Epistle for February 27, 2022, Transfiguration Sunday

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is drawing a contrast between the covenant revealed to Moses and the new covenant revealed in Jesus.  He has pointed out in the passage preceding our Scripture that this is a:

new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

Paul’s interpretation of Exodus 34:29-35 suggests that the veil Moses put over his face wasn’t merely to shield the people of Israel from the awesome radiance of God, but was also:

to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.

Paul makes very clear in his other letters that the giving of the law to Moses was a provisional revelation.  Though the:

law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12),

he makes clear that the law serves as a mirror that reveals the human inability to attain God’s standards.  The paradox is that the righteousness required by the law is impossible for human beings to attain, unless God himself fulfills the requirements.  This he did through the atoning death of Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the law was positive, to drive the sinner to Christ:

 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore, the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:23-26).

The problem is that the law, represented by Moses, is a fading glory superseded by the glory of grace.  Unfortunately, those who continue to focus on establishing their own righteousness by works of the law will continue to be hardened and frustrated:

Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside.  Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

By faith in Christ, the veil that conceals the true meaning of the old covenant is removed.  The believer has new “eyeglasses” provided by the Lord, who is the Spirit, who enables the believer to understand and live out this new relationship with God:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The freedom that the Spirit brings is not a freedom to do anything we want to do — that is antinomianism which leads to anarchy.  The freedom the Spirit brings is the freedom from  sin, and the freedom to become what God intends us to be:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

The imagery here is powerful.  When the veil is removed the believer begins to gaze upon the glory of God and to grow into the image of Christ!

There is a little tag, or footnote, to this inspirational summit that Paul describes as:

being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

He follows this soaring rhetoric by applying it to his own life and ministry:

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.  We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

1 & 2 Corinthians are among the most autobiographical of Paul’s epistles.  He describes the factions that threaten to divide the Corinthian church, and the hardships and persecutions that he has endured in his missionary work.  He is answering accusations from some who are critical of him. So here he is asserting his complete transparency, and his refusal to give up.

APPLY:  

There is always a tendency in human nature to look for rules and formulas for success and self-esteem and even for righteousness.  That is the false promise of legalism — “Do this, and you will be — successful… happy…healthy…wealthy, etc.”

Paul makes it clear that though the law is holy and good and just, we don’t read it properly when we try to establish our own righteousness by our efforts to keep the law.  Such efforts only end in frustration and hardness of heart.

But when we turn to Christ in faith, the veil is taken away, and we find that what our own efforts are unable to do, no matter how hard we try, the Spirit is able to do in us effortlessly:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And once the veil is removed, we behold the image of Christ, and we begin to be:

 transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

This is the grace of sanctification in us, accomplished as we surrender to the Spirit.

RESPOND: 

I love to go into my yard on clear nights to monitor the progress of the waxing moon.  This isn’t merely because of an interest in astronomy, although the moon and the stars do fascinate me.

When I watch the moon growing brighter and fuller night by night, it reminds me of the process of sanctification.  The moon in and of itself is only a cold, dark piece of rock.  But when the light of the Sun shines on it, it becomes radiant and warm.

I think that’s like sanctification.  In myself, I am a cold, dark sinner.  But as I turn to Christ, his light brings radiance and warmth, and perhaps by his grace I can be:

transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

Our Lord, I pray that the veil is removed and that I do behold you, as you transform my life into your glory.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

“2 Corinthians 3 verse 18” uses these photos:
“4% Illuminated Waxing Crescent Moon with Earthshine“, “Waxing Gibbous Moon on 11-20-15,” and “Full Moon on 11-25-15” are all by Stephen Rahn and are licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license.

Epistle for January 30, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians is a lyrical interlude between Paul’s discussion of the Body of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12), and his more detailed directions on how some of the spiritual gifts (prophecy, tongues, discernment of tongues) are applied in the church (1Corinthians 14).

He is underscoring the vital truth that love is the unsurpassable spiritual gift, above all others.  He has ended his list of the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 by saying this:

 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31).

Paul’s celebration of the gift of love is divided into three sections:

• Love is the essential, non-negotiable characteristic of Christianity (verses 1-3).
• The defining characteristics of love (verses 4-7).
• The enduring and unsurpassable nature of love (verses 8-13).

For the sake of context, we remember that Paul is writing to a church that was still “opening” their spiritual gifts, so to speak.  And, like the children in the faith that they were, some of them were beginning to feel a sense of competition and superiority. Some felt that they were more elite as Christians because they had certain gifts that others did not (see 1 Corinthians 4:6-8).

So, Paul is insistent that love is the vital gift that trumps all others, and makes all others work together for the good of all.

In verses 1-3, Paul compares great feats of spiritual gifts, knowledge and sacrifice with the power of love, and concludes that without love these accomplishments are nothing.

In the second section, verses 4-7, Paul defines love not as a dictionary might define it, but according to its characteristics in action:

 Love is patient; love is kind.

But he also defines love by what it is not:

love is not envious or boastful or arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

He ends this section with soaring rhetoric that stresses the universal, transcendent power of love:  

 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Finally, in verses 8-13, Paul focuses on the enduring, even eternal, nature of love:

Love never ends.

Without exception, all of the spiritual gifts will eventually become obsolete, because they will not be needed — except for love.

Some of the gifts are for the purposes of strengthening the church right now, in this interim time — prophecies, tongues, even knowledge.  But:

when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

Paul compares these gifts to the developmental process of growing up:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

And then, in one of the most profound verses in this passage, he says:

 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Knowledge and faith and hope — undeniably important gifts — are only provisional.  They are needed now among Christians and in the church.  But when the End of the Age has arrived, knowledge will be perfected, faith will become sight, and hope will be fulfilled.

Knowledge and faith and hope are like looking in a mirror. What is seen in the mirror is not reality but is a copy of reality.  Seeing face to face is the perspective of one who has turned to face reality.

Of the three great Christian virtues, love is supreme:

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

APPLY:  

No doubt this passage is one that is frequently chosen for weddings, even by couples who may otherwise be unacquainted with the Bible.  This can be a good thing, reminding these couples about the centrality of love in their relationships.

However, this “Love Chapter” has almost nothing to do with romantic love, and everything to do with the kind of sacrificial love that is modeled most dramatically in Christ.

This passage is inspiring, but it is also daunting.  Who can love so purely and sacrificially that all other gifts and accomplishments are completely eclipsed?

Who can love with such abandon that there is no ego or self-assertion?

As an example, try this exercise.  Substitute your own name for each blank below, and ask yourself whether it is truly accurate of you:

^­ _____is patient; ­­­­­_____ is kind; _____ is not envious or boastful or arrogant  or rude. _____ does not insist on ______ own way; _____is not irritable or resentful; ______ does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. _____ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

If this little exercise doesn’t bring conviction by the Holy Spirit, the reader is either not entirely honest, not terribly self-aware, or a candidate for immediate canonization!

But we can take comfort.  It is not up to us to love in this way in our own power.  This kind of love is empowered by God’s love working in us:

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians3:16-17).

The source of the love described in “The Love Chapter” derives from the indwelling power of God’s Spirit through Christ.

RESPOND: 

There is an aspect of this passage that reaches me even beyond the obvious eloquence about the supremacy of love.

As one who reads about, studies on, and broods over mysterious theological questions on a daily basis, I often find myself simply perplexed and overwhelmed.

I find great peace in this verse:

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

The now is obviously the temporal present world in which we live, with all of its labyrinthine confusion.  And then is the eternity that it is to come.  This is what Martin Luther meant when he said he had two dates on his calendar — today and THAT day. 

The imagery of the mirror reminds me of Plato’s famous allegory of the cave, where the men are chained to a wall in a cave and can only see the shadows from the light outside the cave. The shadows reflect the Reality of the Forms that are outside the cave.

The mirror in 1 Corinthians 13 reflects imperfectly the Reality of God’s Kingdom, because the mirror represents our own insufficient understanding and experience.  But when God’s Reality is made manifest, then:

we will see face to face.

And how wonderful, how marvelous, that we will know God’s love fully, even as God’s love has fully known us!

That’s when all the questions will be answered, and all our shallow answers questioned.  As C.S. Lewis is alleged to have said,

The most commonly heard word in heaven will be “Oh!”

Lord, I confess that the only way that I can even remotely approach the kind of love that you ask of me is if you love through me.  I haven’t the capacity in myself.  But I love because you first loved me.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

I took this photo during one of my daily walks on the bike trail in Searcy, Arkansas.

Epistle for January 23, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul elaborates on the diversity that exists within the unity of the church.

There is unity at the core of the church that derives from unity in Christ.  Paul uses the simple yet elegant metaphor of the body to describe the church:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Paul also demonstrates that this unity is due to the work of the Spirit that he has introduced earlier in 1 Corinthians:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?   (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Paul points to one, and perhaps two, key symbols that illustrate the unity of the church:

For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Baptism is viewed not only as a sign of the entrance into faith, but as a unifying symbol.  And it may be speculative, but he may also allude to the common cup of the Lord’s Supper:

and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

What is not symbolic or metaphorical are the walls of division that are destroyed by unity in the Holy Spirit.  These socio-economic, cultural and ethnic divisions were very real in the first century A.D., between Jews or Greeks, slaves or free.

This is a recurring theme in Paul’s writing, that the divisions of Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female, rich and poor, have been removed in the church.  This community he describes is to be without classicism, without elitism, and without division.

Paul illustrates the unique interdependence of the church with the metaphor of the body.  The body is a complex system of organs and members that all cooperate together so that the whole body may function.

Foot and hand cannot secede from the body, or the ear from the eye.  There is a sense of integrity in the body when all the parts of the body function in harmony.

But he also points out that each part of the body of Christ is of equal value.  In fact, those parts of the body that seem inferior or less respectable, he says, are of great value:

On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect (1 Corinthians 12:22-23).

This is in keeping with another core Biblical theme — that the humble are lifted up and that God is not partial to the rich or powerful or most gifted.  However, there is no sense that anyone is diminished.  Rather, the point he is making is that just as in the body, if one part of the body suffers the whole body suffers; and if one part of the body is honored the whole body is honored:

If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

The body of Christ, like the human body, is organically and systemically connected and interdependent. Every part of the body is needed and valued.

Paul then turns more specifically to the various roles and offices of the church:

 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?  Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?  But strive for the greater gifts.

We do get a hint here that there is a kind of hierarchy even though every member of the church is of equal value— first apostles, second prophets, and so on. But he is also clear that this is distinction of function, not value.  Not all are called to be prophets, and not all are given the gift of tongues.  But the gift of the Spirit is the source of all the gifts that enable the church to function properly.

APPLY:  

It has been said that Christianity is not a solitary religion.  This passage from 1 Corinthians 12 strongly confirms that this is true.

As the body functions most effectively when all its parts work in harmony for the health and well-being of the whole body, so the same is true of the church.

The church is the body of Christ. As the body of Christ, we view the hopes and hurts of the world through the compassionate eyes of Christ.  As the body of Christ, we proclaim the Gospel through the words of Christ.  As the body of Christ, we heal and feed and comfort as the hands of Christ.  As the body of Christ, we walk in the slums and hospitals and prisons and nursing homes and board rooms and everywhere Christ walks.

Our unity is not merely represented by the organic unity of the body, however.  At our best, Christianity transcends socio-economic, racial, ethnic, and even historic denominational divisions.

Sadly, in many ways this is still an ideal that is not yet fulfilled.  But when the Spirit is truly present and given complete authority, we recognize that:

. . . in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

RESPOND: 

Several years ago, I had surgery on my knee.  The surgeon removed bone fragments that had chipped off and were floating around my knee joint. Recovering at home that same day, my head was swimming from the effects of the anesthetic.  My wife had kindly turned on the radio to a news channel that she knows I enjoy so that I could listen while I convalesced in bed.

The problem was that I was unable to concentrate.  So, I decided to turn off the radio. I reached for the radio knob with my left hand and that’s when things got complicated.  I have a “trick” shoulder that occasionally dislocates at awkward moments.  This was one of those awkward moments.

Now not only was my knee sore and unable to sustain my weight, and my head swimming, but my shoulder was dislocated!  I lay there helplessly, realizing that all of this was because of a small bone that broke off in my knee!

When a small part of the body of Christ suffers, it affects the whole body.  And when a small part of the body of Christ works effectively, it contributes to the well-being of the entire body.

Lord, my role in the body of Christ may be small, but that doesn’t mean that I’m unimportant in your eyes.  Thank you that you have a role for all Christians to play in the body of Christ. May we be faithful, whether we preach, teach, heal, help, or pray.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

“1 Corinthians 12 verse 27” uses this photo: “Sinop beneath my arms” by M.G. Kafkas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for January 16, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, which is presumably composed of a diverse group of folks — Gentiles (Greeks, Romans and citizens from around the Empire in this cosmopolitan city), former slaves, former prostitutes, and former pagans.

In the letters to the Corinthians, he appears to be answering written questions sent from this new church as the Corinthian Christians seek guidance about Christian doctrine and lifestyle.

In this passage, Paul is addressing the phenomena of spiritual gifts that have manifested themselves in the lives of these new Christians.

First, Paul draws a distinction between the secretive, esoteric “mysteries” of pagan worship and the full-disclosure and transparency of Christian worship:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.

He makes it clear that if a person claims to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, they will not contradict the bedrock of the faith of Christians in any way, which is the Lordship of Jesus Christ:  

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Second, Paul establishes the source of the spiritual gifts that he will describe.  The gifts derive from God, not from human talent or ability:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

We notice that there is a Trinitarian reference here, but not in the order to which we are accustomed — first the gifts of the Spirit, then the services of the Lord Jesus, and God the Father.

Paul is pointing out the essential unity of the Godhead.  And from this divine unity comes the unity of the church.

And yet there is a paradox, because though the church members are united in God, there are different gifts, services and activities.  Not everyone is expected to be all things and do all things.  There is diversity of function within the unity of faith.

And the purpose of the gifts of God is not individual glory or gain, but for the good of the church:

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Paul then provides a breakdown of some of the various gifts that the church at Corinth may expect to experience.

The application of these gifts is somewhat technical, and requires more explanation than I can devote to them in this space.  But without exception, the gifts exist for the good of the whole church.

He mentions wisdom and knowledge, that serve to provide guidance and instruction in doctrinal truth and practical Christian living.

The gift of faith appears to be distinct from the justifying or saving faith common to all Christians, but is perhaps a visionary faith that inspires the rest of the church to greater faith.

Gifts of healing and working of miracles suggest a feature of the early church that was taken for granted at that time, i.e., the same healing powers that Jesus had imparted to his disciples also were available in the church.

Prophecy doesn’t necessarily mean soothsaying or predicting the future, but proclamation to the church.  This is explained in 1 Corinthians 14:3:

. . . those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

The discernment of spirits presupposes a supernatural worldview, that there is a spiritual realm inhabited by spiritual beings.  Some of those spiritual beings may be good, some evil.  Hence the need for discernment.  This discernment of spirits may be a further elaboration of what Paul has said earlier:

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Tongues are the ecstatic prayers of the people of God as they speak the language of heaven.  It may be that Romans 8:26-27 provides some insight into the intercessory purpose of this language of the Spirit:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Tongues may be personally edifying to the person praying in tongues, but they are the Lord speaking to as well as through the gift of tongues.

But because the tongues are unintelligible to others, it is made clear in 1 Corinthians 14 that an even more significant gift is the ability to interpret tongues so that others may be edified:

Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up (1 Corinthians 14:5).

The bottom line for all of these gifts is that they derive from the same divine source:

All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

APPLY:  

There are as many approaches to the spiritual gifts in the church today as there are denominations.

Some believers argue that these spiritual gifts were only intended for the early church, but not for today.

Others would argue that the spiritual gifts are very much a part of the life of the church today, and in fact are the true mark of a Christian.

And there are any number of interpretations and applications in between.

We need not fear these extraordinary gifts.  The gifts are intended for the unity and the edification of the church.  As a preacher once said when addressing some of the controversies about the spiritual gifts, “The gifts of God will never divide the people of God.”

These gifts that are listed in 1 Corinthians 12 are not exhaustive.  There are other gifts that are mentioned in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4.  The point is that the best way to discern whether a gift is from God is to ask whether it builds up the church or tears it down.

RESPOND: 

When I was in high school, I played football.  Football is definitely a team sport.  Each athlete in each position has a unique role to play.

My position wasn’t very glamorous.  I wasn’t the quarterback, so I didn’t throw the ball.  I wasn’t the wide receiver, so I didn’t catch the ball.  I wasn’t the running back, so I didn’t run with the ball.

I wasn’t even the center, who hikes the ball to the quarterback to get a play started.

I was a lineman, which meant my job was basically just to try to push people away from the quarterback or the running back.  Not the kind of player that most people would notice.

But if the lineman doesn’t block, the quarterback gets sacked.  Or the running back gets tackled for a loss.  So, ask a quarterback or a running back how important a lineman is!

Each athlete must act in harmony for the good of the whole team.

Likewise, every Christian has received a spiritual gift; and each spiritual gift must be employed for the good of the whole church.

Our Lord, sometimes I feel that my gifts are pretty meager.  But I know that every Christian’s gift is of value for the good of the whole church.  May your church work in harmony so that all the spiritual gifts may be employed for the good of all.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

“1 Corinthians 12:4-6” by Cary Bass-Deschenes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for March 3, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is drawing a contrast between the covenant revealed to Moses and the new covenant revealed in Jesus.  He has pointed out in the passage preceding our Scripture that this is a:

new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

Paul’s interpretation of Exodus 34:29-35 suggests that the veil Moses put over his face wasn’t merely to shield the people of Israel from the awesome radiance of God, but was also:

to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.

Paul makes very clear in his other letters that the giving of the law to Moses was a provisional revelation.  Though the:

law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12),

he makes clear that the law serves as a mirror that reveals the human inability to attain God’s standards.  The paradox is that the righteousness required by the law is impossible for human beings to attain, unless God himself fulfills the requirements.  This he did through the atoning death of Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the law was positive, to drive the sinner to Christ:

 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,  for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:23-26).

The problem is that the law, represented by Moses, is a fading glory superseded by the glory of grace.  Unfortunately, those who continue to focus on establishing their own righteousness by works of the law will continue to be hardened and frustrated:

Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside.  Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

By faith in Christ, the veil that conceals the true meaning of the old covenant is removed.  The believer has new “eyeglasses” provided by the Lord, who is the Spirit, who enables the believer to understand and live out this new relationship with God:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The freedom that the Spirit brings is not a freedom to do anything we want to do — that is antinomianism which leads to anarchy.  The freedom the Spirit brings is the freedom from  sin, and the freedom to become what God intends us to be:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

The imagery here is powerful.  When the veil is removed the believer begins to gaze upon the glory of God and to grow into the image of Christ!

There is a little tag, or footnote, to this inspirational summit that Paul describes as:

being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

He follows this soaring rhetoric by applying it to his own life and ministry:

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.  We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

1 & 2 Corinthians are among the most autobiographical of Paul’s epistles.  He describes the factions that threaten to divide the Corinthian church, and the hardships and persecutions that he has endured in his missionary work.  He is answering accusations from some who are critical of him. So here he is asserting his complete transparency, and his refusal to give up.

APPLY:  

There is always a tendency in human nature to look for rules and formulas for success and self-esteem and even for righteousness.  That is the false promise of legalism — “Do this, and you will be — successful… happy…healthy…wealthy, etc.”

Paul makes it clear that though the law is holy and good and just, we don’t read it properly when we try to establish our own righteousness by our efforts to keep the law.  Such efforts only end in frustration and hardness of heart.

But when we turn to Christ in faith, the veil is taken away, and we find that what our own efforts are unable to do, no matter how hard we try, the Spirit is able to do in us effortlessly:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And once the veil is removed, we behold the image of Christ, and we begin to be:

 transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

This is the grace of sanctification in us, accomplished as we surrender to the Spirit.

RESPOND: 

I love to go into my yard on clear nights to monitor the progress of the waxing moon.  This isn’t merely because of an interest in astronomy, although the moon and the stars do fascinate me.

When I watch the moon growing brighter and fuller night by night, it reminds me of the process of sanctification.  The moon in and of itself is only a cold, dark piece of rock.  But when the light of the Sun shines on it, it becomes radiant and warm.

I think that’s like sanctification.  In myself, I am a cold, dark sinner.  But as I turn to Christ, his light brings radiance and warmth, and perhaps by his grace I can be:

transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

Our Lord, I pray that the veil is removed and that I do behold  you, as you transform my life into your glory.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

“2 Corinthians 3 verse 18” uses these photos:
“4% Illuminated Waxing Crescent Moon with Earthshine“, “Waxing Gibbous Moon on 11-20-15,” and “Full Moon on 11-25-15” are all by Stephen Rahn and are licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license.

Epistle for February 3, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians is a lyrical interlude between Paul’s discussion of the Body of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12), and his more detailed directions on how some of the spiritual gifts (prophecy, tongues, discernment of tongues) are applied in the church (1Corinthians 14).

He is underscoring the vital truth that love is the unsurpassable spiritual gift, above all others.  He has ended his list of the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 by saying this:

 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31).

Paul’s celebration  of the gift of love is divided into three sections:

• Love is the essential, non-negotiable characteristic of Christianity (verses 1-3)
• The defining characteristics of love (verses 4-7)
• The enduring and unsurpassable nature of love (verses 8-13)

For the sake of context, we remember that Paul is writing to a church that was still “opening” their spiritual gifts, so to speak.  And, like the children in the faith that they were, some of them were beginning to feel a sense of competition and superiority. Some felt that they were more elite as Christians because they had certain gifts that others did not (see 1 Corinthians 4:6-8).

So, Paul is insistent that love is the vital gift that trumps all others, and makes all others work together for the good of all.

In verses 1-3, Paul compares great feats of spiritual gifts, knowledge and sacrifice with the power of love, and concludes that without love these accomplishments are nothing.

In the second section, verses 4-7, Paul defines love not as a dictionary might define it, but according to its characteristics in action:

 Love is patient; love is kind.

But he also defines love by what it is not:

love is not envious or boastful or arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

He ends this section with soaring rhetoric that stresses the universal, transcendent power of love:  

 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Finally, in verses 8-13, Paul focuses on the enduring, even eternal, nature of love:

Love never ends.

Without exception, all of the spiritual gifts will eventually become obsolete, because they will not be needed — except for love.

Some of the gifts are for the purposes of strengthening the church right now, in this interim time — prophecies, tongues, even knowledge.  But:

when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

Paul compares these gifts to the developmental process of growing up:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

And then, in one of the most profound verses in this passage, he says:

 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Knowledge and faith and hope — undeniably important gifts — are only provisional.  They are needed now among Christians and in the church.  But when the End of the Age has arrived, knowledge will be perfected, faith will become sight, and hope will be fulfilled.

Knowledge and faith and hope are like looking in a mirror. What is seen in the mirror is not reality, but is a copy of reality.  Seeing face to face is the perspective of one who has turned to face reality.

Of the three great Christian virtues, love is supreme:

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

APPLY:  

No doubt this passage is one that is frequently chosen for weddings, even by couples who may otherwise be unacquainted with the Bible.  This can be a good thing, reminding these couples about the centrality of love in their relationships.

However, this “Love Chapter” has almost nothing to do with romantic love, and everything to do with the kind of sacrificial love that is modeled most dramatically in Christ.

This passage is inspiring, but it is also daunting.  Who can love so purely and sacrificially that all other gifts and accomplishments are completely eclipsed?

Who can love with such abandon that there is no ego or self-assertion?

As an example, try this exercise.  Substitute your own name for each blank below, and ask yourself whether it is truly accurate of you:

^­ _____is patient; ­­­­­_____ is kind; _____ is not envious or boastful or arrogant  or rude. _____ does not insist on ______ own way; _____is not irritable or resentful; ______ does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. _____ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

If this little exercise doesn’t bring conviction by the Holy Spirit, the reader is either not entirely honest, not terribly self-aware, or a candidate for immediate canonization!

But we can take comfort.  It is not up to us to love in this way in our own power.  This kind of love is empowered by God’s love working in us:

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians3:16-17).

The source of the love described in “The Love Chapter” derives from the indwelling power of God’s Spirit through Christ.

RESPOND: 

There is an aspect of this passage that reaches me even beyond the obvious eloquence about the supremacy of love.

As one who reads about, studies on, and broods over mysterious theological questions on a daily basis, I often find myself simply perplexed and overwhelmed .

I find great peace in this verse:

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

The now  is obviously the temporal present world in which we live, with all of its labyrinthine confusion.  And then is the eternity that it is to come.  This is what Martin Luther meant when he said he had two dates on his calendar — today and THAT day. 

The imagery of the mirror reminds me of Plato’s famous allegory of the cave, where the men are chained to a wall in a cave and can only see the shadows from the light outside the cave. The shadows reflect the Reality of the Forms that are outside the cave.

The mirror in 1 Corinthians 13 reflects imperfectly the Reality of God’s Kingdom, because the mirror represents our own insufficient understanding and experience.  But when God’s Reality is made manifest, then:

we will see face to face.

And how wonderful, how marvelous, that we will know God’s love fully, even as God’s love has fully known us!

That’s when all the questions will be answered, and all our shallow answers questioned.  As C.S. Lewis is alleged to have said,

The most commonly heard word in heaven will be “Oh!”

Lord, I confess that the only way that I can even remotely approach the kind of love that you ask of me is if you love through me.  I haven’t the capacity in myself.  But I love because you first loved me.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

I took this photo during one of my daily walks on the bike trail in Searcy, Arkansas.

Epistle for January 27, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul elaborates on the diversity that exists within the unity of the church.

There is unity at the core of the church that derives from unity in Christ.  Paul uses the simple yet elegant metaphor of the body to describe the church:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Paul also demonstrates that this unity is due to the work of the Spirit that he has introduced earlier in 1 Corinthians:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?   (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Paul points to one, and perhaps two, key symbols that illustrate the unity of the church:

For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Baptism is viewed not only as a sign of the entrance into faith, but as a unifying symbol.  And it may be speculative, but he may also allude to the common cup of the Lord’s Supper:

and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

What is not symbolic or metaphorical are the walls of division that are destroyed by unity in the Holy Spirit.  These socio-economic, cultural and ethnic divisions were very real in the first century A.D., between Jews or Greeks, slaves or free.

This is a recurring theme in Paul’s writing, that the divisions of Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female, rich and poor, have been removed in the church.  This community he describes is to be without classicism, without elitism, and without division.

Paul illustrates the unique interdependence of the church with the metaphor of the body.  The body is a complex system of organs and members that all cooperate together so that the whole body may function.

Foot and hand cannot secede from the body , or the ear from the eye.  There is a sense of integrity in the body when all the parts of the body function in harmony.

But he also points out that each part of the body of Christ is of equal value.  In fact, those parts of the body that seem inferior or less respectable, he says, are of great value:

On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect (1 Corinthians 12:22-23).

This is in keeping with another core Biblical theme — that the humble are lifted up and that God is not partial to the rich or powerful or most gifted.  However, there is no sense that anyone is diminished.  Rather, the point he is making is that just as in the body, if one part of the body suffers the whole body suffers; and if one part of the body is honored the whole body is honored:

If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

The body of Christ, like the human body, is organically and systemically connected and interdependent. Every part of the body is needed and valued.

Paul then turns more specifically to the various roles and offices of the church:

 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?  Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?  But strive for the greater gifts.

We do get a hint here that there is a kind of hierarchy even though every member of the church is of equal value— first apostles, second prophets, and so on. But he is also clear that this is distinction of function, not value.  Not all are called to be prophets, and not all are given the gift of tongues.  But the gift of the Spirit is the source of all the gifts that enable the church to function properly.

APPLY:  

It has been said that Christianity is not a solitary religion.  This passage from 1 Corinthians 12 strongly confirms that this is true.

As the body functions most effectively when all its parts work in harmony for the health and well being of the whole body, so the same is true of the church.

The church is the body of Christ. As the body of Christ we view the hopes and hurts of the world through the compassionate eyes of Christ.  As the body of Christ, we proclaim the Gospel through the words of Christ.  As the body of Christ, we heal and feed and comfort as the hands of Christ.  As the body of Christ, we walk in the slums and hospitals and prisons and nursing homes and board rooms and everywhere Christ walks.

Our unity is not merely represented by the organic unity of the body, however.  At our best, Christianity transcends socio-economic, racial, ethnic, and even historic denominational divisions.

Sadly, in many ways this is still an ideal that is not yet fulfilled.  But when the Spirit is truly present and given complete authority,  we recognize that:

. . . in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

RESPOND: 

Several years ago, I had surgery on my knee.  The surgeon removed bone fragments that had chipped off and were floating around my knee joint. Recovering at home that same day, my head was swimming from the effects of the anesthetic.  My wife had kindly turned on the radio to a news channel that she knows I enjoy so that I could listen while I convalesced in bed.

The problem was that I was unable to concentrate.  So, I decided to turn off the radio. I reached for the radio knob with my left hand and that’s when things got complicated.  I have a “trick” shoulder that occasionally dislocates at awkward moments.  This was one of those awkward moments.

Now not only was my knee sore and unable to sustain my weight, and my head swimming, but my shoulder was dislocated!  I lay there helplessly, realizing that all of this was because of a small bone that broke off in my knee!

When a small part of the body of Christ suffers, it affects the whole body.  And when a small part of the body of Christ works effectively, it contributes to the well-being of the entire body.

Lord, my role in the body of Christ may be small, but that doesn’t mean that I’m unimportant in your eyes.  Thank you that you have a role for all Christians to play in the body of Christ. May we be faithful, whether we preach, teach, heal, help, or pray.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

“1 Corinthians 12 verse 27” uses this photo: “Sinop beneath my arms” by M.G. Kafkas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for January 20, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, which is presumably composed of a diverse group of folks — Gentiles (Greeks, Romans and citizens from around the Empire in this cosmopolitan city), former slaves, former prostitutes, and former pagans.

In the letters to the Corinthians, he appears to be answering written questions sent from this new church as the Corinthian Christians seek guidance about Christian doctrine and lifestyle.

In this passage, Paul is addressing the phenomena of spiritual gifts that have manifested themselves in the lives of these new Christians.

First, Paul draws a distinction between the secretive, esoteric “mysteries” of pagan worship and the full-disclosure and transparency of Christian worship:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.

He makes it clear that if a person claims to be inspired by the Holy Spirit they will not contradict the bedrock of the faith of Christians in any way, which is the Lordship of Jesus Christ:  

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Second, Paul establishes the source of the spiritual gifts that he will describe.  The gifts derive from God, not from human talent or ability:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

We notice that there is a Trinitarian reference here, but not in the order to which we are accustomed — first the gifts of the Spirit, then the services of the Lord Jesus, and God the Father.

Paul is pointing out the essential unity of the Godhead.  And from this divine unity comes the unity of the church.

And yet there is a paradox, because though the church members are united in God, there are different gifts, services and activities.  Not everyone is expected to be all things and do all things.  There is diversity of function within the unity of faith.

And the purpose of the gifts of God is not individual glory or gain, but for the good of the church:

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Paul then provides a breakdown of some of the various gifts that the church at Corinth may expect to experience.

The application of these gifts is somewhat technical, and requires more explanation than I can devote to them in this space.  But without exception, the gifts exist for the good of the whole church.

He mentions wisdom and knowledge, that serve to provide guidance and instruction in doctrinal truth and practical Christian living.

The gift of faith appears to be distinct from the justifying or saving faith common to all Christians, but is perhaps a visionary faith that inspires the rest of the church to greater faith.

Gifts of healing and working of miracles suggest a feature of the early church that was taken for granted at that time, i.e., the same healing powers that Jesus had imparted to his disciples also was available in the church.

Prophecy  doesn’t necessarily mean soothsaying or predicting the future, but proclamation to the church.  This is explained in 1 Corinthians 14:3:

. . . those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

The discernment of spirits presupposes a supernatural world-view, that there is a spiritual realm inhabited by spiritual beings.  Some of those spiritual beings may be good, some evil.  Hence the need for discernment.  This discernment of spirits may be a further elaboration of what Paul has said earlier:

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Tongues  are the ecstatic prayers of the people of God as they speak the language of heaven.  It may be that Romans 8:26-27 provides some insight into the intercessory purpose of this language of the Spirit:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God,  who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Tongues may be personally edifying to the person praying in tongues, but they are the Lord speaking to as well as through the gift of tongues.

But because the tongues are unintelligible to others,  it is made clear in 1 Corinthians 14 that an even more significant gift is the ability to interpret tongues so that others may be edified:

Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up (1 Corinthians 14:5).

The bottom line for all of these gifts is that they derive from the same divine source:

All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

APPLY:  

There are as many approaches to the spiritual gifts in the church today as there are denominations.

Some believers argue that these spiritual gifts were only intended for the early church, but not for today.

Others would argue that the spiritual gifts are very much a part of the life of the church today, and in fact are the true mark of a Christian.

And there are any number of interpretations and applications in between.

We need not fear these extraordinary gifts.  The gifts are intended for the unity and the edification of the church.  As a preacher once said when addressing some of the controversies about the spiritual gifts, “The gifts of God will never divide the people of God.”

These gifts that are listed in 1 Corinthians 12 are not exhaustive.  There are other gifts that are mentioned in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4.  The point is that the best way to discern whether a gift is from God is to ask whether it builds up the church or tears it down.

RESPOND: 

When I was in high school, I played football.  Football is definitely a team sport.  Each athlete in each position has a unique role to play.

My position wasn’t very glamorous.  I wasn’t the quarterback, so I didn’t throw the ball.  I wasn’t the wide receiver, so I didn’t catch the ball.  I wasn’t the running back so I didn’t run with the ball.

I wasn’t even the center, who hikes the ball to the quarterback to get a play started.

I was a lineman, which meant my job was basically just to try to push people away from the quarterback or the running back.  Not the kind of player that most people would notice.

But if the lineman doesn’t block, the quarterback gets sacked.  Or the running back gets tackled for a loss.  So, ask a quarterback or a running back how important a lineman is!

Each athlete must act in harmony for the good of the whole team.

Likewise, every Christian has received a spiritual gift; and each spiritual gift must be employed for the good of the whole church.

Our Lord, sometimes I feel that my gifts are pretty meager.  But I know that every Christian’s gift is of value for the good of the whole church.  May your church work in harmony so that all the spiritual gifts may be employed for the good of all.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

“1 Corinthians 12 verse 4” used this photo: “Queen Bee of Beverly Hills Designer Handbags Holiday” by Queen Bee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for Feb. 7, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is drawing a contrast between the covenant revealed to Moses and the new covenant revealed in Jesus.  He has pointed out in the passage preceding our Scripture that this is a:

new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

Paul’s interpretation of Exodus 34:29-35 suggests that the veil Moses put over his face wasn’t merely to shield the people of Israel from the awesome radiance of God, but was also:

to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.

Paul makes very clear in his other letters that the giving of the law to Moses was a provisional revelation.  Though the

law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12),

he makes clear that the law serves as a mirror that reveals the human inability to attain God’s standards.  The paradox is that the righteousness required by the law is impossible for human beings to attain, unless God himself fulfills the requirements.  This he did through the atoning death of Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the law was positive, to drive the sinner to Christ:

 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,  for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:23-26).

The problem is that the law, represented by Moses, is a fading glory superseded by the glory of grace.  Unfortunately, those who continue to focus on establishing their own righteousness by works of the law will continue to be hardened and frustrated:

Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside.  Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

By faith in Christ, the veil that conceals the true meaning of the old covenant is removed.  The believer has new “eyeglasses” provided by the Lord, who is the Spirit, who enables the believer to understand and live out this new relationship with God:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The freedom that the Spirit brings is not a freedom to do anything we want to do — that is antinomianism which leads to anarchy.  The freedom the Spirit brings is the freedom from  sin, and the freedom to become what God intends us to be:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

The imagery here is powerful.  When the veil is removed the believer begins to gaze upon the glory of God and to grow into the image of Christ!

There is a little tag, or footnote, to this inspirational summit that Paul describes as:

being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

He follows this soaring rhetoric by applying it to his own life and ministry:

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.  We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

1 & 2 Corinthians are among the most autobiographical of Paul’s epistles.  He describes the factions that threaten to divide the Corinthian church, and the hardships and persecutions that he has endured in his missionary work.  He is answering accusations from some who are critical of him. So here he is asserting his complete transparency, and his refusal to give up.

APPLY:  

There is always a tendency in human nature to look for rules and formulas for success and self-esteem and even for righteousness.  That is the false promise of legalism:  “Do this, and you will be — successful… happy…healthy…wealthy, etc.”

Paul makes it clear that though the law is holy and good and just, we don’t read it properly when we try to establish our own righteousness by our efforts to keep the law.  Such efforts only end in frustration and hardness of heart.

But when we turn to Christ in faith, the veil is taken away, and we find that what our own efforts are unable to do, no matter how hard we try, the Spirit is able to do in us effortlessly:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And once the veil is removed, we behold the image of Christ, and we begin to be:

 transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

This is the grace of sanctification in us, accomplished as we surrender to the Spirit.

RESPOND: 

I love to go into my yard on clear nights to monitor the progress of the waxing moon.  This isn’t merely because of an interest in astronomy, although the moon and the stars do fascinate me.

When I watch the moon growing brighter and fuller night by night, it reminds me of the process of sanctification.  The moon in and of itself is only a cold, dark piece of rock.  But when the light of the Sun shines on it, it becomes radiant and warm.

I think that’s like sanctification.  In myself, I am a cold, dark sinner.  But as I turn to Christ, his light brings radiance and warmth, and perhaps by his grace I can be:

transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

Our Lord, I pray that the veil is removed and that I do behold  you, as you transform my life into your glory.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

“2 Corinthians 3 verse 18” uses these photos:
“4% Illuminated Waxing Crescent Moon with Earthshine“, “Waxing Gibbous Moon on 11-20-15,” and “Full Moon on 11-25-15” are all by Stephen Rahn and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for Jan. 31, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians is a lyrical interlude between Paul’s discussion of the Body of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12), and his more detailed directions on how some of the spiritual gifts (prophecy, tongues, discernment of tongues) are applied in the church (1Corinthians 14).

He is underscoring the vital truth that love is the unsurpassable spiritual gift, above all others.  He has ended his list of the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 by saying this:

 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31).

Paul’s celebration  of the gift of love is divided into three sections:

• love is the essential, non-negotiable characteristic of Christianity (vv 1-3)
• the defining characteristics of love (vv 4-7)
• the enduring and unsurpassable nature of love (vv 8-13)

For the sake of context, we remember that Paul is writing to a church that was still “opening” their spiritual gifts, so to speak.  And,  like the children in the faith that they were, some of them were beginning to feel a sense of competition and superiority. Some felt that they were more elite as Christians because they had certain gifts that others did not (see 1 Corinthians 4:6-8).

So, Paul is insistent that love is the vital gift that trumps all others, and makes all others work together for the good of all.

In verses 1-3, Paul compares great feats of spiritual gifts, knowledge and sacrifice with the power of love, and concludes that without love these accomplishments are nothing.

In the second section, verses 4-7, Paul defines love not as a dictionary might define it, but according to its characteristics in action:

 Love is patient; love is kind.

But he also defines love by what it is not:

love is not envious or boastful or arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

He ends this section with soaring rhetoric that stresses the universal, transcendent power of love:  

 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Finally, in verses 8-13, Paul focuses on the enduring, even eternal, nature of love:

Love never ends.

Without exception, all of the spiritual gifts will eventually become obsolete, because they will not be needed — except for love.

Some of the gifts are for the purposes of strengthening the church right now, in this interim time: prophecies, tongues, even knowledge.  But:

when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

Paul compares these gifts to the developmental process of growing up:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

And then, in one of the most profound verses in this passage, he says:

 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Knowledge and faith and hope — undeniably important gifts — are only provisional.  They are needed now among Christians and in the church.  But when the End of the Age has arrived, knowledge will be perfected, faith will become sight, and hope will be fulfilled.

Knowledge and faith and hope are like looking in a mirror. What is seen in the mirror is not reality, but is a copy of reality.  Seeing face to face is the perspective of one who has turned to face reality.

Of the three great Christian virtues, love is supreme:

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

APPLY:  

No doubt this passage is one that is frequently chosen for weddings, even by couples who may otherwise be unacquainted with the Bible.  This can be a good thing, reminding these couples about the centrality of love in their relationships.

However, this “Love Chapter” has almost nothing to do with romantic love, and everything to do with the kind of sacrificial love that is modeled most dramatically in Christ.

This passage is inspiring, but it is also daunting.  Who can love so purely and sacrificially that all other gifts and accomplishments are completely eclipsed?

Who can love with such abandon that there is no ego or self-assertion?

As an example, try this exercise.  Substitute your own name for each blank below, and ask yourself whether it is truly accurate of you:

^­ _____is patient; ­­­­­_____ is kind; _____ is not envious or boastful or arrogant  or rude. _____ does not insist on ______ own way; _____is not irritable or resentful; ______ does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. _____ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

If this little exercise doesn’t bring conviction by the Holy Spirit, the reader is either not entirely honest, not terribly self-aware, or a candidate for immediate canonization!

But we can take comfort.  It is not up to us to love in this way in our own power.  This kind of love is empowered by God’s love working in us:

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians3:16-17).

The source of the love described in “The Love Chapter”  derives from the indwelling power of God’s Spirit through Christ.

RESPOND: 

There is an aspect of this passage that reaches me even beyond the obvious eloquence about the supremacy of love.

As one who reads about, studies on, and broods over mysterious theological questions on a daily basis, I often find myself simply perplexed and overwhelmed .

I find great peace in this verse:

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

The now  is obviously the temporal present world in which we live, with all of its labyrinthine confusion.  And then is the eternity that it is to come.  This is what Martin Luther meant when he said he had two dates on his calendar: today and THAT day. 

The imagery of the mirror reminds me of Plato’s famous allegory of the cave, where the men are chained to a wall in a cave and can only see the shadows from the light outside the cave. The shadows reflect the Reality of the Forms that are outside the cave.

The mirror in 1 Corinthians 13 reflects imperfectly the Reality of  God’s Kingdom, because the mirror represents our own insufficient understanding and experience.  But when God’s Reality is made manifest, then:

we will see face to face.

And how wonderful, how marvelous, that we will know God ‘s love fully, even as God’s love has fully known us!

That’s when all the questions will be answered, and all our shallow answers questioned.  As C.S. Lewis is alleged to have said,

The most commonly heard word in heaven will be “Oh!”

Lord, I confess that the only way that I can even remotely approach the kind of love that you ask of me is if you love through me.  I haven’t the capacity in myself.  But I love because you first loved me.  Amen. 

PHOTO:

I took this photo during one of my daily walks on the bike trail in Searcy, Arkansas.