1 Corinthians 2: 1-5

Proclaiming Christ Crucified
2 And I, when I came to you, brothers,[a] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony[b] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men[c] but in the power of God.
This is a short passage but the message is powerful. If we were to change this wording to be that we come, in this era to speak to those that don't know Jesus that we should demonstrate his spirit and power and that our faith should not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.


We are no different than anyone else in this world we are weak and we come with fear and trembling but that we have a message to spread Gods word and love to those that might not know it.

WOW! This week has really been a tough one for me with my family. Not understanding views and wanting to be loved and accepted. This passage was a light to me this week in that I don't have the power but that he does and if I trust in Him then my actions will speak to others. But I got to have faith and I have to have pray and have devotion to Him. This unfortunately is not always easy to see in the midst of anger and frustration.


My prayer for you this week is that you see his spirit first hand and that you can be a witness to another person.

I'm going to leave you with this Song by Third Day, not only is it one of my favorites but I think it fits well with this passage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDw_9vvLcWg


Next Week
1 Corinthians 2: 6-16

1 Corinthians 1: 18-31

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach[a] to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,[b] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being[c] might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him[d] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”


Vocabulary isn't my thing so bear with me here! :) A couple words I had to look into to make sure I fully understood what I was reading. Yes, folly means foolish. Also in verse 19 thwart is used, that's not a word I regularly use in my day to day so I looked that up too, the meaning is prevent.


I really enjoyed reading this exert speaking about verses 18-20. Paul makes it clear that there are only two categories of people: the “perishing” and the “saved.” Ultimately, all must fall into one of these two classes; there is no other.9 Paul writes that those who are perishing consider the word of the cross “foolishness.”10 Five times in eight verses, Paul will use a form of the word “foolishness.” Now it will help you to know the basic Greek word ismoria. In 1:25 it appears as an adjective—moros.11 I probably don’t have to tell you that we get the English word “moron” from this Greek word. It has the idea of something that is ridiculous, ignorant, stupid, and contemptible. If someone were to say, “You moron!” you would be insulted, and properly so. But that is the very word that Paul uses here—and not just once, but five times. What Paul is saying is this: Most people consider the cross to be moronic! Now there are countless reasons for this, but at the top of the list has to be that the cross offends our pride. The word of the cross is that salvation is freely granted by God’s grace, not human merit or intellect. Furthermore, salvation is extended to all people. This levels the ground at the foot of the cross. Everyone comes to God through faith, based upon the work of Jesus Christ. This offends man’s pride. https://bible.org/seriespage/3-wise-fool-1-corinthians-118-25
As I read through this for another time I really love that he points out the 2 categories perishing and saved. That until we are saved we are perishing. I also like that it's action verses past tense.
There is SO much packed into the last few verses but the one that stuck with me the most is verse 30: And because of him[d] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Jesus=Redemption. I needed this SO much this week.
No matter how united or divided we are it's so good to hear that we have been redeemed, forgiven and WE ARE LOVED!
Tell us about your week!


Next up: 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

I will posting all scripture through the ESV lens but if you have a different version that you think represents the scripture best, read in that and post any words that stand out in your version in the comments.
This week we will start from the beginning of 1 Corinthians.
Greeting

1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions in the Church

10 I appeal to you, brothers,[a] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

There were a few areas that really came out for me in this passage first being verse 3 Grace to you and peace from God. I really think this stands out to me right now because it's one of things I am having trouble with in my daily life, giving grace. How freely I take it but man do I hold onto it with great strength.
The end of verse 10, oh my how I wish to be united and in the same mind and the in same judgment. 
Lastly verse 17, For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. This verse I had a hard time understanding. I was drawn to this verse far more than any other verse in this passage but I didn't completely understand the context so I asked for a little help from our friend Art. Here are his words:

The whole flow of the beginning of 1 Corinthians is contrasting "Wisdom" in the ancient world compared to the "Wisdom of God" which looks pretty foolish to the ancient world and our world too, just for different reasons. There were philosophers who traveled around during that time teaching and proclaiming "wisdom". Their names are "Sophists" which comes from the Greek root word for wisdom. They were common in Paul's world and were paid as they spoke from town to town. Paul is trying to contrast what he is proclaiming and what they are proclaiming. He didn't come to them with their wisdom, but with the simple message of Jesus Christ who was killed on a cross. In that culture being humiliated and dying in that way would be considered idiotic not wise in any way. So Paul is saying, I'm not coming to you proclaiming the same things, nor just in my own wit and skills at philosophy. I came to you proclaiming this good news, which sounds ridiculous to some, but to others who have experienced God through an encounter with the living Christ, it is our life story. Encountering God gives us power to really live, even though to some it seems the very opposite of wise. 

So reread chapters 1 & 2 looking for the contrast of what Paul is saying against the traveling Sophists who proclaimed "wisdom" and Paul's proclaiming of the "wisdom of God in Jesus Christ".

I am looking forward to hearing some of your thoughts on this passage and what is happening in your lives. Next week we will be reading 1 Corinthians 1: 18-31. 
Talk to You Soon, 
Abbie

From the Start

Hey guys!!

I am so happy to announce this new blog. We will be discussing scripture together here and then hopefully meeting up once a month to touch base in person, more on this to come in the future. A couple things I want to point out. I am working on the gadget on the bottom of this blog to have different YouTube channels we are interested in. So, if you have a favorite let me know so I can attach it here. Tell me your favorite websites, authors and books and I will add them as well. Also if any of you would like to post here let me know; I can add you to the admin list.

Make sure to follow this blog so you get an announcement about new postings or you can subscribe to posts. For the first few weeks I will post on FB but I don't want to overwhelm our FB group with this blog.

I hope this week finds you well. Be on the look out for the first scripture post on Thursday!

Prayers For You,
Abbie Price