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Tag: law

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.

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 .
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τολμάω - From tolma (boldness, probably itself from the base of τέλος (G5056) through the idea of extreme conduct)
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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
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Clear instruction to the church! Yet how many Common Era christian churches will obey God's word in this?
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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.
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* 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.
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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
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'But wait!' Paul might quickly follow. 'Not yet and here's why:'
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And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? – 1 Corinthians 6:2b NLT
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Let's glance at a perhaps more palatable explanation from the International Children’s Bible *additional link to the NIRV
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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!
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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?
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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?
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The Apostle asks: Are you NOT willing to suffer injustice by the hand of a fellow saint as witness of Jesus' love?
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8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong.
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'Christians,' they say, 'they're not so saintly, but openly sinful, just like us.'
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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.
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Paul lists additional sins to this single case of one man of the Corinthian Church.
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- (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
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Continuing once more, beloved saints young or mature, from the International Children's Bible
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- 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
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Once more, from the International Children's Bible
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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.
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NEXT: Married Life of the saints in Christ
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Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
October 8, 2024
So help US god – intro to christianity lite
In God WE trust?

Perhaps it strikes you as strange that I introduce a treatise on Christianity, God and doctrine with an illustration from the coinage of a 20th century A.D. world power like US, The United States of America.

Yet in this not-so-brave new world of the 21st century Common Era WE spend countless lite-weight pennies. And more inflated American dollars than WE save say, “IN GOD WE TRUST.” All the while WE recklessly espouse political ideologies FOR or AGAINST GOD (blessing America).

One Nation, Under God
In God We Trusted – 5

October, A.D. 2013 conclusion of 5-part TalkofJESUS.com post series from the Prophets
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Election year rhetoric -- nothing new. (See post from 10 years ago above.)
WE didn't trust in God then and certainly WE as a Nation do NOT trust in God now, ten years later in this Common Era of an upcoming 2024 election.
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The phrase had been placed on U.S. coins since the Civil War when, according to the historical association of the United States Treasury, religious sentiment reached a peak. Eisenhower’s treasury secretary, George Humphrey, had suggested adding the phrase to paper currency as well.
July 30, A.D. 1956 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a law officially declaring “In God We Trust” to be the nation’s official motto. Public LAW passed by the 84th Congress of the United States of America also ‘mandated that the phrase be printed on all American paper currency.’ – source: History.com
“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”
Dwight David Eisenhower – June 14, A.D. 1954 – Flag Day in the U.S.

christianity lite – church & STATE – god help US
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Time will not allow me to get to the christian church of the Common Era today; so you'll have to wait for my NEXT post where, God-willing, I will move on from doctrines of GOD to teaching JESUS CHRIST. - RH)
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NO Doctrine of the COMMON ERA or any other millennia will stand the test of time without defining GOD truthfully.

GOD IS and God reveals Himself through His creation, Scriptures and IN THE PERSON of JESUS CHRIST.

Deuteronomy 4-5 — the line of the LAW and the GOD we crossed
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4:6  וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם כִּי הִוא חָכְמַתְכֶם וּבִינַתְכֶם לְעֵינֵי הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁמְעוּן אֵת כָּל־הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה וְאָמְרוּ רַק עַם־חָכָם וְנָבוֹן הַגּוֹי הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּֽה׃
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“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is Yahweh our God whenever we call on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

“Only keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. But make them known to your sons and to your grandsons.
Deuteronomy 4:7-9 Legacy Standard Bible

WE must not limit God exclusively to Israel, America or any nation, but worship the only Creator of ALL things, breathing life into human flesh and blood, choosing some as saved souls for His glory of eternal life.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

The Gospel of God from Paul’s letter to the Romans
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I CHALLENGE ANY PASTOR who claims to be NOT GUILTY of preaching "christianity lite" to OPEN A SERMON as Paul does his letter to the Church in Rome: 
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Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus
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Pastor, are you shepherding YOUR church proclaiming yourself "A SLAVE" of the risen Christ JESUS and PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL of SCRIPTURE as God has written it?

Paul does.
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.. 3 concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,

4 who was designated as the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ..

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous will live by faith.”

christianity lite neglects GOD’s Righteous Wrath
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Your 'christianity lite' 'pastor' will not confess this positive place of appropriate SLAVERY.
And a Common Era shepherd wearing the casual robes of cultural correctness 
DARE NOT draw a distinct line written IN GOD'S WORD of Scripture. 

Paul does.
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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men [and women anthrōpos] who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Paul’s Epistle to the 1st c. A.D. church in Rome 1:18-19 Legacy Standard Bible

NEXT: christianity lite – in a post-Christian Common Error World

Talk of JESUS .com

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
September 16, 2023
According to the Custom of Moses
Paul and Barnabas have returned from Cypress and the mountain cities of nearby Asia minor after nearly two years of an amazing first missionary journey from Antioch.

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Acts of the Apostles 15:1 ESV

TRADITION, TRADITION, TRADITION, some preach. — We all know the type (and EACH of us in our own way have danced the dance).
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. – Acts 15:2 ESV

ἔθος – Ethos of Μωϋσῆς

Controversies of the Custom of Moses Continue

ethos – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1485 – ethos
- custom
- usage prescribed by law, institute, prescription, rite
ἔθος – Ethos from the Greek of Paul, Barnabas, the local language of the church at Antioch Syria from where these apostles had been sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit and the church — Ethos from the common Greek Jesus preached to the crowds of Galilee and Judea nearly two decades earlier

ἔθνος – Ethnos NOT of Μωϋσῆς

— ethos, so similar and applicable to ethnos, that is, ἔθνος, used for ‘the nations’ or gentiles.

ἔθνος – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1484 – ethnos
- a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
  - a company, troop, swarm
- a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus
  - the human family
- a tribe, nation, people group
- in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
- Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians
Circumcision (and other Mosaic traditions)

~ A.D. 60-62 – Luke’s two accounts of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles are published for a church suffering severe persecution throughout the Empire, including Jerusalem which is about to be destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70.

~ A.D. 49 – Luke’s records this encounter between some men of Judea and Gentile Christians of Antioch Syria. This takes place after their first missionary journey, leads to a council at Jerusalem and consequently to a second missionary journey (into the world of the gentiles).

So my first reaction to such opposition is WHY is circumcision such a BIG DEAL with these men?

~ A.D. 32 [Jerusalem]

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. .. and they set up false witnesses who said, “..we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
Acts of the Apostles 6:9-14 ESV – excerpt from Jewish accusation of Stephen

The issue of the LAW, covenants and traditions is NOT who has broken with tradition but who the LORD now separates to HIMSELF by the Sacrifice of Christ.

The Testimony of Christ by Stephen
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Timeline: Moses *uncertain *(~15th or 13th c. B.C.); (Precise timeline of Joshua & the Judges of Israel uncertain.):
David *~1000 B.C. (dates differ between various sources); Solomon ~900's B.C. - First Temple of the United Kingdom of Israel (Judah in the south & Israel in the north) ended in 931 B.C. at Solomon's death.

Stephen's testimony before Jerusalem's leaders takes place about ten centuries (1000 years) after David, 
but just two years after these judges of Herod's temple reject their Messiah Jesus.
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Acts of the Apostles

Paul and Barnabas have prevailed over such opposition by the power of the Holy Spirit throughout their first missionary Journey already.

Opposed to the Gospel at the Gate: Bar-Jesus

Acts 13:9But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
Acts of the Apostles 13:47 ESV

The issue of salvation of the Gentiles NOT the traditions of Moses, Israel, Abraham or David.

Unworthy of Eternal Life

But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. – Acts of the Apostles 13:50 ESV

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

Act of the Apostles 14:1-2 ESV

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds [at Lystra], they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
Acts of the Apostles 14:19 ESV

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. – Acts 14:23 ESV

Acts 15 of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas

So several months back before this year of our Lord 49, the Holy Spirit anointed these apostles to be sent out from the church at Antioch. Their mission was first to the Jews, but also to Romans in the Roman cities and Greeks in the Greek cities — men NOT of the circumcision AND women as well – the ethos of the ethnos as it were — the uncustomary customs of the gentiles accepted into the Church by its Apostles and Elders as new traditions of grace in Jesus Christ.

2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

Journey from Antioch to Jerusalem via Roman roads to Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia, Caesarea on the Samarian coast and Joppa on the Judean coast to Jerusalem is approximately 350 miles.

So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

NEXT: The Council at Jerusalem

Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem (by the church at Antioch Syria) from where the Holy Spirit had sent them into the lands of the Gentiles.

These apostles of Antioch continue to proclaim the Gospel as previously on this next journey of more than three-hundred miles to Jerusalem.

The Samaritans and certainly Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon are NOT of an ethos like the Judeans either (but Jesus had brought the Gospel to these towns too).

The church has also added Romans in Caesarea when Peter previously visited, as had Samaritans witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit in Joppa.

In Jerusalem Peter, Paul, Barnabas, the Apostles and many others will sort it all out as the Holy Spirit continues to bring both Jew and Gentile together in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be continued…
December 29, 2022