Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: Church

  • How Dare You Defer Discipline 1 Corinthians 6

    How Dare You Defer Discipline 1 Corinthians 6

    Church discipline continues to be the focus of the Apostle’s letter.

    Previously Paul spoke of Judgment between Christ and Satan, but by discipline the Apostle does not mean judgement of Corinthians who do not identify with Christ Jesus. So now Paul INSISTS that the Corinthians judge a fellow church member in this case of moral sin.

    Church Discipline in Moral matters

    Dare G5111 any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints?

    1 Corinthians 6:1 King James Version – Paul’s challenge to judge our fellow believers rather than defer any matter of church discipline to a civil court.

    common era justice mediated as a discipline of civil law discipline deferred to comprise - arbitration hearing

    Strong language from the writ of Judgment by Christ’s Apostle to the gentiles!

    But note Paul’s comparison of the civil court –– (Roman law for Corinthians, even as civil common pleas law is practiced in the US and by other Common Era courts).

    The Apostle directs the Corinthians to remain within the jurisdiction of God’s Law indicting common justice as law before the unjust .

    τολμάω - From tolma (boldness, probably itself from the base of τέλος (G5056) through the idea of extreme conduct)

    Paul applies his authoritative instruction of church discipline to what he has just stated.

    It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.

    Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 5:12 New Living Translation

    Clear instruction to the church! Yet how many Common Era christian churches will obey God's word in this?

    God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” – 1 Corinthians 5:13 NIV

    κρίνω –krinō  – go to Law

    The Apostle presents a case to the Corinthian Church supporting his judgement that THEY should judge their own members and therefore become accountable to the Lord God rather than the civil courts.

    * krinō is a case study in itself in the context of the Gospel and how Jesus Christ instructed disciples and saints to use judgement and discernment differently than the world. Study its linked definitions and see what I mean. God-willing, I may return to it.

    1 Corinthians 6:

    ‘HOW DARE YOU!’ or ‘Dare any of you,’ say some more authoritative English translations.

    Now the Apostle will introduce his gentle case to the saints of the Corinthian Church.

    Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? – Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 6:2a NLT

    'But wait!' Paul might quickly follow. 'Not yet and here's why:'

    And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? – 1 Corinthians 6:2b NLT

    Let's glance at a perhaps more palatable explanation from the International Children’s Bible *additional link to the NIRV

    You should be ashamed! Why do you not let God’s people decide who is right? 2 Surely you know that God’s people will judge the world. So if you are to judge the world, then surely you are able to judge small things as well. 3 You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge things in this life.

    4 So if you have disagreements that must be judged, why do you take them to those who are not part of the church? They mean nothing to the church. 5 I say this to shame you.

    a Plea for Church Discipline

    Surely there is someone among you wise enough to judge a complaint between two brothers in Christ.

    6 But now one brother goes to court against another brother. And you let men who are not believers judge their case!

    Has YOUR Common Era pastor preached this (or does he hope that his unseen judgements will go unnoticed)? 

    Do Elders of your local church wisely judge such offenders?

    But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

    1 Corinthians 6:6 NIV

    It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.

    1 Corinthians 5:1 NIV

    Spoiled Fruit of deferred Church Discipline

    Will a pagan court, a jury of those condoning and practicing such fornication (porneia) not equate Christ’s saints to common practices of those who worship their self-gratifying gods of the flesh?

    7 When you take another believer to court, you have lost the battle already. Why not be treated wrongly? Why not be cheated?

    The Apostle asks: Are you NOT willing to suffer injustice by the hand of a fellow saint as witness of Jesus' love?

    8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong. 

    'Christians,' they say, 'they're not so saintly, but openly sinful, just like us.'

    And you do it to your brothers and sisters.

    Who has died to the flesh?

    9 Don’t you know that people who do wrong will not receive God’s kingdom? Don’t be fooled…

    • 11.. You were made holy.
    • You were made right with God.
    • All of this was done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
    • It was also done by the Spirit of our God.
    Paul lists additional sins to this single case of one man of the Corinthian Church.
    • (9) Those who commit sexual sins will not receive the kingdom.
    • Neither will those who worship statues of gods
    • or commit adultery.
    • Neither will men who sleep with other men.
    • 10 Neither will thieves
    • or those who always want more and more.
    • Neither will those who are often drunk
    • or tell lies
    • or cheat.

    • People who live like that will not receive God’s kingdom.

    11 Some of you used to do those things. But your sins were washed away.

    Discipline and discernment – Growing up in Christ

    Later in his letter Paul will instruct the Corinthian saints:

    When I was a child, I talked like a child,

    I thought like a child,

    I reasoned like a child.

    When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

    1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV

    Continuing once more, beloved saints young or mature, from the International Children's Bible
    • 6:12 “I am allowed to do all things.”
      • But not all things are good for me to do.
    • “I am allowed to do all things.” [“I have the right to do anything.”]
      • But I must not do those things that will make me their slave.
        • [But I will not be controlled by anything.]
    • 13 “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food.”
      • Yes. But God [theos] will destroy them both.
    • The body is not for sexual immorality [fornication, G4202].
      • The body is for the Lord [kyrios] , and the Lord is for the body.

    Flee fornication. G4202 Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

    1 Corinthians 7:2 King James Version *G4202 – porneia

    Paul will add to this application for the saints of the Corinthian Church:

    Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, G4202 let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

    Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 7:2 KJV

    God raised the Lord Jesus

    By God’s power God raised the Lord Jesus from death.

    And God will also raise us from death.

    1 Corinthians 6:14 International Children’s Bible

    15 Surely you know that your bodies are parts of Christ himself.

    So I must never take parts of Christ and join them to a prostitute! 16 It is written in the Scriptures,

    “The two people will become one body.”[Genesis 2:24]

    Spoiled Fruit goes to Law

    Paul will next include more delicate matters concerning sexual behavior between men and women, but first the Apostle appeals to the church as members of a holy body, the Temple of God – ONE SPIRIT WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

    But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

    1 Corinthians 6:17 KJV

    Once more, from the International Children's Bible

    So run away from sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person does is outside the body.

    But those who are sexually immoral sin against their own bodies.

    19 You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in you. You have received the Holy Spirit from God. You do not own yourselves.

    20 You were bought by God for a price. So honor God with your bodies.

    NEXT: Married Life of the saints in Christ

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

  • Spiritual Pride Immorality Judged 1 Corinthians 5

    Spiritual Pride Immorality Judged 1 Corinthians 5

    Does Spiritual Pride prevent christians who come to church on Sunday from offering more than a cup of coffee (very light with lots of froth) to Corinthians (or Cincinnatians) seeking the Lord Jesus?

    Previously in this first letter to his beloved believers in Corinth the Apostle has suggested:

    For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

    1 Corinthians 4:20 NLT

    True evangelism of Christ through all Scripture becomes a personal challenge to us.

    Pride in Preaching!

    WE love our church — don’t we?

    christian church with contemporary televised service

    Our Pastor is more passionate about US than other preachers of competing gatherings on Sunday. (Or so WE tell some in evangelizing a consumer-friendly gospel of our loving Jesus.)

    The Apostle has challenged such thinking among divided christians within the Corinthian church — some who doubt his distant authority in the Lord.

    Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?

    1 Corinthians 4:21b – NIV

    NOW the Apostle REBUKES (judges) a specific evil known publically in the community of worshipers in Corinth.

    It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you..

    1 Corinthians 5:1a 
    As is often the case, it's not necessarily the preacher who is the problem (Paul, Apollos or Peter).

    The offenders are generally overlooked witness of fellow christians (with whom you sip coffee and break bread), men and women identified with YOUR CHURCH gathering with their continuing sin evident to all. 

    THE LIFE THIS Corinthian christian leads, Paul suggests, is NOT so unlike the pagans WE hope to convert.

    “.. and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, namely, that someone has his father’s wife.

    It may be some other porneia [fornication] sexual sin, SOCIALLY ACCEPTED SINS generally known, perhaps prevalent in OUR church;

    i.e. pre-marital sex, unmarried mothers, absent fathers, abortions, extra-marital affairs, divorces…

    In Corinth (or Cincinnati, Chongqing or Chicago) our pride flaunts evidence of OUR indiscretions.

    Yet sexual sin unconfronted as grace condones a witness of christian culture where unrepentance persists.

    Our Common Era flood of destruction flows from the sins of the church. 

    The world sees christian sin witnessed as worship.

    The Apostle calls on leaders of the Church to judge and remove the offender of Christ.

    Pride in sexual perversion is not only sin, but not the only perversity of rejecting the Gospel of God.

    5:2 “And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. – NKJV

    “And you are proud! – NIV “

    And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. – ESV 

    PRIDE in PREACHING or IN THE PRAISE BAND or OUR CHOIR or OUR FESTIVALS; PRIDE in our COMMUNION or BAPTISM or LITURGY or CULTURAL INCLUSION or MISSIONS or PROGRAMS or SCHOOL or other 'church' identities WE CLAIM! 

    ALL distract US from the humility of serving Christ Jesus as our Lord in OUR HOMETOWN "Church."

    Such pride divided the Corinthian Church (as it continues to do in this Common Era).

    Judgment between Christ and Satan

    Several BIBLICAL HEADINGS added to 1 Corinthians 5 reflect the seriousness of the Apostle’s judgment.

    Immorality Rebuked – KJV

    Sin in the Church – NLV

    Wickedness in the Church – International Children’s Bible

    Deviant Behavior – New Catholic Bible

    Immorality Defiles the Church – NKJV

    Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church- ESV

    Throw Out the Evil Person! – NIRV

    Paul Condemns Spiritual Pride – New Living Translation

    Sexual Immorality Rebuked – NASB

    Immorality Must Be Judged

    PAUL’S WRITTEN EPISTLE DOES NOT CONDEMN from afar, but informs.

    Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man

    1 Corinthians 5:3 NLT

    The APOSTLE makes a personal connection to the church in Corinth and by the HOLY SPIRIT casts his authoritative judgment against a certain man who is part of their Corinthian church.

    So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

    the Apostle Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians 5:4-5 NIV

    By the Authority of the Spirit the Apostle commands the leaders of this CHURCH to SHOW the Corinthian ‘christian‘ his choice between this SIN of the flesh and saving his spirit.

    In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, .. with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

    1 Corinthians 5:4-5 excerpt NKJV

    Σατανᾶς – Satan

    As we frequently fail to enlist the power of the Advocate (the Holy Spirit), so too we dismiss the danger and deception of the Adversary, that is: Satan.

    The Deceiver is an enemy of Christ and enemy of the Church.

    Σατανᾶς – Of Aramaic origin corresponding to Σατάν (G4566)

    The KJV translates Strong’s G4567 in the following manner: Satan (36x).

    adversary (one who opposes another in purpose or act), the name given to
    the prince of evil spirits, the inveterate adversary of God and Christ
    he incites apostasy from God and to sin

    Σατανᾶς – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4567 – satanas
    • What does Paul mean by ‘turning this sinner over to Satan for DESTRUCTION of his FLESH?
    • And how can this sinner’s ‘spirit be saved in the day of the Lord’ by his church turning him over to Satan?
    • As a matter of practice (church practice, if you like) HOW can he be saved?

    the power of our Lord Jesus is present

    Take Action, Church! Don’t overlook this.

    The issue is communion, purity of worship. 

    Paul illustrates from the Hebrew Law of God concerning leaven and then applies it to worship of the saints in Corinth.

    6 Your boasting is not good.

    Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?

    7 Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are.

    • Are you truly transformed in Christ?
    • Do you count yourself in Christ as part of His body?
      • (Some may recognize this quote of scripture from the traditional church liturgy of Holy Communion.)

    For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

    8Therefore let us keep the feast..

    not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.

    1 Corinthians 5:7b-8 BSB

    Note the importance of the contrast Paul presents for communion of the saints of this new group of believers, the Corinthian Church (as they will be identified by the world).

    When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit.. 1Cor5:4

    Judging Outsiders

    For what have I to do with judging outsiders?

    1 Corinthians 5:12a LSB

    PAUL rhetorically asks a MYOB question Christians hear frequently.

    YET we know (and easily neglect) the Apostle’s point of his related question here FOR THE CHURCH.

    I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people;

    10 I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with idolaters,

    for then you would have to go out of the world.

    I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin,

    or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people.

    Don’t even eat with such people.

    1 Corinthians 5:11:20 New Living Translation

    Do you not judge those who are inside?

    1 Corinthians 5:12b – NKJV

    Translations vary, but the Apostle’s pointed QUESTION for the Corinthians is no different than the Spirit commands of us:

    Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

    1 Corinthians 5:12b – ESV

    13 God will judge those outside.

    “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

    Seems so simple. Endure such dissentions or face a fellow saint in order to save their soul?

    NEXT: Judging Problems Among Christians – 1 Corinthians 6

    HEADING: International Children’s Bible

  • 1 Corinthians 3 Meat for Ministers

    1 Corinthians 3 Meat for Ministers

    and Milk for New Babes

    In his letter to the Corinthians the Apostle typically begins with encouragement.

    I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.

    Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 1:4-5 CSB

    And Paul will, as is his custom, close this epistle written in Greek with the same personalness of the Lord Jesus.

    The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.

    I Corinthians 16:23-24 CSB

    However HERE in the meat of his message Paul addresses the Corinthian church most pointedly, especially its ministers and leaders.

    AND the Apostle also will close with a CURSE of those who would divide Christ by their own means.

    blessing of curse you can choose

    If anyone does not love the Lord [does not obey and respect and believe in Jesus Christ and His message], he is to be accursed. Maranatha (O our Lord, come)!

    1 Corinthians 16:22 AMP

    1 Corinthians 3:

    Lest we take a more common casual contemporary approach let us begin with the King James Version.

    And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

    I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

    1 Corinthians 3:1-2 KJV

    for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

    1 Corinthians 3:3 NKJV
    There it is: the Apostle's initial summary of the problem reported to him of the Corinthian church. 

    NOTE a few of the HEADINGS various Bibles use for their serious doctrinal issues:
    • The Church and Its Leaders
    • Divisions in the Church
    • Sectarianism Is Carnal
    • Jesus Christ, Our Foundation
    • But I cannot yet call you spiritual

    Are you Spiritual? OR Carnal?

    Christian, (brother, as Paul addresses the Corinthian readers, who would also read the Apostle’s letter to the whole church, including women) — Dear MINISTER to your Corinthian community — HAVE YOU RECEIVED CHRIST?

    or DO you just lift up the preaching of one minister over the teaching of another?

    For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

    HEAR in your heart Paul's CONTRAST of those gathered together as the Corinthian church.

    πνευματικός – pneumatikos

    Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit

    1 Corinthians 3:1a NIV

    AND the Apostle has already brought our consequent condition IN CHRIST to the forefront.

    ANNOUNCEMENT of the Testimony of GOD
    1 Corinthians 2

    These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual…

    But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

    1 Corinthians 2:15 NKJV
    Judge ALL things, 
     yet judge NO ONE.

    Are you and your church doing any better than the Corinthians?

    Fleshy Carnal ‘christians‘

    Paul points to those unbelievers from the world who join us to worship God.

    WE ought to influence those who are BABES in their FLESH and FAITH without including their carnality so as to be like them.

    CARNAL iS NOT a nice enough word to describe someone sitting next to you on Sunday in your evangelical 21st century C.E. ‘church‘ is it?

    Never-the-less, WE all know what WE are by NATURE 
    and what we were before confessing Christ.

    Some translations of the BIBLE describe our carnal ‘worldliness‘ as IN THE FLESH.

    The KJV translates Strong’s G4559 in the following manner: carnal (9x), fleshly (2x).

    • having the nature of flesh, i.e. under the control of the animal appetites
      • governed by mere human nature not by the Spirit of God
      • having its seat in the animal nature or aroused by the animal nature
      • human: with the included idea of depravity

    The Humanist by embracing ALL humanity denies our demonstrable depravity as godless creatures of desire.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    PAUL had nurtured the Corinthians with SPIRITUAL MILK as babes at the breast. The Corinthians, a NEW church of Hellenists, naturally admired oratory and great emotional appeals. Christ through Paul adopted these children (though they were adults) drawn even as Greeks to this JESUS of the JEWS.

    Powerful Preaching to powerless Christians
    Luke describes Apollos’ preaching as eloquent

    I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.

    1 Corinthians 3:2-3a NKJV
    IS IT STILL THE MILK YOU REQUIRE, BELOVED EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN OF THIS COMMON ERA TIME AND PLACE?

    What makes US Carnal?

    Paul tells the Corinthian believers what to judge — how to identify in others MINISTERS claiming Christ.

    • ζῆλος – zēlos – ENVYING
    • ἔρις – eris – STRIFE
    • διχοστασία – dichostasia – DIVISIONS among you

    After sending a second letter to the Corinthians next year, Paul will write to the Romans in A.D. 57:

    Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

    Romans 16:17 NKJV
    In essence, give them back to the world and the enemy of Christ.

    Mere Men, Mere Ministers

    NKJV 3:4 
    For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

    The rhetorical QUESTION of personal accountability in Greek reads:

    οὐκ ἄνθρωποί ἐστε

    (I imagine that you will recognize the word.)
    more literally:

    eimi [are you] ou [not] anthrōpos

    • LSB v.3 for you are still fleshly [sarkikos]
    • .. are you not fleshly [sarkikos]
    • are you not walking like mere men? [anthrōpos]?
    • are you not carnal [sarkikos] and behaving like mere men [anthrōpos]?
    • v.4 .. ARE YOU NOT anthrōpos?

    The Apostle goes on to point out through his apologia that PERSONALITIES do not matter OR who it was that BAPTIZED you (where you publically confessed to ALL that JESUS CHRIST is LORD!)

    Ministers of Christ

    5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?

    1 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV

    The Apostle had pointed to their divisions by minister and he will mention Peter [Cephas] even more in his rebuke of their schisms.

    • Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” – 1 Cor. 1:12
    • whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, – 1 Corinthians 3:22 LSB

    Paul uses imagery of sowing [planting a new church in various places] and watering [the very symbol of baptism, cleansing and in a sense the milk of pure nourishment required for growth].

    I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

    So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

    8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one..

    one? (as opposed to divided?)

    What does the Apostle mean by this?

    Paul will later emphasize the ONENESS of spirit in ministers of the church writing later in this letter:

    But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

    For even as the body is one G1520  and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one G1520 body, so also is Christ.

    1 Corinthians 6:17; 12:12 LSB

    3:8b ..and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

    9a For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field..

    the Reward of your Labor

    The Apostle now changes the metaphor and picture of faith for the Corinthian church to visualize in his Epistle.

    For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. - 1 Cor. 3:9 NLT

    ..and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

    θεοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν συνεργοί θεοῦ γεώργιον θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐστε

    1 Cor. 3:9 TEXTUS RECEPTUS 
    For those of us who do not understand Paul's eloquent GREEK text, rather than leaning on a single ENGLISH translation let's observe some of what we know from Paul's Greek words in this verse.

    For we are laborers together

    synergos – συνεργός

    • Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers G4904 in Christ Jesus – Romans 16:3
    • Timotheus my workfellow, G4904 – Romans 16:23a

    with God [THEOS], you are God’s

    geōrgion – γεώργιον

    I didn't know this one. a (presumed) derivative of γεωργός (G1092) husbandman

    husbandry – a cultivated field, husbandry (as in the animal husbandry of tending sheep), tillage (tilling soil for planting and growth)

    It is the WORK -early work – BEFORE the harvest.

    You are God’s farming, translates the HNV and in most English translations: you are God’s field.

    SO Paul has been preaching that it does not matter to YOU THE SOIL in Corinth (or in your home church) the names of the MINISTERS who labored in you.

    EACH will have their separate reward.

    The Apostle then builds on this:

    You are God’s [Theos]

    oikodomē – οἰκοδομή

    metaph. edifying, edification

    the act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness

    ..and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. 1 Cor. 3:8b RSV

    What wage have you earned for edifying other Christians?

    (Paul will speak more to this later.)

    NEXT: Christ’s Contractor

    According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation..

    1 Corinthians 3:10a NKJV – Paulos klētos apostolos iēsous christos

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel