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 →
Faith In First Corinthians, Part 2: The Believer’s Faith Stands in the Power of God, Not in the Wisdom of Man:
Volume 5, Number 43The first three chapters of 1st Corinthians deals with divisions among believers despite God’s blessings to them and the foolishness of men vis a vis the wisdom and power of God. As noted in our last study, the first occurrence of the word faith in 1st Corinthians is: “And my (Paul’s) speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand (be) in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:4 - 5. Several previous passages lay the... Continue reading →
Faith In First Corinthians, Part 1: The Believer’s Faith Stands in the Power of God, Not in the Wisdom of Man; One Baptism into the Body of Christ By the Holy Spirit; Divisions Among the Members:
Volume 5, Number 42The word faith occurs 7 times in 1st Corinthians and 7 in 2nd Corinthians. Today we’ll begin to examine the context of its first occurrence: “And my (Paul’s) speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand (be) in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:4 - 5. We won’t get to these 2 verses in this study, but we will cover part of what leads to their conclusion. In the first 3 chapters of 1... Continue reading →
Introduction to the Corinthian Epistles, Part 3: The Righteous, Albeit Carnal Corinthian Saints Demonstrate both the Holiness and Sinfulness in All Believers:
Volume 5, Number 41The word “faith” occurs 7 times in the first epistle to Corinthians and 7 in the second. Seven in Scripture is the number for Spiritual perfection and the believers in Corinth were spiritually perfect. Paul addressed them: “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be (“to be” not in the original) saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:” 1 Corinthians 1:2. Thus we know the Corinthians (and all believers since) are:• “Sanctified,” from the Greek... Continue reading →
Introduction to the Corinthian Epistles, Part 2: Review of the Miraculous Sign Gifts Recorded in Acts:
Volume 5, Number 40Our last study reviewed the elements of the Gospel of the Kingdom taught by Peter and the 12 for the Nation of Israel compared to the Gospel of the Grace of God revealed to the Apostle Paul for both individual Jews and Gentiles and it argued that Paul taught the Gospel of the Grace throughout his ministry. Noting 1st Corinthians is Paul’s only epistle that mentions the sign gifts I re-examined the book of Acts to identify every occasion where signs, wonders and miracles are mentioned to put the teaching of Corinthians in perspective. As near as I can tell,... Continue reading →
Introduction to the Corinthian Epistles, Part 1:
Volume 5, Number 39The Corinthian epistles are very unique and insightful. For instance, 1 Corinthians is the only epistle in which Paul deals with tongues and water baptism. And although Paul labels as Saints those in the church at Corinth, there were many living carnal lifestyles. All of Paul’s epistles have been applicable to the church, the Body of Christ since they were written, and the Corinthian letters are no different; many believers since have lived similar to the Corinthians. During Paul’s time, Corinth was populous, thriving and the chief city of the Roman province of Achaia (the southern area of Greece). Goods... Continue reading →
Words Unique in the Pauline Epistles:
Volume 5, Number 38Words can mean different things to different people so it’s important to understand individual words in Scripture. Before we move on from Romans to Corinthians, I’d like to point out 10 prominent words in the Pauline epistles with a view to define the meaning of the original Greek words translated variously to English. I’m not a student of Greek but have studied various Greek/English references and compared Scripture with Scripture in this endeavor. The King James Version (KJV) is used here so if the reader uses another version, he/she may find a different English word used to translate the Greek.... Continue reading →