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BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

March 25, 2020April 21, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of James 2:1-13:

James tells believers bluntly not to show favoritism because Jesus didn’t. Favoritism is discriminating and passing judgment on others (Jesus’ job, not ours). God judges the heart, not appearances. God chose the poor to be rich in faith and yet the people (you) insult them. The rich often sin against you (the people) in their quest for money.

If you show favoritism you sin. Even if you stumble and break just one law you are guilty of breaking them all. We are not to choose which laws are more important. We are called simply to obey.

We are free to show favoritism or not but out of mercy we must choose not to for this mercy will then be shown to us on Judgment Day and mercy is greater than judgment.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

9) Basically when you are showing favoritism, you are discriminating against others and judging others, which is Jesus’ job. You have also insulted those whom you have not favored. You have sinned and broken the law.

10a) Similar to James’ example. By judging others on appearance, promoting people based off whether they like them rather than who’s the best for the job, and even favoring certain kids over others.

b) Then you will treat everyone the same.

11) Personal Question. My answer: He has shown me mercy in so many ways that it would take forever to recount. One, He has shown me mercy in still having a job in the coronavirus (for now. May be furloughted or laid off soon). I have a great, healthy family. That is merciful.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

Great lesson since not judging others by appearances and not showing favoritism is really hard in this world. Great reminders, too.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

James used strong words to refer to Jesus Christ: The Lord of glory. Moffatt comments: “The Christian religion [is here called] more explicitly belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the divine Glory – a striking term for Christ as the full manifestation of the divine presence and majesty. The Jews called this the shekinah.”

This is especially significant because James is widely (and properly) regarded as one of the first letters of the New Testament written (perhaps somewhere between AD 44 and 48). This means that the earliest Christians considered Jesus to be God, and said so in strong, unmistakable words.

James wrote to a very partial age, filled with prejudice and hatred based on class, ethnicity, nationality, and religious background. In the ancient world, people were routinely and permanently categorized because they were Jew or Gentile, slave or free, rich or poor, Greek or barbarian.

Jesus broke down these walls that divided humanity and brought forth one new race of mankind in Him (Ephesians 2:14-15).

In the ancient Greek, the word assembly is literally synagogue, the name of the meeting place for Jews. The fact that James calls a Christian meeting place a synagogue shows that he wrote before Gentiles were widely received into the church. At the time James wrote, most all Christians came from a Jewish heritage.

Fun Fact: This is the only place in the New Testament where an assembly of Christians is clearly called a synagogue.

“As Christians have no church-buildings at this period, their place of meeting was usually some large room in the house of a wealthy member or a hall hired for the purpose (Acts 19:9), where outsiders were free to attend the ordinary services… They were to be welcomed, but welcomed without any servility or snobbery.” (Moffatt)

“In Roman society the wealthy wore rings on their left hand in great profusion. A sign of wealth, rings were worn with great ostentation. There were even shops in Rome where rings could be rented for special occasions.” (Hiebert)

The Dangers of Favoritism or Partiality

To show partiality shows that we care more for the outward appearance than we do upon the heart. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). God looks at the heart, and so should we.
To show partiality shows that we misunderstand who is important and blessed in the sight of God. When we assume that the rich man is more important to God or more blessed by God, we put too much value in material riches.
To show partiality shows a selfish streak in us. Usually we favor the rich man over the poor man because we believe we can get more from the rich man. He can do favors for us that the poor man can’t.

Since riches are an obstacle to the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24), there is a sense in which God specially blesses the poor of this world.

Remember that Judas appeared to be much better leadership material than Peter.

God also never calls for partiality against the rich. If one must judge in a dispute between a rich man and a poor man, they should let the law and the facts of the case decide the judgment instead of the economic class of those in the dispute.

Our King Jesus put special emphasis on this command (Matthew 22:36-40) from the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18). James is reminding us that the poor man is just as much our neighbor as the rich man is.

James here guards us against a selective obedience, the sort that will pick and choose which commands of God should be obeyed and which can be safely disregarded.

The whole law must be kept if one will be justified by the law.

The mercy we show will be extended to us again on the day of judgment, and that mercy triumphs over judgment.

James is relating another principle of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you (Matthew 7:2).

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 2: James 1:1-18

March 23, 2020April 20, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of James 1:1-18:

James is speaking to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. He tells them to consider it pure joy when they are faced with trials because it tests their faith and develops perseverance, which we need in order to finish the work God wants to do in us. If we lack wisdom, ask God and believe the Lord will answer and He will. The humble brother should be prideful in his position, but the rich should take pride if he becomes low; otherwise, he will fade away like the flower if he puts his trust in material things of this world.

Blessed are those who persevere under trial for he will receive the crown of life from God. God does not tempt anyone. Temptation comes from our own evil desire, which leads to sin and then to death. Every good and perfect gift is from God who never changes.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 2: James 1:1-18

3a) You will develop perseverance as you face trials. You could consider it pure joy. You will be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

b) Personal Question. My answer: God does not tempt. Man chooses evil when he is tempted if it becomes sin.

4) Personal Question. My answer: We do not choose temptation; but, we do choose the sin.

5) Personal Question. My answer: Trials and temptations cause us to rely on Him more. During this time of uncertainty with coronavirus, it has caused me to turn to Him more, to pray more, to put it all in His hands. We will get through this in God’s timing, not our own, when His people have learned all they can from it.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 2: James 1:1-18

James finds joy in the results of the trials, not in the trials themselves. This should give us courage that there is another side to coronavirus, and we will persevere through it. We will grow from it and develop as well. There is a reason for it; we just can’t see it, but God can.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 2: James 1:1-18

There are several men named James mentioned in the New Testament, but reliable tradition assigns this book to the one called James the Just, the half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55) and the brother of Jude (Jude 1), who led the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13). Yet the writer of this letter is the same James who received a special resurrection appearance of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:7).

Note how James does not taut his relation to Jesus. This is humility if you were in doubt.

Bondservant is an important word. It translates the ancient Greek word doulos, and is probably better simply translated as slave. “A slave, a bondservant, one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another… Among the Greeks, with their strong sense of personal freedom, the term carried a degrading connotation.” (Hiebert)

Lord is also an important word. It translates the ancient Greek word kurios. It simply meant the master of a doulos, and in the context it means that James considered Jesus God.

The rich are apparently exploiting the poor and dragging them into court (2:6-7) and are being favored. And 1:2 tells us they face “trials of many kinds”. Living in the first century AD was a struggle just to survive for many people.

What Did James Mean by the 12 Tribes?

The question is whether James wrote a letter to only Christians from a Jewish background or to all Christians. Certainly this letter applies to all Christians; yet James probably wrote his letter before Gentiles were brought into the church, or at least before Gentile Christians appeared in any significant number.

The twelve tribes is a Jewish figure of speech that sometimes referred to the Jewish people as a whole (Matthew 19:28). Paul referred to our twelve tribes in his speech before King Agrippa (Acts 26:7). The concept of the “twelve tribes” among the Jewish people was still strong, even though they had not lived in their tribal allotments for centuries.

At this time, the Jewish people were scattered all over the world.

The salutation Greetings was the customary Greek way of opening a letter.

Trials

Patience is the ancient Greek word hupomone. This word does not describe a passive waiting but an active endurance. The ancient Greek word hupomone comes from hupo (under) and meno (to stay, abide, remain). At its root, it means to remain under. It has the picture of someone under a heavy load and choosing to stay there instead of trying to escape.

Faith is tested through trials, not produced by trials. Trials reveal what faith we do have; not because God doesn’t know how much faith we have, but so that our faith will be evident to ourselves and to those around us.

James did not want anyone to think that God sends trials to break down or destroy our faith; therefore, he will come back to this point in James 1:13-18. Trials can prove a wonderful work of God in us.

Trials bring a necessary season to seek wisdom from God. We often don’t know we need wisdom until our time of difficulty.

Knowledge is the ability to take things apart, but wisdom is the ability to put things together.

When we want wisdom, the place to begin and end is the Bible. True wisdom will always be consistent with God’s word.

Our request for wisdom must be made like any other request – in faith, without doubting God’s ability or desire to give us His wisdom.

We notice that not only must one come in faith, but one must also ask in faith; and this is where the prayers of many people fail.

The one who doubts and lacks faith should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Though we can understand the relative poverty and riches as trials or tests of a living faith that a Christian may deal with, it nonetheless seems that James has made a sudden shift in his subject, from trials and wisdom to riches and humility. In some ways, the Book of James is like the Book of Proverbs or other Old Testament wisdom literature, and it can jump from topic to topic and back again to a previous topic.

Trials serve to remind the rich and the high that though they are comfortable in this life, it is still only this life, which fades as the grass grows brown and the flowers fade away.

In the land of Israel there are many kinds of beautiful flowers that spring to life when the rains come, but they last for only a short time before withering away. On the scale of eternity, this is how quickly the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

The riches of this world will certainly fade away – but James says that the rich man also will fade away. If we put our life and our identity into things that fade away, we will fade away also. How much better to put our life and our identity into things that will never fade! If a man is only rich in this world, when he dies, he leaves his riches. But if a man is rich before God, when he dies, he goesto his riches.

Temptation

This sounds like one of Jesus’ Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In those great statements of blessing, Jesus did not tell us the only ways we can be blessed. Here we learn we can be blessed as we endure temptation.

When you say “no” to temptation, you “yes” to God.

Temptation is one of the various trials (James 1:2) we face. As we persevere through temptation, we are approved, and will be rewarded as the work of God in us is evident through our resistance of temptation.

The best motive for resisting temptation is to love Him; to love Him with greater power and greater passion than your love for the sin.

God sometimes allows great tests to come to His people, even some who might be thought of as His favorites. We think of the hard command He gave to Abraham (Genesis 22:1), and the affliction He allowed to come to Job (Job 1-2). Other times He may send tests as a form of judgment upon those who have rejected Him, such as sending a spirit to bring deception (1 Kings 22:19-23) or departing from a man and refusing to answer him (1 Samuel 28:15-16). Yet in no case does God entice a person to evil.

Satan certainly tempts us, but the only reason temptation has a hook in us is because of our own fallen nature, which corrupts our God-given desires. We often give Satan too much credit for his tempting powers and fail to recognize that we are drawn away by our own desires.

God is never responsible for man’s sin.

The ancient Greek is actually “the Father of the lights.” The specific lights are the celestial bodies that light up the sky, both day and night. The sun and stars never stop giving light, even when we can’t see them. Even so, there is never a shadow with God. When night comes, the darkness isn’t the fault of the sun; it shines as brightly as before. Instead, the earth has turned from the sun and darkness comes.

James understood that the gift of salvation was given by God, and not earned by the work or obedience of man

James may refer to his own generation of believers when he calls them firstfruits, especially as being mainly written to Christians from a Jewish background. The fact that these Christians from a Jewish background are firstfruits (Deuteronomy 26:1-4) shows that James expected a subsequent and greater harvest of Christians from a Gentile background.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 27, Day 2: Acts 27:1-26

March 16, 2020March 15, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of Acts 27:1-26:

Paul and his companions (267 men in total) boarded a ship for Rome. Julius, a Roman centurion, was in charge. They landed in Sidon where Paul was allowed to meet his friends and receive supplies from them. Then they pass Cyprus with heavy winds keeping them from landing and out across the sea to Myra in Lycia.

They switched ships and sailed until Cnidus. The wind was still blowing hard as they made their way to Fair Havens on the island of Crete. Much time had been lost and it was now Autumn where winds blew incessantly over the Mediterranean. Paul advised the centurion to stay in Crete for the winter but he was ignored.

They set sail and a huge northeaster swept down from the island, catching the ship, and pushing it along. The men had to throw the ship’s cargo and tackle overboard and they drifted for days, losing hope of being saved.

Paul then tells the men to take heart for they will be saved and only the ship and cargo will be lost (he tells them this after he says “I told you so.”). An angel of God stood beside him and told him he and the crew would make it safely to Rome because he had to stand trial, but that they would run aground on some island.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 27, Day 2: Acts 27:1-26

3) Paul was warning the sailors to listen to him because he had been visited by the Angel of the Lord and that he had been given a foresight of what would happen. He was ignored.

4) He tells them that they will live through this crisis because God told them that they would.

5) Personal Question. My answer: God intends for Paul to get to Rome one way or another. The storms give God an opportunity through Paul to predict the future and hopefully get some to believe when it comes true.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 27, Day 2: Acts 27:1-26

Again, we did Acts 27 & 28 in Lesson 31 last go around in one day.

Great lesson for the coronavirus that is affecting most people worldwide. God has got this; we only have to believe.

Why did the men throw the cargo, tackle, and lastly the food overboard? To lighten the ship. A heavy cargo makes the ship sit deeper in the water, which is dangerous in shallow water. So the men threw the cargo overboard so the ship would sit higher in the water in case they were blown near land where their boat would get destroyed on the shallow reefs, rocks, and harbors. If the bottom of the ship ran aground miles from any shore, they faced the prospect of being tossed into the sea. Thus, when you are faced with life or death, everything (even the grain) becomes expendable.

Lightening the ship also stabilizes it in rough seas. If the ship got tossed to one side and became unbalanced, a heavy ship would be more likely to follow the energy and due to inertia (the law where objects in motion want to stay in motion), it would tip over.

Further, throwing cargo overboard makes the ship go faster in case the men wanted to try to outrun the storm.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 27, Day 2: Acts 27:1-26

It was common for Roman soldiers to accompany the transport of criminals, those awaiting trial, and merchant ships filled with grain going from Egypt to Rome.

Aristarchus and Luke (notice the us of verse 2 and beyond) accompanied Paul on this voyage. The favor Paul enjoyed from Julius (as in Acts 27:3) meant he was allowed to take these companions with him.

The ship first sailed to Sidon, where Paul met with Christians and could receive care from them. The Roman commander gave Paul a lot of liberty because he wasn’t a condemned man (yet), but waiting for trial before Caesar. Paul’s godly character and display of Christian love were also helpful in gaining favor.

Paul was different from the other prisoners on board. The other prisoners were probably all condemned criminals being sent to Rome to die in the arena.

The ship was a grain freighter, taking grain grown in Egypt to Italy, but they were meant to be steered by oars, not the wind. As winter approached, the weather became more dangerous for sailing.

2 Corinthians 11:25 tells us that by this time, Paul had already shipwrecked three times. He, like most everyone, knew that sailing in this season was dangerous.

It isn’t a surprise that the centurion had more respect for the opinion of the chief sailor and the owner of the ship than for Paul’s opinion. They both had much to lose if the ship didn’t make it to Rome.

Taking a vote of the crew, they decided to sail on to the harbor of Phoenix. The port at Phoenix was on the same island of Crete and only about 40 miles away. It didn’t seem unreasonable to be able to make it to Phoenix and be spared a miserable winter at Fair Havens.

This wind was feared among ancient sailors for its destructive power. Helpless to navigate with this wind in their face, all they could do is let her drive.

Cables to undergird the ship was a normal emergency measure, helping to prevent the ship from breaking apart in a storm.

The fear of crashing on the Sytris Sands (an infamous wrecking area of ships off the coast of North Africa) made them go with the wind and give up hope of navigating the ship in the storm.

Throwing the ship’s cargo and equipment overboard was obviously a last-ditch attempt to save the ship. After all, these were worth a lot of money back then.

Acts 27:37 tells us there were 276 people on board, both passengers and crew. They had little hope that they would survive.

Showing God in the Midst of Disaster

As a messenger of God, Paul hoped to bring hope to these passengers and crew who had given up all hope. His point wasn’t simply to tell them he was right, but to bring them good news.

This wasn’t a direct appearance of Jesus (as in Jerusalem, Acts 23:11), but of an angel. God’s word came to Paul different ways at different times. God never forgets those who belong to Him and serve Him.

In his strong moments, Paul knew he would make it to Rome because God promised it. Yet in the storm (here, a literal storm) it was easy to doubt and Paul needed the assurance.

This implies that Paul sought God for the safety of everyone on the ship. He already had a promise for his own safety, but that wasn’t enough for Paul. He labored in prayer for the safety and blessing of those with him, believers and not-yet-believers.

Paul encouraged them to take heart just a moment before (Acts 27:22). He repeats the encouragement again, this time in light of the revelation from God. “You have reason to take heart – God has given me assurance of your safety, and I believe God.”

Paul didn’t say, “I believe in God.” Every demon in hell agrees with the existence of God. Paul declared his total confidence in God’s knowledge of his situation and His promise in his situation.

Paul believed God when there was nothing else to believe. He couldn’t believe the sailors, the ship, the sails, the wind, the centurion, human ingenuity or anything else – only God. This was not a fair-weather faith; he believed God in the midst of the storm, when circumstances were at their worst. Paul would say along with Job: Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15).

A certain island means that God did not tell Paul everything about what was going to happen. Paul had to trust that God knew which island they would run aground on, even if Paul didn’t know.

God only reveals what we need to know. He’s got the rest.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 26, Day 4: Acts 26:1-23

March 11, 2020March 8, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of Acts 26:1-23:

Agrippa asks Paul to speak. Paul recounts his background, having been born a Jew and lived as a Pharisee, and states he is on trial because of his hope in God’s promises and his belief in how God raises the dead. Paul admits he persecuted Christians jealously until Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and commissioned him to teach the gospel to the Gentiles.

Paul obeyed his vision, saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen regarding Christ.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 26, Day 4: Acts 26:1-23

9a) Paul emphasizes that all know how religious he is since he used to be a Pharisee, and he’s on trial today because of his hope in what God has promised (Jesus) and his belief in how God raises the dead. He recounts his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and how he has been faithful to what Jesus told him to do — carry the Good News to the Gentiles. He is saying exactly what the Prophets and Moses have said.

b) Faith, fearlessness, passion, self-control

10) Part Personal Question. My answer: God’s lifework is for Paul to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles. Paul was faithful and was richly rewarded. I can be too.

11) Personal Question. My answer: Doubt. Whether my goals are God’s goals.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 26, Day 4: Acts 26:1-23

I love when history crosses the path of the Bible that can be proven.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 26, Day 4: Acts 26:1-23

Paul stood before the man whose great-grandfather had tried to kill Jesus as a baby; his grandfather had John the Baptist beheaded; his father had martyred the first apostle, James. Agrippa’s family history made him unlikely to receive Paul warmly.

Though he was a prisoner, Paul was happy to speak before Agrippa. First, because he was pleased to have the evidence of his case examined closely by the highest officials, but also because he was pleased to preach the gospel to kings and rulers.

In the auditorium in the city of Caesarea Paul spoke to Festus, Agrippa, Bernice, commanders of the Roman Legion, and all the prominent men of Caesarea (Acts 25:23).

This was a partial fulfillment of what the Lord promised Paul at his conversion: Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. (Acts 9:15)

Paul was born in Tarsus, several hundred miles from Jerusalem. Yet at a relatively young age he came to live at Jerusalem.

Not only was Paul a faithful Jew, but was known as a faithful man among the Jews, living according to the strictest sect of the Pharisees.

Paul’s trust in Jesus was an outgrowth of his trust in the hope of the promise made by God.

It should be especially easy for Agrippa to believe that God raises the dead, given some clear statements in the Old Testament (such as Job 19:25-27), the nature of God, and the intuitive grasp of the eternal among mankind.

Before his conversion, Paul believed he must persecute the followers of Jesus. Some he imprisoned, some he killed, and some he forced to renounce Jesus.

Paul later speaks of the great regret he had over his prior life as a persecutor (1 Corinthians 15:9, 1 Timothy 1:15). Perhaps the fact that he compelled them to blaspheme weighed especially on his conscience.

Paul having a vote implies that Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, having a vote against Christians who were tried before the Sanhedrin (as Stephen was in Acts 7).

If Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, it also means that at that time he was married, because it was required for all members of the Sanhedrin. Since as a Christian, he was single (1 Corinthians 7:7-9), it may mean that Paul’s wife either died or deserted him when he became a Christian.

This is Paul’s fullest account yet of his experience on the Damascus Road. He first noted that he went on his mission of hate and persecution with the authority and commission of the same religious leaders who now accused him. What hypocrites!

“Kick against the goads” is a proverb in use at the time that meant “you are only hurting yourself.” A goad was a sharp tool farmers used to control their oxen hooked to a plow.

Paul repeats the words from Acts 9:3-6.

As Jesus spoke, Paul understood that Jesus was alive, not dead. He understood that Jesus reigned in glory instead of being damned in shame. He realized that in persecuting the followers of Jesus he persecuted Jesus, and in persecuting Jesus he fought against the God of his fathers.

Paul had to repent – make a transformation of mind leading to transformed action – instantly. Paul lived a moral life, so he didn’t have to repent of immorality – but of misguided religious zeal and wrong ideas about God.

His eyes were not yet opened physically, but Jesus sent him to open the eyes of others (both Jews and Gentiles).

Jesus then told Paul of four results that would come from the opening of the eyes:

Being turned from the darkness to the light.
Being turned from the power of Satan to God.
To receive forgiveness of sins.
To receive an inheritance among God’s people.

Christians are sanctified (set apart from sin and self), and they are sanctified by faith in Jesus (not by works or spiritual achievement, but by their connection of love and trust to Jesus).

One can’t turn to God unless they do repent – and actions will confirm true repentance.

It was only because he sought to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles that the Jews seized him and tried to kill him.

The three main points to Paul’s preaching:

Jesus’ death,
Jesus’ resurrection,
The preaching of this good news to the whole world

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 24, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

February 24, 2020February 23, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

Paul reminds the Corinthians about the gospel: Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and then raised on the third day. He appeared to Peter, the Twelve, 500 brothers, James, the apostles, and to Paul. By the grace of God Paul was saved.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 24, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

3a) Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and then raised on the third day. He appeared to Peter, the Twelve, 500 brothers, James, the apostles, and to Paul.

b) If Jesus doesn’t rise from the dead, then we won’t rise from the dead at Christ’s Second Coming. The Resurrection is the subject of every sermon we find in the Book of Acts. (Paul actually answers this very question in the next section (1 Corinthians 15:12-19), so unsure why we are answering it here). If Christ did not rise, then Christianity is a false belief. Our preaching is useless and so is our faith. Worse, we are found to be false witnesses about God. We would still be in our sins and lost forever.

4) This, in part, speaks to the redeeming work of Christ in our lives.

5) Personal Question. My answer: Many ways. You can point to historical records of the time. The truths in the Bible. How history supports Christ’s resurrection.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 24, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Last go around in 2012, we did 1 Corinthians 15-16 in one day.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 24, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

The word gospel means “good news.” As the word was used in ancient times, it didn’t have to describe the message of salvation in Jesus Christ; it could describe any good news. But the best news ever is that we can be saved from the punishment we deserve from God because of what Jesus did for us.

The Corinthian Christians first received the gospel. The message of the gospel must first be believed and embraced.

You have to receive, stand, and hold fast to the Gospel: past, present, and future. You never stop working for God.

Paul did not make up this gospel. He received it (and not from man, but from Jesus Christ, according to Galatians 1:11-12), and Paul delivered it

At the core of the gospel are things that happened – actual, real, historical events. The gospel isn’t a matter of religious opinions, platitudes, or fairy tales; it is about real historical events.

Crucifixion Explained

The victim’s back was first torn open by scourging. As he hung on the cross, with each breath, the painful wounds on the back scraped against the rough wood of the upright beam.

When the nail was driven through the wrists, it severed the large median nerve. This produced excruciating bolts of pain in both arms, and resulted in a claw-like grip in the victim’s hands.

Beyond the excruciating pain, the major effect of crucifixion was inhibiting normal breathing. The weight of the body pulled down on the arms and shoulders and hindered exhalation. The lack of adequate respiration resulted in severe muscle cramps, which hindered breathing even further. To get a good breath, one had to push against the feet, and flex the elbows, pulling from the shoulders. Putting the weight of the body on the feet produced searing pain, and flexing the elbows twisted the hands hanging on the nails. Lifting the body for a breath also painfully scraped the back against the rough wooden post.

“Not uncommonly, insects would light upon or burrow into the open wounds or the eyes, ears, and nose of the dying and helpless victim, and birds of prey would tear at these sites. Moreover, it was customary to leave the corpse on the cross to be devoured by predatory animals.” (Edwards)

Death was from acute shock from blood loss, being too exhausted to breathe any longer; dehydration, stress-induced heart attack, or congestive heart failure leading to a cardiac rupture. If the victim did not die quickly enough, the legs were broken, and the victim was soon unable to breathe.

We get our English word excruciating from the Roman word “out of the cross.”

Why Does the Death of Jesus Matter?

God the Father laid upon God the Son all the guilt and wrath our sin deserved, and Jesus bore it in Himself perfectly, totally satisfying the wrath of God in our place.

As horrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was, this spiritual suffering – the act of being judged for sin in our place – was what Jesus really dreaded about the cross. This was the cup – the cup of God’s righteous wrath – that He trembled at drinking (Luke 22:39-46, Psalm 75:8, Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 25:15). On the cross Jesus became, as it were, an enemy of God, who was judged and forced to drink the cup of the Father’s fury so we would not have to drink that cup.

Isaiah 53:3-5 puts it powerfully: He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

The burial of Jesus is positive proof that He really died, because you don’t bury someone unless they are really dead, and Jesus’ death was confirmed at the cross before He was taken down to be buried (John 19:31-37).

Jesus’ burial is also important because it fulfilled the Scriptures which declared, And they made His grave with the wicked; but with the rich at His death (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus was buried in the tomb of a rich man (Matthew 27:57-60).

The gospel is that Jesus took our punishment for sin on the cross, and remained a perfect Savior through the whole ordeal – proved by His resurrection. Jesus conquered sin, which is what the resurrection represents.

He rose the third day after His death. This also demonstrates Jesus’ credibility, because He proclaimed He would rise three days after His death (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19).

Jesus’ death was planned (Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, Hosea 6:2, Jonah 1:17, and Psalm 16:10, Genesis 22)

Eye-Witnesses To Jesus’ Resurrection

Though no one saw the actual resurrection of Jesus, many people saw the resurrected Jesus. Paul now calls forth these witnesses to the resurrection, to establish beyond all controversy that Jesus was raised from the dead in a resurrection body.

Five hundred brethren isn’t detailed in the gospels, but is suggested by Matthew 28:10 and 28:16-17. During the time after His resurrection, but before His Ascension, Jesus met with His followers on many different occasions.

James, the brother of Jesus, who is seen as a prominent leader in the church in Acts 15. Significantly, in the gospels, Jesus’ brothers are hostile to Him and His mission (John 7:3-5). Yet in the first chapter of Acts, Jesus’ brothers are among the followers of Jesus (Acts 1:14). What happened to change them? Certainly, this meeting of the resurrected Jesus with His brother James had some influence.

John 20:26-31, John 21:1-25, Matthew 28:16-20, and Luke 24:44-49. mentions many meetings that are not described in the gospels. These meetings were important in proving to the disciples that Jesus was who He said He was. At these meetings He ate with them, comforted them, commanded them to preach the gospel, and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His ascension.

The changed character of the apostles, and their willingness to die for the testimony of the resurrection, eliminate fraud as an explanation of the empty tomb.

Why didn’t Paul mention the appearances of Jesus to the women at the tomb as evidence of Jesus’ resurrection? Probably because in that day a woman’s testimony was not received in law courts. It was true, and it was good evidence for the apostles at that time, but the world of that day would reject that testimony, because it came from women.

Paul regarded himself as the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church of God. Paul always remembered how he had sinned against Jesus’ church. He knew that he was forgiven; yet he remembered his sin.

Paul felt – rightly so – that his sins were worse because he was responsible for the death, imprisonment, and suffering of Christians, whom he persecuted before his life was changed by Jesus (Acts 8:3, Acts 9:1-2, Galatians 1:13, Philippians 3:6, and 1 Timothy 1:15).

Saving and Changing Grace

The grace that saves us also changes us. Grace changed Paul. You can’t receive the grace of God without being changed by it. The changes don’t come all at once, and the changes are not complete until we pass to the next life, but we are indeed changed.

We work in a partnership with God, not because He needs us, but because He wants us to share in His work. Paul understood this principle well, writing, “for we are God’s fellow workers” in 1 Corinthians 3:9.

Is God supposed to do it or am I supposed to do it? The answer is, “Yes!” God does it, and we do it. Trust God, rely on Him, and then get to work and work as hard as you can! That is how we see the work of God accomplished.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 10-11

February 18, 2020February 16, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of 1 Corinthians 10:

Continuing from 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul says it is more important to give up some things for the sake of winning the race Paul uses the Exodus as an example of a people who started strong (under God’s watchful eye, were baptized, and ate spiritual food) but were disqualified in the end and ended up scattered over the desert because:

They were idolaters; sexually immoral; tested the Lord; and they grumbled.

These are warnings for us to stand firm and don’t fall! We all face temptations but God is faithful and only gives us what we can bear and always with an out.

Therefore flee from idolatry and do not eat of food sacrificed to pagans. You cannot have your cake and eat it too!

Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. You must seek the good of others. Everything in it is God’s and we must do everything for His glory. Do not seek your own good but the good of others. Follow Christ’s example.

Summary of 1 Corinthians 11:

Paul says the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Men should not cover their heads in prayer because he is the image and glory of God; whereas, women should because they are the glory of man. Woman came from man and was created for him. Thus, women should have a sign on their head.

Yet men and women are interdependent. They need one another. Men are to respect women just as much as women are to respect men.

Paul chastised the Corinthians again for their divisions and irrelevance for the Lord’s supper and others.

Paul explains that the body and blood of Jesus were to be taken as a Holy Communion and to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. If you take communion in an unworthy manner you are sinning. You must examine yourself before partaking and judge yourself before the Lord (by confessing your sins) so the Lord does not have to. For the Lord’s judgment is discipline. So have proper manners when you come together!

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 10-11

7a) Do not be idolaters, sexually immoral, test the Lord, and don’t grumble.

b) Personal Question. My answer: I know in my heart that I have the strength via God and that there’s a way out.

8 ) Personal Question. My answer: Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. We should keep others in mind when we are making choices, and do it for God. I try to be cognizant of others and where they are at in their Christian journey and choose my actions because of it.

9) Personal Question. My answer: The head of every man is Christ; the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Head in this sense means authority not inferiority. Thus, man has authority over women just as Christ has authority over man and God has authority over Christ. (verse 3). Corporate worship is when we gather together publicly to worship God. I believe it’s about our hearts more than our appearance. As long as we are doing it all for Him and in a manner not distracting to God, we’re good.

10) Part personal Question. My answer: The problem was the meaning of food when Christians gathered together to eat. Holy Communion is a reverent act which we must approach as such and is different than having dinner togehter. We must examine ourselves (verse 28), come to Jesus and repent as we are being cleansed of our sins. Our heart must be right otherwise we are guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord (verse 27). Here is a place where going through the motions is a bad idea!

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 10-11

I had to look up what was meant by corporate worship. Here’s the definition: the time when we gather together as a congregation publicly for the purpose of praising God. Here are related verses:

In the New Testament, we see commands for the church to pray (Col 4:2-4, 1 Tim 2:1-2), to read Scripture publicly (1 Tim. 4:13; Col. 4:15, 16), to listen to preaching and teaching (Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 4:13), to baptize believers (Matt 28:19) and share the Lord’s supper (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 11); to encourage each other and praise God in song (Eph. 5:19, Heb 13:15), and to give of their finances (1 Cor 16:1-2). 1 Cor 14:26 is clear: every one of these things that we do together, must be done “for the strengthening of the church” – to edify others.

God has defined how we should approach him corporately, and so it is possible to offer wrong worship. God is rightfully so jealous for his own glory that he reveals to us in scripture the ways that we are to approach him when we gather publicly. He does this so that our worship won’t be confused with other religions and gods; he does it so that we will be blessed, as he knows what is best for us. That being said, it’s a heart issue; not an appearance issue.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 10-11

1 Corinthians 10:

In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul established two principles. First, an idol really is nothing, and it was fine for Corinthian Christians who understood this to act according to this knowledge, in regard to themselves. Second, for Christians love is more important than knowledge. So even though I may “know” eating meat sacrificed to an idol is all right for myself, if it causes my brother to stumble, I won’t do it, because it isn’t the loving thing to do.

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul showed how important it is for Christians to give up their “rights.” Just as Paul gave up his “right” to be supported by his own preaching of the gospel, so some of the Corinthian Christians must sometimes give up their “right” to eat meat sacrificed to idols, based on the principle of love towards a weaker brother. In the end of chapter 9, Paul showed how a Christian must be willing to give up some things – even “good” things – for the sake of winning the race God has set before us, otherwise we will become disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27) in the competition of the Christian life.

Paul brings in the Israelites in Egypt and the blessings they had:

The cloud of Shekinah glory overshadowed Israel throughout their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. During the day, the cloud sheltered them from the brutal desert sun, and during the night, it burned as a pillar of fire. It was a constant, ready reminder of God’s glory and presence (Exodus 13:21-22).
All Israel came through the Red Sea and saw God’s incredible power in holding up the walls of the sea so they could cross over on dry ground. Then they saw God send the water back to drown the Egyptian army (Exodus 14:21-31). This was not only an amazing demonstration of God’s love and power, but also a picture of baptism – by “passing through water,” all of Israel was identified with Moses, even as by “passing through water,” a Christian is identified with Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3-4).
All of Israel was sustained by God’s miraculous provision of food and drink during their time in the wilderness (Exodus 16:35 and 17:6). This was a remarkable display of God’s love and power for Israel, and a pre-figuring of the spiritual food and drink we receive at the Lord’s table (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Israel even had ancient versions of the two Christian sacraments we receive to this day: baptism and communion. The word sacrament was used for the oath of allegiance that the soldiers of the Roman legion took to their emperor. The early Christians considered communion and baptism to be an “oath of allegiance” unto Jesus Christ.
Israel even had the presence of Jesus Christ with them in the wilderness! Here, in identifying the Rock that followed them, Paul builds on a rabbinical tradition that said Israel was supplied with water by the same rock all through the wilderness, a rock that followed them. Some Bible scholars today debate as to if the rock followed Israel, or if the water followed Israel (as in a stream). The point is the same: Jesus Christ was present with Israel in the wilderness, providing for their needs miraculously. What blessing, what privilege!

Despite all these blessings and spiritual privileges, the Israelites in the wilderness did not please God.

What the Corinthians were Doing to Not Please God

Eating sacrificial meat, making other stumble
Engaged in idolatry
Engaged in sexual immorality
They complained

Paul’s warning: “If it happened to Israel, it can happen to you. Be on guard.”

We can learn from Israel’s mistakes.

Temptation

Our temptation is not unique. Many other men and women of God have faced the same or similar temptation, and have found the strength in God to overcome the temptation.

God has promised to supervise all temptation that comes at us through the world, the flesh or the devil. He promises to limit it according to our capability to endure it – according to our capability as we rely on Him, not our capability as we rely only on ourselves.

Satan would destroy us in a minute if God would let him, even as he wanted to destroy Job (Job 1:6-12) and Peter (Luke 22:31), but God will not let him. God keeps us from things we can’t handle. But what we can and can’t handle changes over the years. And he provides a way of escape.

In the thinking of that part of the ancient world, to eat at the same table with someone indicated friendship and fellowship with that person. Since you ate of one bread, that made you one body, because you both shared of the same food at the same table. So to eat at the table of a pagan temple restaurant was not as innocent as it seemed.

The cup of blessing was the last cup presented in the Passover ceremony; this was the cup that Jesus blessed at the Last Supper, and the one interpreted as “the new covenant in my blood.” When early Christians took communion, they were aware of its connection to Passover and with the Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples.

Your Rights

Just because something is fine for me does not mean I should do it. My own “rights” or what I know to be permitted for myself are not the standards by which I judge my behavior. I must consider what is the loving thing to do towards my brothers and sisters in Jesus.

Notice that Paul does not prohibit socializing with non-Christians, he only prohibits the meal of fellowship at the pagan temples.

The purpose of our lives isn’t to see how much we can get away with and still be Christians; rather, it is to glorify God.

1 Corinthians 11:

How few today are willing to say what Paul said! Instead, because of compromise and ungodliness, we are quick to say, “Don’t look at me, look at Jesus.” While it is true we must all ultimately look to Jesus, every one of us should be an example of those who look to Jesus.

Keep the traditions —Paul was not talking about ceremonies and rituals, but about basic teaching and doctrine.

With this understanding, we see Paul describes three “headship” relationships: Jesus is head of every man; man is the head of woman, and God (the Father) is head of Christ. Because Paul connects the three relationships, the principles of headship are the same among them.

Authority in the Bible

It is essential to understand that being under authority does not equal inferiority. Jesus was totally under the authority of God the Father (John 5:19 and 8:28), yet He is equally God (John 1:1, 8:58, and 10:30). When God calls women in the church to recognize the headship of men, it is not because women are unequal or inferior, but because there is a God-ordained order of authority to be respected.

The idea of a head covering was important in this (and many other) ancient cultures. To wear the head covering (or veil in some translations), was a public symbol of being under the authority and protection of another.

“It was a custom, both among the Greeks and Romans, and among the Jews an express law, that no woman should be seen abroad without a veil. This was, and is, a common custom through all the east, and none but public prostitutes go without veils.” (Clarke)

In some cultures today, wearing a hat or some other kind of head covering is a picture of humility and modesty. In the same way, the head covering had an important cultural meaning among the ancient Corinthians.

Under these words of Paul, women are free to pray or prophesy, but only when as they demonstrate that they are under the authority of the male leadership of the church.

If a woman refuses to demonstrate being under authority, she may as well be shaved of her hair. In some ancient cultures, the shaving of a woman’s head was the punishment given to an adulteress.

Having a woman’s head shorn or shaved meant different things in different cultures. In Jewish law, it was the mark of adultery (Numbers 5:11-31). In the Greek world, it could be the mark of a prostitute or lesbian.

God has established an order of authority, the principle of male headship, both in the church (1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2) and the home (Ephesians 5:23).

God created Adam first, and gave Him responsibility over Eve.

Since one reason for male headship is the order and manner in which God created man and woman – something which was present before the fall – this passage makes it clear that before and after the fall, God has ordained there be a difference in the roles between genders, even in the church. The fall did not cause the difference in gender roles (in the church and in the home), and the difference in roles is not erased by our new life in Jesus.

Adam was not created for Eve, but Eve was created for Adam – and this principle applies to every “Adam” and every “Eve” through history. Genesis 2:18 declares God’s intention in creating Eve: I will make him a helper comparable to him. Eve was created to be a helper to Adam, meaning that Adam was “head” over Eve, and she was called to share and help his vision and agenda. Genesis 2:22 says, He brought her to the man. Adam was not brought to Eve, but Eve was brought to Adam – her head. It is an idea offensive to the spirit of our age, but the Bible in this passage clearly teaches that (in the church and in the home) man was not made for the benefit of woman, but woman for the benefit of man.

A third reason God has established male headship in the church is the presence of angels in corporate worship.

Angels are present at any assembly of Christians for worship and they note any departure from reverent order. Apparently, angels are offended by any violation of propriety.

Our struggle is bigger than ourselves. God has eternal things to teach the universe through us (Ephesians 3:10-11, 1 Corinthians 4:9, and 1 Peter 1:12).

Our culture, having rejected the idea in a difference in role between men and women, now rejects the idea of any difference between men and women. The driving trends in our culture point towards men who are more like women, and women who are more like men – and styles, clothes, perfumes, and all the rest are pushing this thought.

The Bible is just as specific that there is no general submission of women unto men commanded in society, only in the spheres of the home and in the church. God has not commanded in His word that men have exclusive authority in politics, business, education, and so on.

The failure of men to lead in the home and in the church, and to lead in the way Jesus would lead, has been a chief cause of the rejection of male authority.

Citizens do not have the same respect for government’s authority; students do not have the same respect for the teacher’s authority; women do not have the same respect for men’s authority; children do not have the same respect for parent’s authority; employees do not have the same respect for their employer’s authority; people do not have the same respect for the police’s authority; and Christians no longer have the same respect for church authority.

Men and women need each other, so there is no place for a “lording over” of the men over the women.

The man who rules in the church or in the home without love, without recognizing the important and vital place God has given women, is not doing God’s will.

Lord’s Supper Different Than Other Food

In this, Paul refers to the early church custom of combining the love-feast (like a shared-dish supper) and the Lord’s Supper.

Because the risen Jesus so often ate with His disciples, it made sense to the early church that eating together went together with celebrating the Lord’s Supper.

In that day, at common meals, it was expected that the “upper class” would receive better and more food than the “lower class.” This cultural custom was carried over into the church, and the Christians weren’t really sharing with one another

In theology, and in church custom, the Lord’s Supper is often called the eucharist. This word comes from the ancient Greek phrase used here for given thanks.

We remember the Last Supper was actually a Passover meal, when Jesus, together with the disciples, according to Biblical commands and Jewish traditions, celebrated the remembrance of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt to the Promised Land, beginning in the book of Exodus.

The breaking of bread and the drinking of wine were important parts of the Passover celebration. Jesus took these important pictures and reminders of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, and added to them the meanings connected with His own death on the cross for us.

In taking the bread, we are called to remember Jesus’ body broken for you. The Passover meal featured unleavened bread, made without yeast both because yeast is a picture of sin and corruption in the Bible, and because in bread, yeast needs time to work – and in their haste to leave Egypt, the Israelites had no time to let their bread rise.

The unleavened bread used at a Passover meal had the scorch-mark “stripes” and holes from baking that looked like “pierce” marks. In the same way, the body of Jesus was broken for us. He was without sin (as the bread had no leaven), and His body bore stripes and was pierced (as the bread appeared to be).

In receiving the cup, we are called to remember the blood of Jesus and the new covenant. The Passover meal featured several cups of wine, each with a different title. The cup Jesus referred to was known as the cup of redemption, and Jesus added to the idea of redemption from slavery in Egypt the idea that His blood confirmed a new covenant that changed our relationship with God.

What is the New Covenant?

It’s an inner transformation that cleanses us from all sin: For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah 31:34).
It’s God’s Word and will in us: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
It’s a new, close, relationship with God: I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jeremiah 31:33).

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can have a new covenant relationship with God. But many Christians live as if there is no inner transformation. They live as if there is no cleansing from sin. They live as if there is no word and will of God in our hearts. They live as if there is no new and close relationship with God.

While the Lord’s Supper does look back to what Jesus did on the cross, it also looks forward to the coming of Jesus, and the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).

In Matthew 26:29, Jesus spoke of His longing expectation for the day when He would take communion with His people in heaven, which is the ultimate Lord’s Supper.

The precise nature of the bread and the cup in communion has been the source of great theological controversy.

Paul warns the Corinthian Christians to treat the Lord’s Supper with reverence, and to practice it in a spirit of self-examination. However, this is not written with the thought of excluding ourselves from the table, but of preparing us to receive with the right heart.

Paul does not refer to eternal judgment, but to corrective judgment. There is no article “the” before “judgment,” so it is not the judgment. This chastening is not a judge condemning a criminal; it is a father correcting disobedient children.

It isn’t just good manners, it shows love towards others. If you wait for one another, then everyone gets enough to eat, instead of some being gorged and others going home hungry.

Don’t “pig out” at the church common meal, because it might mean someone else doesn’t get enough to eat. If you are that hungry, eat at home!

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 8-9

February 17, 2020February 16, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of 1 Corinthians 8:

Paul is answering another question of the Corinthians and first Paul cautions the Corinthians that knowledge can be deceiving. You think you know when in reality you may not. But love builds up and supersedes knowledge.

So with respect to eating food for idols: we (Christians) know there is only One, True God. But others do not. Albeit it’s okay for Christians to eat food sacrificed to idols (because we know it’s just another cow basically) others who do not know God are committing a sin because they are looking at it in a religious sense. They are following the Christians’ example. (You know, the ubiquitous saying amongst children “But so-and-so ate the apple so why can’t I?”)

This food Christians ate brings us no closer to God; but it brings those unbelievers farther from God. So Paul says to be careful in exercising your freedom when it could hinder those away from God. Paul says this is a sin against Christ: doing something we know can pull others away from Him. Christians must sacrifice for others.

Summary of 1 Corinthians 9:

Paul declares he is an apostle with the right to be supported by the church. By right Paul can share in what he reaps just like a soldier, a farmer, and a shepherd share in what they reap.

But Paul says he did not use this right because it might hinder the gospel of Christ. It is commanded by the Lord that Paul can receive support but he himself is choosing not to. He boasts of this!

Paul preaches the gospel because he is compelled to spread the Word. He becomes all things to all people in order to win people for the Lord and share in an eternal reward and not an earthly one. Paul refuses all things that would hinder his reward or him finishing the race. His crown is one that will last forever in this race we all run. Paul runs and fights all for an eternal prize to which he won’t be disqualified from.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 8-9

3) He made sure that his actions were not a stumbling block to the weak. He uses the example of not eating certain foods if it causes others to sin against Christ. He puts up with things so as not to hinder the gospel. He makes himself a slave to win people to Jesus. He becomes like a Jew, a Gentile, like the weak to save some. He does this to get a crown to last forever.

4) Sin, homosexuality

5) Although Paul has the rights and the freedoms to behave how he wants and do what he wants, he chose not to so that he could bring others to Christ.

6) Personal Question. My answer: You don’t have to be right all the time. It’s better to be humble and like Jesus than pompous and not. I can try not to be right all the time, apologize more, be more giving of my time.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 8-9

1 Corinthians 8 is a great passage that counters the “me” society. Life is not about you; it’s about others.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 8-9

1 Corinthians 8:

The meat offered on pagan altars was usually divided into three portions. One portion was burnt in honor of the god, one portion was given to the worshipper to take home and eat, and the third portion was given to the priest. If the priest didn’t want to eat his portion, he sold it at the temple restaurant or meat market.

The meat served and sold at the temple was generally cheaper. In that day and age when many were poor and couldn’t afford food, this was an important question.

The issue raised many questions for the Corinthian Christians: Can we eat meat purchased at the temple meat market? What if we are served meat purchased at the temple meat market when we are guests in someone’s home? Can a Christian eat at the restaurant at the pagan temple?

Instead of talking about food, Paul first talks about knowledge and love. Christian behavior is founded on love, not knowledge; and the goal of the Christian life is not knowledge, but love.

We really don’t know anything. The knowledge that is important is the knowledge God has of those who love Him.

Because there is only One True God, idols are not competing gods. Idols are therefore nothing in the world, and are only so-called gods.

Indeed, in the ancient world, there were many, many different gods – and even gods known as the unknown god to cover any gods one might have missed (Acts 17:23).

When Paul calls Jesus Lord, he uses the Greek word kurios, and this word would have meant something to Bible reading people in Paul’s day.

Leon Morris on Lord: “This term could be no more than a polite form of address like our ‘Sir.’ But it could also be used of the deity one worships. The really significant background, though, is its use in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to render the divine name, Yahweh… Christians who used this as their Bible would be familiar with the term as equivalent to deity.”

If idols are really nothing, it must mean nothing to eat meat sacrificed to nothing idols, and it must mean nothing to eat in the buildings used to worship these nothing idols. While this is true, Paul explains why they should abstain.

Paul asks the Corinthian Christians who know there is nothing to an idol to remember that not everyone knows this. And if someone believes there is something to an idol, and they eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

No one is less spiritual for abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols.

To influence the weak brother to go against his conscience is actually to sin against Christ. The Corinthian Christians who abused their liberty might have thought it was a small matter to offend their weak brothers, but they did not understand they offended Jesus Christ.

Theme of 1 Corinthians 8: Our actions can never be based only on what we know to be right for ourselves. We also need to consider what is right towards our brothers and sisters in Jesus.

It is easy for a Christian to say, “I answer to God and God alone” and to ignore his brother or sister. It is true we will answer to God and God alone, but we will answer to God for how we have treated our brother or sister.

1 Corithians 9:

Paul defends his apostolic position before the doubting Corinthian Christians.

Paul asserts his rights as an apostle, as if he were a lawyer arguing a case. The words defense (apologia) and examine (anakrino) are both legal words, taken from the Roman law court. Paul feels like he’s on trial, or that he has already been “found guilty” by the Corinthian Christians.

Paul’s Rights as an Apostle

Paul means that he has the right to eat and drink at the expense of the churches he served.
Paul makes it clear that he had the right to expect support for not only himself, but for his family, also.
Paul has the right to be supported by the people he ministers to. In Deuteronomy 25:4,

Just as strongly as Paul affirms his right to be supported by the people he ministers unto, he will also affirm his right to not use that right, if using it might hinder the gospel of Christ.

Anyone who preaches the gospel has the right to be supported by those he preaches to.

The Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel: We have no record of those specific words of Jesus, but in two places He states the principle. In Matthew 10:10 (for a worker is worthy of his food), and in Luke 10:8 (Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you).

Remember that Greek culture, which the Corinthian Christians approved so much, looked down its nose on all manual labor. Even though the Corinthian Christians seemed to think less of Paul because he worked with his own hands to support himself, it did not embarrass Paul at all. He will boast about it!

Paul’s ministry was not just a matter of choice or personal ambition; it was something he was called to, something he had to do.

Paul was free to do what he wanted, but bringing people to Jesus was more important to him than using his freedom selfishly.

Paul did not change his doctrine or message to appeal to different groups (he denies this in 1 Corinthians 1:22-23), but he would change his behavior and manner of approach.

Paul was willing to offend people over the gospel, but he wanted to offend them only over the gospel.

An Athlete’s Attitude

Sporting events were big in Paul’s day as well as in our own. This was especially meaningful to the Corinthians, because their city was the center for the Isthmian Games, second in prestige to the ancient Olympics.

Paul often uses figures from arena competition (at least twelve different references in his letters), including examples of runners, boxers, gladiators, chariot racers, and trophies.

To compete as an athlete, one must go intos strict training. Roman athletes had to train for ten months before being allowed in the games.

An athlete must refuse things that may be fine in themselves, but will hinder the pursuit of his goal. Even so, the Corinthians must refuse things that are fine in themselves (like meat sacrificed to idols), because having them may hinder the pursuit of the important goal: an imperishable crown, a heavenly reward that will never pass away.

Paul made sure that his body was the servant, and his inner man was the master. The desires of his body were not going to rule over his entire self.

1 Corinthians 9:27: Paul did not think the body itself was evil; after all, it belongs to Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20); nor would he agree with later ascetics who punished their bodies in a quest for super-holiness. Through the centuries, Christians known as flagellants would literally whip, beat, and torture themselves in a misguided attempt to fulfill this verse. Usually, these Christians thought they could pay for their sins through such self-torture, and they refused to recognize that Jesus paid all of the penalty of their sin.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7

February 13, 2020February 9, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary 1 Corinthians 7:

Paul says it’s good for a man not to marry. But if you do each man should have one wife and each wife one husband. The husband should fulfills his marital duties to his wife and the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to just herself but to her husband as well and vice versa. Therefore, do not deprive each other except by mutual consent so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of control. He wishes all to be unmarried but each has a different gift from God.

The unmarried and widows should stay unmarried but it’s better to marry than to burn with passion.

A wife must not separate from her husband but if she does she must not marry again or she must reconcile. A husband must not divorce his wife.

Any one in a marriage with an unbeliever should stay married if the other is willing for you may be the one to save the other. However, if the unbeliever leaves let them for they are not bound like believers are. Also, the unbeliever is sanctified through the other and their children will be holy as well.

Every one should stay in the role God has called them. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.

Paul wishes virgins would remain so and not marry for in marriage you will face many troubles in life. Time is short and marriage divides a person’s attention from the Lord for you must please your spouse. An unmarried person is only concerned with the Lord and can be devoted to Him in every way, undivided.

Paul clarifies that marriage is not a sin it’s just better to be single.

If a spouse dies, one can marry again but Paul advises against it so he or she can be devoted solely to the Lord.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7

12) Each man should have one wife and each wife one husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife and the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband and vice versa. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent so Satan will not tempt you.

A wife must not separate from her husband but if she does she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. A husband must not divorce his wife (Jesus says in Matthew 19:9 that any man who divorces his wife except for marital unfaithfulness and marries another commits adultery). The same is true of the wife (Mark 10:12).

For celibacy, Paul was for it because you are freer from concern and thus therefore can be more concerned about God’s affairs rather than man’s. He also says this is a calling by God.

13) God calls each of us to a purpose, and each is good.

14) Personal Question. My answer: Just to be devoted to your spouse. To be happy where God has put you in your life.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7

I love the part about live where you are at and where you are called. So many of us waste precious hours wishing we were somewhere else or doing something else. If we give it to God, He will answer. In the meantime, we are to live where He has put us.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7

The Corinthian Christians are asking for clarification on marriage and sex so Paul addresses those concerns. He says sex is ok within a marriage.

For more on a complete theology of marriage, see Ephesians 5:21-33 and Colossians 3:18-19.

Every wife is owed affection and should be shown this. Every wife owes her husband affection and sex. You only need one person to meet your sexual needs.

The word for deprive is the same as defraud in 1 Corinthians 6:8. When we deny physical affection and sexual intimacy to our spouse, we cheat them. Depriving each other of sex opens the door for Satan to enter.

God wants every Christian marriage to enjoy a sexual relationship that is a genuine blessing.

The Benefits of Being Single

Though Paul was unmarried when he wrote this letter, he probably had been married at one time. We can say this because we know Paul was an extremely observant Jew and an example among his people (Philippians 3:4-6). In Paul’s day, Jews considered marriage a duty, to the extent that a man reaching 20 years of age without marrying was considered to be in sin. Unmarried men were often considered excluded from heaven and not real men at all.

It is likely that Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin. In Acts 26:10, Paul says I cast my vote against them, speaking of the early Christians, and the logical place he would cast a vote is as a member of that great congress of the Jewish people. An unmarried man could not be a member of the Sanhedrin, so Paul was probably married at one time.

So what happened to Paul’s wife? The Scriptures are silent. Perhaps she left him when he became a Christian, or perhaps she died some time before or after he became a Christian. But we know that it was likely he was married before, and we know he was not married when writing this letter, and the Book of Acts never shows Paul’s wife.

Being single and married are both gifts from God. When Paul writes his own gift, he uses the same word for spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12

Paul told Timothy that forbidding to marry was a doctrine of demons (1 Timothy 4:1-3).

You should not get divorced to seek more spiritual lives.

Only Reasons God Recognizes Divorce

When there is sexual immorality (Matthew 19:3-9)
When a believing partner is deserted by an unbelieving spouse (1 Corinthians 7:15).

Jesus said the one who divorces for invalid reasons, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery (Matthew 19:9). When Jesus’ disciples understood how binding the marriage covenant was, and how it could not be broken (in the sight of God) for just any reason, they responded If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry (Matthew 19:10)

Jesus never commands divorce in the case of sexual immorality. It is only permitted, and that the permission was given because of the hardness of your hearts (Matthew 19:8).

Why should a Christian try to keep their marriage to a non-Christian together? Because God can be glorified in such a marriage, and He may do a work through the believing spouse to draw the unbelieving spouse to Jesus Christ.

The children of a Christian parent are saved, at least until they come to an age of personal accountability (which may differ for each child). However, we have no similar assurance for the children of parents who are not Christians.

If the unbelieving spouse should depart, the Christian is not under bondage to the marriage covenant. This means they are, in fact, free to remarry because God has recognized their divorce as a valid divorce.

Peter says in 1 Peter 3:1-6: that your unbelieving spouse will probably not be led to Jesus by your words, but by your godly and loving conduct.

Live Where You Are Called

Walk for God where you are at right now; quit wishing to be somewhere else or do something else. A slave can please God right where he is.

Paul calls unmarried people virgins. Each is where God puts us and where we can live for Him.

Paul simply recognizes that when a person doesn’t have family responsibilities, they are more “free” to serve God.

In this ancient culture, a young person’s parents had the primary responsibility for arranging their marriage. So based on what Paul has already taught, should a Christian father recommend celibacy to his child? It’s the better choice in Paul’s opinion.

The choice between married and single was not the choice between good and bad, but between better and best.

Overall theme: Paul will affirm celibacy, but not because sex itself is evil (as some of the Corinthian Christians thought). Instead, the unmarried state can be superior because it offers a person (if they are so gifted) more opportunity to serve God.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 4: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20

February 12, 2020February 9, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of 1 Corinthians 6:9-20:

The wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God: adulterers, prostitutes, thieves, drunkards, slanderers, homosexuals, etc. The Corinthians were these things but they have been sanctified by Jesus and the Spirit of God.

Paul refutes common Corinthian sayings with the body is God’s. It does not belong to man. It is a member of Christ himself. Why unite Christ with a prostitute? We need to unite ourself with the Lord instead.

Paul advises to flee from sexual immorality because this sin is against his own body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not our own. Jesus bought us with a price. We must honor God with our bodies.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 4: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20

9) Sexual purity matters because our bodies are members of Christ himself, so when you commit sexual immorality, you are uniting your body with another and becoming one, but our bodies are meant to be united with the Lord’s as one in spirit. Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are not our own; they are gifts from God.

10) He is concerned that some people will think they will inherit the earth (eternal life), but the sexual immoral will not.

11) Personal Question. My answer: Temptation of sin. To avoid sexual sin.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 4: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20

This is one of my favorite all time Bible passages. Remembering how our bodies are temples and are gifts from God that we must use to honor Him.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 4: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20

Paul isn’t questioning the fact that the man will still go to heaven; he’s questioning if the man is a Christian at all since he continues to indulge in sin.

This passage is against homosexuality. Homosexuality was rampant in the ancient world; 14 out of the first 15 Roman emperors were bisexual or homosexual. At the very time Paul wrote, Nero was emperor. Nero castrated a boy named Sporus and then married him (with a full ceremony), brought him to the palace with a great procession, and made the boy his “wife.” Later, the emperor lived with another man, and Nero was declared to be the other man’s “wife.”

God’s great work for us in Jesus Christ is described in three terms.

You were washed: We are washed clean from sin by the mercy of God (Titus 3:5). We can have our sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16). We are washed by the work of Jesus on the cross for us (Revelation 1:5) and by the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26).
You were sanctified: We are set apart, away from the world and unto God, by the work of Jesus on the cross (Hebrews 10:10), by God’s Word (John 17:19), by faith in Jesus (Acts 26:18), and by the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16).
You were justified: We are declared “just” before the court of God, not merely “not guilty,” but declared as “just” before Him. We are justified by God’s grace through the work of Jesus on the cross (Romans 3:24), by faith and not by our own deeds (Romans 3:28).

God can take the kind of people described in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 10 and make them into the kind of people described in 1 Corinthians 6:11! How great is the work of God!

In the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God: Without trying to present a doctrine of the Trinity, Paul quite naturally lists the three Persons of the Godhead in connection with this great work of God in the life of the believer.

Sexual Purity

Paul tells the Corinthians exactly what he told the Colossians in Colossians 2:16-17: “When it comes to what we eat or drink or on what day we worship the Lord, all things are lawful for me. I am at liberty, and I should not let anyone put me under bondage, as legalists are prone to do.”

Specifically, from the reference to the harlot in 1 Corinthians 6:15, the Corinthian Christians thought they had the liberty to use the services of prostitutes. This was culturally accepted in the city of Corinth, and it was accepted in the religious community among the religious pagans, who saw nothing wrong in a “religious” person using prostitutes.

The Corinthian Christians probably used this motto to justify giving their bodies whatever their bodies wanted. “My body wants food, so I eat. My body wants sex, so I hire a prostitute. What’s the problem?”

Sin made our bodies immoral. There are prices to pay when using the body in ways never intended to. So what we do with our bodies in regard to food does not affect us in the same way as what we do with our bodies in regard to sex.

When an individual Christian commits sexual immorality, it disgraces the entire body of Christ, linking the body of Christ to immorality.

A husband and wife become “one flesh” in a way that is under God’s blessing in marital sex. In sex outside of marriage, the partners become “one flesh” in a way that is under God’s curse.

A person pursuing a casual sexual encounter may not want to become one flesh with their partner but in some spiritual sense, they do. Part of their self is given to that person, and it means there is less to give to the Lord and to the partner God intends for them.

Since we belong to Jesus – body, soul, and spirit – we have no right to give any part of our self away to an “unauthorized” person.

At the root of most lustful passion is the desire for love, acceptance, and adventure – all of which is far better, and more completely, satisfied in a one-spirit relationship with the Lord.

We should follow the example of Joseph, who fled from sexual immorality – even when it cost him something (Genesis 39:7-21).

God gave sex as a precious gift to mankind and uses it powerfully to bond husband and wife together in a true one-flesh relationship. So as Hebrews 13:4 says, the marriage bed is undefiled – the sexual relationship between husband and wife is pure, holy, and good before God.

Paul uses the Greek word porneia, which refers to a broad range of sexual sin. Sexual sin is physical, but it is also moral and spiritual.

If our bodies belong to Jesus, we also have no right to be idle with, or wasteful of, what belongs to Him. Our bodies should be put to use glorifying God.

God Himself lives within us. This means we have the strength, the power over the sins of the flesh living within us.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8

February 11, 2020February 9, 2020 by atozmom, posted in BSF Acts 2019/2020

Summary of 1 Corinthians 6:1-8:

Paul tells the Corinthians if there is a dispute amongst believers to settle it amongst believers and not amongst the ungodly. For saints judge the world and as a saint aren’t you competent to judge trivial cases? You will judge angels! The fact you have lawsuits means defeat already. Why not be wronged instead? (This is talking amongst believers only not amongst a believer and a non-believer).

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8

6) Paul was addressing the fact that when there was a dispute, believers were going to the court system to work it out, instead of working it out amongst themselves. We are destined for greatness, and here petty things are getting us down.

7) Christians who love one another should approach disputes with a loving heart and should approach disputes not selfishly.

8 ) Personal Question. My answer: I don’t have any specific situation in mind, but, in general, you should approach every dispute with the attitude of compromise and giving in or up in order to settle matters and keep the relationship. Self-sacrifice is key and is what Jesus would do.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8

Good lesson on the importance of settling disputes and not letting them simmer.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8

The local judge in this time period sat in what was known as the “bema” seat of the civil magistrate, located in the heart of the marketplace. Because Greek culture found a good legal battle entertaining, anyone’s lawsuit soon became public knowledge.

It is important for Christians to settle disputes among themselves according to God’s principles. This can be done either through the church, or through Christian arbitration. But today, even as in Paul’s day, there is no reason for Christians to sue one another.

In Romans 13:3-4 Paul says that it is appropriate for the state to handle criminal cases. Christians should, however, be able to handle civil cases among themselves.

Paul chastizes those who cling to their rights and go to court against their own brother. You have lost already if you do so.

Paul called this man to give up what he deserved for the higher good of God and His kingdom. But the man who was wronged should not think Paul was asking him to take a loss. No one who accepts wrong for the sake of God’s glory will be a loser.

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BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

Summary of James 2:1-13:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

The Dangers of Favoritism or Partiality

Summary of James 2:1-13:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 4: James 2:1-13

The Dangers of Favoritism or Partiality

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Summary of James 1:1-18:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 2: James 1:1-18

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 2: James 1:1-18

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 28, Day 2: James 1:1-18

What Did James Mean by the 12 Tribes?

Trials

When we want wisdom, the place to begin and end is the Bible. True wisdom will always be consistent with God’s word.

Temptation

God is never responsible for man’s sin.

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Summary of Acts 27:1-26:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 27, Day 2: Acts 27:1-26

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 27, Day 2: Acts 27:1-26

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 27, Day 2: Acts 27:1-26

Showing God in the Midst of Disaster

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Summary of Acts 26:1-23:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 26, Day 4: Acts 26:1-23

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 26, Day 4: Acts 26:1-23

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 26, Day 4: Acts 26:1-23

Jesus then told Paul of four results that would come from the opening of the eyes:

The three main points to Paul’s preaching:

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Summary of 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 24, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 24, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 24, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Crucifixion Explained

Why Does the Death of Jesus Matter?

Eye-Witnesses To Jesus’ Resurrection

Saving and Changing Grace

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Summary of 1 Corinthians 10:

Summary of 1 Corinthians 11:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 10-11

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 10-11

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 10-11

1 Corinthians 10:

Paul brings in the Israelites in Egypt and the blessings they had:

What the Corinthians were Doing to Not Please God

Temptation

Your Rights

1 Corinthians 11:

Authority in the Bible

Lord’s Supper Different Than Other Food

What is the New Covenant?

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Summary of 1 Corinthians 8:

Summary of 1 Corinthians 9:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 8-9

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 8-9

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 23, Day 2: 1 Corinthians 8-9

1 Corinthians 8:

1 Corithians 9:

Paul’s Rights as an Apostle

An Athlete’s Attitude

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Summary 1 Corinthians 7:

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7

End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 22, Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7

The Benefits of Being Single

Only Reasons God Recognizes Divorce

Live Where You Are Called

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Summary of 1 Corinthians 6:9-20: