Paul
the apostle wrote to the church members in Corinth concerning
“lawsuits” within the church, and he referred to how, “brother
goes to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers”
In chapter six and verse seven of First
Corinthians, Paul asked the church members in Corinth,“why
do you not rather take wrong?”
where we read:
Now
therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because you go to law
one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? why do you not
rather suffer yourselves to
be defrauded?
The
verse begins, “Now
therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because you go to law
one with another.” Paul
began with the word, “Now” which
means “even, already and by this time” “therefore”
or “truly, certainly, surely and indeed” “there
is” which
means “accordingly, consequently and these things being so”
“utterly”
or “wholly and altogether” “a
fault” or
“diminution, decrease, defeat and loss as respects to salvation”
“among you”
which means “by and with the church members”, “because”
or “since and as though” “you go
to law”
which means “the church members hold, own, possess and adhere to
decrees, judgments, suing and cases in court” “one
with another” or
“one person within the church against another person in the
church”. Paul declared the church members were suffering “defeat
and loss as respects to salvation” because they were “suing”
one another.
The
verse goes on to say, “Why
do you not rather take wrong? why do you not rather suffer
yourselves to be defrauded?
Paul
continued with the word, “Why”
which means
“wherefore and through what cause”“do
you not rather” which
means “do the church members not instead, to a greater degree,
sooner, by far, more willingly or readily” “take
wrong” or
“allow, receive, suffer or take hurt or injury ”? “Why”
or
“wherefore and through what cause” “do
you not rather”
which means “do the church members not instead, to a greater
degree, sooner, by far, more willingly or readily” “suffer
yourselves” which
refers to “allow, permit and let themselves as church members”
“to be defrauded” or
“to be robbed, despoiled and destitute”. Paul desired to know
“why”
the church members did not just accept “wrongdoing” and being
“robbed and despoiled”.
When
we consider these words from Paul, we may find it somewhat
challenging because we have two inclinations which are natural to us.
The first is not to recognize there is a “fault” among ourselves
within our faith in Jesus because we “sue” others, and the second
is our resistance to “take wrong” or “be defrauded”. However,
these were Paul's statements and questions to the Corinthian church.
If we think about it, Jesus did these. Jesus, though He never had a
“fault”, suffered as though He did, and He certainly “took
wrong” and was “defrauded” so we might obtain salvation. Paul's
words are challenging, and if we are to align with our Savior Jesus,
we should seek our Heavenly Father and ask Him to provide help
through the Holy Spirit to obey these directives.
Next
time Paul tells the church members, “you
do wrong, and defraud”,
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.
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