Seeking the truth...

You can read the text here . Paul circles back to drive the point home regarding factionalism that he sprung up as different groups pledged allegiance to different leaders. Paul and Apollos aren't anything special that will help the Corinthians raise their status. They're in fact mere servants and following them should bring disrepute in the world's eyes.[1] While Paul and Apollos played an important role, it's secondary to the role played by God who is the one they should be solely focused on. God will give Paul and Apollos their due, who, after all, are on the same team! Paul and Apollos are trying to build a temple worthy of the living God. The foundation was laid by Paul; the message of the cross preached in a fashion that the focus was on Jesus and not on Paul. Apollos and others built on it. Some, like Paul, built well. Some didn't. God can tell the difference. Those who built in a fashion in line with human wisdom and status seeking built with poor materi...

As I've grown older I've come to see that not all of the fruit of the Reformation is positive. The emphasis on sola scriptura , particularly has had serious effects. In 1994 Wayne Grudem published his systematic theology text book. It has been a standard text used in Bible colleges and seminaries across the US for decades. In this text he promotes a doctrine of the Trinity that is essentially Arian. Why did this not become a big deal until 2016 ? How could heresy have been taught in countless Bible colleges, seminaries, and churches with almost no one noticing? You can find isolated cases of push back earlier ( like my teacher, Graham Cole back in 2010  - note while Evangelical he is also an Anglican) but no widespread outcry came until last year! It's easy to see how this can happen in the Evangelical movement because the sola scriptura  principle has developed in such a way that the tradition has been ignored almost across the board. Over the past few years I've read...

You can read the text here . This is one of the more challenging passages in the letter. Thiselton , as usual was extremely helpful, and what I write hear is roughly in line with his comments. The Corinthians had a problem.  The church had factions supporting different teachers. These factions were competing for status and claiming superiority. Paul's speech, in opposition to Apollos' (presumably) was rather unimpressive by the rhetorical standards of the day. He certainly wasn't the type of teacher who would help the Corinthian Christians get ahead in the eyes of the world. Paul dubs this way of thinking as infantile and opposed to the ways of the Spirit. He wants them to grow up and act their age so he can build on the good foundation that he and other teachers had laid. Until the Corinthians were ready to give up their status seeking (one thinks here of Jesus' words, 'the first shall be last') they were never going to grow into all that God desired for ...

You can read the text here . Paul continues his discussion of the nature of the message of the cross and its relationship with the world. The Corinthians need their world view to be reshaped by the message via the agency of the Holy Spirit. God's wisdom is of a different sort than the wisdom that they knew before following Jesus. It's insight into the way things really are and who is really the king in opposition to what the powers pursue and believe to be true.[1] If the powers had understood that self-sacrifice was the way to true glory, and that God was truly working through Jesus to bring peace and glory they would never would have crucified him. While they may think they have the glory, it's the ones who follow Jesus who actually will be glorified in the end![2] We know the truth, but only because we, as the church, have the Spirit who reveals it to us. It is only through God's Spirit that God can be known. Once we have his Spirit we evaluate everything diffe...