This 2nd aspect of the Spiritual review of the year looks at our giving. Finances can be tricky to speak about, often because we largely think of our money as our own, to do with as we please. It can be true for many Christians that it is the world that leads and directs our […]
One of the criticisms directed against Paul was that he was all bluff – that he was weak. That he wrote strongly when away but was weak when he was amongst them. Well, Paul is writing that when he comes, he will not exercise the same amount of restraint. After-all he is an apostle of […]
Mike P. Andrus entitled his study on this subject, “With friends like these, who needs enemies.” I believe we have seen into the heart of Paul. He desires to be in a good relationship with the church he established. He sees himself as a parent who has delinquent children. He loves them dearly but they […]
What Paul did in the Corinthians Church was to do something that he found extraordinarily difficult to do. He had decided to use the worldly tactic of comparing himself to his opponents and last week we spent some time looking at this. This week we continue with the same theme, but Paul now goes on […]
The Corinthian Christians didn’t seem to mind a little arrogance, a little overconfidence, a little assertiveness, certainly it appears that they despised humility. A great man was to boast, to be proud enough to sing of his own achievements. Thus, the so called “Super Apostles” or “False Apostles” that came into Corinth happily exaggerated their […]
It is easy for pastors to commend themselves and boast in the size of their church or their budgets or how many converts they have or the amount of staff that they serve with. So, when we think of Super Apostles or Spiritual Predators, we first have to be aware of boasting. Of course, someone […]
Kent Hughes in his commentary writes this… “Whereas chapters 1-9 were directed to the repentant majority of Corinth, chapter 10 – 13 focus on the unrepentant minority. Paul now goes to war against rebellion.” (p. 180). Paul has suffered hit after hit, insult after insult from his detractors. To give you a brief rundown of […]
We note that the Apostle Paul goes out of his way to demonstrate his integrity to the Corinthians. He wants to do right in the eyes of God and in the eyes of the Corinthians. This is all in regard to collecting a monetary gift for the Jerusalem Church.