Paul
the apostle asked the church members in Corinth, “Dare
any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the
unjust, and not before the saints?”,
and in chapter six and verse two of First
Corinthians, Paul continued his questioning as he asked them if they
knew, “that the saints shall judge the
world?”
where we read:
Do you
not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world
shall be judged by you,
are
you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
The
verse begins, “Do
you not know that the saints shall judge the world?”
Paul began
with the word, “Do you not know”
which means
“do the church members perceive, notice, discern and discover”
“that the saints”
or “because and since the most holy, morally blameless and
ceremonially consecrated ones” “shall
judge”
which means “will separate, put asunder, pick out, select, choose,
approve, esteem, deem and be of opinion” “the
world” or
“the circle of the earth with it's aggregate goods, endowments,
riches, advantages and pleasures”. Paul asked the church members if
they knew that they would “judge the
world” one
day.
The
verse continues, “and
if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the
smallest matters?” Paul
added the words, “and if the world”
which means
“and whether the circle of the earth with it's aggregate goods,
endowments, riches, advantages and pleasures”“shall
be judged” which
means “will separate, put asunder, pick out, select, choose,
approve, esteem, deem and be of opinion” “by
you” or
“by the church members in Corinth”,
“are you unworthy”
which means “are the church members unfit” “to
judge” or
“to separate, put asunder, pick out, select, choose, approve,
esteem, deem and be of opinion” “the
smallest matters”
which refers to “the matters which are least in size, estimation,
rank and excellence”. Paul desired to know since the church members
would one day “judge the world”,
why shouldn't they be able to handle small
“matters”
which were within the church.
When
we meditate upon these words from Paul, we understand his reasoning
with the church members concerning brothers “suing” one another.
Paul reminded them they would be “judges” “in the world”
one day, and it was reasonable that they would easily be able to
manage “small” lawsuits that were brought by “brother versus
brother” within the church. Jesus Christ desires for His church to
be “pure and holy”, and those within the church should be able to
make sensible judgments between each other. Let us be reminded of not
only what our position as “judges” shall be one day, but
also implement those abilities when people within the church have
disputes against one another.
Next
time Paul asked if the church members knew, “that
we shall judge angels”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
No comments:
Post a Comment