Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: romans

Justice deferred in a Political Theatre of Law
We suppose Law to be a tool of Justice

Justice

Citizens of Greek City-States claimed freedom and justice..

(although like everywhere else, Greek democracy did not apply to its slaves.)

Socrates drank the hemlock of justice weighed by his opponents of classic philosophy.

And, of course, Alexander the Great Macedonian claiming all Greece and the world had different ideas of law to make the world Greek again.

(“There’s nothing new under the sun,” stated Solomon, King over much of the same empire nearly a thousand years before Alexander.)

Roman Law

In today’s setting of Acts of the Apostles it’s important for us to remember that in Jerusalem – Judean LAW (it isn’t even fully JEWISH LAW applicable in other Roman Provicences (or States by contemporary comparison) – as administered by the Sanhedron separate of the Roman Governor, a minor appointed Proconsul accountable to the Emporor.

This jurisdictional oversight – similar to that when Pontius Pilate tried to pass the political hot potato of the King of the Jews back and forth to Herod or the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem – is little different when just a few years later Paul retuns to Jerusalem to face JUSTICE redefined in various venues.

Jews demanding JUSTICE

The Apostle of Jesus sent to the Gentiles (Greeks) has just returned home.

After his witness to the Jews (in Hebrew) of being sent by Jesus (who had been crucified) on the road to Damascus) AND being sent to the Gentiles — (this had been 20 years ago, back in A.D. 37) — once again, Paul proclaims Christ risen!

The adjitated jewish crowd was about to stone him, just as when he himself had witnessed the execution of Stephen.

“Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?”

When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune..

Acts of the Apostles 22:25b-26a ESV
```
There he's done it! 

Paul initiates a whole chain-of-events triggering the chain-of-command in Roman oversight and justice. 
```
But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he [the Tribune in charge of the Centurians] unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.

Acts 22:30 ESV
```
This JEWISH council — about seventy leading men, SUMMONED to apprear before the ROMAN Tribune and his COURT of Roman justice in Jerusalem — are NOT in charge of the proceedings. 
```
Acts 23:

And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”
```
Remember: Although the courtroom is that of the Jews, Paul — the DEFENDENT — faces them as his PROSECUTOR (not his judge).
```
And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

“God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!

Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”

Some savvy oral arguments take place (as is common in court). Paul seeks to divide the jury of his accusers:

“.. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

It worked. One of his fellow Pharisees stands in his defense,

“We find nothing wrong in this man.

What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”

The dissension (between the two parties of the Pharisees and Sadducees)became violent.

Now the Jews of this local lower court — to which the rules of the Pax Romana defer — sound more like a lynch mob than a place of justice AND (let’s not forget) Paulos is a ROMAN CITIZEN.

And as a great dissension was developing, because the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them, he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

Acts 23:10 LSB

Conspiracy against Christ and His Apostle

The world will often witness an unexplainable boldness in a certain saint of God is seemingly insurmountable circumstances. (This had happened with the Apostle time and time again during his ten-plus years of travel among the gentiles and Greeks.)

The night before his highly anticipated public trial in Jerusalem the Apostle of Christ Jesus again received supernatural instruction.

But on that very night, the Lord stood at his side and said,

“Take courage; for as you have solemnly borne witness to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness at Rome also.”

Acts 23:11 LSB

Imagine — the Lord Jesus Christ, who had been crucified twenty-seven years ago — the same risen Lord who had appeared in a vision of great glory twenty years ago — stands beside the Apostle and now sends him to Rome!

So of course, Paul is emboldened when he is brought to trial before the Roman court the next day.

Meanwhile, more than forty of the jews made a plot to murder Paul (outside of the jurisdiction of the Roman authorities).

They went to the chief priests and elders and said,

“We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

The Plot Thickens

Paul’s jewish nephew hears of the plot of these forty men, so the young man heads to the Roman fortress to try to warn Paul.

Paulos — the Roman citizen held in protective custody after the big hubbub of the jewish crowds — instructs his guards to go to the man in charge.

Paul called one of the centurions and said,

“Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.”

Acts 23:17 ESV

The tribune [Claudius Lysias] took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”
```
Note the gentleness of this tribune, Claudius Lysias - a man in charge of the centurions of Antonia Fortress as he seeks to get to the truth of the matter. 
```
The young son of Paul’s sister responds:

“The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.

But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.”

Acs 23:21b-22 ESV

“Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

An Imposed Authority of Roman Justice

“Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.[9 pm]

Caesarea – (Caesar’s Palace in Judea

Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”
```
This military escort of a Roman citizen Paulos is most unlike the handling of Jesus the king of the Jews sent to the Pontius Pilate, governor of that time, (who happened to be in Jeruslem rather than Caesarea). 
```
Official Orders sent with Paul

“Claudius Lysias,

to his Excellency the governor Felix,

greetings.

This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

Acts 23:26-30 ESV
```
You might call this 'the official COURT record.' 
```
Of course — ALL follow orders and the next scene with, with Roman effeciency, take place in Caesarea.

Marcus Antonius Felix
```
Antonius Felix, served as the Roman procurator of Judea from ~AD 52-58. He was appointed by the Emperor Claudius and was known for his harsh and often corrupt administration. Felix was a freedman of Claudius' mother, Antonia. - source: BibleHub 
```
When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.

The Governor inquires about jurisdiction – that is, in effect – Am I the appropriate judge of this case?

And when he learned that he [Paulos] was from Cilicia, he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he [Antonius Felix] commanded him [the Centurian in charge of Paul’s escort] to be guarded in Herod’s praetorium [there in Caesarea].

Acts of the Apostles 23:35 ESV [with names of prepositions]

Justice – a Case to be continued

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
June 30, 2025
Death Put Under the Authority of God —Resurrection — in Order
For God has put everything under his feet.
1 Corinthians 15:27a CSB

How can this include DEATH?

Is death not the antithesis of LIFE —decay into deep darkness the defeat of created man?

How can the resurrection of the dead — even those martyred in Christ — take place?

The Apostle Paul continues to address the concerns of the Corinthian church putting all things in order and now addressing THE END.

The Order of Resurrection

The apostle to the gentiles (Hellenists, that is, Greeks including Corinthians) began his logical argument with
The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection and logically continued to connect those facts.

And Now the News – Resurrection of the Dead

LAST TIME, we ended with Paul’s astounding opening statement about death and resurrection about an ORDER of the Resurrection:

Then comes the end…

1 Corinthians 15:24a CSB

I stumbled over it. Do you?

THE END…

Isn’t DEATH, after all, the end?

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make…

“1,2,3,4,5,6,7,
All good children go to heaven…
Everybody’s laughing
Everybody’s happy
Here come the Sun King…

Of course, we all have much anti-Christ philosophy replaying in the mortal minds of our imaginings (it isn’t hard to do..).

The cultural challenges of the resurrection were no less for Paul and the Corinthians than the Promethean philosophical objections of the 20th century and this Common Era.
```
AGAIN, as we first addressed in the Facts: 
```
Cultural ‘science‘ of Promethean Logic

Prometheus, in Greek religion, one of the Titans, the supreme trickster, and a god of fire. His intellectual side was emphasized by the apparent meaning of his name, Forethinker. In common belief he developed into a master craftsman, and in this connection he was associated with fire and the creation of mortals.

Source: Britannica

Perhaps they also hope against hope that these things aren’t really so..

in a self-deceived way..

the problem here is not merely cognitive..

but.. Promethean…

from WARRANTED CHRISTIAN BELIEF PP290-294

NO – Death is NOT ‘The End.’

The Apostle Paul will address this — DEATH and its threats did not phase him and should not prevent those possibly facing martyrdom for claiming Jesus Christ and the resurrection to the crowds of Corinth.

What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus?

If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

1 Corinthians 15:32 ESV

Paul has emphasized order in worship and now, the Apostle even presents an order in the resurrection of the dead, rather than random godless chaos without form.

1 Corinthians 15:
```
King James Version 
```
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

1 Cor 15:3-4 KJV

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

v. 20

AND what were the instructions of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Twelve sent to some with the Gospel?

The Fruit of Faith (an illustration from a parable of Jesus)

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

from Gospel of Luke 12:19-20 KJV

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear:

Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Gospel of Luke 12:4-5 KJV – Jesus on death and judgment
```
Some foreboding in our Lord's call to stand up to death — is there not?
```
Saul of Tarsus & the fearless witness of Paul

When Paul had met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, Christ’s new apostle to the gentiles came to understand the reality of WHY those Saul had previously persecuted and killed had not changed their testimony — even as these saints of Ephesus or Corinth faced mortal death.

(And remember Stephen as he was stoned to death in Jerusalem?)

Just three or four years after he writes to the Corinthians, Paul also will witness the resurrection to King Herod Agrippa II, hearing his case brought by the Jews until Paul appeals to Caesar.

Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

Acts of the Apostles 26:22-23 NKJV

Christ the firstfruits of Resurrection

For as in Adam all die, even so

in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

1 Corinthians 15:22-23 KJV

WHAT AN ILLUSTRATON! — āḏām [man – אָדָם] — made in the image of God — now mortal and re-destined to dust — in Christ (and Christ alone) redeemed and revived from DEATH — death, common to every creature made alive for a time by God.

Let me explain the REIGN of Christ, Paul reasons:
```
Once again, in the more AUTHORITIVE-sounding King James Version, let's examine Paul's text in words provoking push-back from Christians unaccustomed to such absolute authority of a most-powerful King. 
```
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;

when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

1 Corinthians 15:24-25 KJV
```
IS this the JESUS we know?
```
Afterward —The Whole Harvest

At the same time the wicked shall rise also. But they are not taken here into the account.

v. 23

Then — After the resurrection and the general judgment. Cometh the end — Of the world..

When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and he (the Father) shall have abolished all adverse rule, authority and power — Not that the Father will then begin to reign without the Son, nor will the Son then cease to reign…

But this is spoken of the Son’s mediatorial kingdom.. which will then commence.

John Wesley; Parallel Commentary on the NEW TESTAMENT, p.580

John Wesley provides explanation and delineation of the roles of the Father and of the Son — in the time between the resurrection of ALL the dead and prior to the Judgment — and until the end.
```
The King James Bible Commentary provides additional insight into Paul's explanation to the Corinthians of the end time.
```
” The logic is inescapable.

KJB Commentary on 1 COR 15:14 , p.1496

If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain.

The proclamation of the Gospel (vs.1-11) is hollow. Not only that, but your faith is .. ‘groundless.’

Faith in a dead saviour is both preposterous and pathetic.

ibid.
```
Much in the way Wesley's explanation of 'Who does what?' helps us, the KJB commentary also guides our understanding of the order of THE END [vs.23-26]. 
```
The end refers to he end of the kingdom of God. At that time he will have put down all rule.

27-28 .. However two facts must be accounted for here:
- First, when Paul say s that the Son is subject to the Father he is not speaking of the Son in terms of his essence, but in terms of his function, or ministry, as the incarnate Son.
- Second.. At this present time the administration of the messianic kingdom is given to the Son.
  
  However, at the conclusion of the messianic kingdom this function will be returned to the triune God that God may be all in all.
ibid.
WE don’t trust God, because of many who have claimed God — or Christ Jesus — in ways worthy of our suspicion.

Roger@TalkofJesus.com

The Apostle Paul is trying to show the Corinthians (and us) something about the order of God we do not understand, as well as the Authority all flesh tends to resist.

ὑποτάσσω – ‘Put under’ (in order)

Believe only Scripture and an order of the resurrection makes sense in the redemptive providential plan of God.

Misapply portions of the Gospel or add an oversimplified imagined LIFE after death without consequence for opposing God and your gospel claims will prove false — Promethean in the sense that you know that it can NOT be true (but you continue to hope that it is).

Take a look at the Biblical use of the word — hypotassō — primarily a military term that Paul uses NINE TIMES here IN TWO VERSES:

1 Corinthians 15:25-28 — For He must reign…

v.26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

For he hath put^G5293 all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under^G5293 him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put^G5293 all things under^G5293 him.

And when all things shall be subdued^G5293 unto him, then shall^G5293 the Son also himself be subject^G5293 unto him that put^G5293 all things under^G5293 him, that God may be all in all.

1 Corinthians 15:27-28 KJV — Lexicon :: Strong’s G5293 – hypotassō

How does New Testament Scripture use this term [ὑποτάσσω]?
- to arrange under, to subordinate
- to subject, put in subjection
- to subject one’s self, obey
- to submit to one’s control
- to yield to one’s admonition or advice
- to obey, be subject
```
Personally, most of us (including Christians) do not like any part of this kind of order. 
```
Let every soul be subject G5293 unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Romans 13:1 KJV
```
How are YOU, dear saint of Christ, doing with that?
```
YES, the Apostle Paul — put under Christ — obediently presents the resurrection of the body in order.

NEXT, he will talk about the resurrection body. And shortly Paul will urge the saints of Corinth to submit to those who have labored with the Apostle bringing forth the firstfruits of Achaia [16:15-16].

What do you think?

(logically and Biblically, of course) about the order of DEATH and the Resurrection?

Are you prepared to die daily (along with Paul) for the Lord Christ Jesus?

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
May 27, 2025
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.

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
July 8, 2024