First Corinthians, Chapter 13, Part 3; Now Abideth Faith, Hope & Love but the Greatest of these is Love:
Volume 5, Number 53It has been helpful and meaningful for me to review 4 key words in 1 Corinthians 13:13, i.e., faith, hope, greatest and love, by comparing their use in other Scripture and I hope this study is meaningful to you as we conclude the 13th chapter of First Corinthians.“Faith:” occurs twice in the 13th chapter of Corinthians: 1) “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity (love), I am nothing.”, 1 Corinthians 13:2; 2) “And now abideth faith,... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Chapter 13, The Way of Love, Part 2:
Volume 5, Number 52Our previous study highlighted and characterized the Greek noun “agape” (G26), (pronounced Uh-GAH-pay) translated “love” 86 times, “charity” 27 times, “dear” once, “charitably” once, and “feast of charity” once in the King James Version (KJV) of the New Testament (NT). The verb form “agapa’o” (G25) occurs 142 times, translated “love” 135 times and “beloved” 7 times and the adjective form “Agapetos” (G27) occurs 62 times translated “beloved” 47 times, “dearly beloved” 9 times, “well beloved” 3 times and “dear” 3 times. Agape describes God’s immeasurable, incomparable love for humankind; it is perfect, unconditional, sacrificial, and pure.Today we’ll examine more about... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Chapter 13, The Way of Love & It’s Attributes; Part 1:
Volume 5, Number 51While watching an NFL football game on TV recently the cameras focused on the words “Be Love” printed on the back of helmets worn by some players. This seemed a bit contradictory in several ways. I looked up the meaning of this slogan on the Internet and found an article that postulates the “Be Love” moniker worn by NFL players to be “virtue signaling,” which is often defined as an action that shows care towards a cause without making a difference. I won’t pass judgement on the motive/s of the players displaying this slogan but thought about “virtue signaling” in... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Chapter 12: The Body of Christ vis a vis Kings and The King of Kings and Lord of Lords:
Volume 5, Number 50The Apostle Paul goes into more detail about the Body of Christ in First Corinthians than in his other epistles, 1 Corinthians 12 - 27. I’ll quote the first and last of this passage: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one... Continue reading →
First Corinthians, Chapter 12, Part 3: The Corinthian’s Spiritual Gifts vis a vis the Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding Available to Believers Since Then:
Volume 5, Number 49Our last Faith Study described 9 Spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit gave the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 12:8 – 11: (1) the word of wisdom; (2) the word of knowledge; (3) faith; (4) gifts of healing; (5) working of miracles; (6) prophecy; (7) discerning of spirits; (8) tongues; (9) interpretation of tongues. These gifts were necessary because Paul’s epistles were not complete at that time, that is, the Word of God to Members of the Body of Christ was not complete, thus the Corinthians could minister Truth to others. Note that Paul also wrote: “I thank my God always on... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Chapter 12; Spiritual Gifts - Part 2; The Nine in Corinth:
Volume 5, Number 48Our last study examined the first 7 verses of chapter 12, which indicate that the following verses deal with the spiritual; that the Holy Spirit enables the believer to recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God and distributes gifts to individual believers, accomplishing His work through the believer. This is validation that the believer is an earthen vessel manifesting God’s Word and Work, 2 Corinthians 4:7. We continue today with 1 Corinthians 12:8 - 11: (8) “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; (9)... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Chapter 12: Spiritual Gifts; Part 1:
Volume 5, Number 47Having dealt with the first occasion of the word “faith” in 1 Corinthians; “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:5, we continue to the 2nd occurrence, found in the 12th chapter: “To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;” 1 Corinthians 12:9. Faith is included here with a number of other spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit gave to individuals in the Corinthian church. This study will cover the first 7 verses of chapter 12: Verse 1 “Now concerning... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Part 5: The Carnal Corinthians - The Believer’s Primer to a Sanctified Life:
Volume 5, Number 46The King James Version (KJV) of Paul’s 1st Corinthian epistle contains 9,462 words, more than any of his other epistles. Romans has 40 less words at 9,422. Hebrews is 3rd with 6,897 and 2nd Corinthians is 4th with 6,046 (KJF-Stats). Romans describes the Gospel of Grace revealed to Paul and lays the groundwork for his epistles to the other 6 churches: Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossi and Thessalonica. (Paul write to 7 churches and 7 in Scripture is the number for Spiritual perfection.) Romans reveals God’s wrath against sin, Romans 1:18 and the only ground upon which the sinner can... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Part 4: 1 Corinthians 2:6 – 8: God’s Hidden Wisdom Kept Secret Provides Salvation to Mankind while Condemning Satan & His Fallen Angels:
Volume 5, Number 45The past few studies have focused on several (paraphrased) verses teaching that:• The preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish; but to those who believe it is the power of God, 1 Corinthians 1:18;• The wisdom of man is of the world (Greek word kosmos G2889) by which man cannot know God, but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1 Corinthians 1:21;• The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men, 1 Corinthians 1:25;• God hath chosen the foolish things of the... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Part 3: It’s Not the Preacher’s Ability that Saves, It’s the Power of God By The Preaching of The Cross To Those Who are Being Saved:
Volume 5, Number 44In Part 1 (V5-N42) we noted that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are lost in their sins and bound for hell, but it is the power of God to those who are being saved, 1 Corinthians 1:18. Paul then asks rhetorically: “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” 1 Corinthians 1:20 and he answers “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching... Continue reading →