Day 11 - Unrealistic?

Wow! Lot’s of notes in my Bible for today’s reading.  Paul jam packed this letter to the Corinthians!

Foolishness

One of the things that Paul talks about in his letter is the power of Christ. In Chapter 1 verse 18 he says:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

I remember when I fell to the dark side there was a part of me that thought believing in the Bible was silly and not logical at all.  In essence, although I don’t think I ever actually said this, I thought that Christians were foolish for being believers.  Now that I’ve been won over by the Love of God I can understand this verse all too well.

Mere Human Beings

In chapter 3 verse 3, Paul says to the Corinthians:

“Are you not acting like mere human beings?”

Now I get that we are born into sin and that the only way we can become blameless in the sight of God is through Jesus, so I understand that when he says “mere” he is meaning humans in their base, sinful nature, but my question when I read this was “What else is there to act like?”  I know the answer is bigger than anything I can type here.  The answer is to live out what the Bible says about how we should act, and that makes us more than mere human beings.  But what do we call that?  "Christians"?

The Holman Christian Standard Bible words the verse this way:

"Are you not fleshy and living like ordinary people?"

Reading this version gave me the idea that instead of behaving like ordinary people, we should behave like extraordinary people.  Who wouldn't want to get on board with that?

Give Him to Satan To Save Him?

I'm just a little confused about Chapter 5 verse 5:

"...hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the sinful nature so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord."

I get the need to destroy his sinful nature so that his spirit may be saved, but how do you accomplish this by handing him over to Satan?  That seems to be the opposite of what you should do.

I read a little about this on-line and it turns out my tendency to read too literally is to blame for this confusion again.  By handing him over to Satan, Paul meant to not associate with him anymore.  If this man wants to sin, then let him sin and he can leave alone the people striving to be good.  Also, towards the end of this chapter Paul drives the point home when he says:

"...Expel the wicked person from among you." 1 Cor 5:13

This clears up my confusion about this verse, but then it blurs the line on whether we should associate and witness to sinners or leave them alone.

Judging Angels

Regarding 1 Cor. 6:3:

"Do you not know that we will judge angels?"

I wasn't able to find anything on-line that gave me a good answer for what this verse really meant, but I found a lot of references to Angels in general and how they have a "lower rank in the order of creation" than us humans.

"Angels then are not only inferior in relation to Christ (Hebr. 1:4ff) but even in relation to believers. Angels do not know the content of redemption. (1 Pet. 1:12) They do not know what it means experientially to have Jesus Christ give His life for the salvation of sinners. They are not the adopted children of the heavenly Father. In Jesus Christ we become the children of the heavenly Father; the angels remain His servants (cf. John 15:15f. ) Believers are to be crowned with glory and honour (Ps. 8:6), and share in Christ's exaltation which exceeds the dignity of angels. And not the angels will judge us but we will judge them. Paul makes this remarkable statement: "Do you not know that we will judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:3) Calvin opines that Paul refers to the judging of fallen angels."

http://www.reformedreflections.ca/studies/5-reality-of-angels.html

Anyways, I got caught up on the Internet for a while there reading about Angels.  My favorite thing that I found just now was Heb. 13:2:

"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

Unrealistic?
There is a section of today's reading that I question whether or not Paul is being realistic.

"What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who are married should live as if they were not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." 1 Cor 7:29-31

I understand the concept that what matters in this world is that we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and spread the good news, being a light to bring everyone to Him, but the way Paul puts it here it is as if he wants us to live like robots.  Live like your not married? Don't mourn or be happy?  I can agree to the part about not being "engrossed" in the things of this world.  I know I'm guilty of that 100%, and it's an area of my life that I'm working on.

Looking into this a little on-line has cleared things up a bit.  There are two views on the meaning of these verses.  The first brings to point that Paul is saying this 10 years before Christians go through some severe persecution.  The resource I read on-line said there was a prediction about these hard times and Paul was just giving advice on how to make it easier for a Christ follower to get by during these times.  The second view is that Paul was making these statements for Christians to follow until Christ's return.  The author of the article I read agrees more with the first view than the second.

"I favor the first view because this advice Paul gives in this verse, including being as those who do not weep or rejoice, would be both for that time and other times of persecution. The second view would make Paul’s advice for that time and all times forward until Christ returns."

http://inerrancy.org/1cor.htm

I agree!

Selfishness
I underlined 1 Cor 10:24:

"No one should seek their own good, but the good of others."

The note I made simply said, "Instruction to be selfless."  But I got to thinking about this verse a little more.  How different would everything be if we followed this rule?  Is this (selfishness) the reason for a lot of our troubles? Is my problem with patience a result of my selfishness?  Are some of my problems at home and at work a result of my selfishness?  In a sense, I think they are.

The End... Finally!

Like I said at the beginning of this post, 1 Cor has so much in it.  Paul covers a lot.  I couldn't help but make a lot of notes.  And when it comes time for me to journal, I feel that if I leave some of my notes out that I'm short changing myself in the process.  This is my journal, for me to log my thoughts.  I did leave a few notes out, but they were minor observations.  But boy!  This was a long one!  Looking ahead at my notes, I think the journal for tomorrow is going to be long too!