Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: apostles

Members in Christ’s body the Church
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.

1 Corinthians 12:11 KJV – Paul quoting the Lord Jesus

Paul now draws a picture of the human body in order that members of the body of believers might see our own part in the larger Church in Corinth and all places where the saints gather in Christ’s Name.

Spiritualities – ‘I would not have you ignorant’

Previously, when we departed from here in the Apostle’s instructions to the Corinthians, Paul instructs:

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

1 Corinthians 12:5 KJV

One Body, many Members, different spiritual Gifts

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

1 Corinthians 12:7 BLB

The first implication of this: EACH member of the body of your church and mine will show (manifest) some fruit of the Spirit.

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

1 Corinthians 12:11 LSB

Who belongs as members?
```
IF someone in your church does not yet manifest any fruit of the Spirit, is it possible that the Lord has not given them the Spirit OR made these a part of His Body - a member of His Church? 

Are even the best spiritualities of faithful jews and religious adherents of Islam connected to the body of our Lord Christ Jesus? 

Do the best of Hindus Buddhists and other pagan worshipers not oppose Christ? 

Yet some are drawn by the Spirit. 
```
The Body of Christ

For just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.

1 Corinthia n s 12:12 Berean Standard Bible

Jews and Gentiles
```
What is the overriding context of this epistle Paul writes to a church on the Achaian peninsula of Greece ? 

The Apostle to the Gentiles (Hellenists or Greek or Roman) -- seeks to heal long-standing differences in this large Roman city of Corinth situated in the philosophic and cultural center of ancient Europe. 
```
- To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom – v.8 (quite Hellenist)
- to another faith.. to another gifts of healing v.9 (the One God of the Jews and ignored signs of the Messiah)
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 NKJV

Invisible fruit pictured in the body

For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:14 BSB

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body?

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
- If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
  - (Now think of the body of Christ, the church.)
- If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
```
Laughable! Hyperbole, yet logical.
```
But now hath God set the members

(And the Spirit of God has distributed your spiritual gifts.)

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

How strange a body would be if it had only one part!

1 Corinthians 12:18 KJV and 12:19 NLT
```
Do you get both the seriousness and Paul's practical ridicule of members di-vi-ded by spiritualities God granted to others? 
```
```
The Apostle to the gentiles continues his illustration: 
```
- The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.”
- Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”
Here is Paul’s appeal to draw near to your members divided by opinions concerning spiritual gifts and an order of regulating the body (so to speak).

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty, whereas our presentable parts have no such need.

But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12:22-26 BSB

Has the Great Physician not set the parts of the body into their proper place?

Appointment of the Greater Gifts
```
The Apostle sent out to the Corinthians, Achaeans, Greeks, Romans and displaced Jews suggests an order of importance in the A.D. first century church. Yet Paul has just instructed the saints that it is the Spirit which places us in our place in the Church -- and that spiritual GIFTS are not ours to choose. 
```
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. And in the church God has appointed
1. first of all apostles,
2. second prophets,
3. third teachers,
4. then workers of miracles,
5. and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.
A local (Corinthian) understanding of roles and spiritual gifts

Acts of the Apostles 1-28
1. ἀπόστολος – apostolos
2. προφήτης – prophētēs
3. διδάσκαλος – didaskalos
4. δύναμις – dynamis
5. χάρισμα – charisma
Apostles, Prophets and Teachers

ἀπόστολοι (apostoloi)
Noun – Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong’s 652: From apostello; a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ.

Am I not an apostle?^G652 am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle^G652 unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:1-2

1 Corinthians 12:28 – And God has set…

You’ve just studied the list.

So what does the Apostle Paul (#1 on the authoritative list) ask as he further questions the Corinthian saints of differing opinions about their own roles in the local church?

1 Corinthians 12:29-30
- Are all apostles? (#1)
- Are all prophets? (#2)
- Are all teachers? (#3)
- Do all work miracles? (#4)
- Do all have gifts of healing?
- Do all speak in tongues?
- Do all interpret?
  - (these 3 grouped in #5)
SO WHERE DO I FIT IN?

and Who is in charge of who, here in our local gathering of saints in Corinth?

Perhaps in the hearing of Paul’s first letter being read to the Corinthian Church these saints might have wondered what the APOSTLE would prescribe next as a solution to OUR divisions.
```
READ the literal Greek text below.
```
12:31 ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ κρείττονα Καὶ ἔτι καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῖν δείκνυμι

But covet earnestly the best gifts: – 31a KJV

Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. – 31a NIV

But earnestly desire the higher gifts.- 31a RSV

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

1 Corinthians 12:31 b – NLT

NEXT – Paul’s connection of GIFTS

Beloved fellow saint, you may know where the Apostle proceeds in his much-quoted list from 1 Corinthians 14.

Perhaps with love in mind you may have a COMMENT here on what the Apostle Paul has instructed us so far.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
February 26, 2025
What is the Gospel? What are the Gospels?
Ask five Christians,

What is the Gospel?

And you may hear THREE different answers, see an empty puzzled look and perhaps hear an honest, “I don’t really know; how do you define the gospel?”
```
Go ahead: EMAIL ME your definition BEFORE you read the following OR add your definitive COMMENT at the bottom of this Christian Jargon post. 
```
Gospel & Gospels – Two Definitions

You have probably heard from one version of this Scripture:

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Gospel of Mark 16:15b NIV

I mention ‘Gospel‘ in two different contexts here:
1. Gospel from a quote of the risen Lord Jesus Christ
2. Gospel identifying the written account of the disciple John Mark
Four Gospels recorded by four witnesses

Briefly:
1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John
```
We've quoted these four writers of the Gospels many times AND we cross-reference these Scriptures in other accounts as well. 
```
TalkofJESUS.com treats the GOSPELS as a single category due to the connected importance of the Good News of Jesus Christ reported LIVE and IN PERSON from different perspectives.

Gospel of Matthew 28:30 – Quote of JESUS after the Lord’s resurrection.

Gospel of LUKE 1:4
```
John Mark (mentioned above) and Luke, the physician who continued his detailed account of Jesus and the early Church with Acts of the Apostles, were both gentile (non-Jewish) believers who interviewed the Twelve and other witnesses of JESUS. 

Matthew (quoted above) and John are two of the Twelve Apostles. Jesus includes John and his brother James along with Simon Peter in the Lord's inner circle of closest confidants and friends. 
```
The GOSPEL of JOHN
- INTRO – Gospel of John
- INTRO 2 – John, son of Zebedee
Luke also introduces himself in both volumes of his accounts Luke-Acts.

The Gospel: Definition

εὐαγγέλιον
Strong’s G2098 – euangelion

a reward for good tidings

good tidings

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Topical Encyclopedia

The term “Gospel” originates from the Old English word “godspel,” meaning “good news” or “glad tidings,” which is a translation of the Greek word “euangelion.”

In the context of the Christian faith, the Gospel refers to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, encompassing His life, death, resurrection, and the promise of eternal life for believers.

gos’-pel (to euaggelion): The word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word which meant “the story concerning God.”

The Gospel is simple really, yet with the mysterious depth of God proclaimed as the good Word of saving sinners.
```
I have written topically about the Gospel at least twice: 
```
Go into all the world (and SHARE the Gospel) – 1

(Go into all the world and) SHARE the Gospel – 2

Further Study

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of NT Words offers a deeper study of biblical words used in the English language. English entries are mapped to each applicable Greek root according to the Strong’s reference numbers, and include biblical usage, main occurrences in the Bible, English transliteration, and definitions.

εὐαγγελίζω – euangelizō – verb

Strong’s Number: g2097

Gospel (Noun and Verb: to Preach):“to bring or announce glad tidings” (Eng., “evangelize”), is used

(a) in the Active Voice in Rev 10:7 (“declared”) and Rev 14:6 (“to proclaim,” RV, AV, “to preach”);

Some claiming Christ, christians or even churches, will claim the Gospel without understanding.

OR worse, pulpits may proclaim the Gospel while hiding behind it.

AND some christians and churches take no action at all in evangelization or preaching the Gospel to our own personal need of Christ Jesus for salvation.

Good News before our inevitable end

death — and the JUDGMENT of ALMIGHTY GOD!

2025 of the Common Era seems to have begun with story after story and yet more of the continuing BREAKING NEWS of our fallen world.

Common Era NEWS begins with the same old sins of the world wrapped in the false idolatry: MOTHER NATURE and a world out of control * and a human-created environmental apocalypse – impending DISASTER out of reach of all their hand-holding gods.

Fire Maui Hawaii US

1945 dead slave labors

And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound…

.. but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He proclaimed^G2097 good^G2097 news^G2097 to His slaves, the prophets.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 10:7 LSB

WHAT NEWS TODAY?

How many died THIS TIME? And how many were SAVED for nothing more than BAD NEWS? (And for how long until the inevitable return of each broken body into the dust of the grave?)

Does the world’s news end with a feel-good story? *Do YOU feel good about YOURSELF now?

What percentage of us will die sometime soon?

What does the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST mean to your eternal soul

— your deeper human created in God’s image — the YOU by which so many souls you love in this world (or perhaps just a few) know you well as more than flesh and blood?

DON’T YOU think, mere mortal, that God in his Only Son Jesus Christ enbraces and knows your soul more than any?

Of course! the GOSPEL proclaims.

Repentance!

and BELIEVE the Gospel.

“Many false prophets will arise and will deceive man.

And because lawlessness is multiplied, most people’s love will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

Gospel of Matthew 24:11-13

Talk of JESUS .com

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations,
and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14 Legacy Standard Bible

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
January 11, 2025
Sailing Home on the Aegean
And when they had come to him, he said to them,
“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials..
Acts of the Apostles 20:18-19a LSB – The Apostle Paul bidding farewell to the Ephesian elders

As you know Paul and apostles of his third missionary journey have set sail for Jerusalem.

Three Years in Ephesus with Tears

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.. – Acts 20:28a – the Apostle Paul’s parting advice to the elders of the church.

Anatolian peninsula

Reflecting back on a Third Missionary Journey

Paul had begun this third mission in about A.D. 52 setting out on land from Antioch to visit churches all along the Anatolian peninsula until reaching the Aegean at Ephesus, a distance of more than 500 miles.

A.D. 57

In addition to starting and nurturing an important church in Asia Minor, namely Ephesus, the Apostle had then crossed the Aegean into Europe and done the same for churches in Thessalonica, and Berea; the important Achaian city of Corinth, returning to Thessalonica once more then traveling to the Roman stronghold at Philippi.

The Aegean Missions by Sea

Although these missionaries have bypassed Ephesus on their return to Jerusalem, note Paul’s APOSTOLOIC LETTERS encouraging CHURCHES during these same years:

Epistles to the Thessalonians
- 2 THESSALONIANS (possibly)
  - (if it had not already been delivered during Paul’s Second Missionary Journey along with 1 Thessalonians and an epistle to the Galatians.)
- TWO LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS
- PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE ROMANS,
  - including the major theological epistle preserved in the Bible
  - and no doubt other letters to individuals in Rome as in other cities.
Acts of the Apostles 21:

Now when we had parted from them and had set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos..

and the next day to Rhodes..

and from there to Patara;

.. and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

And when we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

Land Ho! Almost Home

We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days.

Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
Acts of the Apostles 21:4 – New International Version

a word of warning
```
Note three things Luke is about to tell us about their arrival:
```
- μαθητής (mathētēs) – they sought out OTHER followers of Christ and stayed with them (seven days here in Tyre)
  - disciples in every port AND on various parts of Paul’s missionary journeys various disciples become apostles also sent out to other churches.
  - SEE the list: These disciples are both men and women.
- They spoke to Paul in the Spirit.
  - λέγω – legō
    
    conversation between believers, exhortation in this case they must have thought received through the Spirit
    
    (We’ll come back to this..)
  - πνεῦμα – pneuma
    
    Let Christ-followers reading ‘Spirit‘ 70 times in Acts understand that this is the Holy Spirit who joined in these conversations.
- disciples Prophesied to Paul through the Spirit what would happen if the Apostle ‘set foot’ in Jerusalem (as he had planned).
  - Soon other disciples will provide addition detail of these prophesies though the Spirit.
When it was time to leave, [Luke tells us] we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.

6 After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.
```
Does the intimacy of their parting not remind us of the Ephesian elders as these apostles crossed the Aegean and Mediterranean?
```
διά – λόγος – [dia – log]
```
'dialogue' of 'Christians' -literally, dia logos, dia legō 
```
- discourse
- to say, to speak
- through
  - by the means of:
the HOLY SPIRIT or HOLY GHOST!

And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

“Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

“But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
Acts of the Apostles 2:43, 10:43, 15:11,
references to Strong’s G1223 – dia – meaning “through“

DO NOT DISMISS or overlook frequent intimate conversation between 1st century followers of Christ AND their continual dialogue through the Holy Spirit.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

The Apostle Paul has RECENTLY [A.D. 57] written in a letter to Roman Christ-followers:

.. the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5b excerpt [the context could not be more important]

NEXT: The apostles continue their return from Paul’s Third Missionary Journey and the Holy Spirit reveals more details through prophesy of what will take place in Jerusalem.

Talk of JESUS .com
```
Let's have some dia-log here, dear brother/sister in Christ.
```
Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
April 9, 2024