1 Corinthians 13

In this chapter, Paul argues for the superiority of love over spiritual gifts such as those mentioned in 12:27 to 13:3. There are two levels at which I seek to study and understand this chapter; first, in the context in which Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, and second, in the current-time application to myself.

In the context of Paul’s time, it seems the Corinthians were seeking to possess and to use the named spiritual gifts in a selfish manner, trying to glorify themselves rather than giving all the glory to God. In doing so, they were ministering to others through these spiritual gifts without any significant love for those to whom they ministered. In case they missed his point, Paul explains how genuine love is demonstrated, through patience, kindness, humility, civility, flexibility, devotion to God’s truth, perseverance and optimistic hope in God’s provision.

What will we take into heaven with us? It won’t be knowledge or prophecy, because in God’s presence, we won’t need these. We won’t need the miraculous messages delivered through angelic tongues and interpreters, because we’ll hear God’s voice directly. Faith will then be sight; hope will then be fulfilled. All we will need to take with us into heaven will be our love for God, our devotion to our Savior, and our loving joy at spending eternity with our beloved universal church.

This can be, however, a very painful chapter to apply personally. I read it as a checklist, to determine the health of my love relationship with my wife, my children and grandchildren, my church, and my community. Here’s a brief checklist based on this chapter:

[ ] Am I patient with the world around me? How about in Charlotte traffic?
[ ] Am I kind to people who are unkind to me?
[ ] Am I humble, or arrogant? In what subtle ways do I think myself better than others?
[ ] Am I unfailingly polite? Do I remain civil to people who are rude to me?
[ ] Am I irritable, grouchy or touchy? Hangry, maybe? How would my wife answer that question for me?
[ ] Am I resentful, holding on to the rude slights of others? Do I give up my resentments into my Savior’s hands?
[ ] Do I consistently turn away from wrong thoughts and actions, or still dabble my toes in them?
[ ] Am I consistently enduring, cheerful and hopeful in hard times? Do I hold on to faith in God’s provision when unexpected demands on my life pop up?

As I write this, I realize I’ve got a lot of work to do!! I would encourge anyone reading this to run their own life and attitudes against this checklist. How are you doing? Come back in a year and see if you’re doing better!

Also, what questions would you add to this checklist, further applying this magnificent chapter in Paul’s letter to your own life?

1 Corinthians 10:6

“Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” (1 Corinthians 6)

How do you learn? Some would say there are two ways of learning; either learning by your own experiences (and mistakes!), or by observing others’ experiences and the results of their actions.

Paul is reminding the Corinthian church that their actions have eternal consequences, and it’s far better to learn from ancestors’ mistakes and consequences than to ignore those and learn from your own.

In this case, the experiences are those of the Israelites when they were redeemed from Egypt and set on the road to a nation of their own. Paul reminded the Corinthians that the Israelites “… sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” (v. 7), and that they “commit[ed] sexual immorality” (v. 8). The result of their sins? God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. (v. 5).

Paul drives home his point in verses 11-13, and his admonishments to the Corinthians are equally applicable to us today. Here are three points we can and must take to heart:

Be careful about arrogance regarding your own spiritual strength. You can and will fall to temptation when you think you can’t.
Be careful about feeling superior to others when they fall to temptation. We all will face the same common temptations.
You cannot withstand temptation on your own strength, but you can stand against all temptations with the power of God to strengthen you. God always provides a way out.

As Paul so clearly pointed out, God takes sin seriously! We should be equally serious about keeping ourselves away from sin. As saved Christians, we cannot lose our salvation, but we can lose the opportunity to be rewarded in Heaven.

Continuing to live in sin should cause us to reflect on the genuineness of our faith. True saving faith changes our hearts, and is reflected in changes in our deeds and words.

Are my deeds and words proving that my faith is genuine, or calling it into question?

Romans 1:24-25

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

As we continue reading Paul’s letter to the Romans from here forward, it appears that Paul is introducing the topic of homosexuality in these two verses. Within the context of the chapter, I can’t argue with that, but I also believe there is a more universal truth revealed here, which we’ll get to in just a moment.

First, however, we must ask “What’s the ‘therefore’ there for?”

Looking back to the previous passage, the reason may be best summarized in verse 21: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

They knew God. They did not honor Him as God. The failure to honor God in their minds, hearts, and lives may be the very definition of futile thinking and a darkened heart.

The mental picture I get reading verses 24-25 is one of God throwing up His hands in exasperation, saying “OK, then, have it your way.” These ungodly people “worshiped and served the creature”, ignoring God.

In Paul’s letter, he goes on to specifics about how these people dishonored themselves and exchanged God’s truth for the lies they wanted to believe, in this case regarding their sexuality. However, doesn’t this describe any of us, when we turn our backs on God and go our own way? It doesn’t have to be sexual sin. We may “serve the creature (ourselves)” when we choose a career path that makes it difficult to serve our family and our church as we ought. We serve ourselves when we use the resources God has provided to feed our own passions rather than dedicating whatever we can to God’s service.

It can be something as simple as a father watching the ball game instead of spending time with his son, who desparately needs his father’s love and attention. There may be moments every day where we choose to serve our own desires and comforts rather than looking outside of ourselves to see where God would have us focus our attention, compassion, time, energy and resources.

So my application is as simple as it is profound: What am I doing in my life to serve myself, instead of serving God?

1 Corinthians 8:6

Throughout all of chapter 8, Paul addresses the questions raised by the Corinthian church regarding the eating of, or avoidance of, meat which had been sacrificed to idols in the Corinthian pantheistic society. I want to come back and examine the chapter in a later post. For now, let’s look exclusively at verse 6:

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

This verse is somewhat a departure from the rest of the chapter, in that Paul digs in deeply, if however briefly, into man’s relationship to God. It’s worth pausing over this one verse to see what lessons we can learn.

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father…” We would instantly claim to be monotheistic, believing in the existence of one and only one God. But is that how we live our lives?

The truth is that we can make a god out of anything in our lives which takes precedence and elbows the one True God off to the side. We see this done daily with career advancement, the prestige of promotion, the material indicators of wealth, or the pleasures of the flesh. Every one of us can name someone in our life history whom we’ve known to put one or more of these things in priority over God in their lives.

But what about me? What is in my life that is tempting me to put something ahead of God in my life? Is there truly only one God in my life?

“… from whom are all things …” What do you see in your life that didn’t come from God? What did you have for breakfast? Egg and toast? Who created the chicken that laid the egg? Who created the wheat plant? Who created the rain that nourished the wheat plant?

While we’re at it, how many breaths did you breathe while reading the previous paragraph? Who made the air? Who designed the lungs?

Am I giving God my thanks and praise for all of His creation supporting and blessing my life? Are you?

“… for whom we exist …” This is a really tough one!! It’s so easy to slip into thinking that I set the priorities in my own life; that I determine my purpose in life and set my goals. That, however, is Satan’s lie! I exist to serve and to honor God! I am not my own! I exist for God’s glory, not for my own.

Does my life reflect that truth? If not, what do I need to change?

“… one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”" Did you realize that Jesus was present and an active participant in the creation? Take a closer look at the creation of Adam in Genesis 1:26. “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Why the plural forms? Because creation was the work of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In John chapter 8, Jesus made it clear to the Jewish leadership that He is eternal, existing outside of time as we experience it: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’”

The first few verses of Hebrews state plainly that it was through Jesus that the world was created, and it is through Jesus that the ongoing existence of the world is sustained.

This is the Jesus who gave His life to atone for my sins, and for yours! Does my life reflect my understanding of who Jesus is to me and to the world around me? Does yours?

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Read the text

Lessons and Comments

When Paul writes “All things are lawful for me” he’s not saying that is true; he is quoting an erroneous belief which had developed within the Corinthian church, that “freedom in Christ” and “freedom from sin” meant that they could follow their temporal (sinful) desires. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Paul points out that some things they were doing under this so-called freedom were not helpful – that is, helpful to spiritual growth and progressive sanctification. It seems particularly helpful in today’s world that Paul added “I will not be dominated by anything.” Some are dominated today by alcohol, tobacco, or sexual sins. Some are dominated by career or the pursuit of prestige or wealth.

Paul points out that “God will destroy both one and the other” – nothing in this physical world lasts forever. I am reminded of the old Pogo cartoon, where Porky Pine said to Albert Aligator “Don’t take life so serious, son. It ain’t nohow permanent!”

Paul continues the discourse with teaching about our relationship to our own bodies. This is quite significant, as our own bodies are the manifestation of the physical world to which we are most closely bound, and our primary temptation for dominating our time, resources and attention.

Paul gives us some specific points to consider:

Our bodies are no more permanent than the rest of the physical world. (v. 13)
We will be raised from the dead (v. 14), but not in the same form.
Our bodies are set apart for Christ. (v. 15, 17)
Our bodies are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. (v. 19)
Within our bodies, we are temporary tenants, not owners. (v. 20)

Application

Paul wrote “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” So why do I act as if I’m the owner of this body? Do I not realize how disrectful this is to God?

Paul ends with this command: “Glorify God in your body.” Am I using my body in ways that glorify God? Do I glorify God by serving the community around me, and particularly my spiritual family?

And as always, “If not, why not?” (Thanks, Bill B.!)

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Lessons and Comments

Consider where we came from. As sinners, we were no better than those whom Paul listed here. If we came to Christ as adults, many of those sins named here applied to us as well. Even if we came to Christ in our childhood, before that, we were desperately selfish, rebellious and disobedient.

Paul writes “you were washed”; we didn’t wash ourselves! This is all about what God has done for us. By being washed (a spiritual washing), we can be presented to God as blameless, holy and righteous; something we could never achieve on our own. We were sanctified; God has set us apart for His purposes. We were justified. Pastor Jeff Walling describes this as “Just as if I’d … never sinned”. What amazing blessings!!

Consider the cost of our washing, justification, and sanctification: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” How are we going to respond to such blessings?

Application

Paul’s question to the Corinthians applies equally well to us today: If we are justified by Christ, how can we continue to live as if we were not?

Am I living like a washed, sanctified, justified person?

As Elder Bill Baily loves to ask, “If not, why not?”