply in each others lives so we don’t uncover anything we might have to deal with.
Being the church of Jesus is a messy business at times, but not dealing with the mess means not being His church after all.

1 Corinthians 4:1-5 – Paul reiterates, it is the Lord who Judges and we should not pronounce judgment before the time that the Lord comes. But it is so tempting to do so. If I don’t agree with your doctrine, or I draw the line on a disputable matter differently than you do, it’s oh-so-easy to proclaim that you are not a disciple of Jesus. I find it very hard to settle these things in my mind. I tend to want there to be a single way to be, a single ‘right’ choice for every situation. It’s hard for me to imagine that you and I can disagree profoundly and both be fine in the eyes of God. I must continue to remind myself to leave room for the grace of God and leave judgment to Him. After all,if I trust in His grace to cover my mistakes in discernment or line drawings, I must allow the same for my brother.
Paul also shares a liberating perspective here on human judgment. In verse 3 he says “with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court“. In other words, it’s no big deal what man says about me, what matters is the Lord’s judgment. What you or anyone else thinks is “a very small thing”. I make too much of what others think. Far, far too much.
1 Corinthians 4:6-13 – Paul uses sarcasm here to rebuke the Corinthians for taking credit for what they’ve become. What they were came from Paul and others and ultimately from Christ, they were nothing until they received Jesus. This is true for me as well. I stand because my parents raised me to fear God, because men in college shared the gospel with me, because men fought to make the Bible accessible, because other men wrote of Jesus from their hearts in books and blogs and on and on. I would have never found Christ from my own seeking alone, I’m convinced of that. Nor would I have grown in Him by myself.

1 Corinthians 3:1-4 – Paul criticizes them for being “merely human”, calling them above that to be “spiritual people”. As followers of Jesus we should rise above the petty, human disputes of who to follow or jealousy or strife. To our shame, those who identify as Christians are just as bad, if not worse, as those in Corinth. Paul would rebuke us harshly I bet for the way we behave just like “mere humans”.
Think about the implication of that for a minute. In Christ we are no longer “mere humans”, we have been elevated above that. Not by some Darwinian process of natural selection, but by something that could possibly be called unnatural selection. Jesus chose us and called us above mere humanity not based on our superiority but based on His. We are no longer mere humans, we are Gods own chosen ones, chosen not for our fitness or superiority, but out of His love and grace. We are no mere humans, we are His. Should we act like it?
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 – I traditionally looked at this passage as referring to the end, judgment day. That day will test what we’ve built on the foundation of Christ. But, now that I’m in my 40’s with teenagers and whatnot, it seems to me that life tests what we’ve built. As we go on, things are thrown our way and how we’ve built on the foundation of Christ given us determines if we will be able to stand or simply escape the flames. Sometimes I don’t know which camp I’m in, frankly.
1 Corinthians 3:17 – God’s temple is holy and we are His temple. That means that we are holy, that I am holy, according to God. Wow, God has decreed me holy.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 – I get the hint here that Paul’s resolution to “know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” was as much about his need to return to this as it was about what he desired to present to them. He speaks of his knowing and of his being “in weakness and in fear and much trembling” with them. I wonder if perhaps Paul was in some sort of personal challenge during which he was focusing on nothing but Jesus and the cross. In hindsight, he sees how it not only benefited him but the Corinthians as well and he’s reminding them of that here. he was broken at that time (I’m speculating) and yet the simple, powerful message of the cross delivered them.
1 Corinthians 2:8 – Paul says here that if the leaders had known the secret wisdom of God, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” What if, though, that had happened? Where would humanity be if Jesus had been recognized as who he was, God incarnate, and allowed to live out a full life? Without the punishing sacrifice for sins on the cross, could we have been forgiven?
It’s an interesting question, but not as interesting as the truth that God knew that wasn’t going to happen. Did he predestine it, pulling the strings like marionettes of the people involved (Pilate, the Pharisees, the twelve, Mary, etc.)? no, I don’t think so. I think the truth is more sinister and crushing. God knew that we would not recognize Him if he stood among us. In fact, his presence would be so foreign to us as to be offensive and we would seek to eradicate it from our midst lest it destroy us. No, God knew that when he came to us we’d kill him for sure. And so, he used our carnal, prideful, evil nature to fulfill his plan to strip evil of it’s power to controls us and make us do the very thing that was done to Jesus.
The irony upon irony – because we did not know the wisdom of God, we killed Jesus fulfilling his plan to make that wisdom known to us.

Returning to my Bible studies after (another) long absence. Perhaps I’ll write about why later. In the past I’ve felt like I could hear God calling me back to study and I guess this time I have as well. The difference is that I have actively avoided it. I haven’t wanted to, or rather, I’ve wanted to pursue other, self focused things. So, this time I’m returning because I know that I need to and I know that by doing it the desire to do it will grow.
1 Corinthians 1:1 – Some time read about Sosthenes in Acts 18. Amazing, and here he is in the church at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 1:2 – Sanctified, called to be saints. Amen.
1 Corinthians 1:6 – “… the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you …” I wonder what that means. Something about what happened to them as they believed confirmed what was being said about Christ – that he was the son of God, the savior, that sins are forgiven, that lives are renewed, restored and transformed.
1 Corinthians 1:17 – Paul implies that he deliberately preaches in common terms so that the cross can do the work. I sometimes think that the truth of the Gospel is so deep and profound that how can the simple comprehend it. (yes, I realize that in thinking such I put my self ‘above’ the label of simple which may not be accurate. :-D) It seems that the fundamental aspects of the truth are buried, hidden under layers of meaning.
Then I realize that Jesus came primarily to simple people, Paul tells us (just a few verses later) that he uses the simple to shame the wise and thinking that less gifted folks might not have a chance to comprehend the glorious truth of the gospel is unthinkable.
So, yes, there are layers and layers of meaning to the gospel and mining them does our heart good. But the basic gospel of Jesus, God and Man, coming to Earth to redeem a broken, fallen people is a simple idea, with the power to save without digging any deeper than that. The power is in the cross, not in our description or understanding of it.
1 Corinthians 22-25:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Amen to that.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 – A few years ago, I attended a reunion of folks from the campus ministry I attended back, well, a long time ago. The guy who let me to faith in a series of Bible studies was there and he commented something like “It’s so good to see you still here.”
Still here? I remember thinking back then that I was one of the sharp guys. You know, in every group there are the ones who are on top, sharp and with it and then there are those who, well, aren’t. Mentally, I put myself in the former group, but his comments showed that he saw me in the latter. The group that you weren’t sure were in it for the long haul. To his credit, I don’t think it was condescending and I never knew that he saw me that way.
I’ve thought that way always. Here in ColumbusI was part of the mission team, I was once a deacon. But now I see that I’m on the fringes, not that cool, a bit dorky, not all that ‘with it’ spiritually and likely seen that way by most. It’s been a humbling thing to realign my view of myself to others’, but I look here and I’m amazed that God has chosen me anyway. Again, I’ve never felt anything but love from God’s people (as it should be) and no one has ever treated me as unimportant. Frankly, I think if I had realized my place earlier, I may not have stuck around. It’s not about them, it’s about me and my opinion of myself (and perhaps my need for others to like me, but that’s another post).
I’m realizing that I’m nothing and I think that will give God a lot more room to work.

Galatians 6:1-2 – Verse 2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” I’ve long thought of this, and heard it taught I believe, that this means that we should work with each other through hard times, helping others work through hard ‘stuff’. Job loss, family loss, depression, etc. But Paul states this in the context of someone being caught in sin. They aren’t working through it, they are caught doing it. What burdens does someone in that circumstance bear? Guilt. Shame. Fear. So this then is what we bear with them. We stand with them, not ashamed of them, bearing their shame and guilt so that they need not bear it alone. This enables them to stand, to move on, to heal. They know they are accepted, in fact, in this way we demonstrate the truth of Christ’s acceptance of them, reminding them of whom they belong.
Thinking of it in this way reminds me of Jesus with the woman caught in adultery. The pharisees and teachers were ready to toss her aside, but Jesus stood with her. Instead of joining them in their accusation, he crossed over to be with her and she was not alone facing her accusers.
When we bear our brothers burdens of sin, we do the same. We stand with him in the face of Satan the accuser, and he is reminded that he is not alone. Of course, Jesus is always there, but when we are caught Jesus can be hard to see. If we stand with him, he is enabled to see Jesus in us.
Galatians 6:3-5 – Verse 5 says, “For each will have to bear his own load.” Given what I just wrote (which I stand by), I honestly don’t know how to put verses 3-5 in context with 1-2. Is Paul being sarcastic? Doesn’t seem to be. Any thoughts?
Galatians 6:7-10 – Paul talks throughout Galatians, and the New Testament, about works vs. faith, slavery vs. freedom. But here he points out that our actions, our ‘works’, are not for nothing. We do reap what we sow. Not that we work to be saved (notice in verse 8 he says eternal life comes from the spirit), but that what we do will produce something – corruption or life.
Galatians 6:13 – There’s a clue here to verses 3-5. Those compelling the Galatians to be circumcised want to do so so that they can boast in the Galatians actions. See in verse 4 Pauls says “But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.” It’s about standing on the works of flesh or the works of the spirit.

Galatians 5:1 – “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” There’s so much power in this statement. Do not submit to a yoke of slavery. Slavery of performance, Slavery of perfection. Slavery of doing the right thing. Slavery of making the right choice. Slavery of finding the right way. Slavery of working to become worthy.
God has chosen us, bought us for a price. He’s already said we are worthy, set a price on us that’s higher than we would have paid. So why do we think we have to prove ourselves?
Galatians 5:7 – All this talk against the law, against circumcision and here he asks “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” What is this talk about obedience if the law is nothing? We are still called to obey, the question is why do we obey and what? Do we obey from a call to duty, out of a desire to please Him who has already shown His pleasure with us? Or, do we obey because of the love he has already lavished on us? Do we obey the failed rules and laws of old that did nothing to truly sanctify those who followed them or do we obey the call to simple faith in a God who became man to rescue us?
Galatians 5:16-24 – For so long I lived and preached this section (verses 19-21 particularly) as law, rules to live by. Her was the list of don’ts (oh yeah, and some dos in verses 22-23) to avoid. This is how you live as a disciple of Jesus, here’s how it works.
But I missed the 4 1/2 chapters proceeding it. For 4 1/2 chapters Paul railed on living by the law, by the dos and don’ts, going as far here in Galatians 5:4 to say that those who follow that path are “severed from Christ, … fallen away from grace.“.
Paul here is contrasting living by the spirit, which leads to the acts of the spirit, with living by the flesh which produces these (and other)acts of sin. He’s calling them, not to do their best to eliminate these sins and incorporate these acts of righteousness, but to live by the spirit.
We like the rules, they’re easy. Do this, don’t do that. Instead, Paul says look to Jesus and don’t worry about what to do. If you truly seek to follow him, the spirit will take care of your transformation. You will naturally move toward the acts of the spirit and leave the acts of the sinful nature. but we don’t trust the spirit, it seems to ethereal or mystical. We want a plan of attack, something we can do to better ourselves. But faith says that we can never better ourselves enough and puts our betterment in His hands.

Galatians 4:1-7 – I’ve read this over maybe 4 times just now. It feels like there’s some profound truth in there that’s eluding me, but maybe it’s simply this:
Jesus changes everything. Everything.
We were once enslaved children, now free men. Once slaves, now sons and heirs. Once under law, now adopted as sons.
I think I tend to operate as if nothing has changed when in reality everything has changed under Jesus.
Galatians 4:9 – As if on cue, Paul gives me a spiritual dope slap. “… how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world … ?” Indeed, but I am so forgetful.
Galatians 4:21-31 – Paul contrasts the sons of Abraham’s two wives, one a slave and one free. He pleads with them to remember that they are children. like Isaac, of the promise, children of freedom.
Yet Christians today pile rule upon rule, attempting to live right by becoming slaves to them instead of embracing the undeserved freedom from Christ and letting it compel them to live by righteousness.

Galatians 3:1 – “O foolish Galatians!” Paul says. Why? Because they were buying into the notion that they had to follow the law to be justified. What law? Well, specifically he refers to circumcision in chapter 2, but not directly. I don’t think it’s clear here what law or laws they were relying on, the sense to me is bigger than that. It’s not that this law or that one isn’t needed, nor that the law isn’t valuable, it’s that it is powerless to save. Not only that, but they were taught not to rely on the law but on faith in Jesus, so Paul calls them fools.
If Paul came back, i suspect he’d enter many of our churches and cry out “You foolish Americans!” hearing sermon after sermon on proper moral living and how to improve ourselves. We like to think that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, that we can work hard to fix ourselves. We cannot, and to preach, teach or live by that philosophy is the height of foolishness.
In fact, if we could fix ourselves, it was Jesus who was the fool for coming here to be tortured and die for nothing.
Galatians 3:10-14 – The standard of the world is that if you follow the rules, things go OK. Well, that’s conventional wisdom anyway, we see examples all over of folks who skirt the rules and get ahead anyway, at least superficially. but Paul here refuses even to pay lip service to conventional wisdom, pointing out the elephant in the room – that we simply can’t follow the letter of the law. We forget the rules, we defy them, we are simply pulled into disobedience by the attractiveness of sin. So, if we rely on good behavior, we are finished before we’ve begun.
But, he says, Jesus turns the conventional wisdom (that’s patently false in reality) on its head. He becomes the one and only human in all of history to follow the rules, the only one qualified to receive the prize on his own efforts, then he swaps rewards with us. We get his (eternal life with the father), he gets ours (death on a cross). Remember Monte Hall and Let’s Make a Deal? You’ve won a new set of cookware, but do you want to trade it for the mystery behind door number 3? It might be junk, might be a new car, who knows? Well, Jesus took the deal and swapped rewards with us, except he knew both prizes ahead of time and that His rightful reward was far superior to what we earned. But he knew that the only way that we would earn anything but death was if he earned it for us, so He made the deal.
So don’t pretend that you are all that and have worked hard for that which Christ has gave you. And don’t fall into the trap that, somehow, if you’re not good enough, Jesus is going to switch back. He’s not.
Galatians 3:15-29 – Most of this stuff goes over my head. I squint my eyes, cock my head and read it over and over and I still don’t quite get it. One thing I do get is that Jesus is the fulfillment of a promise made to Abraham long before (centuries before) the law was given. No number of laws can make that covenant void. The law was given temporarily, our guardian is says in Galatians 3:24-25 (ESV), until the promised faith was revealed completely in Jesus. Now that He is here, its purpose is complete, its job done, and we have no need of it. Wow, cool.