As
Paul the apostle continued to share concerning God's creation order
for “the man” and “the woman”, he declared “if
any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the
churches of God”.
In
chapter eleven and verse seventeen of First Corinthians, Paul shared
how the Corinthian church members “come
together not for the better, but for the worse”,
where we read:
Now in
this that I declare unto you
I praise you
not,
that
you come together not for the better, but for the worse.
The verse begins, “Now
in this that I declare unto you
I praise you
not,...”. Paul
began with the word, “Now”
which means “moreover and” “in
this” which
refers to “what Paul is about to declare” “that
I declare”
or “Paul commanded, ordered, announced and charged” “unto
you”which
means “toward the church members” “I
praise you not”
or “Paul did not approve, commend or laud the church members”.
Paul did not “commend” the church members for what he is about to
share.
The
verse goes on to say, “...that
you come together not for the better, but for the worse.”
Paul
continued with the words, “that you
come together” which
means “when the church members assemble or gather” “not
for the better”
or “not toward or unto a more useful, serviceable and advantageous
way”, “but”
which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated “for
the worse”
or “toward or unto the inferior and less”. Paul's declared when
the church members gathered together it was not for their “advantage”
but for “inferior and lesser” reasons.
When
we think through these words from Paul, we see how he addressed the
gathering of the church members. They were supposed to come together
for “better” or more useful reasons, but their assembling
was for “inferior” ones. Jesus Christ desires for His church to
be unified toward “a superior cause” when they “assemble”
under His name, and it should always be for “the better”
and not “for the worse”.
Next
time Paul tells the church members how he has “heard”
and “partly believes”,
“there are divisions among”
them,
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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