Thank you, Chris. As the old guy said, " It was about as clear as mud in the past but now I am starting to see some light".
Just trying to work out the knicks in my thinking.
So at conception, when the seed and egg unites our physical body is form and our soul? Then or sometime after conception God puts a spirit/ life force in us?
When you say "often very debatable" are you saying that this subject is debatable among honest Christians or we may never know for sure or both?
Our core values we know for sure but secondary issues we don't.
Does anybody on this site think that God would come to this earth as Jesus Christ in a flesh body ( Jn 1:1,14) and not have His Words documented, or written down in a book exactly as He wanted them written for the Lastdays generation?
( 2 Tim 2:15) "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed ((rightly dividing the word of truth))". This verse tells us to rightly divide the word of truth, we do have the word of truth to study today according to this verse, Right?
( Rom 10:17) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing ((by the word of God)) Again, we have the Word of God today, Right?
( Jn 17:17) "Sanctify them through thy truth: ((thy word is truth)) ( Jn 8:31-32) v31 "If ye continue in my word" v32 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". ( Jn 14:6) ( Jn 14:23-24)
( Jn 3:34-35) v34 "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God"
( Mt 4:4) "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ((every word)) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God".
( Prov 30:5-6) v5 "Every word of God is pure" v6 "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar".
The word (pure) is #2889; it means clean, to be pure, sound, unadulterated, uncontaminated.
The KJB tells us in ( 2 Cor 2:17) "For we are not as many, which (corrupt) the word of God" The word (corrupt) is #2585; it means to adulterate.
The niv says in ( 2 Cor 2:17) "Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God". The niv's words are adulterated, contaminated, not sound, they are being found a liar.
( Jer 23:36) The word (perverted) is #2015; it means to change, overturn, pervert, change.
All modern version bibles have changed, perverted the Words of the living God.
The KJB ( Ps 12:6-7) v6 "The words of the LORD are (pure) words" v7 "thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever"
The niv says in ps, 12:7 "O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever" WOW
Hi guys and thanks so much for your both excellent replies to me , I enjoyed and appreciated them both . The thing that puzzles me is : 'promised before the world began' , where did Paul get this specific information from at that time ? I guess Paul was wise for his time , we know because we have the full Bible , old and new and we can discern the big picture . We can recognise that it was God's perpose all along , to creat a people who would love Him and want to be with Him , where and how did Paul find this out ? Can we find scripture that Paul would have had access to that would point him in this direction ? We get all of our info from the Bible so where did Paul learn this from ? It must be that Paul was well blessed in understanding , wisdom and God's Holy Spirit , that he was able to discern this without the benefit of the new testament writings . Thanks again for the pearls :) .
YHWH is renewing the Sinai covenant with this new generation, laying down to them the law by which they are to live and how they are to worship and serve Him in the land they are about to enter that they will receive by His promise. This new generation cannot ride in on the vows made by their parents/grandparent. They will need to be instructed as their parents/grandparents were at Sinai and give assent to the covenant as their predecessors did. They cannot go into the promised land on what was vowed by others. They will need to make their own vows to YHWH at this crucial time,
In a sense, this mirrors our own conversions. We cannot become right with God based on our parents' conversion experiences. We each are to be individually called and drawn by the Holy Spirit, regenerated, and brought to faith by God in the same way as all who have been converted before us.
Also, we cannot piggy back of the faith of our parents in being in a right relationship with God. We are to make use of the faith availed to us by the Holy Spirit to believe of our own volition and commitment to Him. No one else can believe for us but ourselves. No one else can be converted for us.
I am glad that God works in and with us individually in coming to Him and sustaining us in our faith and life in Christ. It is a personal experience and journey that is done within the family of God, the body of Christ, but we must have a faith of our own and a relationship with our Lord personally as we are fitted into the body of Christ for eternity.
Hi Gasman. Yours are good questions & often very debatable when considering the construct of man & the Work of the Holy Spirit within Him or even, upon Him. Firstly, we do understand from the Word, that we are tripartite beings (i.e. composed of soul, spirit & body): 1 Thessalonians 5:23. The 'body' aspect we know, but it can be difficult to correctly understand the difference between the soul & spirit. So, if we take it as the soul being our mental, emotive powers & the spirit being the 'life force', all given by God so that can be living creatures able to experience all that God has given us & of course, our return of worship & thanks to our Creator, then we can somewhat understand how God's Spirit connects with us.
Only when a person has been born again by God's Spirit ( John 3:3), can that person be in a new revived position of receiving & giving communication to our Heavenly Father. God sends His Spirit to be with us & in us ( John 14:17), but His Spirit doesn't replace our spirit, nor does He overrule us to the extent that we cease to think & behave as ordinary people. So, when He ministers to us (whether in decision-making, personal conduct, in worship, in understanding the Word, etc.), it becomes our choice as to whether we allow His gentle & precise ministry to influence us or not. Sadly, we often allow carnal thoughts or pre-conceived ideas or beliefs to take precedent over His, much to our detriment. But when we are truly walking (& worshiping in the Spirit) - Galatians 5:16,25 - then we will truly know His Peace, that which 'surpasses all our understanding & inclinations' ( Philippians 4:7), joyfully allowing Him to lead us, especially in worship & in faith, for all we experience.
Your questions 'to which spirit'? Our spirit is never laid aside in the functioning of man - our faculties are always in force. It is how much we allow the Holy Spirit to take control in our lives, our worship, even 'wisdom in allowing others into our lives' ( Romans 8:1-28).
In this chapter, instructions are given about keeping of vows, the obligation of a father or husband if a woman under their headship makes a vow, of widows and divorced woman who have no man to be subject to.
Each of these situations has different instructions, but it is consistently emphasized that a woman is under the authority of her father or husband when it comes to making and keeping vows. It is not explained why the vows of women differs that those of men, but it does mention that women are to be subject to the man who has headship over her. Men do not have such limits as the woman. Whereas a woman's vows can be either affirmed and binding should the man agree or simply not give any response over time; or the woman's vow can be voided if the man speaks up to do so, then the woman is not bound t fulfill her oath.
Men, widows, and divorced women are commanded to keep the vows and oaths they swear to and not go back on them.
God take such oaths/vows seriously. The text do not speak about what the vows/oaths pertain to, but perhaps it relates to:
-vows made to God to set aside oneself, one's property, member of one's household for the Lord's work
-vows made to God concerning an offering or tithe
-vows made in a marriage
-vows made in business''
-vows made between brethren
While we expect to make good on all He has sworn to do and fulfill what He has promised. we often may make an oath or vow halfheartedly, disingenuously, deceitfully, or without any intention of fulfilling it. These sins are serious to the Lord as they have to do with being trustworthy and/or faithful; honest and/or sincere; fair and/or just.
The Israelites vowed to YHWH at Sinai to live by the covenant God had offered to them. They soon broke their vow over and over again up to this point in Numbers. In this chapter, YHWH continues to reiterate what was involved in the covenant at Sinai to this generation's parents and grandparents. Now it is their turn to hear the covenant from GOD
So, Paul introduces that as a gage. "Oh, is this guy super spiritual? Well, don't let him waltz across the stage here. What kind of hardships has he suffered for that spirituality, or for that understanding? And he says don't compare the preaching and how well the guy preached. In fact, Paul says he was not a good preacher. He was known to be very rude in speech, which basically means unschooled.
He had a monotone, and some even believed he stuttered. So, if you had to listen to that for a couple of hours, you would understand what Paul's trying to say.
He was not a good speaker. But he says I might be rude in speech, but not in knowledge. So, he says that's what I'll compare with anybody. Let's see if they line up with the truth, not whether they have a charismatic personality, or they are able to preach or not!
Next, I will share my introduction to Galatians with you. God Bless!!!
CHAPTERS 8 AND 9: The discussion about the collection.
Remember in Chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, Paul said that on the first day of the week, bring the money together every time you gather together, for a collection for the poor saints back in Jerusalem. So, he's going to discuss that. And he's going to give us more of the principles of giving, more than he did in his first letter.
CHAPTERS 10 THROUGH 13: The defense of Paul's ministry.
What Paul does, is he basically says, "Well, if I'm an apostle, and they are super apostles, then let's compare suffering." It was never how many people were saved or how many people you have preached to. It was how much you suffered for Christ while you are serving.
And he says, "Do any of these false teachers, have they ever suffered for Christ's sake?" Everywhere they went, they taught the people how to make them comfortable. And Paul is going to share with us the physical suffering that he had to go through, and suffering spiritually.
That is because God revealed to him special revelation. He was caught up into the third heaven, and because of that, because he saw things that he could not repeat for us down here, he was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. He actually experienced health problems because of the revelation that God gave to him, in order for him to keep his flesh under.
V: THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE CHURCH IN CORINTH:
The spiritual condition of the church and leadership in Corinth was given to us back in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 where he says, "I brethren, when I was with you, I could not speak unto you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, people who function according to the human and have no spiritual growth, so when I was first with you, I fed you as babes in Christ, and I fed you with milk, not with meat. For hitherto, you were not able to bear it, now you are neither able to bear it."
When Paul wrote that, it was approximately five years since he has been there. So, he says five years ago when I was with you, I fed you with milk because you were just babes in Christ. But now five years later, you should be able to start handling some solid food. But you're still babes. You're still carnal. And he used a Greek word to show that it's abnormal.
There's a normal carnality and there's abnormal. If you are young in the Lord, then it's normal. That is the word SARKINOS. But as you grow in the Lord, you should be ready to handle solid food. If not, that is an abnormal carnal, and that is SARKIKOS. So, there was a carnal fleshy condition, not only in the congregation, but in the leadership.
VI: SECTION OUTLINE OF 2 CORINTHIANS:
There are only three sections.
CHAPTERS 1 THROUGH 7: The description of ministry.
Notice it doesn't say the ministry. This is all ministry. And Paul is going to present that all believers have a ministry. And he's going to describe it for us. And you can see just by that first section that if Paul describes ministry for them, they're going to be comparing what Paul says with the false teachers that are in town.
1 Corinthians 5:9 indicates that there was a letter prior to 1 Corinthians. Some believe there were actually four letters. But only two were found. 2 Corinthians was written after Titus returned with the news of the church in Corinth. Paul was in Ephesus when the house of Chloe came across over to Ephesus and told Paul what was going on.
So, Paul sent back what we have as 1 Corinthians back to Corinth. But then Paul waited to hear back from them about the response. Well, none of the group, Chloe or anyone came back. So, Paul traveled up, and we read about Troas, which is just north of Ephesus. And he's going to tell them that the Lord gave him an open door to minister there.
And he was waiting for Titus to return. He sent Titus to say I haven't heard anything, what's going on? Paul said you go over there and find out what's going on. And I'm going to go to Troas and minister, and I'll be there, and you come and bring me word.
Well, while he was in Troas, Titus never showed up. So, Paul comes back across and he's going to be frantically making his way down looking for Titus. And Titus meets up with him and tells him what's going on and about the false teachers that had come in.
And that's what prompted Paul to write 1 Corinthians. So, he hears from Titus, he hears what's going on, and he sends this letter to them about false teachers and false teaching.
So basically, what they did was they came into town, and they said, "We've come to know the Lord and we've been taught by the apostle Paul." So, the false teachers would say "Well, he might be the apostle Paul, but we are the super apostles!" They put themselves above Paul. And they are the ones that came in with the "health and wealth" doctrine.
That's kind of interesting because Paul sacrificed himself to make tents so that he would not have to take money from the people. But as soon as the false teachers came in, they said "Oh, he never taught you how to give."
And so, they gave what they had to these teachers and set them up pretty good, good housing, and good material things. And when Paul found out about it, he says "I sacrifice myself to not take your money. Forgive me for this wrong." You turn around and give it to false teachers, and I sacrifice so that you can hear the gospel and not be burdened down with finances. So false teachers had come into Corinth, and corrupted the church itself, addressed by 1 Corinthians.
And then we have the corruption of leadership addressed in 2 Corinthians. Everything in 2 Corinthians, all 13 chapters, has to do with ministry. Not ministers, but ministry. It is one of the greatest books in the bible if not the greatest book in the bible that teaches believers what those in the ministry are supposed to be doing, what their motive is, and what it's like to serve Christ.
But it is the blueprint of all ministry.
And as Paul is presenting it, it's not just for people who call themselves ministers, but every believer has a ministry. This is the blueprint for ministry as Paul compares himself with the false teachers, both in what they're teaching, and how they conduct their life and their motive for what they do. It is a tremendous book. Every believer should be held accountable, not only for what they do, but why they do it!
It was written around 56 A.D. So, it's about a year after what we know was the first letter. And it was written from somewhere in Macedonia. We don't know exactly where. Tradition says it might be Philippi, but it's somewhere in Macedonia where Paul is traveling.
Now you should know that we have what is known as 1st and 2nd Corinthians because we only have two letters. We know that there were at least three. According to 1 Corinthians 5:9, Paul makes reference to another letter that he had sent to them, which apparently is lost.
Some even believe that right before Paul wrote what we call 2 Corinthians that there was a third letter written, taken by Titus, and that Paul was waiting for him, and when Titus came back and gave Paul word that the people were scoffing at some of Paul's teachings, then he wrote what we call 2 Corinthians.
But we only have two of the letters. Whether there were three or four, or more, we only have two.
III: WHY IT WAS WRITTEN:
First of all, about Corinth itself, Paul evangelized Corinth during his second missionary journey in Acts 18:1-18. He was there for about a year and a half. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians after being visited by some of the house of Chloe. Paul was in Ephesus.
1 Corinthians was a letter of correction. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to address the corruption in the church.
The city of Corinth was so corrupt that any immoral person within the Roman Empire was called a Corinthianized person. 2 Corinthians was written about a year later than 1 Corinthians. It was written to counter false teachers that had come into Corinth.
So not only was Paul battling with the believers of their disobedience to the truth, and their rebellion against his authority, but now false teachers had come into Corinth, and they too were attacking Paul's teaching. Paul calls them "super apostles" in Chapter 11.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 is one of my favorite verses in scripture. Paul says the tools of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful with God for the pulling down of strongholds.
Here's what he means by strongholds. Pulling down reasonings, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Notice that. That exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We are living in the day where people do put down the knowledge of God. They say you need to forget the bible, and the bible is so divisive, and people can't agree on what it says so you need to stay away from it.
But Paul says pulling down every reasoning and every high thing exalting itself against the knowledge of God and taking captive every thought into the obedience of Christ. So not only was Paul concerned about the salvation of people, but he was concerned after they were saved about their thoughts, and bringing their thoughts into the obedience of Christ, and captive to Him, having in readiness that we should avenge all disobedience whenever your obedience should be fulfilled.
So, he says it starts with you Corinthians. First is to get you to be obedient. And then we come in and we will avenge and correct all other disobedience as we find when we come there to Corinth.
I: ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paul is the writer. His inscription is on all 13 of his letters. In 1 Corinthians, it was Sosthenes that was also co-author with Paul. In this letter, it is Timothy. Timothy has become Paul's assistant. In fact, something Paul said in Philippians was that Timothy was like-minded. And so, Timothy was raised as a Christian around Paul and now is his assistant. Timothy would eventually pastor in Ephesus. And that's a very important church as far as the history of the church goes.
Hi Jema and brother Spencer, For me, it is hard to look at one verse alone sometimes. I like the thought of the rest and hope that can renewed in us by the promise since the beginning was made. Later in the next chapters it is clear that this hope and rest was renewed by the Son for a good purpose, a peculiar people, by grace in the Hope or Rest and by the Mercy of God for peaceable good works towards mankind until the reappearing of Jesus Christ. It is a good conversation!
If a believer has the Holy Spirit living inside of them, how does one distinguish between their soul, their spirit and the Holy Spirit. Which one is asking this question? Or which one is worshipping God? Or which is trying to made new friends by spending time with them?
Jesus was the only being worthy enough to be given as an offering. No other human, nor any amount of animal sacrifices is worth as much as the Son is to the Father. God can always cause animals and people to be born to replace the ones that die, but the Son, being eternal is the only Son begotten of the Father who is eternally Divine as the Father is. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all willing for the Son, one of themselves in the Godhead, to become human and die a human death for the sin of man. Oh, the love of God for us! We are undeserving of His love, but Jesus is infinitely worthy of the love within and between the Godhead. Jesus is the most costly offering ever made, and He was an offering made by God, not by man. How precious is He!
May we always remember these things when we partake of communion and reflect on his death and resurrection. We have been given such an unspeakable gift in the salvation in Christ that transforms us from sinful enemies of God into righteous children of God made clean from sin and able to have fellowship with the Godhead always and forever more. Praise to our Almighty God who has wrought such a complete, thorough, and eternal salvation for us He has called to Him.!
in both chapter 28 and 29 YHWH speaks through Moses concerning feast days that are to be celebrated and the Israelites are to be assembled. This is why at Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement Jews came to Jerusalem. It was required that they do by this Mosaic law.
In both Passover time and at the seventh month feasts many more animals are offered and sacrificed. A sin offering is offered each day.
A few things I am thinking about after reading these two chapters:
One is that these offerings and sacrifices indicate that YHWH must be appeased due to the overwhelming immensity of our sin and sinfulness and His infinite and uncompromising holiness. Thinking of the great number of animals offered throughout the time of the Israelites in the wilderness and up to the destruction of the temple in A,D, 70, how costly the price for us to come into fellowship with God. Being a people who raised flocks and herds and grew grains and trees for oil as a livelihood, the nation's debt to God for their corrupt state was truly impossible to be paid by the blood of animals and day to day and year to year the debt was never fully satisfied this way.
The second thought I have is that the completed payment of this debt for our sin was thus unattainable by. But our Lord was able to satisfy this debt and the wrath of our God for sin fully once and for all. Therefore, there was no longer any need of all these sacrifices anymore after the cross. God ended these ordinances once and for all in 70 A.D., just as Jesus had said in the Olivet discourse. Christ alone was what was needed to fulfill all the purposes for all of these OT sacrifices.
the last thought I have is that the sheer number of animals slain which could not blot out our sins shows us the infinite worth of Jesus to His Father. Jesus, being the most valuable person to the Father was given for us. This was the greatest act of God in all of history. The Son, whom He loved eternally, was given to expiate our sins,.. cont
This chapter teaches the new generation of Israelites the sacrificial ordinances goven to Israel on Mt. Ainai. One difference I notice was that of pouring of strong wine on the animals sacrificed. Immediately it reminded me of the blood of Jesus poured out for the remission of sins. It is likely that these Israelites had grown up with these sacrifices being done daily by Aaron and now Eleazar.
But YHWH deemed it necessary for this generation to hear from Him through Moses comcerning these offerings/sacrifices again.
We, too, should remind ourselves of what Jesus said at the Last supper concerning the communion. We should be glad to participate in communion as often as we can. It seems in the early church that many met daily ro share this meal to commemorate Jesus' death and resurrection. And others who gathered on the Lord's Day-the first day of the week-for worship and communion. This can be found int he book of Acts.
It is too bad that many churches have relegated communion to a once a month or every other week occurrence. It is a solemn observation and as believers a cherished one.
The whole of Num. 28 reminds us of our sinfulness before God and how much we need a permanent once and for all sacrifice for sin that covers us all day every day. Jesus did this-sacrificing Himself once and for all, thus eliminating the ordinances of Nu. 28 because He is the One Sacrifice all of these daily, Sabbath, holy day sacrifices were a shadow of His all sufficient offering of Himself to the Father as an acceptable offering. The Father received the offerings of the Israelites if they were done in faith and in observance of all that He commanded of the priest to do for the people. Jesus not only is the one perfect sacrifice for us but also our perpetual High Priest who intercedes for us before the Father. Therefore there is no longer any need for the sacrifices
delineated in this chapter nor for the Aaronic priesthood or temple. Christ is the fulfillment of all these.
That explains something that puzzled me for years.
John the Baptist was put in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus and says are you the coming one, or do we look for another?
THE WORD "ANOTHER" IN GREEK MEANS ANOTHER OF THE SAME KIND. So, he figures this must be the suffering Messiah. Are we expecting the next one to come too?
I believe there are 2 words in the Greek for another.
One is another of the same kind,
allos
The other is another of a different kind. heteros
I believe that word is used in Acts 7:18. "suggesting this Pharoah may have not been Egyptian".
I never applied this to John's questioning.
I just to the popular view, that he was beginning to have doubts.
I never fully believed or understood that being the case.
Godly, God chosen leaders are a real need in the body of Christ today. As you say, so many who are popular today are not truly as "anointed" as most people perceive. There is so much false doctrine being fed to so many believers and so much extravagance in lifestyle of so many leaders. They have become weakened by their acquisition of wealth and prestige which compromises the very purpose for which they are appointed to be a leader.
We must continue to pray for God to raise up leaders along the lines of Moses and Joshua.
Pondering your posting today. I wonder how many are purposely handing the baton so to speak to future leaders in the next generation today? First off there aren't that many who are great examples today; a few but of course many who have large ministries have slid off the doctrinal rails a while ago. So much is done today as well with those who are trained a certain way or sometimes those in families that have attended church for a long time as members which can be perfectly fine. Seeking those God has called for the job first of all means weeding out those who AREN'T qualified for the job despite how popular they may be in social circles. Also God in scripture chooses who He will; oftentimes not the biggest; badest and boldest as the world likes to choose. To find someone with a real heart for the Lord I can't help but wonder how rare that is today.
Of course some want to have an attitude that they are larger than life; or just won't think about the inevitable; in terms of their inheritance much as Paul chose Timothy. It is certainly rare for established Pastors to be humble enough to admit when the Lord has chastised them or in fact have the same transparency and accountability as they ask from other members of a church. This in fact makes them like the Pope or some other person with an exalted title or position who doesn't have anyone they can confess to above them (except God of course). It certainly helps future leaders to learn of mistakes made much as David taught Solomon. He eventually; of course wrote Ecclesiastes but had to learn many hard lessons after failing to be obedient to God as well as the advice from his parents.
Prayer of course is important; perhaps some of this occurs with Pastors and Deacons or elders under them as for future missions although I haven't seen much of it personally. Such things seem hidden from the rest of the laypersons in congregations.
I left out the most important aspect!
Even though the Apostles walked, saw, and heard Jesus in person, they couldn't perceive the spiritual truth.
They had to wait on the Holyspirit.
John 16:13-14.
Bless you
Thank you.
Paul git his revelation directly fron Christ! Galatians 1:11-12.
God bless.
Just trying to work out the knicks in my thinking.
So at conception, when the seed and egg unites our physical body is form and our soul? Then or sometime after conception God puts a spirit/ life force in us?
When you say "often very debatable" are you saying that this subject is debatable among honest Christians or we may never know for sure or both?
Our core values we know for sure but secondary issues we don't.
Thanks a bunch for reponding. Until He returns.
Gasman
( 2 Tim 2:15) "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed ((rightly dividing the word of truth))". This verse tells us to rightly divide the word of truth, we do have the word of truth to study today according to this verse, Right?
( Rom 10:17) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing ((by the word of God)) Again, we have the Word of God today, Right?
( Jn 17:17) "Sanctify them through thy truth: ((thy word is truth)) ( Jn 8:31-32) v31 "If ye continue in my word" v32 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". ( Jn 14:6) ( Jn 14:23-24)
( Jn 3:34-35) v34 "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God"
( Mt 4:4) "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ((every word)) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God".
( Prov 30:5-6) v5 "Every word of God is pure" v6 "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar".
The word (pure) is #2889; it means clean, to be pure, sound, unadulterated, uncontaminated.
The KJB tells us in ( 2 Cor 2:17) "For we are not as many, which (corrupt) the word of God" The word (corrupt) is #2585; it means to adulterate.
The niv says in ( 2 Cor 2:17) "Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God". The niv's words are adulterated, contaminated, not sound, they are being found a liar.
( Jer 23:36) The word (perverted) is #2015; it means to change, overturn, pervert, change.
All modern version bibles have changed, perverted the Words of the living God.
The KJB ( Ps 12:6-7) v6 "The words of the LORD are (pure) words" v7 "thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever"
The niv says in ps, 12:7 "O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever" WOW
( Isa 55:11) ( 1 Cor 1:10)
Trust the KJB only!
Blessings.
"the book of Acts is the Acts of Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, through the apostles".
Well stated Brother.
I'm just about caught up, I'm at 1 Corinthians!
I don't get to read daily as some of you.
I'm enjoying the outlines
God bless.
In a sense, this mirrors our own conversions. We cannot become right with God based on our parents' conversion experiences. We each are to be individually called and drawn by the Holy Spirit, regenerated, and brought to faith by God in the same way as all who have been converted before us.
Also, we cannot piggy back of the faith of our parents in being in a right relationship with God. We are to make use of the faith availed to us by the Holy Spirit to believe of our own volition and commitment to Him. No one else can believe for us but ourselves. No one else can be converted for us.
I am glad that God works in and with us individually in coming to Him and sustaining us in our faith and life in Christ. It is a personal experience and journey that is done within the family of God, the body of Christ, but we must have a faith of our own and a relationship with our Lord personally as we are fitted into the body of Christ for eternity.
Only when a person has been born again by God's Spirit ( John 3:3), can that person be in a new revived position of receiving & giving communication to our Heavenly Father. God sends His Spirit to be with us & in us ( John 14:17), but His Spirit doesn't replace our spirit, nor does He overrule us to the extent that we cease to think & behave as ordinary people. So, when He ministers to us (whether in decision-making, personal conduct, in worship, in understanding the Word, etc.), it becomes our choice as to whether we allow His gentle & precise ministry to influence us or not. Sadly, we often allow carnal thoughts or pre-conceived ideas or beliefs to take precedent over His, much to our detriment. But when we are truly walking (& worshiping in the Spirit) - Galatians 5:16,25 - then we will truly know His Peace, that which 'surpasses all our understanding & inclinations' ( Philippians 4:7), joyfully allowing Him to lead us, especially in worship & in faith, for all we experience.
Your questions 'to which spirit'? Our spirit is never laid aside in the functioning of man - our faculties are always in force. It is how much we allow the Holy Spirit to take control in our lives, our worship, even 'wisdom in allowing others into our lives' ( Romans 8:1-28).
Each of these situations has different instructions, but it is consistently emphasized that a woman is under the authority of her father or husband when it comes to making and keeping vows. It is not explained why the vows of women differs that those of men, but it does mention that women are to be subject to the man who has headship over her. Men do not have such limits as the woman. Whereas a woman's vows can be either affirmed and binding should the man agree or simply not give any response over time; or the woman's vow can be voided if the man speaks up to do so, then the woman is not bound t fulfill her oath.
Men, widows, and divorced women are commanded to keep the vows and oaths they swear to and not go back on them.
God take such oaths/vows seriously. The text do not speak about what the vows/oaths pertain to, but perhaps it relates to:
-vows made to God to set aside oneself, one's property, member of one's household for the Lord's work
-vows made to God concerning an offering or tithe
-vows made in a marriage
-vows made in business''
-vows made between brethren
While we expect to make good on all He has sworn to do and fulfill what He has promised. we often may make an oath or vow halfheartedly, disingenuously, deceitfully, or without any intention of fulfilling it. These sins are serious to the Lord as they have to do with being trustworthy and/or faithful; honest and/or sincere; fair and/or just.
The Israelites vowed to YHWH at Sinai to live by the covenant God had offered to them. They soon broke their vow over and over again up to this point in Numbers. In this chapter, YHWH continues to reiterate what was involved in the covenant at Sinai to this generation's parents and grandparents. Now it is their turn to hear the covenant from GOD
So, Paul introduces that as a gage. "Oh, is this guy super spiritual? Well, don't let him waltz across the stage here. What kind of hardships has he suffered for that spirituality, or for that understanding? And he says don't compare the preaching and how well the guy preached. In fact, Paul says he was not a good preacher. He was known to be very rude in speech, which basically means unschooled.
He had a monotone, and some even believed he stuttered. So, if you had to listen to that for a couple of hours, you would understand what Paul's trying to say.
He was not a good speaker. But he says I might be rude in speech, but not in knowledge. So, he says that's what I'll compare with anybody. Let's see if they line up with the truth, not whether they have a charismatic personality, or they are able to preach or not!
Next, I will share my introduction to Galatians with you. God Bless!!!
CHAPTERS 8 AND 9: The discussion about the collection.
Remember in Chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, Paul said that on the first day of the week, bring the money together every time you gather together, for a collection for the poor saints back in Jerusalem. So, he's going to discuss that. And he's going to give us more of the principles of giving, more than he did in his first letter.
CHAPTERS 10 THROUGH 13: The defense of Paul's ministry.
What Paul does, is he basically says, "Well, if I'm an apostle, and they are super apostles, then let's compare suffering." It was never how many people were saved or how many people you have preached to. It was how much you suffered for Christ while you are serving.
And he says, "Do any of these false teachers, have they ever suffered for Christ's sake?" Everywhere they went, they taught the people how to make them comfortable. And Paul is going to share with us the physical suffering that he had to go through, and suffering spiritually.
That is because God revealed to him special revelation. He was caught up into the third heaven, and because of that, because he saw things that he could not repeat for us down here, he was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. He actually experienced health problems because of the revelation that God gave to him, in order for him to keep his flesh under.
V: THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE CHURCH IN CORINTH:
The spiritual condition of the church and leadership in Corinth was given to us back in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 where he says, "I brethren, when I was with you, I could not speak unto you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, people who function according to the human and have no spiritual growth, so when I was first with you, I fed you as babes in Christ, and I fed you with milk, not with meat. For hitherto, you were not able to bear it, now you are neither able to bear it."
When Paul wrote that, it was approximately five years since he has been there. So, he says five years ago when I was with you, I fed you with milk because you were just babes in Christ. But now five years later, you should be able to start handling some solid food. But you're still babes. You're still carnal. And he used a Greek word to show that it's abnormal.
There's a normal carnality and there's abnormal. If you are young in the Lord, then it's normal. That is the word SARKINOS. But as you grow in the Lord, you should be ready to handle solid food. If not, that is an abnormal carnal, and that is SARKIKOS. So, there was a carnal fleshy condition, not only in the congregation, but in the leadership.
VI: SECTION OUTLINE OF 2 CORINTHIANS:
There are only three sections.
CHAPTERS 1 THROUGH 7: The description of ministry.
Notice it doesn't say the ministry. This is all ministry. And Paul is going to present that all believers have a ministry. And he's going to describe it for us. And you can see just by that first section that if Paul describes ministry for them, they're going to be comparing what Paul says with the false teachers that are in town.
IV: HOW IT WAS PREPARED:
1 Corinthians 5:9 indicates that there was a letter prior to 1 Corinthians. Some believe there were actually four letters. But only two were found. 2 Corinthians was written after Titus returned with the news of the church in Corinth. Paul was in Ephesus when the house of Chloe came across over to Ephesus and told Paul what was going on.
So, Paul sent back what we have as 1 Corinthians back to Corinth. But then Paul waited to hear back from them about the response. Well, none of the group, Chloe or anyone came back. So, Paul traveled up, and we read about Troas, which is just north of Ephesus. And he's going to tell them that the Lord gave him an open door to minister there.
And he was waiting for Titus to return. He sent Titus to say I haven't heard anything, what's going on? Paul said you go over there and find out what's going on. And I'm going to go to Troas and minister, and I'll be there, and you come and bring me word.
Well, while he was in Troas, Titus never showed up. So, Paul comes back across and he's going to be frantically making his way down looking for Titus. And Titus meets up with him and tells him what's going on and about the false teachers that had come in.
And that's what prompted Paul to write 1 Corinthians. So, he hears from Titus, he hears what's going on, and he sends this letter to them about false teachers and false teaching.
So basically, what they did was they came into town, and they said, "We've come to know the Lord and we've been taught by the apostle Paul." So, the false teachers would say "Well, he might be the apostle Paul, but we are the super apostles!" They put themselves above Paul. And they are the ones that came in with the "health and wealth" doctrine.
That's kind of interesting because Paul sacrificed himself to make tents so that he would not have to take money from the people. But as soon as the false teachers came in, they said "Oh, he never taught you how to give."
And so, they gave what they had to these teachers and set them up pretty good, good housing, and good material things. And when Paul found out about it, he says "I sacrifice myself to not take your money. Forgive me for this wrong." You turn around and give it to false teachers, and I sacrifice so that you can hear the gospel and not be burdened down with finances. So false teachers had come into Corinth, and corrupted the church itself, addressed by 1 Corinthians.
And then we have the corruption of leadership addressed in 2 Corinthians. Everything in 2 Corinthians, all 13 chapters, has to do with ministry. Not ministers, but ministry. It is one of the greatest books in the bible if not the greatest book in the bible that teaches believers what those in the ministry are supposed to be doing, what their motive is, and what it's like to serve Christ.
But it is the blueprint of all ministry.
And as Paul is presenting it, it's not just for people who call themselves ministers, but every believer has a ministry. This is the blueprint for ministry as Paul compares himself with the false teachers, both in what they're teaching, and how they conduct their life and their motive for what they do. It is a tremendous book. Every believer should be held accountable, not only for what they do, but why they do it!
II: WHEN IT WAS WRITTEN:
It was written around 56 A.D. So, it's about a year after what we know was the first letter. And it was written from somewhere in Macedonia. We don't know exactly where. Tradition says it might be Philippi, but it's somewhere in Macedonia where Paul is traveling.
Now you should know that we have what is known as 1st and 2nd Corinthians because we only have two letters. We know that there were at least three. According to 1 Corinthians 5:9, Paul makes reference to another letter that he had sent to them, which apparently is lost.
Some even believe that right before Paul wrote what we call 2 Corinthians that there was a third letter written, taken by Titus, and that Paul was waiting for him, and when Titus came back and gave Paul word that the people were scoffing at some of Paul's teachings, then he wrote what we call 2 Corinthians.
But we only have two of the letters. Whether there were three or four, or more, we only have two.
III: WHY IT WAS WRITTEN:
First of all, about Corinth itself, Paul evangelized Corinth during his second missionary journey in Acts 18:1-18. He was there for about a year and a half. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians after being visited by some of the house of Chloe. Paul was in Ephesus.
1 Corinthians was a letter of correction. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to address the corruption in the church.
The city of Corinth was so corrupt that any immoral person within the Roman Empire was called a Corinthianized person. 2 Corinthians was written about a year later than 1 Corinthians. It was written to counter false teachers that had come into Corinth.
So not only was Paul battling with the believers of their disobedience to the truth, and their rebellion against his authority, but now false teachers had come into Corinth, and they too were attacking Paul's teaching. Paul calls them "super apostles" in Chapter 11.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 is one of my favorite verses in scripture. Paul says the tools of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful with God for the pulling down of strongholds.
Here's what he means by strongholds. Pulling down reasonings, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Notice that. That exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We are living in the day where people do put down the knowledge of God. They say you need to forget the bible, and the bible is so divisive, and people can't agree on what it says so you need to stay away from it.
But Paul says pulling down every reasoning and every high thing exalting itself against the knowledge of God and taking captive every thought into the obedience of Christ. So not only was Paul concerned about the salvation of people, but he was concerned after they were saved about their thoughts, and bringing their thoughts into the obedience of Christ, and captive to Him, having in readiness that we should avenge all disobedience whenever your obedience should be fulfilled.
So, he says it starts with you Corinthians. First is to get you to be obedient. And then we come in and we will avenge and correct all other disobedience as we find when we come there to Corinth.
I: ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paul is the writer. His inscription is on all 13 of his letters. In 1 Corinthians, it was Sosthenes that was also co-author with Paul. In this letter, it is Timothy. Timothy has become Paul's assistant. In fact, something Paul said in Philippians was that Timothy was like-minded. And so, Timothy was raised as a Christian around Paul and now is his assistant. Timothy would eventually pastor in Ephesus. And that's a very important church as far as the history of the church goes.
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
This Idea here is to rest upon.
We can rest upon eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
Greek, "elpis"
which is a primary word (to anticipate usually with pleasure);
expectation (abstract or concrete) or confidence: - faith
We use the word hope in a different way.
I hope this helps. "Catch my drift?
God bless.
Jesus was the only being worthy enough to be given as an offering. No other human, nor any amount of animal sacrifices is worth as much as the Son is to the Father. God can always cause animals and people to be born to replace the ones that die, but the Son, being eternal is the only Son begotten of the Father who is eternally Divine as the Father is. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all willing for the Son, one of themselves in the Godhead, to become human and die a human death for the sin of man. Oh, the love of God for us! We are undeserving of His love, but Jesus is infinitely worthy of the love within and between the Godhead. Jesus is the most costly offering ever made, and He was an offering made by God, not by man. How precious is He!
May we always remember these things when we partake of communion and reflect on his death and resurrection. We have been given such an unspeakable gift in the salvation in Christ that transforms us from sinful enemies of God into righteous children of God made clean from sin and able to have fellowship with the Godhead always and forever more. Praise to our Almighty God who has wrought such a complete, thorough, and eternal salvation for us He has called to Him.!
In both Passover time and at the seventh month feasts many more animals are offered and sacrificed. A sin offering is offered each day.
A few things I am thinking about after reading these two chapters:
One is that these offerings and sacrifices indicate that YHWH must be appeased due to the overwhelming immensity of our sin and sinfulness and His infinite and uncompromising holiness. Thinking of the great number of animals offered throughout the time of the Israelites in the wilderness and up to the destruction of the temple in A,D, 70, how costly the price for us to come into fellowship with God. Being a people who raised flocks and herds and grew grains and trees for oil as a livelihood, the nation's debt to God for their corrupt state was truly impossible to be paid by the blood of animals and day to day and year to year the debt was never fully satisfied this way.
The second thought I have is that the completed payment of this debt for our sin was thus unattainable by. But our Lord was able to satisfy this debt and the wrath of our God for sin fully once and for all. Therefore, there was no longer any need of all these sacrifices anymore after the cross. God ended these ordinances once and for all in 70 A.D., just as Jesus had said in the Olivet discourse. Christ alone was what was needed to fulfill all the purposes for all of these OT sacrifices.
the last thought I have is that the sheer number of animals slain which could not blot out our sins shows us the infinite worth of Jesus to His Father. Jesus, being the most valuable person to the Father was given for us. This was the greatest act of God in all of history. The Son, whom He loved eternally, was given to expiate our sins,.. cont
But YHWH deemed it necessary for this generation to hear from Him through Moses comcerning these offerings/sacrifices again.
We, too, should remind ourselves of what Jesus said at the Last supper concerning the communion. We should be glad to participate in communion as often as we can. It seems in the early church that many met daily ro share this meal to commemorate Jesus' death and resurrection. And others who gathered on the Lord's Day-the first day of the week-for worship and communion. This can be found int he book of Acts.
It is too bad that many churches have relegated communion to a once a month or every other week occurrence. It is a solemn observation and as believers a cherished one.
The whole of Num. 28 reminds us of our sinfulness before God and how much we need a permanent once and for all sacrifice for sin that covers us all day every day. Jesus did this-sacrificing Himself once and for all, thus eliminating the ordinances of Nu. 28 because He is the One Sacrifice all of these daily, Sabbath, holy day sacrifices were a shadow of His all sufficient offering of Himself to the Father as an acceptable offering. The Father received the offerings of the Israelites if they were done in faith and in observance of all that He commanded of the priest to do for the people. Jesus not only is the one perfect sacrifice for us but also our perpetual High Priest who intercedes for us before the Father. Therefore there is no longer any need for the sacrifices
delineated in this chapter nor for the Aaronic priesthood or temple. Christ is the fulfillment of all these.
I see no reason to dispute that.
Whenever it was that they rebelled against The Most High, it seems that they are still on the job of deceiving the nations.
Please come quickly Lord Jesus! And soon!
"The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel." Isaiah 9:8 KJV
The Love of God is the gathering of His People in His Son. He is our government, our peace and our hope. Our burden must be yoked to Him.
That explains something that puzzled me for years.
John the Baptist was put in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus and says are you the coming one, or do we look for another?
THE WORD "ANOTHER" IN GREEK MEANS ANOTHER OF THE SAME KIND. So, he figures this must be the suffering Messiah. Are we expecting the next one to come too?
I believe there are 2 words in the Greek for another.
One is another of the same kind,
allos
The other is another of a different kind. heteros
I believe that word is used in Acts 7:18. "suggesting this Pharoah may have not been Egyptian".
I never applied this to John's questioning.
I just to the popular view, that he was beginning to have doubts.
I never fully believed or understood that being the case.
God bless
understood
Godly, God chosen leaders are a real need in the body of Christ today. As you say, so many who are popular today are not truly as "anointed" as most people perceive. There is so much false doctrine being fed to so many believers and so much extravagance in lifestyle of so many leaders. They have become weakened by their acquisition of wealth and prestige which compromises the very purpose for which they are appointed to be a leader.
We must continue to pray for God to raise up leaders along the lines of Moses and Joshua.
Of course some want to have an attitude that they are larger than life; or just won't think about the inevitable; in terms of their inheritance much as Paul chose Timothy. It is certainly rare for established Pastors to be humble enough to admit when the Lord has chastised them or in fact have the same transparency and accountability as they ask from other members of a church. This in fact makes them like the Pope or some other person with an exalted title or position who doesn't have anyone they can confess to above them (except God of course). It certainly helps future leaders to learn of mistakes made much as David taught Solomon. He eventually; of course wrote Ecclesiastes but had to learn many hard lessons after failing to be obedient to God as well as the advice from his parents.
Prayer of course is important; perhaps some of this occurs with Pastors and Deacons or elders under them as for future missions although I haven't seen much of it personally. Such things seem hidden from the rest of the laypersons in congregations.
Anyway as always I appreciate your commentary.
Agape; Rich P