Category: Epistles – Is his letter to our church?

Epistles ἐπιστολή or Letters

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians 

FEATURED SERIES

JUNE 2024 – 2025 —

1 CORINTHIANS 

First letter after ACTS of the Apostles:

Epistle of Paul to the Romans Church

Letters – Is he writing to me?
The short answer: YES.

In their epistles or 1st century church letters the Apostles and other men sent out by Jesus build up the saints [small – ‘s’] or members of local first century churches.

A Disciple or other witness of JESUS would write it. Messengers then delivered these church letters to many isolated worshipers.

Followers of Jesus Christ receive these letters as a major encouragement to their personal faith. Then leaders read them to worshipers of their church.

Although the Epistles 0r Letters to the Church were originally written to churches of the first century,

Romans through Jude will seem like letters to your 21st century church.

  • What do Peter, Paul, John and others tell us we must do?
  • Is he talking about an issue in your 21st c. church as well?
  • How does the writer’s advice, warning, or encouragement to the 1st c. believers apply to you as well
  • Is the writer of this letter talking about something you need to address in your 21st century ‘christian’ life?

Contemporary Application of the Letters (Epistles)

Most New Testament writers take on specific issues confronting faithful followers of Jesus Christ. These same issues continue to confront believers until the Lord’s coming again in these last days.

Certainly Christ our Lord will come again to those God has chosen for eternal life.

Believers currently suffer more than most of you who know Christ in your local church can imagine.

In other lands Christians continue to suffer by the hand of the ungodly.
Go into all the world

A 21st century Common Era church can see and hear nearly any atrocity of man or artificial imagination of sinful man’s mind, yet ‘christians‘ dare not speak of any absolute truth of the Lord God or talk of JESUS CHRIST.

Will YOU comment on Scripture and share the Gospel?

I invite you to read the inspired word of Scripture written in these LETTTERS TO THE CHURCH.

YES, He IS writing to YOU.

Beloved brother or sister in Christ Jesus,

Will you read this ‘CHURCH LETTER’ and talk of JSUS through your comment, sharing and email to me about this ‘Letter to you?”

Roger@talkofJesus.com

  • Spiritualities – ‘I would not have you ignorant’

    Spiritualities – ‘I would not have you ignorant’

    Spiritualities – πνευματικός

    Spiritual:

    always connotes the ideas of invisibility and of power. ..it is in fact an after-Pentecost word.

    the activities Godward of regenerate men are ‘spiritual sacrifices,’ 1Pe 2:5; their appointed activities in the churches are also called ‘spiritual gifts,’ lit., ‘spiritualities,’ 1Cr 12:1; 14:1;

    Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words Adjective Strong’s Number: g4152 Greek: pneumatikos

    Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

    First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians 12:1 King James Version

    I want to begin HERE by proceeding with the Apostle’s letter to the church in Corinth because SPIRITUAL GIFTS seem not only mysterious, but frequently misused in preaching and therefore confusing to Christians growing in our faith.

    So in addition to working our way through 1 Corinthians 12 we will also examine and hopefully clarify the context of these spiritualities of which the Apostle writes throughout his epistle.


    The Corinthian connection of Spiritualities

    Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.

    You know that when you were pagans, to mute idols you were led, as being carried away.

    Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed,”

    and no one is able to say, “Jesus is Lord,” if not in the Holy Spirit.


    Ignorant?

    21st century Common Era christians don't use such offensive self-evaluation of ANYONE in our church, do we? Yet the Apostle Paul did in asking church members to examine themselves.

    ἀγνοέω – agnoeō – verb

    • to be ignorant, not to know
    • not to understand, unknown
    • to err or sin through mistake, to be wrong
    We may eventually acknowledge what we formerly did not know or did not understand. But how we avoid confession of current err and continuing sin.

    Yet the Apostle consistently corrects the Corinthian church in these things pointing to Christ in a Spiritual sense:

    For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.

    1 Corinthians 10:1-4 :: Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)

    In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul outlines the SIN and ERR of IDOLATRY

    Soon the Apostle warns the Corinthians that God may not recognize some worshippers gathering for their communions:

    But if anyone remains G50 ignorant G50 about this, he is ignored G50 by God.

    1 Corinthians 14:38 LSB

    Spiritual Gifts

    Let’s clear this up FIRST through basic and ROOT definitions of this important adjective.

    REMINDER that an adjective describes a person (you, me, a fellow saint).

    pneumatikos

    relating to the human spirit, or rational soul, as the part of man which is akin to God and serves as his instrument or organ

    • opposed to ἡ ψυχή: hence, τό πνευματικόν, that which possesses the nature of the rational soul, opposed to τό ψυχικόν,

    The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.

    1 Corinthians 15:46

    • The Apostle Paul uses pneumatikos 15 times in his first letter to the Corinthians.

    Root Word (Etymology)
    From πνεῦμα (G4151)

    pneuma – spirit

    neuter noun From πνέω (G4154)

    The KJV translates Strong’s G4151 in the following manner: Spirit (111x), Holy Ghost (89x), Spirit (of God) (13x), [more]

    “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit G4151 does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

    Gospel of Luke 24:39 LSB

    What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost G4151 which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

    1 Corinthians 6:19 KJV

    Paul uses the Greek πνεῦμα (pneuma) 41 times in 33 verses in 1 Corinthians, pointing to the spirit in the body and also referring to the Holy Ghost.

    Now there are diversities G1243

    1 Cor 12:4a KJV

    And there are differences G1243

    1 Cor 12:5a KJV

    And there are diversities G1243

    1 Cor 6a KJV

    What distinctions?

    1. gifts
    2. administrations
    3. operations

    1 Cor 12: 4b,5b,6b KJV

    OR perhaps less formally:
    • spiritual gifts
    • ministries or service
    • effects or workings

    And the Paul’s connection of these three outlined?

    1. but the same Spirit [G4151] pneuma
    2. but the same Lord. [G2962] kyrios
      • Root Word (Etymology)
      • masculine noun
      • From kuros (supremacy)
    3. but the same God [G2316] theos is working all things in everyone.

    No matter which English translation or version of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians you prefer note the frequency of applying this

    Higher Authority over the Church.:

    πνευματικός

    pneumatikos – pnyoo-mat-ik-os’

    • relating to the human spirit, or rational soul, as part of the man which is akin to God and serves as his instrument or organ
    • belonging to a spirit, or a being higher than man but inferior to God
    • belonging to the Divine Spirit
      • of God the Holy Spirit
      • one who is filled with and governed by the Spirit of God
    • pertaining to the wind or breath; windy, exposed to the wind, blowing

    πνεῦμα – pneuma – Spirit

    occurs 40 times in 32 verses in ‘1Co’ in the MGNT Greek.

    1 Corinthians 12:7- 11 BSB

    Now to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit, for the common profiting.

    For truly, to one is given a word of wisdom by the Spirit, and to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, and to a different one faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another working of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another distinguishing of spirits, and to a different one various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues.

    Now one and the same the Spirit works all these things, apportioning individually to each as He wills.

    1 Corinthians 12:11 BSB Spirit,
    Πνεῦμα (Pneuma)
    Noun – Nominative Neuter Singular
    Strong’s 4151: Wind, breath, spirit.

    spiritualities (or spiritual gifts)

    The Apostle assures that these spiritualities (or spiritual gifts) are just that: GIFTS of the Holy Spirit of God.

    Therefore the Lord chooses which saint may receive what gift,


    θεός – theos – God

    occurs 106 times in 86 verses in ‘1Co’ in the TR Greek.

    And where in the Apostle's first letter to the Corinthians did Paul first point to the Highest Authority of God?

    Paulcalled to be an apostle of Jesus  Christ through the will of God, G2316 …

    1 Corinthians 1:1a

    From his call by Jesus Christ after the Lord's resurrection and consequent authority 'through the will of God' the Apostle Paul will proceed to instruct Christ's body (the Church, as he will illustrate) in the humility and nature of the gifts of their spiritualities. 

    And God G2316 hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

    1 Corinthians 12:28 KJV

    MORE on that NEXT time... 

    κύριος – kyrios – Lord, lord and master

    From kuros (supremacy)

    occurs 69 times in 59 verses in ‘1Co’ in the TR Greek.

    he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord

    Lexicon :: Strong’s G2962 – kyrios

    And when does Paul first mention the Lord and at the same time extend the line of His authority and mission to Corinth?  

    To the church of God in Corinth,

    to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy,

    together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

    Salutation of the Apostle Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians 1:2 BSB

    Throughout his letter Paul reveals the unseen unfolding mysteries of Christ through the Spirit of the Triune God.

    The Corinthian saints are no more like the communities in which they live who have spiritualities of their own.

    different spiritualities ?

    Were the communities and spiritualities of Corinth so different from our own 21st century C.E. gatherings and communions which include all with great diversity, yet with considerable ignorance of the Spirit?

    And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

    1 Corinthians 12:5 KJV


    NEXT: Members in Christ's body 

    Talk of JESUS .com

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

  • Your Communions in Church and in Christ

    Your Communions in Church and in Christ

    Communions, gatherings, worship services, church services — call them whatever you like. But the Apostle Paul provides some pointed correction for the church as we continue in 1 Corinthians 11.

    Communion – Sharing in the Lord’s Supper

    What’s the Apostle Paul saying to the Church?

    It’s an Exhortation

    Pretty strait-forward

    Paul addresses these communions (as the idolatrous feasts of Corinth he has already addressed) presenting a clear choice for godly saints of the Church at Corinth.

    v.17 In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good. – BSB


    for the Church

    Would you like to hear Paul's introduction in another way? 

    1 Corinthians 11:18

    • For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. – NKJV
    • In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. – NIV
    • For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it. – HNV

    This is simply Paul’s FIRST POINT following the Apostle’s exhortation about sanctified living AND following his FIRST POINT about ROLES in Christian Worship within this section of his Epistle ordering Christ’s instructions for worship.

    The Apostle Paul specifically points to times when we assemble [or come together] συνέρχομαι – synerchomai as a CHURCH ἐκκλησίᾳ – ekklēsia.

    Many of you know this Greek word for church. 

    LOOK at its definition
    (nothing specifically yet about communion here. But read on.)

    The Apostle then continues in his outline for Christian gatherings.

    Sharing in the Lord’s Supper ( 11:17⁠–⁠34 )

    church supper

    An exhortation for social and festive meals in the church community

    Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.

    21 For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without sharing his meal. While one remains hungry, another gets drunk.

    22 Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?

    What can I say to you? Shall I praise you for this?

    No, I will not!


    The Apostle’s transition into this section had been:

    Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.1 Cor 11:1 KJV


    Paul's focus:

    Our communions other than Holy Communion

    For there must be also heresies among you,

    that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

    1 Corinthians 11:19 KJV

    * In the first major schism of the Church in the A.D. 11th century the Roman Church divided from the Orthodox Church. See the Timeline in the link above.

    Common Era christians dare not mention such things as HERESY, lest we offend some unbeliever in our gathering or sharing in breaking bread with us at an occasional community evangelism feast. 

    We prefer a gentler approach of translations of αἵρεσις - hairesis like: factions or divisions or differences.

    11:20 συνερχομένων οὖν ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ οὐκ ἔστιν κυριακὸν δεῖπνον φαγεῖν

    When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

    First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians 11:20 KJV

    Does the Apostle then instruct the Church NOT to share in Holy Communion?

    NO, certainly not.

    Only not to participate in such a community meal alongside unbelievers (EVEN ‘at church’ ), including those who are not in Christ in this Holy Sacrifice of Communion as worship.


    The Lord’s Supper

    You may want to READ some of the Gospel including these Holy Scriptures, but I urge you for now to remain focused on the Apostle’s INSTRUCTION specifically to saints of the Church at Corinth (in ~ A.D. 55).

    Gospel cross-references to the Lord’s Supper

    King James Version


    a HOLY Communion in Christ celebrated by the Body of Christ

    Holy Communion the Bread and Cup of salvation in Christ  for the body of Christ the Church

    For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you..

    1 Corinthians 11:23a KJV

    Paul here reiterates from the Gospel accounts that which the Apostle had already instructed in person.


    .. That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

    And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat:

    this is my body, which is broken for you:

    this do in remembrance of me.

    After the same manner also he took the cup,

    when he had supped, saying,

    This cup is the new testament in my blood:

    this do ye, as oft as ye drink it,

    in remembrance of me.

    First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians 11:23-25 King James Version

    An Apostolic Application

    Once again, Paul has already WRITTEN:

    • NOT to eat Food Sacrificed to Idols AND taught lessons of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt concerning their idolatry.

    For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

    1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV

    The Apostle had reminded the saints of Corinth earlier in his letter of both his authority and humility in Christ confirming:

    • I have applied these things to myself [THEREFORE] learn from us not to go beyond what is written.
    • Paul’s instruction consequently will require the saints of Corinth:

    Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

    1 Corinthians 11:28 ESV


    27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. – BSB

    Commentary – Study Bible [below]

    • The term “unworthy manner” suggests a lack of reverence or self-examination
    • The “bread” and “cup” symbolize the body and blood of Christ, and partaking in them requires a heart of humility and repentance.
    • To be “guilty of sinning” implies a serious offense, akin to profaning something holy.

    For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

    First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians 11:29 King James Version

    If we would judge ourselves
    The Apostle offers a few additional reasons to examine ourselves before these communions with the world and the Holy Communion of the saints of our local church. 
    • That is why many among you are weak and sick,
    • and a number of you have fallen asleep.
    • Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment.
    • But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

    In conclusion, Paul reiterates about their divisions over their communions.

    ἐκδέχομαι – ekdechomai 

    33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat,

    tarry one for another.

    translates the King James

    1. to receive, accept
    2. to look for, expect, wait for, await: ἀλλήλους ἐκδέχεσθε wait for one another, namely, until each shall have received his food, 1 Corinthians 11:33, cf.

    PAUL closes this section of his letter about divisions stating that he has more to say about other issues later in person.

    “.. And when I come, I will give instructions about the remaining matters.


    Judge for yourself

    English translation: pictures Table Man Wine Mug Food Food Religion Text added to photo What's wrong with you Communions?

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  • Christian Roles in Christian Worship – 1 Corinthians 11

    Christian Roles in Christian Worship – 1 Corinthians 11

    You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

    1 Corinthians 11:1 Berean Standard Bible

    Now there’s a tall order seemingly impossible for any worshiper: Imitate an Apostle. But the humble Apostle Paul addresses the different roles of men and women in prayer and worship of the church.

    Roles of men and women

    Maintaining the Traditions

    Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.

    • 1 Corinthians 11:2 BSB

    Paul compliments the Corinthian church for remembering him in everything, including his teaching as an Apostle of Christ, from going back to when he ministered personally to the Corinthian church.

    The apostle specifically addresses what he expects of the Corinthian believers.

    Yet centuries later we may wonder:

    To what ‘traditions‘ is Paul referring? Jewish traditions? Local Hellenist Corinthian traditions?

    So let's take a more formal from the King James in order to clarify who Paul addresses in the Corinthian church.

    Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

    1 Corinthians 11:2 KJV

    In his Apostolic authority of these ordinances, Paul first and primarily addresses the men of the Corinthian church — a cultural consideration expected by both Jew and Hellenist gentile believers.

    An Illustration of Leadership

    Paul employs a common metaphor we won’t want to miss.

    κεφαλή – kephalē – head

    picture of head and brain with kephalē in Greek which means head In 1 Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul uses a metaphor of the head as a picture of authority in the church and of Christ as its head.

    metaph. anything supreme, chief, prominent

    1. of persons, master lord: of a husband in relation to his wife
    2. of Christ: the Lord of the husband and of the Church
    3. of things: the corner stone
    Paul uses this metaphor of the head ten times in his first letter to the Corinthian church. 

    So IF you tend to shun authority, you may question what the Apostle humbly orders by way of this ordinance of relationship and roles.

    Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

    1 Corinthians 11:4

    The idea here is that man was made in the glory of God and it would be dishonoring to God for him to cover his head while he prayed or prophesied. Now that is interesting coming from Paul considering that in Orthodox Jewry today, they all wear their little hats whenever they come into any sacred place of prayer.

    Chuck Smith commentary on 1 Cor 11:4

    So where where is the Apostle headed? 

    Paul naturally points to the creation of mankind by God.

    "Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." 1 Cor 11:9 KJV

    But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.

    1 Cor 11:5 NKJV

    Paul does not tell the men of Corinth that women should neither pray nor prophesy publically, only that she should have her head covered out of respect to the authority over her. 

    Thinking it through

    What is Paul’s reasoning?

    He uses hyperbole with irony here (pointed in the KJV):
    • For if the woman be not covered,
      • let her also be shorn:
    • but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven,
      • let her be covered.

    Again the Apostle emphasises:

    • For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
    • Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
      • For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
    You may not accept this on either, but the Apostle has already made mention in this letter to the Corinthians of such authority. 

    Apostles at the end of the procession

    .. like prisoners appointed for death.”

    Picture the ranks of all authority: Kings and captive prisoners of other kings.

    AND above all, God the Father, with Cherubim and Seraphim, ARCH-ANGELS and countless ranks of Angels — all spirits as gods serving the LORD with power to the glory of the Almighty — servants and messengers of God interacting with mortal men of dust and souls quickened in His Image with His Holy Spirit.

    We have become a spectacle [theatron] to the whole world [kosmos],

    to angels [angelos] as well as to men

    [anthrōpos {both men and women}].

    1 Corinthians 4:9b BSB

    – Paul’s reference to Apostles viewed by the world and angels


    Wearing your Symbols of AUTHORITY with humility and respect

    head-covering, the emblem of “power on her head”; the sign of her being under man’s power, and exercising delegated authority under him.

    Paul had before his mind the root-connection between the Hebrew terms for “veil” (radid), and “subjection” (radad).

    BENGEL explains, “As the angels are in relation to God, so the woman is in relation to man. God’s face is uncovered; angels in His presence are veiled ( Isa 6:2 )

    Jamieson, Fausset & Brown :: Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:10

    In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

    A head uncovered

    13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

    Now the Apostle addresses the opposing sign of a head uncovered. 

    14 Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

    Again, a helpful overview of this Greek word for uncovered or unveiled [11:5 & 11:13].

    ἀκατακάλυπτος – akatakalyptos

    “uncovered” (a, negative, katakalupto, “to cover”), is used in 1Cr 11:5, 13, RV, “unveiled,” with reference to the injunction forbidding women to be “unveiled” in a church gathering. .. and in the phrase “because of the angels,” intimating their witness of, and interest in, that which betokens the headship of Christ. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

    The Apostle has not yet reached his final point on the matter, but for our purposes consider it now: 

    For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches..

    1 Corinthians 14:33-34a KJV

    .. the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 1 Cor 14:37b

    we have no other practice

    The Apostle Paul concludes this section definitively as a segue into Holy Communion in this way:

    If anyone is inclined to dispute this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.

    1 Corinthians 11:16 BSB


    NEXT: Holy Communion and Worship