Tag: abide

  • To have and to hold Christian Love

    To have and to hold Christian Love

    Dearly beloved, Paul writes earlier – a greeting of agape love NOT inappropriate for a marriage, but the Apostle’s intent in this section addresses spiritual gifts and love of the CHURCH specifically.

    we have the mind of Christ.

    1 Corinthians 2:16 KJV

    ἔχω – echō

    • to have, i.e. to hold
    • to have i.e. own, possess

    So think of it this way:

    WE (referring to the Church) hold the mind of Christ. And WE possess the mind of Christ as HIS body, the Church.

    AND, of course, don't miss this application to our vows of Christian marriage as well, (not to mention our relationship to a dearly beloved local church family). 
    Do our marriage vows model a Common Era witness of christianity to an uncommitted world? 

    to HAVE and to HOLD

    used of those joined to any one by the bonds of natural blood or marriage or friendship or duty or law etc., of attendance or companionship

    Strong’s G2192 – echō

    Dearly beloved,

    Do you take this bond of your church (etc.) to:

    have and to hold?


    OR do WE just want to try out relationships of LOVE and church es — NOT having or holding any commitment to Christ Jesus and His body the Church?


    But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have G2192 his own wife, and each woman is to have G2192 her own husband.

    Paul has already pointed the Corinthians to a higher standard.

    Yet HERE the Apostle continues to apply this love to the body of the CHURCH.

    So what is this agape LOVE?

    The Lord Jesus had warned those who would follow:

    And because iniquity shall abound, the love G26 of many shall wax cold.

    Matthew 24:12 KJV

    The Apostle had opened this section by listing what agape LOVE is NOT.

    Love’s clear contrasts in the love of believers

    Paul now proceeds to list a few of the insufficient adjectives which describe the love of God in Christ Jesus - both what LOVE is and what agape LOVE is NOT. 

    Love Charity



    1 Corinthians 13:4
    • is patient
      • long-spirited
      • forbearing
      • suffereth long
      • is long-suffering,
    • is kind
      • gentle
      • gracious
      • benevolent
      • desires to do good to others
    • does not envy
    • does not boast
      • brag
      • vaunt itself
      • employ rhetorical embellishments in extolling one’s self excessively
    • is not proud.

    1 Corinthians 13:5

    • Doth not behave itself unseemly
      • behave rudely
      • act unbecomingly
      • dishonor others
      • is not disrespectful
      • or inconsiderate.
    • It is not self-seeking
      • seeketh not her own
      • himself, herself, itself, themselves
    • is not easily provoked
      • irritable
      • resentful
      • angered
      • gets annoyed
      • aroused to anger
    • thinketh no evil
      • does not keep an account of a wrong suffered
      • no record of being wronged
      • love that forgives and forgets

    1 Corinthians 13:6

    it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,

    but rejoices with the truth.

    1 Corinthians 13:6 ESV

    • ἀδικία – wrongdoing
      • injustice, of a judge
      • unrighteousness of heart and life
      • a deed violating law and justice, act of unrighteousness

    The Greek word for “truth” is “aletheia,” which signifies not only factual accuracy but also sincerity and integrity.

    In the biblical narrative, truth is often associated with God’s character and His revelation to humanity.

    John 14:6

    source: BibleHub Study Bible

    Agape rejoices with the truth;


    It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

    1 Corinthians 13:7 BSB

    • It always protects,
      • always trusts,
      • always hopes,
      • always perseveres.
    • Love never gives up,
      • never loses faith,
      • is always hopeful,
      • and endures through every circumstance.

    ἀγάπη agapē never fails,

    1 Corinthians 13:8a

    And again, the Apostle's list and concern is for spiritual gifts.

    BUT..

    Paul continues, 
    • As for prophecies,
      • they will pass away;
    • as for tongues,
      • they will cease;
    • as for knowledge,
      • it will pass away.
    • 9 For we know in part
    • and we prophesy in part,
    • 10 but when the perfect comes,
      • the partial will pass away.

    1 Corinthians 13:8b-10 ESV

    And let's not forget, the Apostle's instruction to the Corinthians is to contrast these to our agape love in Christ as His body the Church. 

    Now Paul, their teacher for a year and a half concludes his settling of their differences by essentially telling the Corinthian saints to:

    Grow up!

    When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;

    but

    when I became a man, I put away childish things.

    1 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV

    Have YOU, dearly beloved, 21st century saint?

    For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.

    Now I know in part,

    but then I shall know just as I also am known.

    1 Corinthians 13:12 NKJV

    TalkofJesus.com post [2 min.] from September 11, 2013


    and now abide

    νυνὶ δὲ μένει

    menō – not to depart

    • to continue to be present
    • to be held, kept, continually

    to remain as one, not to become another or different

    These are just a few of the meanings when the Apostle pleas with his beloved church to have and to hold Christ -- the love of God for saints chosen to abide in the love of the Lord. 

    What Paul writes here sounds like a benediction — a closing thought. But is not since the Apostle has more to say about spiritual gifts.

    And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love [ἀγάπη agapē].

    1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV


    NEXT: (with an interruption for Lent 2025 CE) in chapter 14 the Apostle Paul will conclude this section of his epistle on order in worship and spiritual gifts.

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  • Abide in Marriage, Singleness and Christ – 1 Corinthians 7

    Abide in Marriage, Singleness and Christ – 1 Corinthians 7

    If I could offer just one word of advice for married life of the saints in Christ it would be, “abide.”

    It’s a rather archaic word once defining the lives of those living in Jesus Christ.

    The Apostle Paul uses abide as many times in his first letter to the Corinthian Church, as does the Apostle John quoting the Lord Jesus in his Gospel.

    Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

    Gospel of John 15:4 KJV – quote of the Lord Jesus to his disciples (followers)

    Abide

    Recall the lyrics of Abide With Me, an A.D. 19th c. Christian hymn for eventide:
    .. Where is death’s sting? 
    Where, grave, thy victory?
    I triumph still,
    if Thou abide with me..

    μένω – menōabide

    1. to REMAIN, abide
      • in reference to place; sojourn, tarry
      • without departing, continue to be present be held continually
      • in reference to time; not to perish, to last, endure, survive
      • in reference to state or condition; to remain as one,
        • not to become another or different (as Paul uses it here)
    2. to wait for, await one (as with Christ our Lord returning for His saints)
    Source definition (paraphrased with comment): Lexicon :: Strong's G3306 - menō BlueLetterBible.org 

    1 Corinthians 7:

    Last time we studied some context of the Apostle’s letter to the church in Corinth, including a man reported for his well-known sexual sin.

    With a little overlap into 1 Corinthians 7, Paul presents a case to the Corinthians to NOT defer judgment of CHURCH MEMBERS to the jurisdiction of their Corinthianized civil courts.

    The Apostle could have asked the Corinthians caught-up in the sins of their local idolatry the same question as he asked the men of Lystra who wanted to worship Paul and Silas.

    Men, why are you doing these things?


    Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me:

    It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

    1 Corinthians 7:1 NKJV

    Let's not get hung up too much on our Common Era worldly focus of SEX, but this specifically was the sin of a Corinthian church member sleeping with his father's wife and certainly sexual sin was a common temptation to others.
    SEE the helpful outline (adapted from Dextor Sammons) of ALL of Paul's First Letter below:
    • INTRODUCTION (1Cr 1:1-9)
    • (4) PROBLEMS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE OF CHLOE (1Cr 1:10-6:20)
      • FACTIONS IN THE CHURCH (1Cr 1:1-4:21)
      • SEXUAL IMMORALITY (1Cr 5:1-13)
      • LAWSUITS AMONG BRETHREN (1Cr 6:1-11)
      • MORAL DEFILEMENTS (1Cr 6:12-20)
    Paul has already addressed SOME of the problems reported by Chloe's household.

    NOW the Apostle will specifically address issues from the letter he received.

    Seven issues about which the Corinthians wrote to Paul

    • (7) PROBLEMS MENTIONED IN THE LETTER FROM CORINTH (1Cr 7:1-16:9)
      • MARRIAGE & CELIBACY (1Cr 7:1-40)
      • EATING MEATS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS (1Cr 8:1-11:1)
      • WOMEN PRAYING AND PROPHESYING WITH HEADS UNCOVERED (1Cr 11:2-16)
      • THE LORD’S SUPPER (1Cr 11:17-34)
      • SPIRITUAL GIFTS (1Cr 12:1-14:40)
      • RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD (1Cr 15:1-58)

    Therefore, in answer to these reports Paul writes TO CORRECT SINFUL PRACTICES AND REFUTE FALSE DOCTRINE

    Source:


    Abide in Singleness

    Again, don't be put off by divisive denominational characterizations of celibacy used in this outline, the KJV and other translations.

    καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι· – 1 Cor 7:1b

    It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

    Paul addresses an age-old issue that’s been around ever since Adam said to Eve, “Baby, yo fo me!”

    The world both then and now does not view such natural urges as temptations to natural sin but rather as a part of everyday life in Corinth or your hometown.

    Celibacy is NOT natural, for if it was we would have no generations.

    to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to

    By our natural inclinations, not so different from 'abide' with another.

    Notice the further common meanings of ἅπτομαι:

    1. to touch
    2. of carnal intercourse with a woman or cohabitation
    3. of levitical practice of having no fellowship with heathen practices. Things not to be touched appear to be both women and certain kinds of food, so celibacy and abstinence of certain kinds of food and drink are recommended.
    4. to touch, assail anyone

    Abide in Marriage

    Paul also asks Christians to abide in Marriage in his letter to the Ephesians

    In writing to the Corinthians the Apostle commands:

    Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

    1 Corinthians 7:2 NKJV

    Paul points to Marriage for those who cannot keep celibate as a solution. (Though of course adultery and fornication of married men and women are sins as well.)

    To translate Paul's letter with more clarity and expand on the Apostle's advice from the New International Version:

    2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

    Power in Relationship

    The Apostle has earlier stated:

    all things are lawful for me, but I will G1850 ➔ not be brought under the power G1850 of any.

    1 Corinthians 6:12b KJV

    Now pointing to have full and entire authority over the body or to hold the body subject to one’s will Paul states (controversially, to our Common Era liberated thinking):

    The wife hath G1850 ➔ not power G1850 of her own body, but the husband:

    and likewise also the husband hath G1850 ➔ not power G1850 of his own body, but the wife.

    1 Corinthians 7:4 KJV

    YET the Apostle instructs these men tempted toward fornication and adultery that each man’s WIFE has power and authority over the MAN’s body.


    a Relational Solution to Sexual Temptation

    Defraud ye not one the other..

    1 Corinthians 7:5a KJV – apostereō

    STRONG ADMONITION from the KJV to both husband and wife; although Paul suggests an exception for fasting and prayer, he quickly continues:

    and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

    1 Corinthians 7:5a NKJV


    Although Satan certainly defrauds men and women in many other areas of our flesh and tempting thoughts other than eros, Paul points to this specific challenge to the men of the CHURCH in Corinth.

    Greek religion in Ancient Corinth also included the worship of Aphrodite, Venus to the Romans, the Goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. Aphrodite was worshipped in her magnificent sanctuary on the top of the Acrocorinth…

    statue of Greek goddess of love Aphrodite seated on a rock

    According to Strabo, a first century Greek geographer, philosopher and historian, 1,000 courtesans were available to attract visitors, which also ensured the riches of the sanctuary. In this respect, public prostitution was integrated within Corinthian religion and culture to the extent that it was not uncommon to hear public prayers that appealed to the gods for more prostitutes. – source


    Widowed or Single

    a brief suggestion of celibacy 

    Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.

    7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

    1 Corinthians 7:6-7 ESV

    Paul is single. Peter and many of the Apostles are married. Most of the men of Corinth are married, with some having been widowed (who Paul calls 'unmarried').

    I say therefore to the unmarried and widows,

    It is good for them if they abide even as I.

    But if they cannot contain (be self-controlled), let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

    1 Corinthians 7:8-9 KJV


    The Apostle has begun answering concerns of a letter from Corinth. Now Paul must judge the actions of familiar members of the Corinthian Church.

    NEXT: Commandments of Relationships in Christ’s Church


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