My Comments on 1 Corinthians 1:4-9©

4I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 6Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

God’s Word is so rich, and powerful. Thanking God has become very natural to me as breathing, bathing, and banking. OK those last two weren’t always so natural for me, but neither was praise and thankfulness. I thank God for you my brother and sister, in Christ; we have a connection that is deeper than the name on the door of our church, or the sign in front, or names we are called by others or to my shame, names I have called some of you. We are brothers and sisters in Christ (did I ever mention that those are my two favorite words in the Bible?) We are enriched by Him! The Greek word for enrich is pronounced ploo-tid'-zo, it means to make wealthy (figuratively): - en- (make) rich.
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Side Bar: I am not a Greek Scholar; I do use a wonderful program called eSword, why not give it a try yourself?
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Now I hope this doesn't shock any of you, but I think it's OK to be rich. I mean wealthy! God, right, here has given us a clue how to get even richer. I may be going out on a limb on this one; tell me what you think.

That is the first stream of conciousness (rambling).
The second one that came to mind is belonging. It is so wonderful to belong, to be accepted! Jesus Christ has accepted me into His family called the church, and His church that meets in Toledo, has accepted me too. If you are "in Christ" why not give thanks to God for His acceptance of you?

Have you been accepted into Jesus' heart?

In His riches,
John 10:10

My Introduction to 1 Corinthians ©

My personal comments on this New Testament book are my own independent comments unless otherwise stated; any similarities with someone else’s work or expressed ideas are strictly coincidental and unintentional as far as I know. Feel free to ask questions or express opinions in the comments section of each post, remember these are public and can be accessed by anyone (IOW be polite.) If you have questions or concerns or something personal you wish to express I encourage you to use my email link. My confident and eager expectation is that these posts will be a blessing and/or a challenge to all who read.

Abundantly yours,
Brother John

1 Corinthians 1
1Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's: 3Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you called of Jesus Christ through the will of God?


This is to the local church that met at a place called Corinth. It is written to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus - that is what being a saint is - all that in every place who call on the name of the Lord. I wonder why Paul said both their's and ours? At any rate, he is wishing us God's best, "Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

What are your thoughts?

In His abundance,
brother John

Love?

Last Saturday, I experienced a paradigm shift of colossal proportions. God opened my understanding like nothing I have ever experienced in my Christian walk. I won’t take my time or yours to try to explain it to you just now because I’m not sure I could articulate it in any comprehensible manner, but my understanding was truly expanded and extended further than I ever thought possible. This resulted in some deep thought, prayer, and meditation on the Word of God and just to give you a hint: it was a result of contemplating a word or two from 1st John: ag-ap-ah'-o or ag-ap-ah'-o.

At the risk of causing any confusion, let me just say that from my former perspective, I do think most people get it. This unconditional love must extend outside the scope of our diminutive comprehension, beyond our own circles of influence, past the protected borders of our local church, further than our experience, and applied to everyone. This may seem like a lot, and it is. I encourage you to think about this; I did and it did wonders for me. Because this is such an immense concept to weigh up, start small. Even less is more than I have mastered so far.

For example: if you possess unconditional love for your life mate, you may still desire growth and change in them for their greater good, but would you demand change in them? What if he/she never changed? Do you get angry? Why? Is that how we express unconditional love? If you demand change in them is that love truly “unconditional” for them or is it your idea of how they should be in order for you to love them? Be honest, it is CONDITIONAL isn’t it? Do you really have unconditional love for who they are?

Think for a moment about the many ways to think? It is vast and varied. Why not learn from other peoples' perspectives, add it to your own, expand your thinking and enjoy it when others grow because of your affection and love for them?

Abundantly,
John

My next posts -if God permits- will be on 1Corinthians