“I Have Used None of These Things…”
In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul strongly argued for his and Barnabas’s right to be supported in their gospel preaching. The apostle first appealed to what was being practiced by other churches. He was an apostle and the earlier apostles (including Peter) were supported in their labors. And not only were apostles of the Lord supported, […]
Am I Not Free?
The phrase, “Am I not free?” in 1 Corinthians 9:1 marks another subject in the questions of the “things whereof you wrote” (1 Corinthians 7:1). We don’t have a copy of the letter the Corinthians wrote Paul so we don’t really know how they asked about the issue of his support, along with the fact […]
Dead Sea Gay Pride Celebration
Israel’s official X account posted the following on April 20, 2026: “Pride rises at the lowest place on earth? This June the Dead Sea becomes Pride Land, the biggest LGBTQ+ festival ever in the Middle East. Four days of nonstop celebration, community, and connection. Israel celebrates its LGBTQ+ community bigger than ever!” The irony is […]
Meats Sacrificed to Idols
After Paul answered the questions the Corinthians had about marriage, he turned to another problem they asked about. He wrote, “Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up but love edifieth” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Unlike the issue of marriage which still troubles the church today as much […]
Questions About Marriage #2
In 1 Corinthians 7-14, Paul responds to questions the Corinthian brethren had written to him. Chapter 7 focuses primarily on marriage. Their questions range from whether it is right to remain unmarried, to whether one may remarry after the death of a spouse. Among these concerns were questions about Christians married to unbelievers: Does God […]
Questions About Marriage #1
“Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote:…” begins a new section of 1 Corinthians 7. The first six chapters addressed several serious issues the Corinthians themselves did not seem concerned about: divisions among them, their tolerance of a man involved with his father’s wife, and their practice of taking one another to court before civil […]
The World’s Most Falsifiable Religion
This belief has been a source of contention with many people, even Christians, in the past. But the more I research, the more I find it to be the case that the gospel is the only viable worldview that is historically defensible. The central claims of the Bible demand historic inquiry, as they are based […]
The Unrighteous Will Not Inherit God’s Kingdom
First Corinthians 6:9-11 is a warning against two wrongs mentioned earlier in the chapter and chapter 5. Chapter 5 contains Paul’s astonishment that the Corinthian brethren would tolerate, and even be “puffed up” because someone was living with his father’s wife. In 6:1-8 he condemns them for the sin of taking each other to law […]
Lawsuits Among Brethren
First Corinthians 6:1-11 addresses an issue among Corinthian Christians that still arises at times among brethren: lawsuits against one another in civil courts. Paul asked them, “Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?” Paul reminded these brethren that the saints “will […]
Put Away That Wicked Man
First Corinthians 5 deals with a shameful situation which existed in the Corinthian church. It was a circumstance in which the Corinthians apparently did not think warranted a query to Paul, although they had written a letter to him with questions about other matters. The circumstance was that a man had taken his father’s wife […]