The churches of Asia
greet you.
Aquila and Priscilla
greet you heartily in the Lord,
with the church that
is in her house.
All the brethren
greet you.
Greet one another
with a holy kiss.
The salutation with
my own hand -- -- Paul's.
If anyone does not
love the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be accursed.
O Lord, come!
The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you.
My love be with you
all in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
1 Corinthians 16: 19
-- 24
We have
come to the end of this letter written to the Corinthian church by the apostle
Paul. Paul by necessity had to address
some extremely serious practices, and doctrines. They were not that which he taught. They were in contradiction to our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. We are reminded that we must
examine all that is said and done in our congregations to ensure that they are
not in contradiction to Scripture. My
attempt was to look at Scripture, to address those things that Paul addressed
according to Scripture and then to examine myself and my congregation as well
as to enable you to do the same. Paul
now sends salutations to the church of Corinth. We must remember that as Christians we are to be civil and we
must find room in our lives to be civil and loving to our brothers and sisters
especially those in our congregations.
Our religious beliefs, in Jesus Christ, and our daily walk to be formed
into the image of Jesus Christ should drive is to show love. We must be courteous and obliging in our
temper towards all. Our salutations,
our civility, must not be simply mere empty compliments; rather they must carry
a real expression of goodwill, and be a recommendation to the divine grace and
blessing of God. If we say we love God,
then that love is shown towards our brothers and sisters and we wish to them
all the good from the Lord. Every
Christian should in some respect be a Christian church; as I explained in the
last blog the Greek word for church that means the called out ones, and you as
a Christian are one of those who are called out: therefore you are the church. I think that most Christians would
be able to cite this fact: where ever two or three are gathered together in
Christ, then Christ is among them, and in this case there is a congregated
church. We are to greet our brothers
and sisters with a holy kiss. This is
not in our culture as it in some cultures where when a person is greeted they
are kissed on both sides of the cheek; no, but we do have a way to express that
holy kiss by looking directly into the eyes of the other, shaking hands with
them and if appropriate even to give them a hug. Are we seeking out those in our congregations to greet them and
to show them that they are warmly welcome and that you are glad that they are
there with you? Are you glad that
together you are worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: God?
Paul does
give a very solemn warning: "If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be accursed."
(Verse 22a). Here is a very familiar and often used Greek
word: μαράν άθά: notice that it is two words so let me give you the Greek for
full understanding of what Paul wrote: maran atha, or as we write it,
Maranatha, speaks of the approaching of divine judgment and these two words are
the Greek spelling for two Aramaic words, words that those at which are
uttered, a curse that is reinforced by a prayer, that is an idea that is
contrary to the intimations conveyed by its use in the early Christian
documents. We must remember it is
always context, context, and context, that guides us into the proper
translation and we find that the character of the context indicates that the
apostle is making a statement rather than expressing a desire or uttering a
prayer. Why it was used find its reason
and that it was most probably the current proclamation among the early
Christians, as embodying the consummation of their desires and after the
resurrection of Jesus Christ Christian views the title of or to Him as applied
to God. O Lord, come! This is the way it was used by the early church fathers in their writings. A person who blasphemes Jesus Christ is one who disowns the doctrine of
Jesus Christ and condemns his statement that he is a lover of Jesus Christ, for
rather it is more about that person's pride of human knowledge and learning,
and despises the revealed word of God.
The apostle
Paul dealt plainly with the Corinthian church in this letter and told them of
their faults with just severity; but he does this in love and even parts with
them in this letter by expressing his love.
This love for them is for Christ's sake. His heart was with them, and he truly loved them: do we love our
brothers and sisters in the same way?
We should cordially love all who were in Jesus Christ and who loves Him
in sincerity. Not that we should love
all men, as Jesus Christ instructed us in John chapter 17, but we are to have
love for all men and do to them what is it good that is in our power, and what
is in our power is the fact that we can take to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This we do as those who are dear to Jesus
Christ and loved by Him. May our love be
with all who are in Christ Jesus! Let
us inquire whether all things appear worthless to us, when compared with Christ
and His righteousness. We check to see
whether or not we are willing to give up worldly objects when they are in
competition to Jesus Christ. We are not
to allow ourselves to remain in any known sin, or to neglect of any known
duty. If we do so and by such inquiries
that are faithfully made then we may judge the state of our souls.
Behold, bless the LORD,
all you
servants of the LORD,
who by night stand in the house of the LORD!
Lift up
your hands in the sanctuary,
and bless the LORD.
Psalm
134: 1 -- 2
Stand firm in the Lord
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