2 Cor 4
If the Apostle Paul was alive now, he’d be criticised because he doesn’t have sparkling white teeth, a white suit and a jet, or an amazing stage presence and millions of social media followers. Back then he was criticised for being weak and having speech of no account (2 Corinthians10:10). Paul’s answer was that the […]
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1 Cor 15
In 2002 a survey took place among around 2000 Anglican Clergy, and it was revealed that one third of those clergy did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. This is incredible, since the resurrection is the most fundamental and foundational belief of the Christian Faith. In fact, if Jesus did not rise from […]
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1 Corinthians 13
What a powerful bit of scripture this chapter is and a total reminder of what God’s love for us looks like. Paul writes about ‘agape’ love in this chapter, not to be confused with other kinds of love that we all know and understand – Eros (sexual or romantic), Phileo (friendship or affection) which both […]
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1 Cor 9
The heading at the beginning of this chapter says – Paul Surrenders his Rights (ESV). The term surrender conjures up images of conflict and defeat with the displaying of a white flag or the lowering of the colours (standard). Not so in this case, Paul is saying that he has made a decision willingly, this […]
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1 Cor 8
Paul now addresses yet another issue in the church in Corinth. It’s the thorny one of food sacrificed to idols. Last year I used the modern day example of a Halal Doner kebab, where the animal was slaughtered with an Islamic issue. In Paul’s day “food sacrificed to idols” was an even bigger deal than […]
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1 Cor 7
New believers in Corinth were getting pretty confused. It’s understandable when the culture was as pleasure seeking and sex-saturated as ours. Some were throwing off moral restraint completely and others entering into celibacy to be more spiritual. So Paul starts today’s reading with a quote from their letter to him – “It is good for […]
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1 Cor 6
The first 11 verses can really be summed up by love (or lack of it!). Paul is reminding the believers in Corinth that they need to show love to each other. For a start they are taking each other to court and so are having decisions made by people whose lifestyle they disagree with! Not […]
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1 Cor 3:1-4:21
One of the ways the church in Corinth was unhealthy was the spotlight on individual leaders – there was too much comparison of the various merits of leaders like Peter, Paul and Apollos. To address this Paul uses 7 metaphors to show us how unhelpful comparing leaders in the way they were was. Have you […]
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1 Cor 2
Christ crucified. Paul spent roughly eighteen months planting and teaching a church in Corinth. The reason it became such an influential church in the area was because of Paul’s verse 2 decision – “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul focused on the message and did not […]
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