preacheroftruthblog

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1 Corinthians: "We Have Become A Spectacle"

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 1 Corinthians 4:9 The Corinthians were full of pride.  Paul described it as being “puffed up in favor of one against another” (4:6b).  Their arrogance had manifested itself in a divided church full of cliques made up of brethren who…

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1 Corinthians: We're All The Same In God's Eyes

For who sees anything different in you?  What do you have that you did not receive?  If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?  Already you have all you want!  Already you have become rich!  Without us you have become kings!  And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 1 Corinthians 4:7-8 The apostle had just expressed to the Corinthians…

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1 Corinthians: Do Not Go Beyond What Is Written

…that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written… 1 Corinthians 4:6 Contextually, Paul has been explaining to the Corinthians why they were sinning by revering the ones such as himself, Apollos, and Peter who had taught and baptized them over the Christ to whom they should have given all of their devotion (1:10-13ff; 3:1-4ff).  Paul’s message which had initially converted them focused…

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1 Corinthians: Let God Put Me On A Pedestal Before You Do!!

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.  Then each one will receive his commendation from God. 1 Corinthians 4:5 After appealing to the Corinthians to regard him and other evangelists simply “as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (4:1),…

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1 Corinthians: Servants, Stewards, and Mysteries

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 Chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians opens with Paul telling the church at Corinth:  “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ…” (4:1a).  The apostle has spent the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians explaining…

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1 Corinthians: Boasting In Men

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 The Corinthians were definitely “boast(ing) in men,” unfortunately.  Some were boasting, “‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow…

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1 Corinthians: Do Not Destroy God's Temple!

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 1 Corinthians…

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1 Corinthians: Building On The Foundation

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  1 Corinthians 3:12-13 Elaborating on the analogy of the church at Corinth being “God’s building” (3:9), Paul had stated that he had “laid…

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1 Corinthians: Grace, Saints, And Being In Christ -- Jon Mitchell, Editor (Editorial: March/April, 2025)

This editorial begins a study of the first of two letters to “the church of God that is in Corinth” (1:2a).  Paul identifies himself as the author and alludes to his divinely given authority by mentioning how he had been “called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus” (1:1a).  He also cites “our brother Sosthenes” (1:1b), likely Paul’s scribe to whom he dictated 1 Corinthians and…

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"We Do Not Lose Heart" -- Ron Harper

How many times have we heard “For we walk by faith, not by sight?” We know those words by heart even if we do not know where they are found. That statement, found in 2 Corinthians 5:7, is part of a lengthy discussion by Paul. It is, therefore, helpful to examine the larger context. The discussion begins in the previous chapter where the apostle wrote about his ministry. It is also helpful to see…

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Christ Built The Right Church The Right Way -- Steve Vice

A foundational truth mankind has struggled with since the garden of Eden is the fact that God is God and mankind is not.  It was not happenstance that the old serpent tempted Eve with the words, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5).  That makes God appear to be the suppressor of mankind, the unjust one,…

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The Hester-Pascrell Debate On Gambling -- David W. Hester, Ph.D.

On October 24, 2025, a debate was held on the campus of Faulkner University in connection with the Faulkner Bible Lectureship: “Is Gambling Morally Acceptable?” Affirming this was William J. Pascrell III, lobbyist for the Princeton Public Affairs Group, located in New Jersey. Denying was David W. Hester, Professor of New Testament for the V. P. Black College of Biblical Studies. The venue was…

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Who Were The Nephilim? -- Dewayne Bryant, Ph.D.

There are few sections of Scripture as enigmatic as the opening verses of Genesis 6. One of the mysteries of this passage concerns the Nephilim, a group of individuals whose precise identity has eluded Bible readers for centuries. The meaning of the term has been debated by scholars, with little consensus concerning its definition. Many interpreters have understood them to be giants; others see…

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1 Corinthians: The Church's One Foundation

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11 The Corinthians were giving undue loyalty and adulation to the preachers who had taught and converted them (1:10-13).  Thus, the Lord through Paul (cf. 14:37) was teaching them that those who had taught them such as Paul and Apollos were nothing more than “servants through whom you believed”…

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1 Corinthians: The Right Way To View Preachers

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 1 Corinthians 3:6 Since one of the causes of division within the church at Corinth was their misplaced adulation of the preachers who had taught and baptized them (1:10-17), one of the ways God inspired Paul to correct the problem was to instruct the Corinthians about the proper way to view preachers and teachers of the gospel. He starts with…

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1 Corinthians: Don't Act Like Babies

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.  And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh.  For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?  For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and…

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1 Corinthians: The Natural Person and the Spiritual Person

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God… 1 Corinthians 2:12 Contextually, Paul is talking about “the thoughts of God” known only by “the Spirit of God” (2:11).   He had just described God’s thoughts as “the depths of God” (2:10), the “secret and hidden wisdom of God” (2:7), “what no eye has seen, nor ear, heard, nor the heart of man imagined” (2:9; cf.…