Читать книгу Letters of Paul to the Early Church - Robert H. Mounce - Страница 9

This is Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing this letter to the church in the city of Corinth. Because of your faith in Christ Jesus, God regards you as holy and has set you apart as his special people along with everyone in every place who calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours. Our Christian brother Sosthenes joins me in writing.

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you with grace and peace.

I continually thank my God for you because of the gracious gifts he has given you now that you belong to Christ Jesus. His gifts, such as the ability to prophesy or to understand spiritual truth, have enriched the church in so many ways—and this attests that what we taught you about Christ is true —so you believers lack no spiritual gift as you wait with eagerness for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the very end so when he returns on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ, you will be found faultless. You can count on it, because God is faithful and he is the one who called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I urge you by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to work out your differences so there’ll be no divisions among you. Be of one mind and purpose. Some members of Chloe’s house have told me about the serious differences that have developed among you, my dear friends. One of you says, “I’m for Paul,” another, “I’m with Apollos,” still another, “I follow Peter,” and of course, one who proudly declares, “I belong to Christ!”

I ask you, has Christ been divided into separate parts? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? I’m thankful to God that I didn’t baptize any of you (except Crispus and Gaius) so no one can say, “I was baptized by Paul!” Well, I did baptize several members of the house of Stephanas, but beyond that I can’t remember baptizing any of you. After all, Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and that, not with eloquent speech for fear that the cross by itself lacked power.

The very idea that Christ died on a cross for our sins is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God. As scripture says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; I will confuse the thinking of the intelligent.”

So what does that say about the wise, about the scholars, about the brilliant debaters of this world? God has shown that the wisdom of this world is nothing but foolishness. In his wisdom, God understood that people would not come to know him through an intellectual process, so it pleased him to use the foolish message we preach to save those who believe. Jews demand to see miracles and Greeks prefer the cerebral approach, but we preach a crucified Christ and that is offensive to the Jew and nonsensical to the Greek. However, to all who have been called, both Jew and Greek, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men.

Remember, my friends, that when God called you, not many of you were considered wise in the eyes of the world. Very few of you, if any, held positions of influence, and I question whether any of you are of noble birth. But God chose what the world considers foolish in order to shame the wise, and what it considers impotent in order to shame the strong. He chose the insignificant and contemptible, the nobodies, to bring down the somebodies. That way, no one can boast in the presence of God. As for you, you were made one with Christ by an act of God and it is Christ who is your wisdom. It is Christ who has made us right with God, who has cleansed us and set us free from sin. As scripture says, “If you want to boast, boast not about what you’ve done, but about what the Lord has done for you.”

Chapter 2

You will remember that when I first came to Corinth I didn’t use impressive language or wise argument when I told you God’s mysterious plan. I had determined to concentrate on Jesus Christ—specifically, on Christ crucified. Aware of my inadequacy, I was so fearful that I trembled at the responsibility. I didn’t rely on clever and persuasive words to persuade you to accept the message but allowed the Holy Spirit to perform his powerful work. That way you would be convinced, not by human wisdom, but by the power of God.

Mature believers understand that we proclaim a message of wisdom. It is not the wisdom of this age or of the political and religious authorities that are here today and gone tomorrow, but the wisdom that comes from God. Until now it’s been a secret, but long before creation God had planned that it would be revealed for our glory. None of this world’s rulers have recognized it for what it truly is. If they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. As scripture says, “What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, not even what the human mind can imagine—that is, the things that God has prepared for those who love him”—God has now revealed to us through his Spirit, for the Spirit searches out everything, even the deep things of God.

No one can understand the thoughts of a person except that person’s own spirit. In the same way, no one can understand the thoughts of God except God’s own Spirit. And the Spirit we received was not the spirit of this world, but God’s Spirit, sent that we might understand all the wonderful things that God has so freely given us. The words we use to share these truths do not come from human wisdom, but are from the Spirit. Spiritual truths require Spirit-taught words. People in their natural state cannot accept truth revealed by the Spirit. It all sounds like foolishness to them. They can’t make sense of it because they lack the discernment given by the Spirit. It takes a person who has the Spirit to understand spiritual truth and that person cannot be understood by the non-spiritual. As scripture says, “Who can know how the Lord thinks? Who is able to advise him?” We who know God are the ones who can think as Christ does.

Chapter 3

And so, my friends, when I was with you I wasn’t able to talk to you as I would to mature believers. I had to talk as though you still belonged to this present world. You were still infants in the Christian faith so I had to feed you milk rather than solid food. You hadn’t developed the appetite; in fact, you still haven’t. You continue doing whatever your sinful nature suggests. Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, aren’t you behaving like people of the world? When one of you boasts, “I’m a follower of Paul!” and another, “Not I! Apollos is my man!” aren’t you just like everyone else?

After all: Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are simply servants through whom you came to believe, each of us having done the work assigned to us by the Lord. I planted and Apollos watered, but it was God who brought about growth. It makes little difference who plants or who waters since without God there can be no growth. The planter and the waterer work toward a common goal and each will be paid for the work they do. Apollos and I work together under God’s supervision. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Using the gift given to me by God, I laid the foundation like a skilled master builder, but now others are completing the structure. Each one should be careful how they go about it. Jesus Christ is the only foundation for the building; no one can lay another. On this foundation different craftsmen may use different materials in their work, such as gold, silver, gems, hay, or even straw. How well each has done will be disclosed on the coming day of fiery judgment. The fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what that person has built on the foundation survives, the builder will be paid, but if it goes up in flames, the builder will lose everything. The builder will be saved, but even then it will be like escaping from a burning building

You realize, do you not, that you are the temple of God and that God’s Spirit lives in you? God will destroy anyone who tries to destroy his temple. The temple of God is sacred and you are that temple.

Be careful lest you deceive yourselves. Those among you who think they are wise in terms of this world’s wisdom, should become fools in order to be really wise. Scripture says, “God traps the wise using their own craftiness.” And again, “The Lord knows the plans of the wise, he knows how futile they are.” So stop boasting about the leader you happen to follow. Actually, everything belongs to you—Paul, Apollos, Peter, this world, life, death, the present, the future. Everything is yours because you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.

Chapter 4

You should think of Apollos and me as servants of Christ, appointed by God to explain what he has kept secret until now. It’s critical that a person in charge be trustworthy. It is of no consequence to me how you or any other human court might judge me. I don’t even judge myself. My conscience is clear but that doesn’t make me innocent. The Lord is my judge and he will weigh the evidence and deliver the verdict. So stop passing judgment before the appointed time, that is, before the Lord returns. He will bring to light all that is hidden in darkness, even the motives of the heart; that’s when each will receive from God the praise they deserve.

Dear friends, I have applied all this to myself and to Apollos so that you can learn from our example how to “play by the rules.” If you do, none of you will be puffed up in favor of one leader against another. You have no basis for that kind of arrogance because everything you have is a gift from God. How can you boast as if it were your own?

You think that you already have it all! You’re rich! You’ve begun your kingly reign and you’ve done it on your own! Well, I wish you really were kings so we could share the prestige! However, it appears that God has placed us in the enemy’s victory parade, like captive warriors headed for the gallows. What a spectacle for the entire universe, angels as well as the human race! We are considered fools because of our allegiance to Christ, but you are the wise men of the Christian community. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored but we are despised. Even now we are hungry and thirsty. We dress in rags. We are cruelly beaten and have no place to call home. We work with our own hands to stay alive. Yet when people revile us we bless them; when they abuse us we put up with it; when they lie about us we correct their misconception with gentleness. In spite of this, we are treated like the scum of the world, as if we were nothing but garbage.

I’m not writing this to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children. Even though you may have had numerous guardians in your Christian life, you have but one father in Christ and I became that father by bringing you the Good News. So I urge you to take me as your role model. That’s why I sent Timothy to you. He is my dear and faithful son in the Lord and will remind you how I live out my Christian faith, and how I teach these principles in every church wherever I go.

Some of you have become quite arrogant, thinking I might not come back again. I have news for you; I am coming back and it won’t be long, the Lord willing. Then I’ll find out in a hurry if those arrogant people are merely good talkers or if they actually have the power they claim. For the kingdom of God consists not in talk but in power. What do you prefer? Shall I come with a rod to punish you or with love and a gentle spirit?

Chapter 5

I’m told, though it’s hard to believe, that there are some among you who take part in a form of sexual immorality that not even the pagans tolerate. A man is living in sin with the wife of his own father! And you boast about it. Shouldn’t this have given you great sorrow? And why hasn’t the guilty man been removed from your fellowship? Even though I’m not there in person, I am in spirit. You need to know that I’ve already passed judgment on this man in the name of our Lord Jesus, just as though I were there in person. So when you’ve assembled and I’m there in the spirit and power of our Lord Jesus, you are to send this man back into Satan’s world and let the destructive forces of sin do their work. That way the man’s spirit will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

To tolerate a sin like this would be the ruin of the church. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.” So remove the old yeast from your assembly and you will be a fresh batch of unleavened dough; that’s what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Lets celebrate that festival with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, not with bread leavened by sin and wickedness.

In a previous letter I told you not to associate with people who are sexually immoral. I wasn’t referring to unbelievers who have chosen that lifestyle, or to others who are greedy or dishonest or worship idols. You’d have to leave the world to get away from people like that! What I meant, and I repeat myself, is that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer but is sexually immoral, greedy, worships false gods, lies about others, drinks way too much, or cheats. Don’t even share a meal with a person like that.

It’s not my business to pass judgment on unbelievers, God will take care of that. But it is our responsibility to judge members of our own fellowship. Doesn’t scripture say, “Expel the evil-doer from your midst”?

Chapter 6

When one of you has a legal dispute against another believer, how dare you take it to a secular court for settlement! Things like that should be decided within the fellowship. Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since your going to judge the world, aren’t you qualified to decide trivial differences that arise in your group? Someday we will judge angels so certainly we are able to resolve disputes down here below. When issues like this arise, why do you take them to secular judges who play no role in the church? You people ought to be ashamed! Are you telling me that there is no one in your assembly wise enough to settle a dispute between fellow believers? So instead, believers sue one another in a civil court where the whole pagan society can watch?

The very fact that you go to law against one another is itself a defeat for you. Why not accept the offense and let it go? Why not let yourself be cheated? Instead, you yourselves are the ones who are doing the cheating, inflicting damage on your own fellow believers. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t be deceived! None of the following will be there: the sexually immoral, those who worship false gods, adulterers, homosexuals (both active and passive), thieves, the greedy, drunkards, those who lie about others, and swindlers—none of them will be in God’s kingdom. Some of you used to live that way, but you were cleansed from sin and made holy. You were put right with God when by the Holy Spirit you become one with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Everything is permissible for me,” you say. Perhaps, but not everything may be for the best. While it’s true, as you say, “Everything is permissible for me,” I’m not going to let an outlook like that control my life. You say, “If we weren’t supposed to eat food, God wouldn’t have given us a stomach.” True, but some day God will destroy both food and stomach. You are wrong if you think the body exists simply for sexual immorality; the body is intended for the Lord and the Lord for the body. God raised our Lord by his power and will someday raise our bodies. Don’t you understand that your body is a part of Christ? Should a man take a part of Christ and use it for sex with a prostitute? Absolutely not! You understand, do you not, that when a man joins himself to a prostitute, their bodies become one? As scripture says, “The two become one body.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is spiritually one with him.

Have nothing to do with sexual immorality. No other sin affects the body in the same way. That’s because sexually immorality is a sin against one’s own body. Or are you unaware that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you as a gift from God? You don’t belong to yourself because God bought you at a price. So use your bodies for the glory of God.

Chapter 7

Now regarding some issues you brought up in your letter: You said, “It is good for a man not to have sexual contact with a woman.” Yes, but not the way you meant it. Some of you men are practicing chastity, but unable to control the urge you have turned to prostitutes. It would be better for you and your wife to maintain normal sexual relationships with one another. The husband should fulfill the desires of his wife and the wife those of her husband. In marriage, both husband and wife have committed the right to their body to the other. Don’t withhold sex from the other, except perhaps for a limited time so you can devote yourself to prayer. But after that, resume normal relations so Satan can’t take advantage of your lack of self-control. This is a concession, not an order. I could wish that all of you were celibate as I am, but each has a special gift from God, one has this gift, another something different.

For those who have never married or are widows, I believe it is better for you to remain single, as I am. However, if you lack self-control it would be better for you to marry than to keep on burning with desire.

As for those who are married, here is my charge, well, not mine, but the Lord’s: A wife must not leave her husband—if she already has, she is to remain single or else rejoin her husband—and the husband must not divorce his wife.

Although I don’t have specific instructions from the Lord, I believe that if a Christian man has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to stay with him, then he should not divorce her. And if a Christian woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to stay with her, then she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is more likely to be saved because his wife is a believer and the unbelieving wife is more likely to be saved because her husband is a believer. Beyond that, this continuing relationship makes it more likely that the children will come to salvation.

But if the unbelieving partner chooses to leave, don’t prevent it. In such cases the believing partner is no longer bound by vows taken in marriage; God has called us to live a peaceful life. How can either believing spouse, wife or husband, be sure that by staying together they will be able to lead the other to salvation?

You are to continue living in whatever setting the Lord has placed you; remain as you were when called by God. This is what I prescribe for every church. If a man was a Jew when he became a Christian, he shouldn’t try to remove the marks of circumcision. If a man was a Gentile when he was called, he’s under no obligation to submit to circumcision. Whether or not a man is circumcised is of no importance. What is important is that he keeps God’s commandments. So each of you should remain as you were when God called you.

If you were a slave when God called you, don’t let it bother you, but if you have a chance to gain your freedom, take it. Even though you were a slave when God called you, you are now a freeman in the Lord. In the same way, if you were free when called you are now a slave of Christ. God paid a high price to set you free so don’t live in bondage to the world. To put it simply, each one of you, my friends, should remain and serve God just as you are, slave or free.

Now, regarding your question about those not yet married: I have no specific instructions from the Lord, but give my opinion as one who has been shown mercy by the Lord and is trustworthy. Because of all the difficulties we are facing, it is better for the unmarried to remain as they are. If you are pledged to a woman, don’t try to break the relationship. If you have no such obligation, don’t look for a wife. However, if you do get married, that doesn’t mean you have sinned. Nor was it sinful for the woman who married you. However, those who do go ahead with marriage just now are going to face a lot of additional trouble in this world, and I would like to spare you that.

My point is this, dear friends: This entire world system with its customs is on its way out, so from now on you who are married should not allow marriage to determine the way you live. What would normally bring sadness should no longer be the case. Rejoicing need not be your response to every pleasant moment. Stop living as though the stuff of this world really mattered. Of course, life requires you to use things, but don’t get absorbed in all of that. As I said, this old world with its perspective on life and reality is on its way out.

I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. The unmarried man is free to spend his time and energy on the Lord’s affairs, how to please the Lord. It is not the same with the married man. He is responsible for a number of mundane issues because he wants to please his wife and this pulls him in two directions at the same time. In the same way, the unmarried woman, whether previously married or not, can give her full attention to the affairs of the Lord and live a life completely dedicated to him. But the married woman has to busy herself with everyday issues because she wants to please her husband as well as the Lord. I’m not telling you this to make your life more difficult but to be of help. I want there to be as few distractions as possible in your service to the Lord.

The man who is engaged to a young woman and is concerned whether he is conducting himself appropriately—his passions are strong, and that’s understandable—that man should go ahead and marry his fiancé as he desires. There is no sin in that. But the man who stands firm in his resolve not to marry his fiancé and is under no compulsion from others or from his own passions—this man also does the right thing. So the one who marries his fiancé does well, but in view of the brevity of time, the one who doesn’t marry does better.

A Christian wife is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but should he die, she is free to marry again. She can marry any man she chooses, but he must be a fellow believer. In my opinion, however, it would be better for her to remain single, and I believe this bears the approval of God’s Spirit.

Chapter 8