Monthly Archive for May, 2002

1 Corinthians 1:8

Published on May 31, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

who will also confirm you

The “who” here is the Lord. The word “confirm” refers to guaranteed security. God will make us stand when Christ comes again. It is not our act that confirms but God’s act. It is a result of salvation.

to the end,

God will make sure we land in heaven. This word occurred in verse 6. Corinthians have a guarantee that God will preserve them until Christ comes again. The “end” here is the coming of Christ. God will keep us saved until Christ comes and even then He will not charge us with anything.

Ph 1: 6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…

that you may be blameless

“Blameless” means chargeless or unimpeachable. This is a forensic term connotes not to be accused. No one can lodge an indictment against us. No judge can lodge a complaint against us. That makes us exempt from accusation. No one will have the right to impeach a Christian when Christ comes, not even God. This is more than acquittal but believers will not ever be charged with anything.

in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ

God will not bring up our sins and charge us with any sin in the revelation of Christ’s coming. He will preserve saints until the end. No one can lay a charge against us.


PRINCIPLE: The Christian will stand before God without blame because of Christ


APPLICATION: Every Christian will be blameless when we meet Jesus face-to-face. We will be blameless because of Him (Ep 1:4; Co 1:20-24; 1 Th 5:23,24; Ju 24). God will not arraign or accuse us. We will stand before Him free of any charge against us. It is God’s faithfulness, not our faithfulness (1:9).

Ro 8: 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

1 Pe 1: 5 … who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

God will not hold our sin and failure in this life against us. God ensures that no charge or accusation will be laid against us when we meet Him. Jesus defeated “the accuser of the brethren.” Jesus will represent our case and cause before God. We stand perfect in Him. We share in His victory over sin in that day.

1 Corinthians 1:7

Published on May 30, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ…

so that

“So that” indicates a conclusion to the fact God gifted the Corinthian church with supernatural capacities to do the work of God. They were truly a church wealthy in spiritual gifts. These gifts pre-existed from the point of their salvation.

you come short in no gift,

God’s grace made the Corinthian church to come short in no gift. That church was a highly gifted church. Giftedness and spiritually, however, are two different things. Yet, even in their carnality God had highly gifted them. The word “gift” means a supernatural enablement to do the work of God.

eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ

The Greek word is a double compound word apekdechomenous meaning to wait with enthusiasm, to await ardently. It is a compound of three words: 1) from 2) out of 3) to receive. The Christian should “receive, out of, from” toward Christ’s coming. Oh, what a day it will be to see the Savior unveiled before our eyes. Christians eagerly anticipate the coming of Christ. This is active anticipation of looking forward to the coming of Christ.


PRINCIPLE: Christians have the great hope of Christ’s coming.


APPLICATION: The coming of Christ will be a day of exaltation. In that day He will become King of Kings and Lord of lords. Christians will be delivered from all ills and woes. We wait ardently for that day.

God guarantees our deliverance to heaven. This will happen when Jesus comes again. The best is yet to come. What a wonderful day that will be. We will finally see our Savior face-to-face.

1 Corinthians 1:6

Published on May 29, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you…

even as the testimony of Christ

The word “testimony” means witness. When God confirms the witness of Christ through us; He shows the grace of God through us as witnesses to Christ.

was confirmed in you

The word “confirmed” is a legal term referring to a guarantee that settles the transaction. The Greek word means to make to stand, to make stable. The testimony concerning Christ made a stand in the Corinthian church. At a point in the past God used them to effectively witness for Christ. The papyri show a legal sense of guaranteeing a title. God gives the guarantee of validity of the message through the Corinthians.

The Corinthian church’s wealth of gifts was not due to their faith but was God’s way of confirming the gospel. The Greek indicates that “was confirmed” was an action of God (passive voice). God revealed and established Christ through their gifts. They were God’s vehicle for delivering the message.


PRINCIPLE: God uses gifts of the church to confirm His message to those without Christ.


APPLICATION: All true witnessing ultimately is God’s witness. He uses the individual or the church but in the final analysis He confirms the gospel. God will use us powerfully when we orient to grace. We will have confidence and strength to know that God works through us. We cannot by-pass understanding of God’s provision of wealth (1:5). A true witness is aware of the power behind witnessing.

Ac 1: 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We can lose our witness through carnality as did the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 1:5b

Published on May 28, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge…

in all utterance and all knowledge

God enriches the believer with “all utterance and all knowledge.” God gives supernatural facility of speech and knowledge to do His work. The Corinthians were a richly gifted church as seen in chapters 12-14.

God gifts His church with the gift of communication skills – “utterance.” Oratory was one of the highest values of Greek culture. The Romans conquered the Greeks but they could not conquer their culture. The Corinthians were enriched with communication skills. Christians can tell God’s truth if they choose. We have God-given ability to share the gospel or the Word. God enriches the believer with wealthy possession and wealthy message.

Knowledge is necessary in effective Christian communication. We cannot use what we do not know exists. God enriched the Corinthians with “knowledge.” Knowledge is an ability to grasp facts of the truth. Grace gives Christian plutocrats understanding of the message of grace.

These two gifts of utterance and knowledge are special, supernatural capacities to do the work of God. Paul later in chapters 12-14 details the most significant discussion on this subject in the Word of God. It is interesting that the most carnal church in the New Testament was the most gifted church. The possession of a spiritual gift does not make a Christian great. It is possible to be very gifted and still carnal.


PRINCIPLE: God gives every believer a capacity for usefulness.


APPLICATION: God speaks to the human race through believers. Most Christians do not take time to understand the message of grace. We must clearly grasp the concept of grace and its significance to our lives. God deposited grace at our disposal to illumine our spiritual lives.

There is no excuse for not speaking for the Lord. We cannot say, “Well, I don’t know what to say (utterance), how to say it or what to say (knowledge)” for God gives us the ability to say it. Sharing our faith is not optional.

Ac 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Ep 6: 19 …and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel…

If we open ourselves to be used of God, He will speak through us with a power beyond ourselves. He will give us “all” the right wisdom and words.

1 Pe 3: 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Bill Bright had the gift of evangelism but someone else has the gift of helps. It does not follow that Bill Bright was greater than the person with helps. How great they are rests on their walk with the Lord and to what degree they apply truth to experience. People are not better than others based on their spiritual gift.

1 Corinthians 1:5

Published on May 27, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 1 Comment
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5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge…

that you were enriched in everything

“That” shows the result of the grace explained in verse four. This means that the Corinthian church was enriched by the grace of God with an impact.

2 Co 8: 7 But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.

The word “enriched” comes from the Greek word plutocrat. A plutocrat is a very wealthy person. The Corinthians were very wealthy with two gifts in particular. Corinthian believers were not self-made; they were God-made. The Greek indicates that God enriched the Corinthians at the point of their salvation. They were in a state of poverty and utterly destitute until they came to Christ. Now they possess great spiritual wealth as plutocrats.

The Greek indicates that the Corinthians actually received this wealth at one point in the past (their salvation). It was not something they earned or deserved.

The phrase “in everything” is the quantity of grace. God enriches us in all that we possess by grace. God withholds no spiritual blessing or provision.

by Him

“By Him” qualifies “in everything.” Jesus is the only sphere of enrichment. Again, Paul reminds them of the motif of positional truth. This is the starting place of correction.


PRINCIPLE: The believer has constituted benefits for serving God.


APPLICATION: Our lives may not reflect the riches God bestowed on us. God gave these riches at the point of salvation, therefore, this is our constituted wealth. Yet, we may not live up to this standard. We live as spiritual paupers if we do not understand and apply God’s spiritual riches to our lives. Some wealthy people do not live according to the standard of their wealth. This can be true of us. God expects us to spend our spiritual wealth. We cannot exhaust those resources.

We create a great problem with our checking account if we do not stop to examine the balance in our account. We cannot spend spiritual truth until we grasp it.

1 Corinthians 1:4b

Published on May 26, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus…

which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

In the Greek, this phrase precedes the statement “I am thankful.” The provision of grace by Christ is the reason for Paul’s thanksgiving. This is more than the grace that saves the soul; it is includes any grace for living the Christian life. Thanksgiving is a response to grace.

Grace is always “given.” God gives all the grace we need at the point of salvation. Until God forgives and gives a person eternal life, there is nothing for which Paul can give thanks.

The word “by” in the phrase “by Christ Jesus” is literally “in.” Christ Jesus is the sphere of God giving grace. God limits His grace to those who are “in Christ.” The reason for this is that it was Jesus who merited that grace. The plan of God rests on the grace of God. Everything rests on the work of Christ whether it is our salvation or our sanctification. It is always the work of God and we are always the recipient.

1 Corinthians 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation… For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.


PRINCIPLE: We owe God out of gratitude and not out of obligation.


APPLICATION: The major appeal to Christian living is to live commensurate with whom we are. We owe God out of gratitude and not out of obligation.

Once God places us in Christ, grace is ours permanently. Once God gives grace to the believer, He cannot withhold it. He will always operate in grace toward us. Grace forever removes subjective guilt. Subjective guilt means that we psychologically pay for our sins. Objective guilt (proper guilt) means that we objectively recognize our sin and accept the grace of God to forgive that sin.

This grace is always unlimited and undeserved promise from God. It is a promise that we claim by faith. There is no way that we can pay for our sin; there is only One who could and did. We are hopeless and helpless to offer any payment of sin to God so we cannot pay for sin by subjective guilt.

We must separate subjective guilt from our need to pay for sin. We have to accept Christ’s payment for sin to properly operate in the sphere of God’s grace. Conviction of sin is not the same as guilt. That is the objective guilt of recognizing what separates us from daily fellowship with God. All we need to do is confess that sin with the authority of Christ’s death for our sin to walk freely with God.

1 Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is imperative to keep guilt in line by keeping the ultimate payment for guilt by Jesus on the cross. Violates of sin we commit as Christians were paid by Christ on the cross. Doubt that God fully and finally paid for our sin is to operate in unbelief about what God did for us in grace. Unbelief that God is a God of grace is a rejection of His Word.

1 Corinthians 1:4

Published on May 25, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

Verses four through nine is the introduction to the epistle. This introduction signals the issue of the entire book. This section shows the believer’s status in Christ. He holds the same status that Jesus has before God – perfect. Paul has already made the point in calling the Corinthian church “sanctified” and “saints.” That is, God set them aside as His own, especially and eternally perfected by Christ.

The section running from verse four to verse nine give a number of benefits God gave the Corinthian church and believers of our day.

The introduction is marked with an emphasis in the Greek that points to the grace of God (passive voices). This shows praise for what God wrought for the Corinthians and not what they have done. This is especially true in light of their stark carnality.

Verses 4-8 are one long sentence and focuses on the central doctrine of positional truth or our union with Christ. Paul already pointed to positional sanctification in Christ. Now Paul takes up our position “in Christ” again (1:4); God gives grace “in Christ” (1:5); He enriches all Christians “in Christ.”

It is interesting that 1 Corinthians is an epistle laden with censure against the Corinthians yet the whole introduction of verses 4-9 is gratitude for God’s grace to them. All prerogatives rest on privilege of sonship (1:9).

I thank my God always concerning you

Paul is grateful to God for the eternal provisions of God given to the Corinthian church. He is thrilled to see their permanent relationship to God. The grounds of Paul’s thanksgivings always orient around God’s provisions.

The word “always” is hyperbole. Paul does not continually pray for the Corinthians without stopping but he has a life of prayer for them. He never forgets to pray for them. This is not soft-soap but genuine thanksgiving for them.

1 Th 5: 17 …pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

for the grace of God

The word “for” indicates the basis of support or ground for Paul’s thanksgiving. That ground is the grace of God. The object of Paul’s thanksgiving was grace, not the Corinthians. The reason for Paul’s gratitude was the grace God had for the Corinthians.

Grace is always free. We cannot merit it because it is a total provision from God in Christ. There is no merit, no obligation and no work necessary to placate God. Christ fully placated God’s wrath by the death of Christ for our sins. Jesus took our hell that we might have His heaven.

Paul appeals to the Corinthians to live the Christian life according to their status in Christ. Their position before God was perfect because of what Christ did for them. His appeal was not based on guilt but on God’s provision.

In the light of the carnality of the Corinthian church, we might think that Paul would have used a caustic approach. However, he puts the right motivation and perspective on living the Christian life right up front in the epistle. We do what we do in the Christian life because of grace or God’s provisions for us. We do what we do because of what we are. We cannot change our ways because of who we are but because of who God is. God does not condemn Christians because they hold the status of forgiveness and perfection before God in Christ.


PRINCIPLE: Grace is the antithesis to merit.


APPLICATION: Human merit is an attempt to pay for sin by personal effort. God does not expect us to pay Him back because grace is permanent and irreversible from God’s standpoint. We will never have debt before God because Christ paid it all; all to him we owe.

If we were to earn forgiveness, it would be a human work. God’s view of human merit is antithesis to grace.

Ro 4:4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

If it were possible to pay for sin, then salvation would rest on us and not Christ. If we win a race by hard work, we rightly receive the due. The race was due to hard work. Grace, however, rests on the work of Another. The price He paid was inestimable. The reason the gospel is good news is that it rests wholly on grace.

God does not offer His grace to good people; He offers grace to sinners. Grace is at the core of God’s glory. If we do the doing, we get the glory. If God does the doing, God gets the glory. God gives grace for His own sake.

1 Corinthians 1:3

Published on May 24, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you

We find a typical salutation in 1 Corinthians of grace and peace. Grace is the Greek salutation. Grace is what God is free to do for us because of the death of Christ. Thus, we get what we do not deserve. Grace has to do with the benefits God provides for the family of God. It is all that is comprehensible in the love God exercises toward sinners.

and peace

Peace is the Hebrew salutation. Grace manifests itself in peace. Grace always precedes peace. Peace is the ability to sit down on the inside. It is more than the absence of strife but the presence of blessing. It is the ability to rest in the provisions and promises of God.

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are the sources of grace and peace. The ultimate source of grace and peace is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father has a concern for the family of God at Corinth.

Paul refers to the first and second members of the Trinity in the salutation. Authors of Scripture normally do not mention the Holy Spirit in the salutation but do mention Him in the benediction. The role of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Son.


PRINCIPLE: Grace results in inner orientation to God’s order.


APPLICATION: We do not get God’s peace by our own effort. It comes exclusively from God. We never get God’s peace without first receiving God’s grace. We obtain a full measure of peace with a full understanding and appropriation of God’s grace. We cannot manufacture this peace because it comes solely from God. He dispenses it freely from His character. If we try to operate without God’s grace, life will grate on our souls.

Salvation is Christ plus nothing. Sanctification is Christ plus nothing. Anything else is a mongrel gospel or mongrel sanctification. God’s truth is always unadulterated grace. We owe our salvation to Christ and we owe our sanctification to Him as well.

Good works do not save us nor sanctify us. They do not make us more secure in our salvation or in our walk with the Lord. Many people feel that if they have a good batting average with the Ten Commandments then God will accept them into Heaven. Others believe that if they are good people in their Christian walk then that impresses God. Both of these groups fail to realize that they are poor, lost, helpless, hopeless sinners apart from the work of Christ. Only the finished work of the sovereign Son of God can save us or sanctify us.

Sin stands between God and us. Our only plea is the cross of Christ. Anything else is inadequate, insufficient and incomplete. Jesus died to remove the penalty triggered by sin. The law deepens and defines our need for the Savior but it cannot save. Human effort cannot save; only the Savior can save when we put our trust in His finished work on the cross. Peace only comes through grace.

1 Corinthians 1:2c

Published on May 23, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,

“With all in every place” indicate all believers for all generations. The Corinthian church was not the only church. Their church was not better than any other church.

The phrase “call on the name” intensifies the Corinthian church’s sense of identity. Corinthian believers were part of an extensive fellowship of believers. That was their characterization. Their actions reflect on the church as a whole. Those that “call on” the Lord are believers (Ac 4:12). Calling on the name of the Lord is a confessional act. The word “name” conveys the idea of essence. The Corinthian church called on the essence or the whole of the person and work of the Lord.

both theirs and ours:

All believers everywhere have the same Lord. All of them pray to the same Lord. No church can exclusively claim the Lord as their own. This is a rebuke to exclusiveness in church parlance. The Lord does not belong to one clique or church. He is their Lord and our Lord.


PRINCIPLE: The object of prayer draws on the essence of the Lord.


APPLICATION: The object of our calling is divine essence. The unique essence is uniquely the essence of Jesus Christ. His essence is sufficient for answered prayer. That is why we evoke God’s aid in duress. We look to Him for help that only He can give.

1 Corinthians 1:2b

Published on May 22, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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2 To thechurch of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus,

This phrase does not say that God will make us holy when we live a spiritual life. “Sanctified” in this phrase is a forensic term indicating our positional rights with God.

The term is in the plural implying that “sanctified” refers to individuals and not the church as a whole. Every believer is sanctified in the sphere of Christ Jesus. There are no exceptions. God places each and every believer positionally in the same status quo Jesus has before the Father. It makes no difference whether they are spiritual or carnal; they all hold the same status of sanctification. The believer receives this status because of the person and work of Christ and not because of his merit. Every Christian is set apart for God’s purpose and use. It is trust in the death of Christ on the cross that sanctifies us.

He 10:10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The grammar of “are sanctified” strongly asserts positional rather than experiential truth. The tense means that the Corinthians were sanctified at a point in the past with the results continue unto the present. That point in the past is the point of salvation. That is, their sanctification was permanent. Their sanctification was a fixed state. Then the voice grammar (passive) carries the idea that it was God who did the sanctifying at one point in the past with the results continuing to the present. The Corinthian church had a determined state; they were once and for all set apart unto God. God does this on the basis of the past work of Christ on the cross. The cross is the objective ground of our sanctification.

All of these carnal Christians at Corinth hold the same status that Jesus has before God. Every believer is equal to every other believer when it comes to positional truth. The Corinthians were in union with Christ in His status. We cannot experience positional truth; it is a status that God gives at the point of salvation and continues into eternity. It is not progressive but complete at salvation. We cannot improve our status or positional relation to God because it is based on the work of Christ and not our work. We receive it completely and permanently at the moment of salvation. We know it solely by scripture. God did this by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Co 12:13; Ep 1:4:5). The Holy Spirit enters us into union with Christ.

The Corinthian church was the most carnal church in the New Testament yet God set them apart in the sphere of Christ Jesus. They came to church stoned, were rivals with each other, gossips, maligners, jealousy and practiced licentious behavior. That church was corrupt yet positionally perfect before God. This is an irony of grace. A President of the United States may not represent the presidency properly but nevertheless he is still the President.

Every church has a physical address and a spiritual address. The physical address is the geographical location of the church. The spiritual address is our position “in Christ Jesus.”

Status of the believer rests on personal relationship to Jesus Christ – “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” That is, God sanctifies us because of our union with Christ.

called to be saints,

The words “holy,” “saint,” “sanctify” and “holiness” derive from the word sanctification. They come from the same root – set apart. A “saint” is a sanctified or set apart one.

Literally, this phrase reads “called saints.” It is a timeless term (verbal adjective) meaning that God called the Corinthians “saints” in eternity past. The word “saints” is from the same root as “sanctified” in the previous phrase. Both words mean set apart. Saints are set apart unto God especially as members of His family. A “saint” in this sense is not a pious or godly person. He or she is set apart unto God for God’s own purposes. The basic idea is separation. Christians are different and are not the run of the mill people because they uniquely belong to God.

Instead of rebuking the Corinthians for their sin up front, Paul reminds them of their prerogatives and position in Christ.


PRINCIPLE: It is possible to be a saint but not saintly.


APPLICATION: There are three kinds of sanctification: positional, progressive or experiential and ultimate sanctification. Positional sanctification is our union with Christ (1 Co 1:2, 30; 6:11; He 10:10-14). Progressive sanctification is a series of experiences of being filled with the Spirit and applying principles of scripture to experience (Jn 17:17; Ep 5:26; 1 Th 5). Ultimate sanctification is when we receive our resurrection body minus sin capacity (1 Jn 3:1,2; Ph 3:21; Ro 8:29).

Sanctification does not imply sinlessness. Saints are not those with perfect holiness. It is not sinless perfection. We can never be good enough to be sanctified. Sanctification is an act of God; it is not our act or works. God Himself sets us apart unto Himself.