In yesterday’s study we concluded with Paul’s instructions that if one spouse is a Christian and the other is not, the Christian is not to divorce the unbeliever.But suppose the non-Christian leaves because he or she does not want to be married to a Christian. What do you do then? That is what Pau
The second category of problems that he deals with are those involving separation. Whereas Paul talks about marriage as good, separation is something that is bad, though there are times when it may be necessary. In verses 10 and 11 we read, “To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord)
The question, therefore, that Paul places before us is simply this: What is that to which God has called you? As I read 1 Corinthians 7, I suspect that there was a division in the church between a Jewish mentality and what we would call a “super spiritual” Greek mentality. In the Jewish culture, m
In the last chapter we saw how the spirit of our times has made the matter of sexual immorality particularly problematic for us, not least because of the many ways in which that sin can be committed. Another area that is also of great concern, to which we come now in 1 Corinthians 7, is that of mar
Having made these two points—the first being that not everything we can do is beneficial, and the second being that we should not allow sinful things to master us—Paul then takes them and begins to relate them to God. Sin, specifically sexual immorality, is not only harmful to myself and other peop
Our passage from 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 deals with sexual immorality, but I gave this background because we cannot understand properly what is happening in the Church unless we understand that the Church is simply at this point reflecting the culture around us. Jesus said that the Church is to be sa
In yesterday’s study we were talking about the Western world’s change from an “open system,” which acknowledged God’s existence, to a “closed system,” which holds that the only things that exist are what can be seen. In the past, there was an established order in the universe because it went back t
Towards the end of the book, Schaeffer directs his attention to the matter of sexual immorality. He bemoans the breakdown of standards in that area within the evangelical church. Even as we observe the obvious breaking of the moral law of God, there are those who would consider themselves as evan
In 1984 Francis A. Schaeffer published a book called The Great Evangelical Disaster. It was disturbing to see how evangelicals, even if at times unconsciously, are, nevertheless, tragically compromising some of the great standards of the Word of God. The word Francis Schaeffer uses for it is "acco
After telling the church that “the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God,” Paul then describes more of what he is talking about: “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards
Pilate recognized that Jesus’ kingdom was in a different sphere. Pilate was not threatened by a kingdom of truth, and so he went out and said to the Jews that he found no fault in Him. But then the religious leaders shifted the complaint by saying that Jesus still ought to die under the Jewish law
Now let me enter a qualification at this point. I believe there is a difference between what you will endure as an individual in this area and how you would approach it on behalf of someone else. When you are the one being cheated it is better to allow such injustice to happen and trust God for th
That brings us to chapter 6, where as I said we come to this third matter of litigation. Paul does not supply the details of the situation, since it would have been known by both Paul and the Corinthian church. But apparently what was happening is that Christians in the church were going to court
The word “litigious” is more common today than it was in previous generations. It means “prone to litigation” or “prone to go to court.” I do recall seeing an article, I believe in Time magazine, entitled, “The Litigious Society.” It made the point that there has been a change in the way we do th
I want to look at 2 Corinthians 2 because there we learn how this particular situation concluded. By the time Paul writes 2 Corinthians, a period of time has gone by. The purpose for which Paul had the church deliver this offender to Satan has been accomplished. The man has realized the loss and
In yesterday’s study we concluded by saying that Paul instructs the church to turn the sinning member over to Satan for the salvation of his spirit.There is some difference of interpretation among commentators as to what that means. The word which is translated as “sinful nature” is the word for “f
When we begin to look at a specific sinful situation within the church as not only being a problem for the individuals involved but for the whole church, we begin to have an uneasy sense that we are describing a lot of what goes on in the Christian Church today. It may not be this particular offens
Paul begins chapter 5 by describing the offense. First of all, we notice that it was a significant transgression. What it actually involved was a sexual sin in which, as Paul says, a man has his father's wife. That Paul does not use "mother" to describe the woman is generally taken to mean that t
The theme of 1 Corinthians 5 is that of church discipline. This is a hard subject for churches to face, and it is a hard subject to put into practice. Yet, one of the effects of systematic teaching through books of the Bible is that we do eventually come to such passages and, therefore, need to de
You look at those two groups of people—the Corinthians and the apostles—and the big question you have to ask yourself is this: Who would you rather be? Of course, you know what the answer is supposed to be. But I am not asking you what the answer is supposed to be. I am asking you who would you r
When church discipline needs to be carried out, the leaders must be careful that they do not go too far. Not long after realizing the value there is to proper church disciple, a situation like this can develop. The church leaders see somebody doing something that they do not think should be happen
Paul does go on to speak of a number of areas in which we are to be faithful. One is in correctly handling the mysteries of God, which is the Gospel, mentioned in verse 1. When Paul speaks of mysteries here, he is not speaking of mysteries in the same sense as the Greek mysteries. The Greeks had
Whenever you read that word "servant" in the New Testament, you need to remember what it really means. Strictly speaking, in ancient times they did not have servants—at least not in the sense that we have in mind when we use that word. Rather, what they had were slaves. So when you read in the Ne
While chapter 4 develops its own themes, it is nevertheless related to chapter 3, on divisions in the church. Paul says in the first chapter that the church at Corinth was enriched with all spiritual gifts, and had a great deal of theological knowledge, as well as other good things, but which was d
