We’re closing in on reading the entire New Testament in thirteen weeks. Finish strong, and continue to cultivate this discipline in your life. You will certainly never regret time in God’s Word. As we look at this week’s reading you’ll note that you’ll be blazing through four different epistles and get a third of the way through another one.

What is striking when you read through these shorter New Testament books is that these are letters written to real congregations and people. One thing to pay attention to as you read the epistle is to keep a keen eye out for what issue(s) Paul is addressing. Then remember, none of this is in a vacuum. There are current events and cultural influences which must be address and combatted and that is exactly what Paul––a master builder (1 Cor. 3:10)––sets out to do, time and time again. As he mentions in Philippians 3:1, it is “no problemo” to write the same things repeatedly.

God, in giving us His Word, wants us to learn and grow via distance learning. We are now 2,000 years removed from the writing of these letters, but still they exhort us, reprove us, and spur us onward in knowing Christ. Never forget that the whole goal of the Bible is that you would know Christ. Not just know about Christ, or know things about Christ. But know Him. Christ is the Sun of the Solar System of Christianity. Every revolves around Him. In Philippians 3:7-11 we have, what I like to call “the Mt. Everest of Paul’s writing.” For Paul, this is what it is all about: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Read Full Article

As we head into week ten of the Summer Bible Reading Challenge, we will be reading through 2 Corinthians and the epistle to the Ephesians. Particularly with 2 Corinthians it is important to keep something vital in mind, these letters are written in the thick of profoundly difficult situations. Paul isn’t writing a letter to perfect saints, in perfect churches, in perfect cities, from the comfort of his armchair, pipe in hand, Bach playing in the background… although Paul strikes me as a classic rock kind of guy, but that’s beside the point…

It is apparent that the rebuke of the incestuous man of 1 Corinthians 5 produced quite the kerfuffle. It produced, on the whole, godly repentance and sorrow (2 Cor. 7:8). However, after Paul’s visit (after the writing of 1 Corinthians) the offender plainly was continuing to gripe and wrangle causing Paul to write again (2 Cor. 2:3-4). Put yourself in Paul’s shoes; this was not a pleasant situation. It was tense, difficult, and likely painful for Paul, the congregation, the man being rebuked, and the larger body of believers who were acquainted with the situation. Remember that as you read. These truths about our reconciliation with God through Christ (2 Cor. 5), the ministry of reconciliation we’ve been given (2 Cor. 5-6), the precious promises we’ve received (2 Cor. 7:1), the nature of true repentance (2 Cor. 7), grace in sufferings (2 Cor. 12), are all rising in the midst of a profoundly difficult controversy. To top it off, after this letter, once Paul returned again to Corinth to continue to sort out this and the other issues facing that church, he wrote the book of Romans. The deep truths presented in that epistle are in the context of practical Christian living, in the midst of the rough and tumble of pastoral ministry.

Similarly, we see in the book of Ephesians the presentation of the rock solid foundations of the Christian faith (chapters 1-3) leading to the practical execution of those truths in the Christian’s daily life (chapters 4-6). We must never think that our doctrines and ethics sit on opposite ends of the cafeteria. They ought to be best friends. This is all a simple reminder that in reading Scripture we not only learn about who God is, but we are exhorted to put what we learn about God into action by imitating Him!

Read Full Article

Corinth was a wealthy city, and quite influential in the ancient world. When Paul first visited, in Acts 18, he landed himself––as he often did––in a legal tussle. The magistrate Gallio decided that since the friction was between the Jews and what––to him––seemed to be only a sect of the Jewish faith (i.e. the Christians)––that he had no business interfering with this dispute. This was an important precedent, and is a clear instance of God moving the heart of kings to His own ends. In this decree, it allowed Paul future freedom in other cities to teach the Gospel freely.

However, after the establishment of the church in Corinth, it would seem that Jewish Christians came along and began teaching a spin on the implications of the resurrection of Christ. They taught that the resurrection was the inauguration of the Israelite kingdom, and that the Gentiles were considered inferior in God’s eyes, unless they fully submitted to the Mosaic law. While these Jewish believers were right in declaring that Christ’s resurrection was the inauguration of His kingdom, they seem to have been still clinging to a position which the Jerusalem Council had already decided against. In essence, Gentiles and Jews were one in Christ, and Gentiles need not be circumcised.

These errant teachings stirred up a partisan spirit in the congregation. Which is why Paul opens his letter to them by rebuking this party-spirit and declaring that we are all under the headship of Christ. Further, there were other issues in the Corinthian church, as the scathing rebuke of the incestuous man in chapter 6 indicates. This certainly wasn’t contributing to a healthy church. Finally, the sign gifts were being sought after as proofs of greater spirituality, and thus contributing more to sectarianism than to unity.

It is striking that the false teaching about the resurrection, which stimulated Paul to write to the church, is the very topic he concludes the letter with. This return to the resurrection of Christ reminds us all that the Christian faith lives or dies by this important event. If Christ be not raised, we are to be pitied. However, if Christ be raised, it is the commencement of a new creation in which every nation, tribe, and tongue are to be joined together in Him as one body, with many members, all to the glory of the Father. The doctrine of the resurrection truly is foundational, and if it is being tinkered with, it is the duty of godly men to fight like hell against false interpretations of it.

Read Full Article