Preacher Of Truth

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father…. 1 Corinthians 15:24a While correcting the erroneous belief that there is no resurrection of the dead, Paul points out that Christ was raised from the dead, never to die again (15:3-8, 12-19).  In doing so, Jesus became “the firstfruits” – an agricultural term which describes the first reaping of a harvest yet to come – of those…

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:19 Even though prophets from Daniel to Paul and the Lord himself had clearly foretold that the dead would rise again on the last day (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15; cf. Rev. 20:12-13), and in spite of how they were Christians because they had believed Paul when he had “proclaimed Christ as…

The church at Corinth were giving the people who had initially converted them a lot of undue allegiance, including Paul (1 Cor. 1:10ff; 3:1-4ff).  After appealing to the Corinthians to regard him and other evangelists simply “as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (4:1), Paul now gives Corinth some insight into his own perspective of their veneration of him.  He writes, “But…

It’s hard to find a believer in Christ who does not claim to desire unity with other believers. Every Lord’s day, there are people gathered together around the world worshiping God in various ways. Where I preach, we could literally step outside the building and see three gathering places within walking distance where people are gathered because they believe in Jesus. Most groups have decided…

Aside from the prologue in chapters 1 and 2, the most striking feature of the book of Job is the silence of God. Job’s suffering unfolds beneath a heaven that does not immediately respond. Throughout the cycles of dialogue, Job repeatedly longs for God to speak so that he could answer him, explain Himself, or at least acknowledge Job’s plea for vindication. This silence troubles Job profoundly.…

We know the story. Job was a prosperous righteous man who lost everything, his wealth, his children, his health, his comfort, his relationship with his wife (1-2), and his honorable standing in his community (29-30). His losses were sudden, tragic, and horrific. What we learn from Job is in the context of suffering, but much about suffering remains unexplained. So far as we know, Job never knew…

There are several ways to ask this question. “Why does evil exist?” “Why do bad things happen?” “Why has this happened to us?” It all comes down to one simple fact: suffering exists in this world. Therefore, it is a painful part of human existence. It is logical, then, that people ask, “Why?” Those who ask this question are in very good company. The angel of the Lord came to Gideon while Israel…

“…the gospel I preached to you…” 1 Corinthians 15:1 The apostle has reached the last troubling issue within the church at Corinth which he needs to address.  As we will see in our study of chapter 15, some within Corinth believed “that there is no resurrection of the dead” (15:12).  This erroneous belief undermines one of the most elemental theological doctrines of Christianity (Heb. 6:1-2),…

If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 14:37 Paul had put in a lot of time in this letter correcting the Corinthians’ sins and immature perspectives, particularly in chapter 14 in which he basically tells them that how they use the miraculous gifts God had given them in their worship…

For they are not permitted to speak… 1 Corinthians 14:34 The worship assemblies within the church at Corinth were very disorganized and chaotic.  Some were miraculously speaking in other languages without an interpreter (14:6-28), while the prophets apparently were speaking over each other in their desire to tell others about what God had revealed to them (14:29-33)  As a result, no one was…

What then, brothers?  When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.  Let all things be done for building up. 1 Corinthians 14:26 The Christians at Corinth were misusing their miraculous spiritual gifts (12-14).  The spiritual gift they were most interested in obtaining and using was the ability to speak in tongues, i.e., to miraculously…

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking.  Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 1 Corinthians 14:20 The above principle applies to our Christian walk in so many ways.  Evil is the only thing about which our Lord wants us to have child-like innocence due to being less and less involved in it due to our spiritual growth (Rom. 16:19; Matt. 18:3; cf. Rom. 6:1-23).  In the…

…how will I benefit you…?1 Corinthians 14:6b The saints at Corinth were placing a lot of misplaced emphasis on miraculously speaking in tongues (14:1-5).  They did not realize that the purpose of their worship was not only to praise and revere the Lord but also to spiritually strengthen each other (14:26b), and they were to use their spiritual gifts towards this end (12:7).  To help them…

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 As we will see in this chapter, the Corinthian Christians looked at miraculous spiritual gifts in the wrong way.  They apparently placed a higher priority on being able to miraculously speak in other tongues or languages, to the point that no one in their worship assemblies was being…

But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 1 Corinthians 13:10 In last week’s article, we saw that miracles would cease once the New Testament Scriptures were written in their entirety (1 Corinthians 13:8-12; cf. Rom. 12:2; James 1:25).  This leaves the question of how exactly miracles came to pass away. To determine that from Scripture, we must first note that the ability to…

Paul’s discourse in 1 Corinthians about being “wise in this age” and “becom(ing) a fool that he may become wise” (3:18) harkens back to his earlier teaching about how God views the wisdom of the world (1:18-29).  He recaps it again now, citing Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11 while doing so:  “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.  For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’…

We sometimes hear that the Bible endorses polygamy. This claim comes from different directions: critics who argue that the Bible presents a misogynistic worldview, a few Mormon believers who believe that the practice is still permitted, and cultists who abuse Scripture to justify it. Numerous biblical figures had multiple wives. Jacob had two, Esau had at least three, and David had at least…