Category: 1 Corinthians

Amen (1 Corinthians 16:24).

And so, we come to the end of the letter.

It’s only taken two years–albeit with many detours along the way.

Beloved, thank you for making the journey with me. Please forgive me for any wrong turns I may have taken. I have never claimed to be a Biblical scholar.

I’m just a guy on the same walk as you.

So, this word Amen.

We use it a lot at the close of a prayer or to express agreement with what has been said.

It means, “truth” in Hebrew, and it has made its way pretty much unchanged into all the translations of the Bible that I know of. Paul closes his letter to the Corinthians with this word. It signifies that he has spoken truth to his friends–even when it hurt. It also turns the closing of the letter into a prayer of sorts. He affirms the truth of his words and his love in the sight of Almighty God.

It is my prayer that you will carry the truths of this letter forward into all your days to come. 

Happy Tuesday, Beloved

My love to all of you in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 16:24).

As my grandma would have said, this has been a tough row to hoe. Paul has spent many pages counseling, correcting, and rebuking his friends from Corinth. I would imagine it was pretty exhausting.

But 

Paul loved them. No matter the stress they caused him, Paul loved the church at Corinth. He didn’t chastise because he was on a power trip, nor because he was fed up with them. Frankly, if he had wanted to, he could have just cut them loose to fend for themselves.

Except he couldn’t,

because they were his.

Paul reflects the love of the Father in this letter. He teaches, he corrects, he rebukes, because of his love. In the same way, our Father is not willing to let us continue in sin simply to keep us happy. 

Happiness is not his goal–holiness is.

Happy Monday, Beloved

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. (1 Corinthians 16:23).

Grace

Unmerited favor

Paul began this letter by wishing the Corinthians grace. By definition, grace is something they couldn’t earn and could never deserve. They could only receive. This grace came by the will of the Father, at the price of His Son, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It was, and remains, the only hope for sinful, broken, fallen people like the Corinthians

and the Michaels.

I’m certainly no apostle, but may I wish you the grace of the Lord Jesus today?

Sure I can–it’s my blog.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus rest on you today, Beloved of God. 

And every day to come

Happy Friday

If anyone does not love the Lord–a curse be upon him. Come, O Lord! (1 Corinthians 16:22)

Ouch

I mean, isn’t that a little extreme–calling down curses?

Aren’t we supposed to love everybody?

Beloved, Paul has spent sixteen chapters preaching love and teaching love and describing love and demonstrating love. Now, at the end of his letter, he gets down to brass tacks.

Did they have brass tacks in Paul’s day? Good question

The point is, in the end people are going to make one of two choices.

They will love the Lord

or 

they will not.

Those who do not will fall under the curse that we all deserve.

Those who do will cry with Paul, “Come, O Lord!”

I know which team I’m on.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets in their house. All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand(1 Corinthians 16:19-21).

As he brings his letter to a close, Paul does your basic wrap-up. He passes on the “Tell them I said ‘Howdy’” messages from everybody, and generally tells them to play nice.

Some things I wonder…

Did Aquilla and Priscilla know that they would have a cameo in one of the most famous letters in history? How would they have felt about that?

Did anybody in the Corinthian church find the “holy kiss” awkward? Because when I traveled to churches in the East, I found that seriously awkward.

What was the deal with Paul’s writing? He often mentions that he dictated his letters, and wrote a final greeting in his own hand. I know most people figure he had bad eyesight, but why? Had he never fully recovered from his experience on the Damascus road? Did God heal him, but leave him with poor eyesight as a reminder? ‘Cause I don’t think he would have needed a reminder. Maybe it had nothing to do with that; maybe he had just spent too long sewing tents in poor lighting.

I wonder a lot. Feel free to shush me.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved

I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition (1 Corinthians 16:17-18).

Paul misses his friends at Corinth.

Yes, they’ve been a frustration–this letter to them has plenty of correction and even anger in it.

But they’re family, and you miss your family–dysfunctional as they may be.

Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have brought Paul news of the church. Much of 1 Corinthians is probably a response to what they told him and the letter they brought (see 7:1). Seeing them makes his heart glad, probably brings back a rush of memories.

I can relate.

Beloved, I am so glad that God chose to allow passages such as this to be preserved in his word. No, it isn’t high theology or the path of salvation or an explanation of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

But

it does remind us that Paul, and the Corinthians for that matter, were more than fonts of theology or flannelboard cutouts.

They were people.

People like us

I don’t know about you, but that is something I need to be reminded of from time to time.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved

You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these, and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it (1 Corinthians 16:15-16).

Service

Seems kind of boring.

I don’t know what Stephanas and his folk were involved in. 

Maybe they were greeters

or parking attendants.

Perhaps they did dishes after the church potluck

or changed diapers in the children’s ministry.

I don’t know how they served, just that they served–the whole family.

It probably wasn’t glamorous, because most service isn’t.

Paul says we should submit to people like Stephanas, because he has devoted his life to the people of God, and therefore, to God himself.

How about you, Beloved? 

Who are you serving, and how?

Happy Monday, Beloved

Do everything in love  (1 Corinthians 16:14).

Love is more than an emotion.

More than an action

It’s an attitude.

When you love someone, you are putting them first.

Their life, their needs, their desires come before your own.

To love is to daily lay down your life, in ways both big and small.

God has shown us his love in the Son.

In fact, in ways I cannot begin to fathom–much less explain–God is love.

So when you approach the world in love, you emulate your Father, and you are one with him. You are fulfilling the very purpose for which you were brought into being.

So…do that.

Happy Friday, Beloved

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong  (1 Corinthians 16:13).

You are in a battle.

You are under attack from multiple directions.

Society fills your head with lies about who you are and what you should want and be and do.

The enemy seeks to devour you, one minute telling you you are good for nothing, the next trying to convince you that you should be king of the world. 

Your own heart will betray you, rising up to claim the throne that is rightly God’s.

You must stand and fight, Beloved. Fight for your very self, fight to the limits of your strength and beyond, knowing two things:

First, your strength will not be enough.

Second, you do not fight alone.

You have a Champion who fights with you, and who will bring you victory.

But you are still called to strap on the armor, pick up your sword, and stand.

So…do that.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity (1 Corinthians 16:12).

Our brother Apollos

Do you remember Apollos? He is kind of a background character in Acts, a traveling preacher and teacher who was spreading the gospel in the same areas as Paul. He was at the heart of some rather unpleasant controversy in Corinth. Remember back in the first chapter, where, “One of you says ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’?”

Yep, that Apollos

The Corinthians saw Paul and Apollos as competitors.

Paul did not.

Paul seems to have considered Apollos a fellow worker, a partner in the gospel.

A brother

Beloved, look around. Do you see others as competition to be bested, or as partners to embrace? 

When in doubt, I vote to embrace.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved