1 Corinthians

It has been a long time since I last blogged! So as I sit on the train back to London from Aberdeen I thought it would be good to get a few thoughts down on 'paper'.

Over the past week i've been going through First Corinthians using the ESV study bible (very good resource!).

Here are just a few things i've learnt:

1. Unity

Paul seemed to plead for the church at Corinth to stay unified and humble through a love for Chirst and each other. In Chapter 1 verse 15 Paul asks the question "Is Christ divided?" and so requests his followers not to be.

In chapter 3 we find that there are problems with certain people saying that they followed Apollos, and others saying they followed Paul. In response to this Paul says "what after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the LORD has assigned each to his task".

To me this speaks of unity in diversity: that we're not all called to do the same thing, clearly Paul and Apollos had different tasks (see 3:6-9), but instead we are called to be unified above all in giving Christ glory.

2. To some The Cross is foolishness

In chapter 1:18 Paul says that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"

I was reminded of that this week after bumping into a friend who has no religious background at all. He came to a free lunch and talk that our University's Christian Union was hosting last week, and straight away he brought up the lunch and told me that all us Christians are mental with all this Jesus stuff! But amazingly he said it was great and wants to find out more.

3. Love. Judgement. Mercy

Love is everywhere in 1 Corinthians. Whether Paul is talking about worship in the church, food laws, marriage, Spiritual gifts, unity, idols; it all leads back to the question 'does this show our love for Christ and for others?'

Love. Love. Love.

But where does God's judgement come into love? Often I find it difficult to see how discipline or judgement can go hand in hand with love and mercy. In chapter 11 I think we find a verse that can really help us in our understanding of this:

11:32: "But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world"

WOW! For me this is huge a verse! Right here loud and clear we find that the reason why, as Christians, we are disciplined by the Lord is because of his great love for us so that we will not be condemned! We receive judegment but it is in essence a great sign of mercy.

The ESV study bible's footnote to this verse says that "When suffering alerts a Christian to the presence of sin and leads to repentance, it functions as an act of both disciplinary judgment and mercy".

To me this drastically changes a lot, for if I realise that everything that God does is out of love then it demands a trusting of him in all things.

So those are just a few messy thoughts, which are definitely not 100% water tight...please weigh all this up for yourself!

And now I get to enjoy three weeks off uni for easter! :-D