Post by Josh on Feb 6, 2007 16:28:28 GMT -8
10/05:
First off, I really like Mr. Apollos (you get more info on him in Acts). He just seems like a cool guy.
But unfortunately Christians tend to idolize confident leaders. And that leads us into all the divisions that the Corinthians were dealing with.
I like the idea (v 10-12) that each of us with our own unique gifts are laying different layers of God's building- building together, not in conflict with each other.
BTW, when Paul says You yourselves are God's temple (vs. 16-17), he is saying you (plural) are God's temple (singular). The temple is God's church here. This is obvious also because he has just been talking about the Church as God's building. Verse 16 has often been misunderstood to be talking about the physical bodies of individual believers. Although used often as a proof-text against smoking,etc.., this has to do with the Church and a dire warning to those who would try to destroy God's Church. (It would be a little harsh to interpret this as saying if you 'pollute' your temple (ie, smoking, overeating, etc..) that GOD will DESTROY YOU. Not that there aren't natural consequences to such behavior, and not that we shouldn't take care of our bodies, but this verse is a serious warning to anyone who would try to destroy the Church (ie, Rome, the Jewish authorities, Hitler for that matter). Later Paul says our actual bodies are the Temple (6:19), and this verse has more practical application to how we treat our bodies.
And for some reason I love verses 21 thru 23: all things are yours! How exciting, whatever that exactly means.
First off, I really like Mr. Apollos (you get more info on him in Acts). He just seems like a cool guy.
But unfortunately Christians tend to idolize confident leaders. And that leads us into all the divisions that the Corinthians were dealing with.
I like the idea (v 10-12) that each of us with our own unique gifts are laying different layers of God's building- building together, not in conflict with each other.
BTW, when Paul says You yourselves are God's temple (vs. 16-17), he is saying you (plural) are God's temple (singular). The temple is God's church here. This is obvious also because he has just been talking about the Church as God's building. Verse 16 has often been misunderstood to be talking about the physical bodies of individual believers. Although used often as a proof-text against smoking,etc.., this has to do with the Church and a dire warning to those who would try to destroy God's Church. (It would be a little harsh to interpret this as saying if you 'pollute' your temple (ie, smoking, overeating, etc..) that GOD will DESTROY YOU. Not that there aren't natural consequences to such behavior, and not that we shouldn't take care of our bodies, but this verse is a serious warning to anyone who would try to destroy the Church (ie, Rome, the Jewish authorities, Hitler for that matter). Later Paul says our actual bodies are the Temple (6:19), and this verse has more practical application to how we treat our bodies.
And for some reason I love verses 21 thru 23: all things are yours! How exciting, whatever that exactly means.