Paul
the apostle addressed “brothers”
in the church of Corinth who were “suing” one another before
“worldly judges” rather than handling disputes within the church,
and he asked, “why do you not rather
take wrong?”
In chapter six and verse eight of First
Corinthians, Paul told the church members, “you
do wrong, and defraud”
where we read:
The
verse begins, “No, you do wrong, and
defraud, ...”
Paul began
with the words, “No” which
means “nevertheless, notwithstanding and moreover”, “you
do wrong”
or “the church members act unjustly or wickedly and sin”, “and
defraud”
which means “and rob, despoil and keep back by fraud”. The church
members were guilty of “acting unjustly” and “robbing”.
The
verse goes on to say, “... and
that your
brethren.” Paul
continued with the words, “and that”
which means
“these things of wrong and defrauding”“your
brethren” which
means “a fellow believers who are united to another by the bond of
affection ”. The “wrong”
and “defrauding”
by the church members were against their own “brothers”
in Christ
within the church.
When
we meditate upon these words from Paul, we marvel that these
Christians in Corinth were doing “wrong to” and
“defrauding” one another. One would think this kind of
behavior should never be in the church, but unfortunately, it often
is. Paul addressed this problem because it was such a part of the
church, and it does not represent accurately Jesus Christ as “Savior
and Lord”. Unbelievers are watching the church, and when they see
this behavior, is it any wonder they do not desire to become a part
of it?
Next
time Paul asks the church members, “Know
you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?”,
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