I’ve now completed 1 and 2 Corinthians. Here are some highlights:
Highlights in 1 Corinthians
2:2-5
2 I was determined to know nothing when I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I focused on declaring the clear message of Christ and him crucified. 3 In fact, when I came to you, I was nervous, weak and trembling with fear. I came in a spirit of awe and humility at the task before me. 4 The content of my message and the way I declared it were not with clever, slick persuasion, but with evidence that clearly demonstrated the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 My purpose was that your trust in Christ might not depend on human wisdom but only on the power of God.
6:19
Don’t you know that the body of each of you is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? Realise afresh that the presence of God himself is actually living in you right now by his Holy Spirit! You’ve received the Holy Spirit from God. Don’t you know that you belong to Christ? You don’t belong to yourselves; you don’t own your own body.
9:16
I sense an inescapably strong divine compulsion to preach the gospel. I’m driven by an overwhelming need to declare the good news of Christ. In fact, I will suffer intense anguish if I don’t preach the gospel.
9:22-23
22 To the weak, those who are considered foolish or uneducated, I became weak. My aim was to win the weak. In summary, I’ve become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I adapt my approach and behaviour to be most effective in reaching different groups for Christ. 23 I am versatile in all this for the sake of the advance of the gospel, which is God’s saving power to bring about salvation. My purpose is that I might share in its blessings.
10:31
To sum up, therefore: whether you eat or drink – in fact, whatever you do – do everything for the glory of God. In every activity in your life – even ordinary actions – seek to honour God.
11:23-30
23 As I am writing all this, I need to remind you of what I received from the Lord himself. I have already passed on to you what happened on the night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed. He took a loaf of bread from the table. 24 When he had spoken a prayer of thanks to God for the bread, he broke it into pieces and said simply, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to honour and remember me.’ 25 In the same way, after eating supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, to honour and remember me.’ The shedding of Christ’s blood seals the covenant between God and his people, securing the forgiveness of all your sins. 26 I am explaining this, because whenever you eat this bread and drink from this cup you declare the Lord’s death until he comes again. The Lord’s Supper looks forward to the heavenly banquet when Christ’s sovereign reign will be fully established.
27 In conclusion, let me work out what this means for you therefore. Whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup of the Lord casually or irreverently will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. When you eat the Lord’s Supper, those who selfishly look down on the poor among you are desecrating Christ himself, who selflessly gave up his life for all of you. 28 Examine yourselves therefore, and only then eat the bread and drink from the cup. Carefully consider not only your relationship with God but also your relationship with other believers before you take part in the Lord’s Supper. 29 Why? Because those who eat and drink without discerning the importance of the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 Such judgment is the reason why many in your church community are weak and ill and why some of you have fallen asleep in death.
13:1-7
1 If I speak in human and angelic languages, but don’t love other people, then I’m doing no more than making a harsh, unpleasant and offensive sound like a noisy drum or clashing cymbal. 2 If I exercise the gift of prophecy, and if I understand all the mysteries of God inside out and know all there is to know, and if I have complete trust in God’s power to move a mountain from A to B, but don’t love other people, then I’m nothing. Without love, all my speaking out Spirit-given messages, all my understanding of God’s hidden truths and all my knowledge are completely worthless. 3 Even if I sacrifice myself and give away everything I own to people in need – and if I hand over my body to a martyr’s death and boast about it – but don’t love other people, then I gain absolutely nothing.
4 Here is how love behaves in practice:
- Love acts patiently, putting up with people and situations without quickly becoming angry;
- Love shows kindness – at times tenderly, at times in a firm way – actively choosing to be compassionate towards others and do them good;
- Love isn’t jealous, seeing others as rivals, but seeks to serve others;
- Love doesn’t show off about its achievements, but instead acknowledges what others have done;
- Love isn’t proud or arrogant, drawing attention to itself, but is humble and modest;
- 5 Love isn’t rude, but treats others with proper respect;
- Love doesn’t selfishly seek its own way, but looks out for the interests of others;
- Love isn’t irritable or easily angered, but is patient when life doesn’t go the way we want;
- Love doesn’t bear grudges or keep a record of wrongs, but forgives and forgets;
- 6 Love doesn’t delight in evil, injustice or others’ failures, but joyfully celebrates integrity and the truth.
- 7 Love always takes care: it constantly provides security;
- Love always believes: it never stops trusting in God;
- Love always hopes: it continues to look to God expectantly;
- Love always perseveres: it keeps on keeping on.
14:27-28
27 Now to sum up: you – yes, all of you as the church – are the body of Christ, and each of you individually is a different part of that body. 28 God has placed in the church a diverse range of gifts:
- firstly, the foundational gift of apostles;
- secondly, prophets, who speak out Spirit-given messages to build up God’s people;
- thirdly, teachers, who explain and apply Scripture;
- then those with the ability to perform miracles, demonstrating God’s extraordinary power;
- then those with the gifts of healing, demonstrating God’s miraculous restoring to health;
- those who help others practically;
- those who direct, organise and manage, to keep church life running smoothly; and
- speakers in various kinds of languages they do not know.
15:50-58
51 Listen carefully as I tell you a mystery. I’ll explain God’s plan that was hidden until now: we will not all fall asleep in death, but we will all be completely changed 52 suddenly, in a split second – as quick as the blink of an eye – when the last trumpet sounds. When that happens, the dead will be raised to be imperishable and we will be completely changed. 53 This perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on the imperishable and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
The resurrection has defeated death.
55 We can even taunt death:
‘Where, death, is your victory now?
Where, death, is your painful sting?’
56 The painful sting of death is sin; death is the result of sin. The power of the sin is the law. Law gives sin its power. 57 But we joyfully thank God as we celebrate the victory that he gives us over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 I urge you therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, to see the resurrection as an incentive to persevere in a life of service for Christ. Keep standing firm in him; don’t get knocked off course in any way. Give yourselves always and fully to the Lord’s work. Constantly devote all your energies to serving the glorious gospel of Christ. Do all this because you can be sure that your hard work in the Lord is valuable, not useless.
Highlights in 2 Corinthians
2:14
14 But we thank God, because he constantly leads us as willing prisoners who are privileged to take part in Christ’s victory procession. Through us, God spreads the distinctively sweet fragrance of the knowledge about Christ everywhere.
3:1-6
1 Are we starting to commend ourselves again, to prove our credentials to serve you? Do we really need – as some others do – to have letters of recommendation about us sent to you or even written by you? Surely you know us well enough already, don’t you? 2 Such letters are completely unnecessary because you yourselves are our letter, permanently written on our hearts. This letter of your transformed lives is recognised and read by everyone. 3 Your transformed lives clearly show that you are a letter sent from Christ, the result of our work of service among you. This letter is written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, who has been active among you. This letter isn’t written on cold tablets of stone but on the warm tablets of your responsive human hearts.
4 Because your lives have been transformed by God through our work among you by the Holy Spirit, we have such confidence through Christ towards God. 5 It is not that we consider ourselves to have sufficient ability to fulfil the tasks God gives us. No; we don’t claim that at all. Our ability to fulfil those tasks comes only from God. His resources give us the energy and strength to fulfil his purposes. 6 In fact, it is he who has made us workers with sufficient ability to serve a new covenant. This new covenant is not marked by external adherence to the letter of the law of Moses with all its strict rules. No; this new covenant is marked by the life-giving activity of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his people. This is necessary because the letter of the law always leads to death and kills, while it is only the Spirit who can give life to God’s people. The Holy Spirit makes us new people; he lives in us and gives us the dynamic energy to obey God’s commands.
3:17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We have complete Spirit-given freedom to:
- come into the immediate presence of the Lord in prayer,
- cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and
- communicate the good news of Christ boldly.
18 So we all, with the veil now permanently removed from covering our faces, enjoy the special privilege of gazing at the glory of the Lord as in a mirror. As we do this, we are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ. Slowly but surely we become like him with ever-increasing glory. The source of this transformation is the Lord, who is the Spirit. Praise God!
4:2
2 Instead, we have rejected underhand, disgraceful ways. We refuse to practise deceit and we do not tamper with or manipulate the word of God. No, but by continuing to declare the pure truth openly and boldly, we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
4:7-9
7 We have been entrusted with this lovely, priceless treasure in weak and fragile pots made of perishable clay. We’ve known God’s power actively at work in us in our weakness. This shows that this extraordinary, glorious power comes from God, not from us:
- 8 We experience troubles and pressures all the time, wherever we go, but we’re not defeated by them.
- We’re often perplexed, but we’re never driven to despair.
- 9 We’re persecuted by the enemies of the gospel, but we’re never abandoned by God.
- We’re struck down severely in all kinds of ways, but we’ve not been destroyed.
4:16-18
16 So we don’t lose heart and give up in despair. Even though our outer physical nature is becoming worn out and wasting away, our inner spiritual nature is being renewed and strengthened day by day. 17 Our present troubles are comparatively light and last only a short time. We’re convinced, however, that the present lightness of our troubles is producing for us an eternal fullness of glory immeasurably beyond all comparison. 18 So we don’t focus on the physical things that can be seen. Instead, we keep focusing on the spiritual things that cannot be seen, because what can be seen is temporary but what cannot be seen is eternal.
5:7
7 We live by faith, not by sight. We lead lives of trusting God, focusing on the spiritual things that cannot be seen rather than on the physical things that can be seen.
5:17-21 and 6:1-2
17 Therefore, anyone who is in Christ is a brand-new creation. The old life has passed away: it is completely over and done with. Sin is no longer the controlling factor in our lives. Stop and look! The new life has come and is here now! We have a fresh start: our lives are ‘under new management’. We have a new identity in Christ. 18 All this is from God. This whole transformation is the work of God. God reconciled us to himself – he brought us to himself – through the death of Christ. We are no longer filled with enmity towards God but can experience the loving warmth of his friendship. He has also given us the task of serving others by reconciling them with God, bringing them to him. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world – all things – to himself. The effect of this reconciliation is that God does not count their sins against them. God no longer holds people’s sins against them, but he forgives them. And he has entrusted to us the privilege and responsibility of declaring to all the world the wonderful message of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore ambassadors for Christ. We have been sent with the authority of Christ to represent him and speak for him. In fact, God himself is making his direct appeal to you through us. We urge you from the heart on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. Respond to this tender invitation: come to God! 21 What is the basis of this reconciliation? God took the initiative. He made Christ, the perfect One who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God: we are put right with God. When Christ died on the cross, a glorious exchange took place. Our sins were credited to Christ, the sinless One, and Christ’s righteousness was credited to us. Praise God!
1 As we work together with God, we urge you not to receive God’s grace – his generous and undeserved love, favour and kindness – in vain. Don’t let God’s grace in you fizzle out. 2 Why? Because God says to you in Scripture:
‘I listened to your prayers at the right time,
the day of God’s favour,
and I helped you on the day of salvation.’
- Stop and look! Now is the time to seize the moment and come to the Lord. Don’t refuse God’s offer of peace.
- Look and act! Right now, today, is the day of salvation, the opportunity to enjoy all the privileges that are yours in Christ. Don’t delay in turning to the Lord.
6:3-10
3 We don’t put stumbling blocks in anyone’s path by what we do or say. No one will then be able to discredit our service for God. 4 Instead, we commend ourselves as God’s servants in all we do. We don’t give up, but keep going by faithfully depending on the Lord, as we experience troubles, hardships and terrible distress. 5 We’re beaten, imprisoned and attacked by angry mobs. We’re exhausted because we’ve worked our fingers to the bone. We don’t sleep at night and we go without food. 6 Nevertheless, we lead lives of purity, integrity and discernment. We’re patient and kind. In other words, our lives show the fruit of the Holy Spirit and sincere love. 7 We declare the truth of the gospel as we depend on the power of God. We’re equipped with the weapons of righteousness for both hands – right for attack and left for defence. 8 Sometimes we’re honoured and at other times we’re discredited. People may slander us, dragging our names through the mud, or they may take their hats off to us in praise. We’re treated as con artists, but all the time we’re authentic and genuine. 9 We’re considered by some to be insignificant nobodies, while we’re recognised by others as well known. We often face death, but look at us: we’re still very much alive! We’re punished severely but not killed. 10 We’re desperately sad, but at the same time we’re always over the moon with joy. We’re poor – we’ve not got two pennies to rub together – but our lives enrich many people spiritually. We own nothing, but in reality we possess everything.
6:17
17 Therefore:
‘Come out from their midst;
be separate from them.
Reject the worldly way of life,
and lead lives that are radically different from those around you,
says the Lord,
Touch nothing impure that will defile you,
Then I will welcome you into my presence.’
7:11
11 Stop and look at how many positive effects this godly sorrow has produced in you:
- what earnestness you show on pursuing God;
- what eagerness to clear yourselves of blame;
- what righteous anger you express at your past behaviour;
- what reverent fear you have of God;
- what longing for holiness;
- what zeal you burn with to obey Christ; and
- what justice you display for what is right.
At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
8:1-5
1 Now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about God’s grace – his generous resources that flow from his undeserved love, favour and kindness – which he has shown the churches in Macedonia. 2 When they were going through an ordeal of intense suffering, their vibrant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in extravagant generosity. 3 I confirm that they weren’t coerced in any way but they gave freely and faithfully as much as they could afford. In fact, they even gave sacrificially, beyond what they could afford. 4 They pleaded with us humbly and urgently to let them share in the gracious privilege of helping provide relief for the Lord’s holy people in Jerusalem. 5 The help they gave was not simply as we expected, in terms of their giving financial help. They went beyond our expectations by first giving themselves – committing themselves fully – to the Lord and then also to us, according to God’s will.
8:9
9 Why? Because you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ – his extravagant love, favour and kindness – may that inspire you to give generously. Although he was rich, enjoying glory with his Father before the universe was created, yet for your sake he became poor. He gave up all his rights and took the nature of a humble servant, being born a real human being. The result was that because of his poverty you might become rich. You’ve been enriched with great spiritual wealth to enjoy the privileges of a right relationship with God, forgiveness of sins, adoption as God’s children, and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.
9:7
7 Each one of you should give as you’ve decided in your heart. The attitude with which you give is important. You shouldn’t feel sad because of what you’re giving away or feel pressured because you’re being forced to give. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver: he delights in the person who gives with a smile in their heart.
9:15
15 Thank God for his gift that is too marvellous for words! We are deeply grateful for the gift of Jesus Christ and his salvation.
12:7-10
7 Therefore to keep me from becoming proud of the incredibly wonderful revelations I received from God, I was given a thorn in my flesh. This was a messenger sent from Satan to inflict intense pain and torment me. 8 I pleaded in prayer to the Lord Jesus three times to remove this thorn from me. 9 But he spoke to me with gentle but firm assurance, ‘I promise you that I will give you my grace. My tender love and kindness will be enough for you because my power reveals itself best in your weakness.’ When we’re aware of our complete weakness and turn to Christ to help us, we can know his power strengthening us in our suffering. I will therefore boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, rather than pray for the Lord to take away the painful suffering. It is in my weakness that the powerful resources of Christ himself rest on me to give me protection and strength to continue to follow him. 10 I therefore not only accept – but even take pleasure in – weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficult situations (tight corners). I endure all these for Christ because when I am weak, then I depend on Christ and become strong in him.
13:5
5 Carefully examine yourselves to see whether you are really following the faith and are continuing to trust in Christ. Test yourselves thoroughly. Make sure that the way you behave is consistent with the teaching that you claim to believe. You know and experience God deeply, don’t you? Surely you realise that Jesus Christ actually lives in you, don’t you? That is, unless of course you fail the test!
13:13-14
13 All God’s people send you their greetings.
14 I pray that:
- the grace – the wonderfully generous and undeserved kindness and favour – of the Lord Jesus Christ,
- the lavishly tender love of God the Father,
- and the deeply special partnership of the Holy Spirit
will be with you all to serve this three-in-one God.
At the time of writing I have completed drafting Galatians and am now editing Hebrews.
