I Corinthians 1:1-31 I love Paul’s section on wisdom and foolishness beginning with verse 20. I spent my working life among the wise – college professors who were all experts in one thing or another. But their worldly wisdom doesn’t get them anywhere with God: For since … the world did not know God through …
Author Archives: Fred
August 14 / Acts 19:1-22
Acts 19:1-22 We got away from our chronology a bit when we read all of chapter 18 in one reading. Actually it was while Paul was in Corinth that he wrote both Thessalonian letters. His time in Corinth (his first visit there) is recorded in the first 18 verses of Acts 18. The remaining 10+ …
August 13 / II Thess. 3:1-18
II Thessalonians 3:1-18 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. (v. 3) A footnote in my Study Bible says that “evil one” could also be translated “evil”. Either translation works well, since the “evil one” is the source of all evil. But the front end of …
August 12 / II Thess. 2:1-17
II Thessalonians 2:1-17 I am intrigued by “the restrainer”. In verse 6 Paul tells the Thessalonians that they know who or what the restrainer is: And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. So evidently Paul made it clear when he was with them in person …
August 11 / II Thess. 1:1-12
II Thessalonians 1:1-12 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. (v. 4) As the Thessalonians read or heard the words that Paul wrote they must have enjoyed a certain amount of personal pride (which …
August 10 / I Thess. 5:1-28
I Thessalonians 5:1-28 Do not quench the Spirit. (v. 19) First David, then Michael encouraged us to become a “Three Streams” church – sacramental, scriptural, Spirit-filled. It’s not hard to buy into those first two streams; it’s easy to see that St. Andrew’s is both sacramental and scriptural. But I fear that there are too …
August 9 / I Thessalonians 4:1-18
I Thessalonians 4:1-18 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven … And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (vv. …
August 8 / I Thessalonians 3:1-13
I Thessalonians 3:1-13 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone… (v. 1). “left behind” and “alone”… In our Men’s Group discussion this past Tuesday someone said that the Christian life is meant to be lived in community, not alone. And there’s great truth in …
August 7 / I Thessalonians 2:1-20
I Thessalonians 2:1-20 A correction… In the second paragraph from my second set of comments in the links below I wrote that “Jews from Philippi had come to Thessalonica to create havoc for Paul, driving him out of town…”. I don’t know where I got that information; I looked back and forth in Scripture and …
August 6 / I Thess.1:1-10
I Thessalonians 1:1-10 Our second of Paul’s epistles, this one to his converts from Thessalonica. Presumably Paul wrote this letter and a second (II Thessalonians) while he was in Corinth. Just yesterday we were reading in Acts 18 about Paul’s 18-month stay in Corinth. Very likely, through Silas and Timothy Paul stayed in communication with …