|
|
Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
September 18
Click on verses for Full Scripture
|
previous - - - - - - - - - -
next
|
Today's Pathway:
|
Today Paul is concluding his instructions concerning those who would teach that there is no future resurrection for believers. As we have seen previously, those in the Corinthian church who held this position were adopting a sensual, worldly lifestyle because they decided that there was no sense in sacrificing to serve the Lord if there was no resurrection. Those in the church who believed in the resurrection were being influenced and corrupted by the carnality of these heretics. Paul now tells these believers what they need to do to rectify this problem.
First, he tells them to "awake to righteousness". The word translated "awake" carries the idea of waking up out of a drunken stupor. The Corinthians had been lulled into sleep by their acceptance of false doctrine and wicked actions. They had become content with their sin. They could go to church on Sundays and play the role of good Christians, and then spend the rest of their week living as if the Bible had no relevance in their lives, and all the time they felt good about themselves (I Corinthians 5:2). Paul tells them that it is time to wake up. In Romans 13:11 Paul wrote,
"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
He gave a similar injunction to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 5:8-15 where he wrote,
"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light... Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them....Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise."
It is apparently very easy for Christians to fall into a spiritual slumber, and allow themselves to slip away from the teachings of the Bible. We who know the truth need to wake up and start practicing the truth. Paul adds in verse 34, "sin not". The word translated "sin" simply means "to miss the mark". Every time we fail to do exactly what God has instructed us to do, we sin. Paul tells his readers to stop missing the mark of Biblical truth and holiness. Peter wrote,
"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (I Peter 1:15-16).
God expects His children to live up to His standard. He is merciful and gracious to us, and willing to forgive when we confess (I John 1:9), but that does not mean that His expectations have changed. So Paul tells them to start doing right and stop doing wrong. This is something that each of us needs to take to heart.
In the second half of verse 34 Paul states that "some have not the knowledge of God". There were people in the church who were ignorant about God. Those people who held to the false belief that there was no resurrection of the dead had no knowledge of God for they were essentially denying His Gospel. Paul writes that this was a shame to the Corinthian church. Matthew Henry wrote,
"It is a shame in Christians not to have the knowledge of God. Those who profess the Christian religion reproach themselves by remaining without the knowledge of God; for it must be owing to their own sloth, and slight of God, that they are ignorant of him. And is it not a horrid shame for a Christian to slight God, and be so wretchedly ignorant in matters that so nearly and highly concern him?"
Ignorance about God will bring shame upon an individual and upon a church. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8-10 that his desire was to know Christ, and in II Timothy 1:12 he stated that he was not ashamed. These two things always go together.
Do you really know God? Or are you spiritually asleep, living a life contrary to God's standards, and bringing shame upon yourself and your church?
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
|
|
You Are Here: 
