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Paul uses the figure of house building in 1 Corinthians 3 to describe how Christians are built. Of course he says that no matter who the builder is they all use the same foundation… Jesus Christ.
However, teachers/preachers can build different things on that foundation. Every teacher/preachers work will be tested with the fire (fires of temptation. RP)
Some build with non-combustible materials… gold, silver, jewels. Others build with things that will burn up… wood, hay stubble.
Verse 17 states that we are temples of God and that if any man destroys the temple of God then God will destroy him.
There were false teachers in Corinth that were building on the foundation with wood, hay and stubble which would be destroyed. What specifically did they build on that foundation?
- That Paul was not a real Apostle and those taught and baptized by Paul were inferior Christians (4:3)
- They built “jealousy and strife” on the foundation (3:3)
- They tolerated sexual immorality in the church
- They were involved in civil lawsuits with each other.
Paul, of course, in this letter was trying to dismantle that faulty structure and replace it with imperishable things. FYI, it’s always better to build it right the first time.
Here’s the question… what has been built on your foundation? Have you been so haphazard in your faith that you will listen to any teacher/preacher and swallow whatever they have to offer?
Or do you consider carefully what you are being taught so you can withstand the test of fire with imperishable qualities?
In 1 Corinthians 1:11 Paul says this…
“My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you”
Someone from Chloe’s household had informed Paul of some problems in the church at Corinth.
Apparently Paul did not respond… “you’re guilty of the sin of gossip and instead of informing me of this you should have gone to the person yourself (Mt 18:15-17) and handled it”
I sit in Bible classes and the conclusions I see reached sometimes are that you can’t say anything about anyone else or you are guilty of gossip and the Lord may require your soul one day.
Let me suggest that part of defining gossip is intent. My guess is that Chloe saw a problem at Corinth and the problem was too big for her to handle so she communicated the problem to someone of sufficient spiritual stature to handle it.
Obviously Chloe loved the Lord and loved his bride... the church. She wasn’t trying to slander or demean… that wasn’t her intent. Therefore in my opinion she was not a gossip… she was part of the solution.
Certainly Paul made her part of the solution by identifying her as his source.
Let’s all be very careful about the charge of “gossip” and make sure we understand it in the first place because it may not be gossip at all and we might be hammering on someone who is doing their best to help someone else.
Imagine with me if in a church someone had got busy and converted a bunch of Pakastanis to Christ and someone else had converted a group of bikers. And you walked in that church and all the Pakastanis were sitting separately together and all the bikers were sitting with each other… Anglos, Hispanics, etc.
What would you think about that? You might think that church was divided and segregated.
That’s kind of what was happening in the church at Corinth. Some were trying to distinguish and differentiate themselves by who they were baptized by… Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ. In other words… I am superior to you because my baptizer is superior to your baptizer.
Paul said they were full of “jealousy and strife” and as such were failing as a church which according to God’s plan was supposed to demonstrate love and unity to the world.
That sort of division could lead to a division of the church itself a la Acts 20:28-30, in which “grievous wolves” drew people away to start a new church. New churches such as the “Followers of Paul” church, etc.
It’s nice to associate with other Christians who might have a similar culture (racially) or to associate with other Christians who have similar hobbies… such as riding Harley’s but we have to be careful how we present ourselves to the world because we might appear to be divided and not united.
As members of a congregation lets develop relationships with all of our other members. Members who are racially different, old and young members, male and female, etc. so that we can demonstrate to the world the wisdom of God that in spite all of our differences we share the commonality of Jesus Christ which is life changing.
Lets be diligent and cautious about presenting the right picture to the world because you might only have one shot at it.
There is a little bit of controversy in 1Cor. 11 about head coverings. Was Paul talking about artificial head coverings like a veil or a hat or was he merely talking about hair?
First of all keep in mind that an activity is being regulated and the activity is a man or a woman “praying or prophesying”
If Paul was instructing that a woman had to have long hair during those activities (prayer and prophesy) then it would also mean that for every other activity in her life she could have short hair.
Likewise a man would only have to have short hair during those activities. That doesn’t really pass the smell test does it?
Another thing to think about is that if the head covering is just hair… why didn’t Paul just say… you women need to have long hair and you men need to have short hair instead of using up 16 verses on the subject?
So, why did Paul introduce the subject of hair into this discussion?
The discussion of hair begins in verses 5…
“Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head”
This verse calls for a judgement. The verse compares a woman “praying and prophesying” without a veil/hat to her having her head shaven. If one is embarrassing then both should be.
Verse 13 calls for another judgement to the woman who “prays or prophesies” without her head covered and that is to judge about the teaching of nature… nature teaches that a woman should have long hair (not short or shaven)… and that it is a *type* of covering.
So hair is brought into the discussion as an argument from nature to prove that a woman’s head should be veiled when she is engaged in the activity of “prayer and prophesy”
One more thing in verses 6 and 7 the Greek verb “katakalupto” is used for being "veiled" so you would expect that the verb form would agree with the noun form in verse 15… hair given for a “covering” (“kalumna”). However, that’s not the Greek word that Paul uses for “covering” he uses the Greek noun “peribolaion” whose verb form is “periballo”
Of course I believe that the activities being regulated were miraculous “prayer and prophesy” which no longer exist today. However, I still would not be comfortable with a man leading a public prayer in the assembly with a hat on.
When considering the “work” of the church it’s important to note that God does not specifically in one locale of the New Testament reveal that to us. Rather… it requires some study to draw conclusions about what that work is.
Another thing to consider… is there really a difference in the work that individual Christians do (who are the Church) and what the church assembled or gathered does? That’s something to think about.
Let me suggest that the over whelming “work” that the church does is found in Ephesians 3:10…
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”
God’s intent for the “work” of the church was to illustrate his wisdom to spiritual beings (in the heavenly places).
That’s it… that’s the work of the church (individually or collectively). Anything else we might consider to be a “work” of the church is just a subset of that overriding work whether it is described as “evangelism, edification or benevolence” as the work of the church is sometimes classically defined.
So how does the church do that?
John 17:20-23…
“…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one… I in them and you in me… so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”
God’s intent as revealed here was that the church… individually and collectively would be one with the exact kind of oneness (unity) that Jesus had with God the Father. A oneness based on sacrificial love. Which is the very best evidence to the world that Jesus came from God.
When the world knows that… then the spiritual beings in Heavenly places also know it, God’s wisdom is glorified and the church (individually and collectively) is fulfilling its purpose and completing its work
Once we know what our mission is then we can ask ourselves... what am I doing to promote love and unity at my church? Am I involved or am I sitting on the side lines watching?
1 Kings 3 records that God offered to give Solomon anything he wanted… anything. Solomon upon reflection asked for…
“An understanding heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil”
God responded…
“Behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days”
A description of the wisdom God gave to Solomon is recorded in 1Kings 4…
“God gave Solomon wisdom and discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than all other people He also told three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. He told of trees he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon”
I’m so glad that God gave the details of the wisdom, otherwise I might have thought he only gave Solomon and intimate knowledge of his written word… something that might be duplicated by the intense study of God’s written word.
But no… Solomon was among other things a student and teacher of nature. He wrote down his wisdom in proverbs and was a great writer of songs which means he was also a poet.
My guess is that Solomon was intellectually curious and had a thirst for knowledge… all kinds of knowledge.
Remember that outside of the Bible God also reveals himself in nature so along with our Bible study… a study of nature and this world (God’s creation) also teaches us about God.
If it is our desire to be wise remember how God made Solomon wise and try to duplicate that path. And oh by the way though Solomon’s wisdom he also became quite wealthy.
Proverbs 8…
“I (Wisdom) love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.
My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full”
The Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel and bring them to the tent of meeting… and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them…
So Moses gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. As soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied.
Now two men remained in the camp, Eldad and Medad, and the Spirit rested on them too. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua the son of Nun said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”
The reaction of the Great Joshua was to stop the two men from prophesying.
But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
What can we learn from this?
- Sometimes God acts outside of his specified command. I guess that’s okay, after all he is God and He can do what he wants.
- When others aren’t obeying God’s command just like we are we may get a little indignant… like Joshua did and rashly rebuke them. Maybe we should take a little time to think about that.
- How was Joshua going to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying? It was God who caused them to prophesy. Was Joshua going to stop God?
- The Great Moses realized this and didn’t question God or get insulted… Eldad and Medad were prophesying great things about God himself! Moses might not have understood the mechanism but he understood the results.
Moses wished that God would give his Spirit to all humanity and that’s just what God did starting on the day of Pentecost when God poured out his Spirit (on all flesh) and fulfilled what the prophet Joel predicted…
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy”
Joshua and Moses were both great men in the Old Testament but Joshua was focused on the minute details of God’s Word and couldn’t see God’s great plan for mankind.
Oh that we could lift up our eye and see our great God like Moses did!
