Those words, “Being changed.” occurs only twice in the New Testament. The word comes to us from the Greek word, “menamorphoumetha.” from which we get the word, “Metamorphosis.” That word brings to mind the connotations of tadpoles turning into frogs, of pupas turning into butterflies. In the Old Covenant only Moses came into the presence […]
We read this… 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God. The word “peddle” is not a complimentary kind of word but using an Americanism is can mean “Huckster” or for us “trickster” […]
What Paul is writing here is that although the smell is the same to both the victor and the conquered, their reaction to the aroma is different. For one the smell of the gospel is absolutely wonderful but to the person who has rejected Christ the smell is abhorrent. It signals their demise and ultimately […]
Church discipline is important, and love should be at its root. Not saying something to someone who is living in a way that is not in accordance with the will of God is not loving. That is akin to watching someone walking over a cliff and doing nothing to stop them. It is the duty […]
We can see what a mess Paul was in with all this tension with the Corinthian Christians and in fact how damaging this kind of conflict can be. Firstly, it is extraordinarily damaging for Paul himself and very costly in both time and resources. Secondly, the gospel suffers. Conflict always has a detrimental effect on […]
Every aspect of Christ’s sufferings, leading to the cross, on the cross, were designed by God to bring about our salvation. Christ’s suffering and death are immensely powerful and effective in God achieving his purposes in the world. In the same way our sufferings and even death can be used by God to his glory.
The word “yoked” means that you have lost independent movement. In that sense, we cannot see ourselves as a church, or me as a minister, formalising a marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian. That would see two people yokes together who are not united spiritually. It of course does bring up many other difficult […]