I Corinthians 5:1-13

To me this is one of the stranger chapters in all of Scripture, that “…a man has his father’s wife.” At first it brings questions. Paul writes “father’s wife”, not “mother”. So we presume that it must be his stepmother. But then, a second question – is the father still alive? If so, it’s a really gross situation. And if not, it’s still weird! Also, if the father is still alive, where is he in all this? Is he part of this Corinthian congregation? Presumably not, but if Paul and the people in the congregation know about this activity, then surely the father is also aware of what’s going on. Bottom line – this is a really weird situation!

However, Paul’s response to this situation is unequivocal – throw the man out! He says it three times – see verses 2b, 5, and 13b. Verse 5 is especially telling: …you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. I think that Paul is talking about excommunication. To me, delivering the man over to Satan is separating him from the congregation of believers. Why? To wake him up…? To admonish him so forcefully, with a desire that he see the error of his ways and repent…? If everyone else in the congregation is told not to associate with the man at all, not even to eat with him, will that shock him to repentance? That’s how I understand verse 5.

Your boasting is not good. (v. 6) What are they boasting about? Also, earlier in verse 2 Paul calls them arrogant. My Study Bible suggests that the Corinthians are “proud of their liberty”. There is evidence for that claim later in this letter (all of I Cor. 8 and vv. I Cor. 12:23, ff.) where Paul speaks of the liberties that they seem to be taking and cautions them not to let their “liberty” (in this case, with food) cause offense to someone else: Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble. (I Cor. 8:13) Here Paul is speaking of not offending a younger/weaker brother within the congregation, but we also need to take this challenge to the world around us. When non-believers see our behavior, both good and bad, for them it reflects upon the entire Christian church. It’s why one of the biggest claims made by non-believers as to why they don’t believe is that “Christians are a bunch of hypocrites.” Let’s not be that!!

Slava Bohu!

I Corinthians 4:14-21

Just a couple of small items… I had mentioned before that there are a number of occasions where Paul urges his followers to imitate him. We see another “imitate me” today in verse 16. Paul may be reflecting back to the Corinthians’ divisiveness (“of Paul”, “of Apollos”, etc.), but I doubt that he is in any way diminishing Apollos. He says in the previous verse that the Corinthians might have countless (10,000) tutors, but only one father – him. So, for that reason, imitate him! Reason enough, I presume, if it will diminish their divisiveness.

I sent you Timothy … to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. (v. 17) I was struck by this verse, wondering what Paul’s “my ways” were. That took me to wonder about “methods”, particularly the origins of the Methodist church. Was there something peculiar about John Wesley’s “methods”? So I looked it up. I offer you a full paragraph:

The Methodist revival began in England with a group of men, including John Wesley (1703–1791) and his younger brother Charles (1707–1788), as a movement within the Church of England in the 18th century. The Wesley brothers founded the “Holy Club” at the University of Oxford, where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College. The club met weekly and they systematically set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving Communion every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury and frequently visited the sick and the poor, as well as prisoners. The fellowship were branded as “Methodist” by their fellow students because of the way they used “rule” and “method” to go about their religious affairs. John, who was leader of the club, took the attempted mockery and turned it into a title of honour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodism

Interesting! I said something to Carol last night, “Yes, I guess I am OCD in some things.” But maybe that’s not all bad…!! ?!

Slava Bohu! 

I Corinthians 4:1-13

Today we have an eye-awakening verse: For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. (v. 4) We have a time of confession every Sunday, whether it’s Morning Prayer (as it has been most often recently) or a Eucharistic celebration. Here is the version from the Holy Eucharist, Renewed Ancient Text: “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.” (http://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BCP2019.pdf) If we are given a moment or two during the service and we take the time seriously, we can probably name a few things that tend to be recurring items in our lives. Then if we reflect more fully in our own time at home, we probably find more shortcomings in our lives. However, when I finally come before Almighty God and He shows me from my life those many, many “things done and things left undone”, there’s no way that I could stand before Him except to beg His forgiveness through the mercy of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s essentially what Paul is saying here, It is the Lord who judges me.

In challenging himself, Paul is also challenging the Corinthians. Mostly I think he is going back to their internal divisions – some “of Paul” and some “of Apollos”. I daresay that they were being arrogant in their divisiveness, claiming that to be “of Paul” was of a higher order than being “of Apollos”, or vice versa. Paul is telling them not to judge others whom they might fashion as somehow inferior due to their allegiance or even to their position in life. If you re-read today’s readings with those thoughts in mind, I think you’ll find more clarity.

And I do love Paul’s sarcasm in verses 8 to 13…!!

Slava Bohu!

I Corinthians 3:16-23

I was confused a bit with verse 16: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? At first glance it seems clear enough with no further explanation. That verse harkened me forward to another verse from a few years back (as I recall someone had shared it with me as to my weight): Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (I Cor. 6:19-20) Those two verses touched me. I printed them out and put one copy on our refrigerator and one copy on our snack-food cabinet. I still regularly recall those verses. Unfortunately, those verses confused today’s verse 16 for me, because my Study Bible pointed out that the “you” in verses 16 and 17 is plural. So at the beginning of today’s reading, Paul is speaking of the Corinthian church as a whole being God’s temple and the dwelling place for God’s spirit. However, if you want to apply that verse to your own body, a few chapters down that road that will work also!

Verse 17 also confused me: If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. At first it seems clear enough, with verse 16’s “you” being either singular or plural – anyone who attacks God’s people will come under judgment. But my Study Bible suggested that this “anyone” who is destroying God’s temple is one of the Christians who belong to that temple, essentially the problem of divisions within the church that Paul had discussed in yesterday’s reading (earlier in this chapter), that is, Christians inside the church creating divisions within the church. Currently there are small bands of protestors in the United States stirring up trouble around the country demanding that we open up our economy, that our wealth is more important than our health (my words). Thankfully I don’t see that division within St. Andrew’s, and I have been on ZOOM meetings with four different groups within our congregation in the past few weeks and those four ZOOM meetings have involved more than 20 St. Andrew’s parishioners. No one is arguing for us getting back together soon. We have a ZOOM Vestry meeting tonight and I’m sure that topic will come up.

Finally, another word… Not all divisions within the body are bad. St. Andrew’s was formed out of one group of parishioners at St. John’s who disagreed with Bishop Sauls and his supporters within the St. John’s congregation. So there is room for disagreement within the body and those who hold true to Scripture need to be willing to walk away if the need arises.

Slava Bohu!

I Corinthians 3:1-15

Paul says in verse 6: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Paul was the person who introduced the Corinthians to Jesus. Apollos came later, after he had been at Ephesus, then came across the Aegean sea to minister at Corinth. He was building on Paul’s work, not disputing it. But I have no doubt that there were a number of other people who had not heard the Gospel from Paul who owed their conversion to Apollos, so that he became both planter and waterer.

Today’s reading should cause each of us to reflect on what sort of builder we are. Frankly, most of are not “Paul”. There are not a lot of Bethany Tennents or Mark Bruners who are true evangelists, planting Gospel seed where no one else has been before. Most of us are of the Apollos model, with some planting and a lot of watering. Consider someone even like Father David. If you were to ask him I’m guessing that he would say that he is an evangelist – or at a minimum that he has an evangelist’s heart. But he came to a congregation already filled with God’s people. He became a waterer. But then as he preaches, others come to know Jesus. But even when you think about that, in most cases someone brought those converts to church where they could hear David preach. As I’ve quoted David’s own words before, “You bring the people and I’ll preach the Gospel.” But again, I have no doubt that David has brought people to the Lord on his own who have had minimal faith seed planted.

So again, let’s consider ourselves. Have we done any planting or watering? You might say that everyone around us already knows who Jesus is, so we can’t possibly be planters. But consider this. I read an item from my Alma Mater, the University of Illinois. They had a practice football field that had been covered with artificial turf for some forty years. When they finally removed the turf, within days sprigs of grass were growing all over that field. Seeds that had been dormant all those years had come to life when the sun hit their soil. Someone had planted those seeds many years before and they would never have grown if someone had immediately covered them with new building materials, such that they never saw the sun. But they did see the sun and they grew.

Folks, we are sunlight to a darkened world. Whatever we say, whatever we do can have an impact on those we meet. I’ve said many times before, “Walk the walk and talk the talk.” Another of my favorite lines is from Acts 4:20, …we can’t help but speak of the things that we have seen and heard. We are sunlight and (from yesterday’s reading) …we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:16)

Slava Bohu!

I Corinthians 2:1-16

Paul is pretty hard on himself as to his testimonies to the Corinthians: …in weakness and in fear and much trembling… (v. 3b). I’m guessing that he is recalling his early testimonies to them, when he had just come from Athens, where skilled oration and elocution were the standard among the learned Athenians. No wonder he felt diminished!

I had to think for a bit to understand the following two verses: For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. (vv. 11-12). Essentially Paul is saying that (1) only we can understand our own thoughts, and (2) only the Spirit of God can understand the thoughts of God, and (3) if we have been given the Spirit of God, then we can understand the thoughts of God that He imparts to us. THAT is wisdom from Above…!!

Slava Bohu!

I Corinthians 1:18-31

Paul is full of triads in today’s reading. See verse 20: Where is… Where is… Where is…? See verse 26: Not many… Not many… Not many… And verses 27 and 28: But God chose… God chose… God chose… Fun!

It is interesting that Paul decries the wise, the wisdom of the world and counters with But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise… (v. 27a) Why do I consider this interesting? Paul, himself, was wise by Jewish standards. He was a student of Gamaliel, one of the leading rabbis of his time. Then God made him even wiser by personally showing him the Old Testament scriptures with a new set of eyes. So in choosing Paul, God did choose the wise! However, Paul never puts himself into that camp. He considers his old life foolishness. Here is one of the few occasions where he lauds himself: For we … worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (Philippians 3:3-7) Even in recounting his pedigree, he denies it all for the sake of Christ.

Slava Bohu!

I Corinthians 1:1-17

So now we move on to Paul’s Corinthian letters, which were most likely written sometime during his last year at Ephesus (Acts 16:5-9), so because we have Paul at Ephesus in our Acts readings we read these letters at this point in our chronological study. We will spend quite a few weeks in these letters – Paul writes more words to the Corinthian church than to any other.

We’ve got some familiar names in today’s reading. In the first verse we see the name, Sosthenes, very possibly the leader of the Corinthian synagogue (Acts 18:17), who was beaten by his fellow Jews in front of the synagogue. Was he beaten because he had turned to Jesus? We don’t know that, but that’s a good guess. Actually, we don’t know that this is the same Sosthenes, but it’s a fair guess that the Corinthian Sosthenes may have followed Paul to Ephesus.

We also have Apollos in today’s reading: …it has been reported to me … that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” (vv. 11b-12) We met Apollos earlier in Acts 18:24-28 when he was corrected by Priscilla and Aquila while he was in Ephesus, then that he moved on to Corinth and was preaching there. So it’s no surprise that many of the Corinthian Christians could have “sworn allegiance” to him or either of those other two Christian leaders.

It is interesting in verse 17 that Paul is less concerned with his delivery and more concerned that the Gospel be preached: For Christ …[sent me]… to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. We have many powerful preachers today who have a widespread following in part due to their dynamic personalities. (I don’t follow them, so I can’t name names.) Paul wants his listeners to hear his words and not be tantalized by his delivery method. History shows us that he was enormously successful in his mission! I like what I’ve heard Father David say on a number of occasions, “You bring the people and I’ll preach the Gospel.” A few right words can go a long way!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 19:11-22

After I have been there, I must also see Rome. (v. 21b) Here we have the first indication of Paul’s desire to visit Rome. We’ll see it a few more times in his writings. Unfortunately when he finally arrives there, he comes as a prisoner. I had suggested a few weeks back that his trip to Berea, Athens, and Corinth may have been an unplanned detour from his original intent to go to Rome. But that’s just guesswork.

And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. (vv. 17b-18) And fear fell upon them all… I’m wondering about fear being a good motivator for conversion. “Fear of the Lord” as a humble recognition of His great power is one thing. But this fear seems to be more along the lines of them being actually afraid of the power going out from the Holy Spirit. But as with any conversions, some will stay and some will go. We just trust that the same Holy Spirit power that made demons leap can also be infused into these new Christians – and us!!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 19:1-10

The Apollos-Priscilla-Aquila-Paul-Holy Spirit connection is a bit confusing in chapter 18’s ending and chapter 19’s beginning. When he came to Ephesus Apollos knew only about the baptism of John (Acts 18:25). Paul had left Priscilla and Aquila behind when he left Ephesus (Acts 18:19) and they instructed Apollos more accurately (Acts 18:26). So Paul comes to Ephesus some many months later, following his time in Jerusalem and Antioch (Acts 18:22) and …spending some time there… (Acts 18:23), then traveling through Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23) before finally arriving at Ephesus. So when he arrives in Ephesus after these many months, with Priscilla and Aquila having been there the entire time that he had been traveling, these Ephesians did not know about the Holy Spirit. Paul had been with Priscilla and Aquila some 18 months in Corinth; I would have thought that he would have instructed them more completely in the Holy Spirit and His work in believers’ lives. But these Ephesian disciples knew only of the baptism of John – what they might have learned from Apollos. So there is some confusion therein that I cannot resolve, as to Priscilla and Aquila’s ministry in Ephesus.

Ephesus was a bustling port city during Paul’s three years there. (Their harbor has now silted over and it is some three miles from the Aegean Sea.) As a major commercial center, Paul’s ministry there was easily extended out into the rest of Asia (Acts 19:10) – actually Turkey/Asia Minor as we know it today. Later we will read the Epistle to the Colossians. The Colossians were very likely one of the beneficiaries of Paul’s Ephesian ministry, with Colossae being some 120 miles east of Ephesus.

Slava Bohu!