That brings us to chapter 6, where as I said we come to this third matter of litigation. Paul does not supply the details of the situation, since it would have been known by both Paul and the Corinthian church. But apparently what was happening is that Christians in the church were going to court
The word “litigious” is more common today than it was in previous generations. It means “prone to litigation” or “prone to go to court.” I do recall seeing an article, I believe in Time magazine, entitled, “The Litigious Society.” It made the point that there has been a change in the way we do th
I want to look at 2 Corinthians 2 because there we learn how this particular situation concluded. By the time Paul writes 2 Corinthians, a period of time has gone by. The purpose for which Paul had the church deliver this offender to Satan has been accomplished. The man has realized the loss and
In yesterday’s study we concluded by saying that Paul instructs the church to turn the sinning member over to Satan for the salvation of his spirit.There is some difference of interpretation among commentators as to what that means. The word which is translated as “sinful nature” is the word for “f
When we begin to look at a specific sinful situation within the church as not only being a problem for the individuals involved but for the whole church, we begin to have an uneasy sense that we are describing a lot of what goes on in the Christian Church today. It may not be this particular offens
Paul begins chapter 5 by describing the offense. First of all, we notice that it was a significant transgression. What it actually involved was a sexual sin in which, as Paul says, a man has his father's wife. That Paul does not use "mother" to describe the woman is generally taken to mean that t
The theme of 1 Corinthians 5 is that of church discipline. This is a hard subject for churches to face, and it is a hard subject to put into practice. Yet, one of the effects of systematic teaching through books of the Bible is that we do eventually come to such passages and, therefore, need to de
You look at those two groups of people—the Corinthians and the apostles—and the big question you have to ask yourself is this: Who would you rather be? Of course, you know what the answer is supposed to be. But I am not asking you what the answer is supposed to be. I am asking you who would you r
When church discipline needs to be carried out, the leaders must be careful that they do not go too far. Not long after realizing the value there is to proper church disciple, a situation like this can develop. The church leaders see somebody doing something that they do not think should be happen
Paul does go on to speak of a number of areas in which we are to be faithful. One is in correctly handling the mysteries of God, which is the Gospel, mentioned in verse 1. When Paul speaks of mysteries here, he is not speaking of mysteries in the same sense as the Greek mysteries. The Greeks had
Whenever you read that word "servant" in the New Testament, you need to remember what it really means. Strictly speaking, in ancient times they did not have servants—at least not in the sense that we have in mind when we use that word. Rather, what they had were slaves. So when you read in the Ne
While chapter 4 develops its own themes, it is nevertheless related to chapter 3, on divisions in the church. Paul says in the first chapter that the church at Corinth was enriched with all spiritual gifts, and had a great deal of theological knowledge, as well as other good things, but which was d
As we come to the end of 1 Corinthians 3, Paul brings us back to this matter of divisions in what is really a very brilliant paragraph. Paul is saying, "Think how foolish these divisions are. First of all, they are based upon the world's way of doing things, which is folly in the sight of God. Yo
There are three major responsibilities of a minister. One is a ministry of preaching and teaching. The second is a work of administration so that the organizational aspects of a church are taken care of. The third is a pastoral aspect that concerns things such as visitation. Every minister does
What is the biblical pattern? Paul says in verse 5: "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task." Paul’s emphasis is that the ministers in the church of Jesus Christ are servants, even as Jesus Christ H
On the other side are those who say, “No you can't distinguish between Christians in that fashion because if you're born again, you must be going on with the Lord. You must acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ. Christ is no Savior if Christ is not the Lord.” And at that point I speak positiv
In my Bible there is a very appropriate section heading to 1 Corinthians 3. It is called "On Divisions in the Church." Yet as I read this chapter, which is probably the greatest statement in all the Bible against divisions in the Church of Jesus Christ, I realize that it has actually been the caus
Do you want to be wise? That's a very good ambition. How are you going to be wise? Are you going to find wisdom in the world's way? Oh, if you seek it that way, you'll be thought wise by the world but you'll be spiritually foolish. Or are you going to seek wisdom in God's way?I find it interest
The problem, as we have mentioned already, is that our minds cannot conceive spiritual truth without the help and blessing of the Holy Spirit. And when you begin to talk about God's process of revelation, what you come to next in the steps of God's dealings with fallen human beings is regeneration,
Some years ago, I received a letter from a pastor out in western Canada who was asking a number of questions about what he perceived to be contradictions in the pages of the Word of God. I could not tell from his letter whether these were genuine questions, or whether he was one of those people who
In yesterday’s study we ended with the idea of general revelation, which includes the revelation of God in nature. In 1 Corinthians 1 we were talking about the foolishness of this world’s wisdom, and the example of this from Carl Sagan’s program Cosmos. He looks at the wonders of creation, all the
A number of years ago I did a series of sermons on the passages in the Bible where the words, “but God,” occur. There are a number of very significant passages that use those two words, such as Ephesians 2:4, for one example. The verses immediately before talk of our sin and the way we have ruined
What about when Paul came to the Jews? Did Paul say something like this: “Well it’s obvious that we can’t get very far talking about Jesus as He walked around the dusty roads of Palestine. Let’s emphasize the transformation up on the mountain when Moses and Elijah came down. Let’s build that exci
We come now to the third section, where Paul begins to think about how God works. It is not only that God has demonstrated His wisdom at the cross in what Jesus Christ achieved there; God also demonstrates His wisdom by choosing the foolish people of this world to come to Christ, not the wise. Pau
