For this reason I
have sent Timothy to you,
who is my beloved and
faithful son
in the Lord, who will
remind you
of my ways in Christ,
as I teach
everywhere in every
Church.
1Corinthians 4:17
Paul has
set forth to the Corinthians the groundwork for what he is about to instruct
and condemn for the Corinthian Christians have allowed the world to invade them
and make cause for certain things that are in total contradiction to God’s
will. Now, Paul is sending Timothy who is in Ephesus across the Aegean Sea to
instruct once again the Gospel as Paul had preached earlier to them. The
foundations laid by Paul in regards to the Gospel had become cracked and
uprooted and needed fixing and this letter along with Timothy was to do just
that and God having inspired Paul to write to the Corinthians left for us the
principles we need today for our Church and for our lives.
With the
coming of Jesus Christ incarnate the old covenant through Moses, not Abraham
for that covenant never loses its meaning or force, and the new covenant now
establish by the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross and that new covenant
tends to our salvation. To this end, the establishing of the New Covenant Jesus
Christ endured to deliver up His flesh to corruption. Why? That we might be
sanctified through the remission of sins, and that remission effected by the
sprinkling of His blood: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for peace was upon
Him, and by His stripes we are healed…. He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah
53:5,7). This Jesus did, for all those the Father given to Him: “I have
manifested your name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; and
thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word” (John 17:6:Stephens Greek
Text, 1550 A.D.). A note: The Greek word for gavest is: “δέδωκας”
that is in the perfect tense indicative active and when in the perfect tense
then the meaning is sure for the perfect is that which occurred in the past and
has continuing results, and it is a statement and active. Therefore we ought to
be deeply grateful to Jesus Christ and the Father who sent Him for us for it is
God who determines who He will give to the Son. Now the Son has made known to
us things that are past, and has given us wisdom concerning things present and
we are not left without understanding in regard to things that are to come.
This truth, the Gospel, and the pragmatic use of what Jesus taught forgotten by
the Corinthian Christians. and they become wrapped up in the gifts, and even
allowed things to occur in the congregation that is opposite to the will of
God. They were taught differently, but the wisdom of the world has overtaken
them and they needed to return to the truth. The Corinthians had knowledge of
the way of righteousness but rushed off into the way of darkness. God came to
earth and took on human flesh and while here on earth Jesus manifested Himself
to be the Son of God. Now if Jesus had not taken on Human flesh, and this He
did by being born of a human woman, Mary, then the sin of Adam that has
corrupted the souls of every man could not be atoned. Now if Jesus was not God
then there was no one who could atone for sin for all men were sinful. The Son
of God therefore came in the flesh with this one thing in view: that He might
bring to nothing by His propitiation on the cross the sum of sin, and the sins
of all of God’s children. Therefore having renews us by the remission of our
sins, He has made us after another pattern, as it was His purpose, that we
should possess the soul of children for He has born us again through faith and
has created us anew by His Spirit.
God has
promised and all His promises are faithful and true, yes and yes, and He has
promised to lead us into a new world with new incorruptible bodies, a good
land. We are quickened and kept alive by the faith of the promise of His word,
and shall live ruling over the earth. We also, the Corinthians, and all of
God’s children, are made perfect and heirs of the covenant of Jesus Christ, a
new, and lasting covenant. As Paul then instructed the Corinthians and by sending
Timothy to them to effect what He had taught and to remind the Corinthians of
this truth we are also instructed and we are to apply that instruction in our
lives.
Paul ends
this section with this: “Now some of you are puffed up, as though I were not
coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will
know, not the word of those puffed up, but the power. What do you want? Shall I
come to you with a rod, or I love and a spirit of gentleness” (1Corinthians
4:18–21). Those questions are for us today. How will you answer?
Keep Justice, and do righteousness,
For My
salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is
the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
Who keeps
from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand form doing any evil.
Isaiah 56:1–2
Living in the Image of Jesus Christ
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment