2 Corinthians 1-4

Chapter 1

God comforts us in our afflictions, through fellow believers. I (Paul) boast in you, and hope you boast in us, even though I couldn't come to you. God has kept all His promises to us in Christ, and sealed them with His Spirit.

Chapter 2
I didn't write before to hurt or offend you, but out of love. If the offender has repented, then forgive him, and I too forgive. Christ always goes before us, wherever we go.

Chapter 3

The church of Corinth itself is our commendation of us. We need not write a letter. The ministry of the letter (the Old Testament) is surpassed in glory by that of the Spirit, anyway: more glory, more boldness even than Moses, more permanent than the first covenant. We are transformed from one glory to another.

Chapter 4

We don't veil or spin the message, but preach Christ, who shines as a treasure within the clay jar of our selves. We are afflicted with suffering and death while we minister life to you. He will raise us to life again, while grace increases to you, bringing thanks and glory to God. The affliction is light and temporary compared to the eternal weight of glory coming.

2 Corinthians 5-8

Chapter 5
Death will just be swallowed up by life, being home with the Lord. We are ambassadors for Christ, through Whom God reconciles Himself to the world, not counting our sins against us.

Chapter 6
Don't receive God's grace in vain. We are suffering for you, in Christ; open your hearts to us as we have to you. Dont' fellowship with unbelievers - separate from them. Cleanse yourself of every defilement, body and spirit.

Chapter 7
I don't regret my letter grieving you, for it bore fruit. Titus has comforted us with news of your faithfulness, and I am confident of you.

Chapter 8
The other churches of Macedonia have given generously. Since you excel in everything else, do so here, too. Christ was rich and became poor for you. Return the favor in His Body, the Church. Share the burden and blessings equally, as they did when manna fell from heaven. Titus is coming to you with this letter, and others.

2 Corinthians 9-13

Chapter 9
I stuck my neck out saying you would give, so don't embarrass me. When I come, give willingly. If you sow generously, you will reap generously.

Chapter 10
Our ministry is spiritual warfare, taking all thoughts captive to Christ. We are of Christ as you are. Our authority over you is for your good; our appeal to you is not overdoing it, for we came to you with the Gospel first. Recommendations from others don't matter; only from the Lord. Don't seek approval from men, but from the Lord.

Chapter 11

Put up with me for a while; you put up with other speakers who preach a different gospel, just because they speak well. I may not speak as well, but I have knowledge. Should I have charged you, so you felt you were getting a top-notch conference speaker? They claim to be under our auspices, preaching the same gospel, but they preach a different message. This makes them Satan's servants, not God's. If you think me less wise than others, let me speak as a fool for a minute! I'm more debased than anyone. I excel in suffering more than all. I serve more than all. I'm in danger more, I'm weaker than all!

Chapter 12

I've had more amazing visions - caught up to 3rd heaven of paradise. It ain't bragging if you do it, and I did. But I don't boast anyway - it doesn't do any good and brings pride. To keep me from boasting God gave me a thorn in the flesh. I asked Him to take it away, but He didn't - giving grace in it, instead. This shows God's power in my weakness. I'm afriad when I come I will find some of you unrepentant.

Chapter 13

I won't spare the unrepentant when I come, since you want me to be strong. Test and examine yourselves, so I don't have to exercise my authority to do so when I come. Aim for restoration, peace and fellowship among your selves, through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Vacation reading

1 Corinthians 1-4

Chapter 1

I thank God for enriching you with gifts of speech and knowledge. Don't get divided by following earthly men. I preached Christ to you without eloquence at first. Christ is folly to the world, but is God's wisdom. He didn't call many with worldly wisdom, so that we wouldn't boast in it, but only in Christ.

Chapter 2
This is why they crucified Jesus - they couldn't and can't understand Him.

CHapter 3
You are still in the infancy of the flesh, jealously following personalities. We are all working toward the same harvest, and the last day will reveal the value of each one's work. Also all things are yours, so don't be jealous of others.

Chapter 4
You brag of being rich and strong while your spiritual betters go about weak and poor. What are you thinking?

1 Corinthians 5-8

Chapter 5
Don't boast when sin goes unchecked among you. Remove the leaven of sin from your house/church.

Chapter 6
When you take each other to court, you prove you can't judge among yourselves. You ought rather be wronged. You are inheriting a kingdom of purity, so act like it.

Chapter 7

Staying single is good. Marriage is also a good provision against temptation. Don't leave an unbelieving spouse unless they leave you. Stay as you were called before believing. There is no official Christian status: single, married, free, slave, circumcised, uncircumcised.

Chapter 8

Eating food offered to idols is no big deal, since an idol is nothing. But if you are with someone still untaught about this, don't scandalize him on purpose.

1 Corinthians 9-12

Chapter 9
Paul has a right to be paid by the Corinthians, but he didn't ask for it, to not stumble them. So why are you glorying in things that will stumble others? Run as an athlete straining to win the prize.

Chapter 10
After Israel was saved they fell back into idolatry and sexual sin, too, just as you are doing. Watch out! You participate in idols' feasts and Jesus' feast, both. Do what builds others up, not just whatever you may do. You MAY do what you want (vs 39), unless others perceive you endorse idolatry, or unless you will offend them. Imitate me (Paul) in this.

Chapter 11

Maintain male/female distinctions in worship, according to culturally appropriate practices. Don't divide by faction or family for the meal. Regard Christ's whole body at the Supper in how you eat. You are proclaiming His death, breaking bread He called His body, drinking wine He called His blood! So think about what you are doing, and why. Then God won't have to punish you as He is doing now.

Chapter 12
God designed our spiritual gifts to work together, like body parts in a body. Each needs the others. We are one in Christ, in the Spirit, in our baptism. We each have needed gifts, and need others.

1 Corinthians 13-16

Chapter 13

None of it matters without love. Gifts will pass away, but love won't.

Chapter 14
The gift of tongues is all right, but doesn't build up the church much. Desire the gifts that do. Prophesy in turn in church, so all can understand everything, women not taking part in evaluation of prophecy (though they pray in church - vs 11:5)

Chapter 15

The resurrection of Christ I preached is your only hope. He is the firstfruits of our own resurrection harvest, and will conquer all His enemies, even death. Naturalist objections to this resurrection are frivolous (as Jesus with the Saduccees - Matt. 22:29). All will be changed to glory, but not all will die, for death will lose its power at the last day. So endure in your labor, for it is not vain.

Chapter 16

Pace and plan your giving weekly until I come, so your gift to Jerusalem will be generous and not as painful. I can't come just now, but Timothy is coming; respect him. Apollos can't come now, though I urged him to. Stand firm. Respect men like Stephanus, the first converts in Greece. Greetings in the Lord Jesus!

Acts 18:19-19

Paul, on his way to Jerusaalem apparently, stops in Ephesus for one Sabbath, but has to go on. Caesarea, Jerusalem, Antioch, then back through Galatia. Meanwhile back in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila "discover" Apollos, an eloquent apologist for Jesus. He helps the church, after Priscilla and Aquila instruct him further.

Chapter 19
Since Corinth, whether because of Priscilla and Aquila or for some other reason, Paul stays in one place much longer (Acts 18:9-11, 19-23). He pauses his evangelizing in Eph to get to Jerusalem, makes his circuit through Galatia and Phrygia until he gets to Ephesus, and picks up where he left off there.

In Ephesus he tries evangelizing the Jews in the synagogue for 3 months, then goes to a secular lecture hall during the lunch and afternoon hours for 2 years, daily.

The name of Jesus is advanced greatly among Jewish and occultists, alike. So much so, that the idol industry feels it and is threatened. They riot; Paul wants to go argue with the mob! But most tellingly about Paul is verse 37. Either the town clerk was really ignorant of Paul, or Paul preached Christ without speaking against the pagan Greek pantheon.

2 Thessalonians

Your faith and love are growing under persecution, so we thank God. When Jesus returns, with His saints and angels in fire, He will avenge Himself on those who persecute you.

That day hasn't come yet. The man of lawlessness will come to power first, and that won't happen until the restrainer is removed. God will bring delusion to many, and those deluded will be condemned (?).

Chapter 3

Pray for us to speed God's Word to its target; we pray He will establish you in that Word, directing your hearts. Don't be idle. Work. If anyone doesn't listin to my commands don't fellowship with them, to shame and warn them as a brother.

1 Thessalonians

Paul thanks God that the Gospel has taken hold among them by the Spirit, in spite of opposition from Jews (chpt 1-2). He is glad to hear they are still thriving, after he worked among them for a time (2-3). Live in purity and love. Control your body and use your hands to provide for yourself. Don't worry about those who have already died, grieving for them as pagans do, without hope. They will be with the Lord first at His return (4). That day will be like a thief in the night for the world. But we are children of day, so it should not surprise us when it comes. In all the ruckus on their first visit (Acts 17:1-9) they apparently still had time to establish elders, to whom Paul points the believers as their leaders (5).

Acts 17-18

Paul, Silas and Timothy come to Thessalonica, and the usual happens. Enough Jews believe that the leaders get jealous. Paul goes to the Gentiles, of whom a significant number are also converted, and the Jews stir up the city rabble against Paul, forcing him out.

The Berean Jews believe, being famous for searching the Bible to discern the truth of the speaker. But the Jews from Thessalonica now do to Paul what he did to the early church, chasing them from city to city. Paul goes on to Athens, while the lower-key Silas and Timothy order the church under radar and follow Paul when they are done.

Paul can't take it in Athens, where Greek gods are everywhere. He speaks out, but doesn't seem to attack their gods as much as preach Jesus. He gets at least two converts, and others who remain interested.

Paul stays longer in Corinth than elsewhere, by God's leading, and with Jews of his same trade, apparently - tentmaking. Converting the Jews' synagogue ruler must have been a blow. The Jews try to implicate Paul with a new ruler, Gallio, but it backfires and their own new synagogue ruler is beaten - a warning not to bring frivolous lawsuits before Gallio, perhaps.

Paul heads back for Antioch, with Priscilla and Aquila in tow. He apparently keeps the Torah, though he has already argued so vociferously to the Galatians against relying upon it for one's justification, for he has taken a Nazirite vow (Numbers 6) and cuts his hair in accordance with the regulation there.

Application: we aren't all called to be an evangelist full time, and we live in a fairly Christian culture, so no heavy duty guilt trip here. But have you ever faced opposition, pressure, or hostility for believing in Jesus? Not for lifestyle practices like Sabbath observance or family life, but directly for believing in a risen Savior?

Been reading...

I read two books recently.


1. Timeline, by Michael Crichton. This was my first Chrichton book, and I wasn't too impressed. I breezed through it, only reading it for the time travel aspect of the plot. Turned out to be a decent survey of medieval life, though.

2. Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen. As always, an obvious and yet subtle character study, especially of these two virtues. Marianne is all sensibility in the "responsive mainly/only to her outward senses" sense (!). Societal constraints mean little to her, only what she feels. John Dashwood is all sense in the "what will society expect and allow you to get away with" sense. Sympathy and compassion for others - a form of sensibility - mean little to him and his selfish wife. Elinor is a happy medium. She has compassion on those around her, but also knows when to keep a promise/secret or conform to custom.

On reading the Bible

Scripture is not as explicit as it could be on many issues. So we can reason from good and necessary consequence, without having to stretch grammatical definitions beyond their intended usage, in an attempt to get the rules all laid out explicitly in Scripture, covering every possible situation. The Bible doesn't do that. That isn't the way in which the Bible addresses all of life. God requires us to use wisdom in applying Scripture. (We aren't comfortable with this because it makes it easier to justify/rationalize Scriptural disobedience; so we think going back to strict obedience will ward off disobedience - another fallacy.)

Like a child grows from strict obedience ("Do this. Yes, ma'am") into self-responsible judgment calls ("What would be the wise use of my time right now?"), so Israel was also trained on the "Do this" law as a nation of priests (Leviticus), but had to grow up to apply it with wisdom as kings and prophets. We often try to go back to a Leviticus, "just tell me what to do," childish mindset, even if we are 35 or 45. In one sense we ought never leave that mindset, always remaining submissive to God (Ps 123:2); in another, we are called to be wise judges ourselves, like Solomon with the two women (1 Kings 3:16ff).

This is not to disparage Leviticus. All the OT applies today, in various ways, even the food laws which Jesus declared nullified. There is a right way to apply it today, as I think we should do with our worship order (Leviticus 9), as David did in making some Levites musicians, which was not stated explicitly in the Law (1 Chron 15:16ff), as Israel did with the feasts of Purim (Esther) and Hanukkah (John 10:22). These things are not departing from Scripture, or failing to argue from Scripture. They are applying it with wisdom. We don't have to squint with suspicious eyes when we see this, wondering "what are you trying to get away with?"

This touches on many important things like what we can do in worship, what holidays we can/should celebrate, etc, and it all stems from how we read the Bible.

Galatians 4-6 - Against Noses for Moses

We are heirs according to promise, but under the law until we come of age. Now that Christ and the Spirit have come we are no longer under the law. Why go back to it? You are leaving the Gospel I (Paul) preached, no longer esteeming me as you once did.

The Ishmael and Isaac history is repeating itself: Jews apart from Christ are Ishmael, physically of Abraham but not receiving the promise. Christians are Isaac, children of the promise.

If you go back to following the law as your identity and trust, then you have left Christ, fallen from grace. In Him, only faith working through love matters, not the law. I (Paul) am not preaching circumcision to you. I wish those who are would go further and cut more off. The law of freedom is to love and serve each other. The fruit of the flesh and of the Spirit are each obvious and opposed to each other.

Restore sinners gently, not sinning yourself. Sow a harvest for yourself and beyond, to share with others in need.

Circumcision advocates are counting noses for Moses. Look how great Moses is, how many followers he has! I boast only in the cross of Jesus Christ. There you find the real circumcision. Believers in it are the real Israel of God. Don't give me any more grief about this; I have scars elsewhere on my body because of Jesus.

APPLICATION: what belief or practice that is important to you comes closest to defining your identity, your faith, supplanting Christ and His cross?
Some possibilities:
Live and let live
Conservative politics
Your family being together
Homeschooling
The commandment to be Nice, and not offend
Gender roles in marriage and family