O Corinthians!
We have spoken openly
to you,
our heart is wide
open.
You are not
restricted by us,
but you are
restricted
by your own
affections.
Now in return for the
same
(I speak as to
children),
you also be open.
2 Corinthians 6: 11
-- 13
Paul is now
cautioning the Christians at Corinth to not unite with unbelievers. Paul speaks with great love for the
Corinthians when he calls out: O Corinthians!
Paul was desirous to promote spiritual and eternal welfare to whomever
he preached and due to his great love for them he opened his mouth freely in
kind admonition and exhortations. The
Corinthians, as well as many churches today, focus or are focusing on the
gifts of the Spirit or as the School of the Supernatural teaches students to go
about promoting those gifts as though by some manner signs and wonders will
cause a person to accept Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ never used His miracles that He performed to bring people
to Himself. Jesus used the miracles,
signs, and wonders that He performed to show to the Jewish people and to others
that He was truly the promised Messiah and that He Himself is God. When we first come to believe and convert to
the Lord Jesus Christ there is a sort of honeymoon experience whereby one steps
out boldly even though they are not as knowledgeable as the more mature
Christians are and they become stuck in their exhilaration that they find by
this conversion. Christianity can be
related to walking up as flights of stairs one step at a time and to do this
the requirement is the grace you will receive from the Almighty God for there
will come a time when there will be no vision, there will be no
spectator. The next step is in your
devotion to God, and in your study, and in your reading, in your kitchen. This is a requirement for in your growth
there will be this time when there is no vision from God, your enthusiasm will
wane there will be no spectator to encourage you in your walk with the
Lord. This is going to require much
grace from God and for you to consciously draw upon God to take that step for
with this you will be able to live according to the Scriptures. This step is important it is greater than
for one to simply preach the Gospel. Yes
we are to preach the gospel but this must come as we grow in our maturity so that
we do not act continually as children.
Paul had to speak to the Corinthians because they were acting childish in
their various antics and desire to promote the gifts of the Spirit rather than
to promote themselves to simply be a follower of Jesus Christ. This is going to require a person to deny
himself, this takes time to read and study, and then apply what he has
learned by means of the Holy Spirit to then bring the Gospel to whomever God
leads them. Are you partaking of the
Incarnation? You must bring the
incarnation down into your flesh and blood and in actuality work it out through
your fingertips. What will tell you
that you are growing in your maturity in the long run is for you to be steadily
persevering working in the unseen, and the only way to keep the life uncrushed
is to live looking at God. Go to prayer
and ask God to keep your eyes open to Him and His word, that your spirit be altered to the wisdom Savior Jesus Christ for if you do so there will no longer be drudgery to do the
work of our Lord and Savior. Get away
from pettiness and paltriness of mind and thought as John taught us in his
gospel in the 13th chapter. Paul did
not add restrictions to the Corinthian Christians rather he simply taught them
the gospel and is now instructing them to move away from their exercise of
their praise that is not according to what he taught, and for us, that which is
not according to the inspired word of God written by Paul. Paul made it clear that if they're not doing
this it was not his fault rather it within themselves where the fault
lay. Why? They simply looked into themselves to find their joy, rather than
to look to God. They were not looking
to Jesus Christ who saved them. It was
through some misapprehension that they held to the teachings of Paul. This problem in the Corinthian church, and
it is interesting that other church fathers throughout the years had to write
similarly to the Corinthian church, led them to accept that which is
unacceptable to God. Paul would not
have written what he wrote for the Holy Spirit would not have inspired him to
do so if it was not true: "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what Communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an
unbeliever? And what agreement has the
temple of God with idols? For you are
the temple of the living God. As God
has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be
separate says the Lord. Do not touch
what is unclean, and I will receive you.
I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says
the LORD Almighty’” (2 Corinthians 6: 15 -- 18; 1 Corinthians 3: 16 -- 17;
Leviticus 26:12; Ezekiel 37:27; Isaiah 52: 11; 2 Samuel 7:14). I've listed many references so that you can
take the time to read the Bible and study what God has told you in this is for
your good. In this blog I will not
address what Paul was telling them and us and that is not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. What does this
mean and how does it work out in our daily lives? This will be the subject of the next blog.
Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they
may follow intoxicating drink;
who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
The harp
and the strings, but tambourines and flute,
and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the
LORD,
nor
consider the operation of His hands.
Therefore my people have gone into captivity,
because
they have no knowledge; there are honorable men
are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
Isaiah 5: 11 -- 13
Do not draw iniquity to yourselves
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