Submission, Sensitivity and Strenuous Discipline

In I Corinthians 9:1-18, the Apostle Paul provided the personal example of his refusal to exercise his apostolic right to be supported by the Corinthians.  This was a reminder and object lesson of the need to surrender one’s rights for the benefit of others. In the balance of the chapter, he goes on to explain theContinue reading “Submission, Sensitivity and Strenuous Discipline”

Three Truths About the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

It is fitting on Easter Sunday to rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Actually, we commemorate that historic and life-altering event every Lord’s Day.  But Easter marks the specific day in the calendar upon which our Savior rose from the dead and so it receives special observance.  I want to share three important truthsContinue reading “Three Truths About the Resurrection of Jesus Christ”

Let Us Do Good!

The Apostle Paul taught the believers in Galatia that they had been delivered from self-love by the gospel of God’s grace so that they might love others. He wrote unto them “For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another”.Continue reading “Let Us Do Good!”

Four Features of Conversion

The Apostle Paul and his co-workers planted the church at Thessalonica on his second missionary journey (Acts 17:1-2). In his first epistle written to those believers from Corinth, he reminded them of their conversion to Christ.  “For our gospel came not unto in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, andContinue reading “Four Features of Conversion”

Another Gospel That Is Not Another

Paul’s epistle to the churches of Galatia (Galatians 1:2) is one of (if not his most) passionate letters. The believers there were being wooed to another gospel that was not the gospel of Christ that Paul had delivered unto them. The purity and simplicity of the true gospel was being jettisoned for a gospel notContinue reading “Another Gospel That Is Not Another”

Walking in Righteousness

Paul asks a question of the Corinthians as a platform to provoke them to right thinking.  “Know ye not the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,Continue reading “Walking in Righteousness”

No Respecter of Persons

James, the Apostle and the Lord’s half-brother, makes this simple yet binding command to his fellow believers.  “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons” (James 2:1).  This seems straightforward enough – as a Christian we are not to show favoritism and, consequently, treatContinue reading “No Respecter of Persons”

The Gospel

The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth “I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand” (I Corinthians 15:1; emphasis added). The word “gospel” is mentioned 101 times in the New Testament. Yet for all its repetition and teaching, it has comeContinue reading “The Gospel”

A Life That Becomes the Gospel of Christ

While in prison Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, “only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27).  The word “conversation” means far more than mere speech in this context.  At the time our English Bible was translated, this word embraced one’s entire manner of life, i.e. one’s conductContinue reading “A Life That Becomes the Gospel of Christ”

A God That Judges

Has there ever been such a time as this when doing wrong came so easy and doing right was resisted so vehemently?  We are tempted to question whether God is watching or whether there even be a God.  Yet times such as ours are not unique. David in his generation made similar observations.  However, heContinue reading “A God That Judges”