THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE

I Cor. 13:13 ... "Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

      When Paul preached the gospel in Corinth and founded a congregation there, he conferred by the laying on of hands the gift of the Holy Spirit to certain brethren. The purpose of these miraculous abilities was to confirm the spoken word as truth from God, (Heb. 2:3-4). Rather than use these wonderful abilities unto this exalted purpose, however, these people abused them by making vain displays of them and by competing with one another in using them. The problem was so serious that the apostle devoted a considerable portion of this epistle (chapters 12-14) to the effort to rectify it. He introduced the subject in 12:1 with the statement, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." After warning against the vain use of these gifts as a decisive factor in their fellowship, he said in v.31,"But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way." There is a gift available to all Christians that is "more excellent" than being able to speak in tongues, heal the sick, interpret mysteries, etc. It does not require the laying on of apostolic hands, but only a heart that is good because it has established open communion with God. It is the Gift of Love.  Paul devotes the thirteenth chapter to love, comparing it to other valued abilities (1-3), analyzing it (4-7), and emphasizing its eternal nature (6-13).

      The Corinthians esteemed the abilities to speak eloquently, understand mysteries, and perform miracles. In reality, however, without love to motivate and guide them, they became vain and useless. Even to give up one's life, if it were not an act of loving loyalty to God, is a waste of life. When light is passed through a prism, it separates it into its basic components: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. When the light of love is passed through the inspired intellect of Paul, it also is separated into its essential parts: patience, kindness, benevolence, humility, courtesy, unselfishness, self-control, pure-mindedness, compassion, resilience, optimism and endurance. The period of supernatural gifts was quickly drawing to an end, because "the perfect" (the full revelation of the gospel, confirmed and recorded in Scripture) was in progress of being completed. In fact, by the end of that century the twenty-seven books of the New Testament had been written and disseminated to the churches. The miraculous powers, so coveted and abused by the Corinthians, were then and forevermore no longer needed.

      But love remains! In comparison to all other spiritual qualities and endowments it is far superior. It is greater than faith, which by many is exalted as the most basic element in man's relationship with God. Love is also greater than hope, the "anchor of the soul," (Heb. 6:19), by which "we have been saved," (Rom. 8:24). Faith and hope are indispensable factors in our journey toward God, but they are, after all, designed for the journey itself rather than the destination. Of hope we are told in Rom. 8:24, "But hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees?" Hope keeps the Christian moving along the right road toward heaven, but once heaven is seen, the hope is irrelevant. Of faith we read in Heb. 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." It also relates to the future, blessed state which we cannot now see. When we arrive at God's throne, the end goal of faith will be reached, and faith will no longer be needed. Love, however, will survive the transition from the material to the spiritual world. "God is love," (I Jno. 4:8), and He already inhabits heaven. Those who are allowed to enter in and dwell in His presence will both receive and return pure love.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL

I Cor. 12:15-16 ... "If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.'"

      The church is the body of Christ, (Eph. 1:22-23). As a body is composed of many members that are controlled and coordinated by the head, so is the church. It is a spiritual body composed of many members who are under the control of Christ. Since the church in Corinth was divided over many issues, Paul compared the human body to the spiritual body of the church to discourage the division and rebuild the unity of the church. In the first chapter of First Corinthians he emphasized that Christ alone is the head of this body and that the choice of certain men as leaders of competing parties was entirely out of order. Here in the twelfth chapter he faces the issue of their fragmentation because of differing spiritual gifts. Paul had conferred the power of the Holy Spirit upon certain to enable them to perform miracles. These people unfortunately began to misuse these gifts. Rather than employ them as the means of confirming the truth of the gospel, they made a vain display of them. Those with the more spectacular abilities began to think themselves superior to those whose abilities did not make such a show. And those with the less spectacular abilities began to think themselves inferior to those whose abilities attracted great attention and admiration. Confusion and chaos began to reign over the Corinthian church.

      To correct the problem, the apostle called their attention to the harmony that characterizes the human body. The foot does not isolate itself and deny its function to the body because it is not a hand. None of us would want to face life without our feet, even if we possessed remarkable dexterity with our hands. Neither does the ear pull apart from the body and refuse to do its work because it is not a hand. We consider deafness a serious handicap and highly value the vital contribution of hearing to our lives. Our physical bodies are a wonderful harmony of many parts which complement, depend on, and support each other. They experience no rivalry, jealousy, or rejection toward one another.

      This same harmony should prevail in the body of Christ. Each Christian is an individual member whose place and function should be respected, honored, and supported by all others. We all know, however, that we fall far short of this ideal in actual practice in the church. We exalt those who are usually in front of the congregation. We feel their work is superior and their places indispensable. This is all well and good until it begins to build the idea that those who are not inside this special circle are somewhat inferior. Many Christians may come to think they are no more than "fillers" in the congregation. They are of value only in filling up pews, tallying up attendance numbers, and performing the menial duties that, though necessary, attract no special attention and elicit little praise. We face a challenge in the church to correct this problem for the good of all. The gifted, extrovert Christian whose duties cause him continually to be seen and heard must be careful "not to think more highly of himself that he ought to think," (Rom. 12:3). He must always remind himself with humility that he is to be a servant to his ordinary brethren. The ungifted, more introvert Christ whose duties are not performed before hosts of eyes must not think he is worthless except to take up space on a pew and increase the numbers on a display board.  He must remember that he is important to God, who observes his efforts and uses their effects to accomplish great deeds to His glory.

THREE VITAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER

I Cor. 11:27 ... "Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord."

      On the night He was betrayed and arrested, Jesus kept the Passover Feast with His apostles in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem. At a certain point in the ceremony Jesus took some unleavened bread, broke it and said, "This is My body which is for you, do this in remembrance of me." Then He took a cup of wine, and after He had sipped from it, He said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." With these words Jesus established a memorial to His sacrificial death by which He atoned for the sins of all people. This solemn meal was established to be observed as an act of worship by Christians as long as time shall last, for in the verse previous to the text above, it is proclaimed that "as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." Since the death of Jesus was uniquely important to God, as indeed it is also to us, we bear a grave responsibility to observe it in the manner which God approves. We must not be like the Corinthians who modified the ceremony to suit their own desires and vanity. In this passage we are shown three vital requirements set by God that we must be careful to meet lest we keep this holy feast "in an unworthy manner" and become "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord."

      First, we must observe the Lord's Supper with a backward look. Nearly twenty centuries have passed since that day when Jesus was nailed to a cross, suspended in the air, and suffered excruciating pain for about six hours before He died. Time tends to obscure the meaning of events, and to many people now the death of Jesus is about as relevant as the death of Sekhemkhet, third pharoah of the Third Dynasty in 2643 B.C. This distant king's death has absolutely no bearing on anyone today, but the death of Jesus means everything to everyone! He died to pay the penalty of death that is due us for our sins. Had He not done so, we would each have to die for them ourselves. Every few years I review the history of the 170 pharoahs; most people, however, never do. But every day of the year I review Jesus death for me. And every Sunday Christians around the world come together in their congregations to look back 2,000 years to the day when a loving Lord died for them. For both when He blessed the holy bread and the holy cup, Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of Me." That is the backward look.

      Second,. we must observe the Lord's Supper with a forward look. According to I Cor. 11:26, when we keep this memorial, we "proclaim the Lord's death until He come." Our assemblies each Sunday for this observance proclaim to the community about us that the Lord we worship is going to return some day to terminate the world and summon all men unto judgment.

      Third, we must observe the Lord's Supper with an inward look." We must turn our attention inwardly upon our own heart to determine how far off from the image of Christ it happens to be. Our text does not demand that we be "worthy" to participate in this supper. If that were the case, no one could every take part. The essential idea in this command is for everyone to "examine himself" to discover the sin within him, sin that is removed only by the death of Jesus which we commemorate in this holy meal.

THE WAY OF ESCAPE

I Cor. 10:13 ... "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

      A temptation in the moral sense is an inducement to violate the will of God. The possibility of temptation assumes that man has a choice in experience. He is free to choose to conform to God's will, and he is equally free to choose not to conform. God has revealed His will for us in the Bible so that we might know it, and offered us glorious inducements to subject our lives to its direction. At the same time, however, Satan endeavors to persuade us to ignore God's will and live as we wish. He also offers us enticing rewards for such independent behavior, although his rewards are deceptive, being temporary and ultimately dissatisfying. His method is to approach us with such powerful stimuli to sin that we are overwhelmed and cannot help ourselves. When we fall to temptation, as we often do, we defend our behavior by pointing out how forceful the temptation was and how understandable it is that we could not resist it. Take the case, for instance of the drunk driver who kills someone. When brought into court, he seeks to exonerate himself by blaming the deed upon the power of the alcohol and his inability to leave it alone. We are expected to convict the alcohol of the tragedy and acquit the drunkard as its helpless pawn. We yield rather easily to this rationalization, for somewhere in our hearts we are prone to say, "But for the grace of God there am I." After all, do we not "all sin and fall short of the glory of God?" (Rom. 3:23). A particular individual might not drink and kill another with his car, but he knows he falls to other temptations, with sin as the result in either case.

      Our lead text above points us to a different conclusion than our rationalization. It assures us first that no one is ever confronted with a unique temptation. Temptation can be cruel, but never unusual. Any temptation is "common to man," that is, it is generally a problem in human experience. Many people are tempted to consume alcohol, but not all of them give in to its allurement, dull their senses with its toxin, and kill someone with a car. Many people are tempted to great anger toward someone who is provoking them, but most of them do not succumb to its urge to attack the obnoxious one and perhaps kill him. We should always consider that Christ was "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin," (Heb. 4:15).  Someone then may well object, "but Christ, as God in the flesh, was a Superman!" Indeed, but His struggle with temptation was faced in His humanity, which He shared with us; otherwise, the victory He won over sin would be meaningless as a model for us.

      Our lead text also informs us that God is always involved whenever we are tempted, not as the tempter (Jas. 1:13), and not as One who prevents it (Jas. 1:2-3), but as the One who controls its power. It is significant that I Cor. 10:13 says nothing of God shielding an individual entirely from temptation, nor does any other Scripture. Rather, God guarantees us that no temptation shall come  upon us that is too strong for us to withstand, reduce, and defeat. We can never say, "The devil made me do it!" Neither can we ever say, "The Lord failed me in my time of need." In Jsh. 1:5 God assured Israel, "I will not fail you or forsake you." The Lord still shows the same fidelity to His people today. We are told in I Jno. 4:4 that "Greater is He (God) who is in you than he (Satan) who is in the world." God certainly does not allow our arch-adversary to bring pressure upon us that we are unable to resist. He limits Satan's seductions so that they are less than our power to defeat them. When we sin, the fault is always our own.

TO RECEIVE AN IMPERISHABLE CROWN

I Cor. 9:25 ... "Everyone who competes in the games excercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable."

      Only a few miles from Corinth a  great athletic event, the Isthmian Games, was held once every five years. Similar to the Olympic Games, they generated great interest among the Greek people, and every town in the Hellenic world sent young men to try to win glory for themselves and for their fellow citizens. It has been conjectured that these games took place while Paul labored in Corinth during the years of about 50-52 AD and that he witnessed some part of them. This contact evidently made a significant impression upon his mind, suggesting parallels with the Christian life that he often used as illustrations. Such is the case in I Cor. 9:24-27, where Paul compares the self-control required in the Christian effort to the athlete's training.

      He introduces the illustration with a question, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?" There were several running events in the Isthmian Games, and a great number of men competed in them. But in each event only one could be the winner. The life of a Christian is also a race, not in competition with other participants, but rather with agents of evil that would prevent the disciple from reaching the goal. To receive the prize in the Christian race, one only needs to finish it. So Paul encourages his readers, "Run in such a way that you may win." Several years later, as he himself faced death, Paul was able to proclaim triumphantly that he had run the race to the end (τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα!) and was prepared to claim his prize. He wrote in II Tim. 4:7-8. "I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."

      As he continued to instruct the Christians, the apostles says, "Everyone who competes in the games excercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable." His readers knew that to compete in the Isthmian Games it was required that each athlete undergo a very strict ten month period of intense training. To neglect or refuse to do so disqualified one from the events. Here Paul makes a strong point that many of us seem not to have grasped. The spiritual involvement of many Christians ranges from indifferent to little more than lukewarm. For a while they show some interest and participate a little in the activities of the church. Then for a while they absent themselves, showing no interest and lending their efforts in no way to the works the church must do. Nevertheless, they expect  at death to receive the same rewards as those who have kept fully committed to the Christian effort throughout their lives. Our text informs us, however, that the "imperishable crown" is given only to those who "exercise self-control," and that means  application to constant, continuous effort. No one wins a race by running for a stretch, resting a while,  running a little further, deserting the track to engage in some other activity for a time, then returning to the race to run a bit more, etc. One who lives his life in this manner and considers himself worthy of the imperishable crown will be tragically surprised at the end of life. The reward of the victor in the Isthmian Games was a laurel wreath crown which soon faded and decayed. But the reward of the completed Christian race is a "crown of (eternal) life, " (Rev. 2:10). This crown is not granted to every soul that expects it just because at some point he professed faith in Christ, (Mat. 7:21). It is granted rather only to those who exercised the self-discipline to stay involved in active Christian service to the end of life.

THE FREEDOM TO RESTRICT FREEDOM

I Cor. 8:13 ... "If food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble."

      When a pagan took an animal to a temple to sacrifice it to the idol that he worshiped, very often only a small portion of the animal was actually burned in the fire. The remainder was taken to the market place where it was sold for fresh meat. When a Christian bought some of this meat, he could think of it simply as a food item to be taken home, cooked, and eaten for the nourishment and the enjoyment thereof. Or, he might think of it as meat that had originally been offered to an idol and, as such, still had the stigma of idolatry attaching to it. To such a person it seemed that to eat of the meat was in some way to involve himself in idolatry and thus to sin. The person, however, who could dissociate the meat from its idolatrous origin and look upon it simply as common food, felt that there was no sin involved in eating it. In Gentile regions, such as Corinth, where Christian communities sprang up, this matter of meat offered to idols constituted a real problem.

      In I Corinthians 8, Paul deals with this problem in a straightforward way. He first points out that since idols are nonexistent, meat offered to them is the same afterwards as before. That is, nothing from what is nonexistent could attach to the meat to make it defiling. Christians who understood this clearly, as Jewish Christians surely did, could eat the meat without a thought in reference to idols. Paul states, however, that "not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled," (v.7). Here he is doubtless referring in large part to Christians who had lately been converted from idolatry. The former practices and ideas involved in them were still too vivid and strong. Perhaps their minds, trained by the Gospel, told them that the idols were false and powerless, but their hearts yet felt their influence. When Paul discussed this same problem in Romans 15, he designated as "strong" those who could eat the meat in question without misgivings. Those who felt it sinful to do so he called the "weak." Because they were weak, however, they were no less Christian brethren than those who were strong. Therefore they were to be respected and treated with kind consideration. He cautioned the strong brethren who were enlightened that "knowledge makes (one) arrogant, but love edifies," (I Cor. 8:1). That is, love should be the rule that guides, not a knowledge that dogmatically asserts one's right to do what does not offend himself and cause him to sin. So, in v.9 the apostle advises, "But take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." In other words, they must not offend their weaker brothers by eating the questionable meat. Love would help them forbear in order to preserve the fragile consciences of the weaker Christians.

      Today we are not faced with the problems of idolatry as such, but there are numerous situations where things allowable to Christians with greater knowledge are temptations and serious occasions of stumbling to those less enlightened. Our text instructs us that the law of love forbids us to exercise our liberty before our weaker brethren lest we confuse them, trouble them, or perhaps ensnare them in a situation where they will violate their consciences and sin. The liberty is ours to use only when we know that it is troubling no brother or sister in Christ. And before we proceed to engage in that thing, we must be very sure such an influence is not being exerted. We must notice the warning in v.12 that "in wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

GOD'S WILL FOR THE MARRIAGE BOND

I Cor. 7:10-11 ... "To the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled unto her husband), and that the husband should not send his wife away."

      In the beginning, so Gen. 1:27 records, "God created man in His own Image, in the Image of God He created him, male and female He created them."  Humans are divided into male and female sexes by the will and creative act of God, not by any design or deed of humans. God took this step to meet a specific need in man, as we are informed in Gen. 2:18, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him.'" So God proceeded to fashion the woman from a rib He removed from the man and presented her to the man, thus uniting the first man and woman in the state of marriage. In v.24 the Lord then decreed, "For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." Centuries later Jesus commented upon this verse by saying, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate," (Mat. 19:6). These scriptures show that it is God's will for a man to take a woman as his wife and for this marriage union to last for the duration of their lives. When a marriage is contracted, God Himself seals the union and forbids anyone to break the bond. Only one exception (other than death, Rom. 7:2) is allowed, which is revealed in Mat. 19:9, "Whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery."

      We have arrived at a very poor state in human affairs where this decree of God is set aside as though God's will is meaningless. About half of current marriages end in divorce, and only a fraction of them are allowed by Scripture under the category "except for immorality." Many years ago civil law was much closer to divine law and allowed divorce reluctantly, but the situation has since been radically changed. The number of causes for which civil law grants divorce varies somewhat from state to state, but it extends to more than twenty. Human law may change to allow many things, but Jesus in Jno. 10:35 declared that "the Scripture cannot be broken." And in the Last Day it is the Divine Scripture by which we all will be judged, not by any human law. God wills that the marriage bond should last until death breaks it, and He allows only one exception, immorality. This statute cannot be changed; therefore, it is our obligation to respect it scrupulously.

      In our text above, Paul is passing these divine instructions along to the Christians in the church in Corinth. He tells the married woman that she must not leave her husband, but rather must live with him and be the best wife to him that she can be. Sometimes, it may be necessary for a woman to leave her husband for her own safety. Unfortunately, some men are violent and will hurt their wives, even severely. But this is not a Scriptural reason for divorce, for Paul clearly says, "but if she does leave, let her remain unmarried." If the reason that led to the separation can be rectified, the apostle declares that she should "be reconciled unto her husband." Then to the husband he commands that he "should not send his wife away." In other words, although it is left up to each of us to decide if we will marry and whom we shall marry, God does not grant us the option to terminate our marriage. When we seize that option for ourselves and then exercise it, we are transgressing the law of God. And God certainly takes note of it!

SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU

I Cor. 6:11 ... "And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."

      In Charlotte Elliott's hymn we sing: "Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot. To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come!" In Rom. 5:8-9 we read: "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." However it has been possible for man to sin, people have sinned many times over. In the verses just preceding I Cor. 6:11 Paul mentions fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and swindlers.  In other places various New Testament writers extend this list to include quite a number of other sins. All sins are wicked and incur God's wrath and condemnation, but many of them are especially vile, being destructive both to those who commit them and to those who are often their victims. Some sins seem so abominable that human judgment rules them unforgivable. And yet, for all we know God will forgive any sin except the one of which a person will not repent. God gave His Son as the sacrifice sufficient to remove all sin, if people will avail themselves of His most gracious gift.

      Christians who have lived "straight" moral lives may feel that those who practice fornication, homosexual behavior, theft, drunkenness, and the like are so fouled up by wickedness that they can never really be cleansed and converted into the true image of Christ. We may feel that a residue of the sin always remains dormant somewhere, ready to spring to life at the right opportunity, so that the brother or sister can never be trusted. The Corinthian Christians, however, had a background in sinful practices that were nothing short of abominable. Fornication was sanctioned in their native religion, the worship of Aphrodite. Homosexuality was open in society and was defended by influential people as being a higher level of love than the heterosexual type. Drunkenness was also incorporated in Greek religion in the worship of Bacchus, the god of wine. And yet, when Paul preached the gospel of Christ to them, they believed and were baptized into Christ for the remission of all those sins, (Acts 18:8). Looking back upon their conversion, Paul declares, "but you were washed (baptized)." As a result he says that they were sanctified (set apart to serve God) and justified (pronounced not guilty of the sins they had formerly committed many times over). Now Paul says they were saints (I Cor. 1:2) and brethren (I Cor. 1:10).

      While Christians may be reluctant to accept former fornicators, homosexuals, drunkards, and thieves as being truly converted, many of those who continue in these sins refuse to accept what they are doing as being sinful. There are many who see no evil in fornication. They defend same gender sexual behavior as being an "alternate lifestyle" just as moral as heterosexual behavior. Drunkenness is defined as a "disease" rather than a sin, so that the inebriate is "sick" and not sinful. God through the apostle whom He inspired, however, puts all such behavior in the category of "unrighteousness" and declares that those who practice it "shall not inherit the kingdom of God," (v.9). As Christians we must oppose such behavior as unequivocally sinful.  But when someone who lived in it is converted, we must accept him without reservation as "washed, sanctified, and justified," being now a saint of God and a true brother in Christ.                           

IMMORALITY MOST SCANDALOUS!

I Cor. 5:1-2 ... "It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. And you have become arrogant, and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who had done this deed might be removed from your midst."

      It is believed Paul was at Philippi in Macedonia some 350 miles by land northeast of Corinth when he wrote this epistle to the church there. But even at that distance he had received news that a most shameful situation existed among the Corinthian brethren. Actually, the situation was worse than shameful. It was scandalous! Such immorality even exceeded the depravity of the Gentiles. One of the Corinthian brethren had taken unto himself his step-mother, (the probable meaning of "his father's wife"), and was regularly committing adultery with her. The standard of Christian purity could hardly be more flagrantly violated. But to compound the sin the church had taken no action of itself to admonish the brother and seek to induce him to repent, and if he would not, to expel him from their fellowship. To the contrary, they took pride in defending the liberty of the man to have his way.

      When God created the first human couple, He decreed that "a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh," (Gen. 2:24). In Matthew 19, Jesus interpreted this verse to show that it is God's will for one man to be joined to one woman for a lifetime. The only honorable release from this union is the death of one of the members, (Rom. 7:2-3). Only within the bonds of the marriage union does God sanction sexual activity between a male and a female, (I Cor. 7:2-5). Within marriage God blesses sexual intercourse, for it was He who fashioned the male and the female to perform the act in gentleness and in love. The brother in Corinth flaunted the divine will, and his brethren shielded him proudly in his sin. The apostle was appalled when he heard about this and chastised the Corinthians that they had not "mourned," declaring that their "boasting is not good," (v.6). He commanded them at once to "deliver" the man "to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," (v.5). Paul thus demonstrated a radical solution to a radical problem, for the leaven of evil had to be purged without delay to protect the church as a whole, (vs. 6b-9).   

      Our present society has lamentably reached the position where there is little stigma, shame, or scandal associated with the sin of fornication. At least one incidence of fornication occurs in almost every movie and in many television shows. We find entertainment in watching the dramatization of the sex act and exhibit no shame when it is luridly portrayed on the screen. A prophet in the 6th Century B.C. said of his generation, "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush," (Jer. 6:15).  It has come to the same thing in our society. We are no longer scandalized by fornication. Many commit it with the full knowledge of their friends, and neither they nor others blush or feel shame. In fact, we have come to accept fornication as near standard behavior for our times. It is far past time for Christians to try to raise the level of morality of our society by stressing that fornication is strictly forbidden in the Bible and by treating it as the black sin which it is. Do we have the courage to proclaim this message?

NOT IN WORDS BUT IN POWER

I Cor. 4:10 ... "The kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power."

      Corinth was a city of the Greeks,a people who highly valued rhetoric, the art or science of using words effectively in speaking or writing. In the classical age they produced men who developed themselves in rhetoric to the point where they are still remembered today. One of them, Demosthenes, who lived in the 4th Century B.C., was perhaps the greatest orator of them all. In order to perfect his ability, he is said to have filled his mouth with pebbles on the beach and then practiced speaking articulately above the sound of the waves breaking on the rocks. The Greeks valued rhetoric so much, and so many tried to excel in it, that eventually it was overplayed and became somewhat ridiculous. This was the prevalent situation when Paul brought the gospel to Athens, Corinth, and other Grecian cities. The once great art had been degraded to artificial eloquence and mere showiness in language and style. And yet, it was what the people desired and esteemed. They thought that any speaker who did not employ it was unskilled and not worthy of an audience.

      In the Corinthian correspondence, especially, Paul emphasized that the power of God is not dependent upon such displays of speech. In I Cor. 1:21 he stated that, when he brought the gospel to them, he "did not come to you with superiority of speech ... proclaiming to you the testimony of God." In 13:1 he stated that "if I come with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." And in 4:20, quoted above, he contrasts eloquent speech with power, meaning the power of God. It is true that God's power is demonstrated through His word, the gospel, (Rom. 1:16). But that refers to the word of revelation per se and not to the manner in which men speak in their use of phrases, expressions, gestures, tones, and all that might be called "pulpit delivery." The power of God is contained in the word of truth itself, not in the style of vocal presentation. The Corinthians failed to realize that, and their failure is repeated even now.

      When someone today delivers a sermon in a dramatic way from the pulpit, most audiences are very impressed by the artful expressions, vigorous gestures, and dramatic voice projection. The louder and more commanding the voice, the more rapid the speech, and the more energized the personality, the more effective we think the speaker to be. It is just this evaluation that the Spirit, through Paul and other New Testament writers, counsels us to avoid. The power of a sermon or lesson lies in its truth to revelation, its sincerity of purpose, and its honest effort to draw attention to God rather than to the speaker. When a teacher or preacher has done a really superb job, the audience will be awed by God and not by the speaker. We must put our confidence in the power of God, not in the skill of men, to make things work, to build things up, and to establish continuity of success. In I Cor. 3:21-23 we read this: "Let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 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, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God." When we go to church to receive a lesson or hear a sermon, we should not go to hear a certain brother but rather an exposition of truth from the word of God. If we put the stress on the speaker and his style of delivery more than on the content of what God has revealed, we are reversing the statement of I Cor. 4:20. We must also consider what we are told in I Cor. 3:7, "So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth."

THE CHURCH, GOD'S TEMPLE

I Cor. 3:16-17 ... "Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are."

      In the ancient world people built temples of stone, brick, or wood and ornamented them with gold, silver and precious stones. They usually sacrificed a significant part of their own wealth and even their means of life to make these structures as elaborate, beautiful and costly as they could. They understood that the temple was the house of the god they worshiped, and they felt they owed the deity the best they could provide. This was true of Israel's temple in Jerusalem. It was called the "house of God" or "temple of God," and God's presence was considered to be perpetually found there. Many times in the Old Testament, when someone is said to "come before the Lord," it meant the person came before the temple, or (previous to the temple), before the tabernacle. As Solomon dedicated the temple, he prayed to God, "I have surely built You a lofty house, a place for Your dwelling forever," (I Kgs. 8:13). God later replied, "I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." Since God inhabited the temple, it had to be treated with great reverence. No one could enter it unless he had been ritually purified, and things could not be brought into it unless they were authorized and had been sanctified. Conduct within the temple had to be according to the standard prescribed by the Mosaic law.

      When the law of Christ replaced the Law of Moses, the physical temple in Jerusalem ceased to be God's dwelling place on earth. God still has a temple in which He dwells here, but it is not one made of stones, brick and timber. Paul declared in Acts 17:24 that God "who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands." In I Cor. 3:16-17 the apostle states that God's temple now is the church, the community of God's people in Christ. Christians are collectively the "temple of God," and the Spirit of God dwells in them and among them. As members of the church, therefore, people are privileged to live in the presence of God and in close fellowship with God. Since only priests are allowed to enter a temple, and since their duty there is to offer sacrifices, it becomes the lot of every Christian to be a priest and to offer sacrifices. Thus we read in I Pet. 2:5, "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house  for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Christians do not need a huge, costly temple as the residence of their God and the fit place to serve Him in worship. We ourselves are that temple, and God dwells within us.

      It is still essential as it was in the time of the physical temple that no one  defile the temple of God. Since the present temple is the church as the community of God's people, the things that would defile it are whatever would disrupt the fellowship among its members or its fellowship with God. In the Corinthian letters Paul deals with a wide variety of things that were weakening the fellowship of the members:  sects identified by human names,  fornication, lawsuits, marriage problems, idolatrous influences, and varieties of false doctrine. As their fellowship with one another was broken down, their fellowship with God was also greatly disrupted. The realization that the church, (not the literal building but the community of Christians), is God's current temple should cause us to hold the church in highest esteem and treat it with the greatest respect we are able. We should be most careful lest we defile its sanctity and offend God.

NOT OF MAN'S WISDOM BUT OF THE SPIRIT

I Cor. 2:4 ... "My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

      The apostle Paul preached the gospel of Christ over a large portion of the Roman Empire, from Israel in the east to Rome (and perhaps even Spain) in the west. Congregations sprang up in country after country, and in city after city, and Christianity as a new religious movement became known to the average citizen in most places. We read such reports as Acts 19:10, "All who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." In the Macedonian city of Thessalonica the enemies of the Christian missionaries are said to exclaim with alarm, "These men who have upset the world have come here also," (Acts 17:6). Paul and his assistants were preaching the gospel, the power of which was noticeably transforming society, for it contained essential truth able to penetrate people's lives, perfect them in righteousness, and fill them with hope for a better future.

      We might ask today, "What was the nature of the gospel which Paul and others preached to the people of their age?" In the second chapter of First Corinthians especially the apostle tells draws a contrast between human wisdom and divine wisdom. We must not think that formal education in school is a product of our modern age. The ancient world had great schools and academies where instruction was both regular and quite vigorous. Neither must we think that human science and learning were rudimentary then. Both were, in fact, advanced to a degree by the First Century that astonishes most people today when they first learn about it. Paul was evidently well versed in much of this wisdom, at least in the philosophical and literary areas. Yet, as he stood before audiences and proclaimed the gospel, he did not draw from that source to appeal to people to believe in Christ as the Son of God, to accept His doctrine as the standard for their lives, and to obey His plan for being saved from their sins. In vs. 1-2 previous to the text above he confessed, "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

      It seems that many today have chosen to ignore the message of I Corinthians 2. There are congregations that choose only ministers who have doctorate degrees. Those who might know the Holy Scriptures far better, and who might be far more skilled in their interpretation and application, are passed over because they do not have multiple university degrees. One wonders if Jesus, or Peter, or Paul, or John would be allowed to speak from their pulpits, because none of them had academic credentials. There is growing evidence that many today seem ashamed and embarrassed by the content of the Scriptures because they do not incorporate the achievements of human wisdom during the past nineteen centuries. The preacher or teacher who tends to use the Bible less and human philosophy, science, and literature more gains greater recognition and praise than the one whose purpose is "to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." Do not think this writer is anti-academic. I have seven years of university education, all with superior grades. Also, I spent forty-two years teaching mathematics and physics. Now in retirement I avidly keep busy reading volumes of philosophy, history, social science and theology. And yet, I am very concerned that so many in the church today have come to the place where they seem to honor human wisdom more than the wisdom God has revealed to us in Holy Scripture.

THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING?!

I Cor. 1:21 ... "Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

      To many people the word "preaching" has a bad connotation. It conjures up thoughts of sitting still and quiet on a hard pew for what seems like an interminable time while a man up front drones on in a dull speech that is entirely boring. To others it suggests a highly emotional address by someone who seems to want to convey the idea he is possessed by the Spirit. Still others think of preaching as a very negative, critical, condemnatory speech in which a very angry man, who seems to be exempt from his accusations, tries to overwhelm every listener with guilt. And some think of preaching as a meaningless activity that fills a necessary time slot in a church service, that is, a mere ritual that must be performed to be "proper." In all these views of preaching many people would readily welcome the application of Paul's phrase, "the foolishness of preaching." They would gladly support any effort to revolutionize preaching to make it interesting, stimulating, and relevant to their tastes and perceived needs.

      In spite of the varied abuses of preaching we must recognize that it is not an optional activity in a Christian worship service. In Mk. 16:15 Jesus commanded, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Timothy was commanded to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction," (II Tim. 4:2). Honor and praise is bestowed upon the preacher in Rom. 10:15 in the exclamation, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring (or preach) good news (the gospel) of good things." The fault is ours if preaching is dull, boring, offensive, or meaningless. The preacher may be going about it in a way the Lord would not have him, being slothful and indifferent on the one hand or aggressive and fanatical on the other. The audience might be at fault in expecting something from preaching other than what the Lord wills, as II Tim. 4:3 predicts will indeed happen: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires."

      It is necessary to understand that Paul is not himself saying that preaching is foolishness. In v.18 he reveals whose assessment it is that preaching is foolishness: "For to those who are perishing the word of the cross is foolishness." It is among the unbelieving lost outside the circle of Christian fellowship that preaching is foolishness. They see no meaning or importance in it because they are unconcerned about God's will, about God's judgment, and about the course of their lives toward eternal destruction. Noah's preaching was evidently foolishness to antediluvian mankind, for they disregarded it, probably with ridicule and contempt. How relevant and necessary it must have suddenly seemed, however, when the water lapped over the highest peeks, and there was no where else to flee. Jonah's preaching did not seem foolish to the people of Nineveh, who listened seriously to the prophet's message and repented, (Jon. 3:5-10). Their sober response saved them from an early grave, as v.10 points out, "When God saw their works, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it." The people of Nineveh, therefore, were saved by the preaching of Jonah, even as I Cor. 1:18 says of anyone who listens and takes heed, "to us who are being saved it (preaching) is the power of God." When the gospel is preached in its fullness and in its truth in the spirit of love, (Eph. 4:15), it will lead those who pay attention to it unto faith, obedience, and eternal salvation.