Sima BROADCASTER A U G U S T 1 9 7 2
N U M B E R 8
A U G U S T 1 9 7 2
V O L U M E 2
J U L Y R A D IO F E A T U R E S
President . . .
Managing Ed ito r. . .
J. RICHARD CHASE
EVELYN GIBSON
C O N T E N T S
*A S tudy In 1Corinthians J. Richard Chase
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* Panel Discussions
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* Coping With Trials
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Richard M cN ee ly
* A Supernatural L ife In Christ John M acA rthu r
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* E d ited B iola H o u r R ad io m essag es
Cover: Catalina Island, California by Jim Schlaegel
Student Photographer: Kirk Potter
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COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES Sunday, June 4, 1972 President J. Richard Chase, Presiding
Band Prelude: O SA CR ED HEAD NOW WOUNDED, and . . . Biola Concert Band NOW THANK WE A L L OUR GOD, Latham Processional March: POMP & ClRCUM STANCE, Elgar .......... Biola Concert Band (Audience please remain seated) Hymn: CROWN HIM WITH MANY CROWNS, Eluey .................... Jack Schwarz Assistant Professor of Music Scripture: Isaiah 60:21,22 ............................................................. Charles J . Sarver Associate Professor of Physical Education Prayer .............................................................................................. Curtis C. Mitchell Associate Professor of Biblical Studies Anthem: THE PA TH O F THE JU S T (Prov. 4:18-23), Knut Nystedt. Biola Chorale Address: A L IT T L E ONE SH A L L BECOME A THOUSAND. . . Lome C. Sanny President, The Navigators Presentation of Diplomas . ............. Robert E. Welch, Chairman, Board of Trustees
Robert F. Crawford, Dean, Biola College Charles L. Feinberg, Dean, Talbot Seminary
(Kindly refrain from applause)
Conferral of Honorary Degrees Benediction
.........................................................................................George O. Peek Member, Board of Trustees
Choral Benediction: THE LO RD B LE SS YOU, Peter L u tk in .......... Biola Chorale Recessional March: TRUMPET TUNE, Clarke-Hanson .......... Biola Concert Band Ray Lutke, Director ....................................Concert Band Loren Wiebe, D irecto r..............................................Chorale List of graduates in back of book.
K Study in
What causes dissension between Christians? Why do Christians di vide themselves in little groups and then fight among themselves? There may be a good many rea sons that we could come up with, but I suspect that Paul's message in I Corinthians embraces the very heart of this problem. With constant pressure and re peated emphasis, Paul focuses on two major reasons in the first three chapters. As carnal or immature Christians, they think only of them selves; as ignorant Christians they live in semi-darkness and are con stantly making mistakes. These
problems of immaturity and ignor ance will be seen throughout I Corinthians. At times they will be related to or augmented by other subjects or problems that exist within that particular fellowship. But, they persist. In I Corinthians, chapter 4, their ignorance is evi dent. Paul must inform them on how the Christian teacher or lead er ought to conduct himself. Verses 1 and 2 read, "Let a man so account of us, as of the minis ters of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of Cod. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."
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I Corinthians
by J. RICHARD CHASE
words ministers and stewards com bine to indicate that a man must be an effective servant. When we read the word minister here, we are not to think necessarily of the function of the pastor's office to day as much as we are to see sim ply a quality of character that ought to be found in the life of anyone who attempts to lead and teach others. Historically, the Creek word min isters refers to an individual who would pull on the oars in a ship. The individual's job was to hold on to his oar and to follow the instructions of the master of that Page 5
PASTOR-TEACHER Paul states the two basic quali ties that must be found in the pas tor-teacher: the submissiveness of a servant and faithfulness. These are not necessarily the qualities that some of the people at Corinth were looking for. They were less interested in solid teaching and an effective ministry for Christ than they were in that which would im press them or entertain them. Consider first the pastor-teacher as a servant. In verse one, we have the phrase, “ministers of Christ" and also the phrase “stewards of the mysteries of Cod." The two
His task was to follow directions, not second-guess the master. We have seen the Christian teacher as a servant through the concepts of a minister and a stew ard. But there is another quality of character that is found in verse two. There we read, "Morever it is re quired in stewards, that a man be found faithful." This is a wonderful trait, but I have often thought to myself, "Why were not such words as resourceful, innovative, under standing, personable, patient, used instead?" They were not omitted because they are unimportant qual ities of character. Nor is this spe cific reference to faithfulness an attempt to put down such qualities of Biblical character as self-control or humility. Paul just points out that the basic obligation and the overriding quality among servants is that of faithfulness. Now we must ask, who do these servants serve so faithfully? Verse one says they are "ministers of Christ." Do they say prayers for Christ, or provide for Him in some mystical way? No. They are His people serving His followers. A steward or servant spent a good deal of his time taking care of his master's guest in the precise way the master directed. Paul minis tered in this way. Keep in mind, Paul is writing to the Christians at Corinth. He is rendering a distinc tive service to them, a service that God would have him fulfill. He even refers in I Corinthians 2:1 to the time when he visited them and lead many of them to the Lord. There he writes, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to
ship. At the right time, with the proper rhythm, he was to pull on his oar so that the ship would move ahead. Perhaps the best il lustration that we can make today that would parallel the concept that Paul has in mind is that of the racing shell that is used in inter collegiate athletics and in the Olympic games. As you recall, there is a coxswain in the larger shells who will sit and steer that shell. He will also set the cadence for the men so that they will pull on the oars in unison. As they stroke their way on, hopefully to victory, it is the coxswain who sets the pace and who is the master of that particular shell. Teachers, along with all other Christians, man the oars. Christ is the one who sets the pace, sets the direction, and calls the ca dence. In the study of the Word, each Christian can come to see and understand the Lordship of Christ. STEWARDS Look now at another interesting phrase, "stewards of the mysteries of Cod." What is a steward and how does this relate to the concept of a servant that we are exploring? In that day, if a person had a large home or many belongings, he would hire a steward to assist him in caring for his estate. The stew ard would supervise the operation of the entire household. The Creek word that we have translated here for steward very clearly gives the idea that this person is the one who has the control of that par ticular home or that house. The steward is not the master of the home. The owner is the master. But he has been placed in charge to manage that household only as the master would have it managed.
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know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Paul says he came to them bringing the message that God gave him. I think many of you have had the experience where you walk in to a restaurant and a waitress or a waiter has come up to you and has asked for your order. During the course of that meal probably the waitress or the waiter bent over backwards to render effective ser vice to you. In a sense, they are ministering to you; but in a great er sense, they are still servants of the one who owns the restaurant. They were employed by the owner to carry out a specific function. It was at the wish of the owner that the waiter or waitress provided the quality of service that would en courage you or your friends to re turn. The servant Paul has in mind is like that. Even in the Old Testa ment times a servant was never called a servant and set aside with no specific duties and no clearly designated master. A steward in a household had specific duties. In the body of Christ there are indi viduals called to teach, to fulfill the office of the pastor in assisting people in their knowledge and un derstanding of the Word of Cod. These people are uniquely servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, but be cause they are Christ's servants, at His command, they also become servants to the full body. In this unique two-fold relation ship, one must always keep in mind his master and those to whom the master wants him to minister. What are the specific duties that Paul mentions here for these ser vants? It is found in the second part of verse one, "stewards of the
mysteries of God." He is to be a steward and moreover, he is to be a faithful steward of the mysteries of God. I Corinthians 2 told us about these mysteries or special messages that were for the spir itual or mature Christian. Basically, they were mysteries to those who were not Christians or to those who were such poor Christians that they had not developed either the ability or the desire to understand the significant things of Christian living. With this powerful message of Christian living to proclaim, it would be unwise to lay that mes sage aside and to teach something else. It would be like a steward saying to his master, "You have given me this responsibility of watching over the household and fields, but I am not interested in that. I am interested in doing some thing else because I find that it makes me popular with the towns people." That steward would not be a faithful man, would he? Yet, I understand as I look into Scrip ture, that it is possible for a Chris tian steward to cater to the whims of people rather than to be faith ful to his charge. For instance, in II Timothy 4, Paul tells Timothy that there is go ing to come a time when people are going to be far more inter ested in that which is enticing or pleasing rather than that which is solid and sure. Paul counsels him, therefore, in II Timothy 4:2-4, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, re buke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves Page 7
teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Paul saw evidence of this even at Corinth. I do not believe that Apollos or Peter, from what we understand about them, catered to the desires of the people at Cor inth, but there were probably cer tain leaders there who thought they were wise and wanted to be pop ular so they specialized in serving the people but forgot about the instructions of the master. Even today, we tend to cater to the weakness of people. We try so hard to please the people that we fail the master. When we cater to the weaknesses in individuals, we contribute to their downfall and we are building, as Paul formerly told us in I Corinthians 3, with wood, hay and stubble, not with substan tial things such as gold, silver and precious stones. A pastor in the midst of his peo ple can determine what the people enjoy and what they like. Then, without any careful consideration of the Word of Cod, he can con struct messages that appeal to his people. It happened at Corinth. It is happening today. JUDGING OTHER CHRISTIANS Should a Christian judge others? This particular question has been thought through, I suspect, by many of you as you have tried to figure out whether or not it was right for a Christian to evaluate and to pass sentence upon another Christian. There are some who feel strongly that we must judge others. There are others, however, who will quickly quote Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that ye be not judged."
At first glance, Paul appears to support both sides of the question. He tells us in I Corinthians 11:31 that we must judge ourselves. And he is disturbed in I Corinthians 5 because the Corinthians had not judged a case of immorality in their midst. Later we will consider these pas sages and see that it is wise for Christians to evaluate their pattern of life in the light of their ministry or the testimony of the church. This form of evaluation and action is concerned with a man's pattern of life and how it effects the body. Even here caution must be used. Paul is talking about another form of judging in I Corinthians 4, and there he forbids any judging on the position one may have in Christ. Paul reminds the Corinthi an Christians who were prone to judge all ministers that it was, frankly, not in their province to conduct any investigations or ren der any pronouncements on either Paul, Apollos, or any other teacher. Why this strong prohibition against judging when he later urges them to do more judging? It is because we are talking about two different kinds of judging. The first has to do with our position in Christ; the second relates to our procedure or pattern of life as a Christian. Man is best limited to judging those acts that relate to human conduct on the human plane. If immoraity exists contrary to clearly stated Biblical principles (such as adultery) or the laws of man to day (such as marijuana), Christians have the right to make decisions and take action. Both I Corinthians, chapter 5 and chapter 11 will de velop this line of thought. But even
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sition in Him. Further, only Christ really knows whether a Christian is truly faithful in discharging his ministry. Man may again speculate and suggest improvement, but none of this can pass for either final or discerning judgment. I Corinthians 4:3-5 states, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not
in this form of judging, Christian love can be displayed. Christians are not, however, to usurp Christ's role of judging. Christ judges us positionally. Do we know Him as our Saviour? If we do, there is no condemnation that will come. In the final analysis, we will inherit all that Christ has prom ised. Man may speculate, but only Christ can truly determine our po
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Talbot Associated Student officers for 1972-1973: (I. to r.) Front— Rose Charley, Secretary; Ray Schmatz, President; Dave Beckwith, Vice-President; Bill Norton, Treasurer; Back— Ron Apgar, Missions President; Steve Wallace, Missions Secretary. Page 9
mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby jus tified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." On the basis of the context in which these verses are found, I have suggested that these verses deal with Paul's standing—or posi tion—before the Lord as a faithful servant. And as such, the Corinthi ans are wasting their time making judgments. What other reasons are there. We could say that Paul is an Apostle and as such no man can judge him, but verse 5 is so broad it seems to include all men who would be liable to such judgment. A significant reason is found in the very word judge. In verses 3 and 4 where the tone is set and where Paul reveals that only Christ's judgment is valid, a very strong Creek word is used. Krivo is the basic word for judging in Scrip ture. It contains two dominant ideas; evaluating and passing sen tence. From the context, one must determine the sense that most like ly captures the thought of the author. But Krivo can be strength ened with a prefix.The prefix used with Krivo in verses 3 and 4 makes the word suggest completeness or finality. Whether in evaluating or in passing sentence, nothing ap proaching completeness or finality can be found on the human level. That is why Paul says "you cannot judge me — in fact, even I am incapable of doing this job with finality."
Only the Lord knows just where a person stands in Christ—whether or not his heart is really right be fore the Lord, Man can look at the conditions that he sees, and he can make certain judgments or evaluations, and he can ask for certain patterns of conformity. But he never really knows, never really understands where a man stands before the Lord. So Paul is simply saying, "You people at Corinth cannot possibly put an apostle or any teacher or minister or pastor on a pedestal and say this man is doing what God wants him to do and this other man is failing. Your judgment is always little more than human speculation. In fact, the inadequacy of man's judgment so grips Paul that he says, "I judge not my own self" (vs. 3). Paul does not know of any flaw in his message that would in dict him as he says in verse 4, "For I know nothing against myself." He was confident that he was faith fully ministering for Christ. This whole matter is so much in Christ's hands that Paul goes on to say that it is not his (that is, Paul's) personal evaluation of his own message and the clean bill of health he gives himself that secures a favorable decision. Only Christ's judgment counts. Personal confi dence and sincerity in one's min istry is great; nevertheless, only Christ's judgment has final merit. Thus far we have seen that the people at Corinth were off-base in judging Paul or Apollos in rela tionship to their standing in Christ, even in relationship to whether or not they were preaching what Cod wanted them to preach, because they were men and had limited understanding. But the main rea-
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son remains: only Christ can so judge. Verse 5 explains why when it says that Christ "will bring to light the hidden things of dark ness." The word here for "hidden things" is a reference not to unex pected things that may pop up all of a sudden or come out of the woodwork, but they are things that we know about but that we are ashamed of, so we have swept them under the rug. Christ knows this, and He knows how hard we try to hide them or dress them up so they appear to be acceptable. Christ will reveal all of this and only He can then adequately judge whether we have had our heart right before Him. Man may use the expedient form of judgment that may help our wit ness toward the world as in I Cor inthians 5 and 11, but such judg ment can never be compared with nor take the place of the judgment that Christ will render. Only Christ knows the heart well enough for lasting spiritual judgment. Let me illustrate the inadequacy of man's judgment. If a person is on trial in a court of law in Los Angeles, it would be foolish for a group of citizens to meet in a home and conduct their own trial. These people would undoubtedly have limited knowledge of all the per tinent facts. No matter how strong ly they felt, or angry or irritated they were, without access to all material—even what may be re ferred to as "hidden things" — their judgment would be unaccept able. And further, if they did reach a verdict of what use would it be. Society will tolerate only the deci sion of a duly constituted court of law. Their citizens could not be
gin to carry out their sentence. About all they could do is share results of their kangaroo court with their friends and neighbors and then pass on their own bias in the matter. For good or for ill, the courts of our land have been charged with the responsibility of evaluating and passing the final sentence upon in dividuals. And, thank Cod, Christ has the prerogative of holding court and rendering the decision on the faithfulness of Christian stewards. About all man can do is speculate in a limited way the testimony of a church and, as is often the case, foolishly usurp Christ's authority and pass some temporary sen tences. Notice another phrase "will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." "Counsel of the heart" suggests the concept of deliber ately arrived at patterns of thought. These are not just casual thoughts that we have. It is not day-dream ing. It is not the problems we may have with our minds when we sim ply let it ramble and it gets off into areas where it ought not to get. But the idea here is that men at times set their minds to think evil thoughts, or men set their minds to deceive people. Christ is going to reveal the counsels of the heart, the deliberate patterns of thought that were used to either fool other people or perhaps to destroy another person's life through poor teaching. Now, only Christ would know what is going on behind this facade we set up to impress peo ple. Only Christ Himself can be the qualified judge. Judging others is a risky busi ness. Thank God, we are not called on to decide who is or is not a Page 11
er group. Hopefully, they will all see their rightful position as sub servient to Christ. What a contrast we have here. The humble Paul revealing that he is subject to Cod and then indi cating in verse six that these people think of themselves more highly than they should. Why are they off-base in thinking of themselves the way they do? First Paul says they are "puffed up." In the original language, puffed up means "bellows" or "something being inflated with a blast of wind." Paul says that noth ing more than a blast of wind has determined that one speaker is better than another speaker, that one man is to be preferred above another man. In short, there is no real foundation for their judgment. To put it bluntly, as did Paul, they are filled with hot air. Then, verse seven adds another thing. "For who maketh thee to differ from another?" Or, to put it in today's language, what makes you think you are so hot? "And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" In short, what makes you so spe cial? The gifts or talents or any abilities that you have at all came from God. They were not yours. They are Cod-given. Even Daniel has said, ". . . he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." ( 2 : 21 ) It is true that discipline will help develop an ability but remember, the natural resource is Cod-given. Let me add an illustration to show you what Paul is driving home.
faithful servant. Thank Cod, Christ, even though He knows all about, us, will be our judge, not the self- styled critics of Corinth or their
counterparts today. BRAGGING CHRISTIANS
Do conceited people bother you? Do they irritate you with their con stant talk about themselves. Such people bothered Paul because he knew that bragging was wrong, and he set them straight. In a most un usual passage of Scripture, Paul approached the people at Corinth who had been bragging that they knew more about the Christian life and certainly about evaluating mes sages than perhaps even Paul did himself. We begin with I Corinthians 4:6, "And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another." What does Paul mean? The word used for "a figure" is a common reference to "figures of speech and thought." The study and use of figures or schemes was an ad vanced art in Paul's day. These are the techniques used to heighten a picture or to strengthen a contrast. It is selecting words and arranging them in such a way that the impact will be as great as we possibly can make it. So, Paul has used the il lustration of the field and of a building to help these people at Corinth see the subordinate posi tion ALL must take before Cod. Paul hopes that if they understand these illustrations there will not be divisions in the church where one group thinks it is superior to anoth
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Most married women have a dia mond ring. They can look at that diamond and admire its beauty. They could admire the way in which it has been cut and polished. They could, I suspect, find out who the stone-cutter was and who the craftsman was that mounted that particular diamond. They could then praise these men. But they would be off-base if they thought that the beauty of that diamond was simply the handiwork of the stone-cutter. The one who pro duced the raw product is worthy of even greater praise. That is Paul's message. What you have that is truly of worth has been given by Cod Himself. The spiritual gifts are God-given. You can use your talents wisely or unwisely. But ev en the ability to discipline one's self — to use a talent wisely is, initially, a gift of God. Verse 8 adds one final comment on their false impression of them selves. "Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you." By full Paul says, with a touch of sarcasm, that they are filled and completely satisfied. Every need and desire has been met. I suspect that if a person has low enough standards in the Christian life, he may feel that he has arrived. But I would rather be with Paul in Phil- ippians 3 where he does not feel that he has arrived, that he needs to press toward the mark, than to be with the people of Corinthians and feel that everything was per fect, ignorant of the fact that they were immature, carnal Christians and babes in Christ. Paul also says they are rich. This
is the same word that was used back in I Corinthians 1:5, but note that there it said they were en riched by Him, that is through Christ. Now here they are simply saying, "Well, we have everything." I remember several years ago we had a person apply to teach at Biola College. He was a well-edu cated man and a good Christian in many ways. And he was exception ally competent in one academic area. But when I asked him, "In which area do you feel that you can best render service to Biola?" he simply replied, "Well, in all areas. I can teach almost any sub ject." He believed he could tackle any problem and solve any diffi culty. He had friends at Corinth. Paul chides the Corinthians when he writes, "You are full, you are rich, you are reigning as kings." That is, "you are literally in the millenial kingdom reigning with Christ now." Paul then says, "I would to Cod that ye did reign that we might also reign with you." He is needling them by saying in a sense, "I wish we were all in the millenial kingdom, ruling and reigning with Christ. Then we would all be free of this pettiness we must now live with." But they were not in the king dom. More and more it appears that these people at Corinth had felt that it was through their doing, through their strength, that they were acceptable in the sight of God. To knock them off guard and get his point across, Paul uses irony in verses 9 through 13. It is hoped that this strong yet strange passage will bring them to their senses. Verse 9 reads, "For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles Page 13
Christ." The contrast is not between a foolish person and a wise man. No, here is a great touch of irony. Paul makes it a contrast between a fool and a crafty person. It might be that some person would say, "Now I know how to build a church. I do not think we should have Bible study. I do not think that we should have times when we get together as a group to share and to voice our concerns and to spend time in prayer. What we need is a new, clever approach. You people are fools to study the Word of Cod. What we need is incense, colored lights, free punch and cookies." Now he goes on to say, "we (the apostles) are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised." To be honorable is to be worthy of praise, to be held in high regard. Socially, the people at Corinth were acceptable. But not Paul, not Apollos, not the teachers. They are the despised ones. They are the worthless. They lend no prestige to any social gath ering. They could not endorse a candidate for office and find him elected because they are not beau In verse 11, Paul adds, "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no cer tain dwellingplace." Now there is irony in this passage, although it is true that Paul and the apostles suffered all this and more, he does not mean that he goes around as a naked man who has no home and is literally starving to death. He is exaggerating to point out their ar rogance. The Corinthians are full tiful people. PERSECUTION
last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." Here Paul is probably describing a pageant where the undesirable people in a country are to be destroyed in an arena. The con demned are going to march in last and be devoured, for example, by wild animals. With heavy irony, Paul is saying, "You people are so good at Corinth that you are bet ter than we apostles. While you head the parade and take positions of honor in the arena, we come last and are there for sport. Why do I see this spectacle or pageant in verse 9? Because of the words that are used. The verse, "For I think that Cod hath set forth us." The word that is used there is a picture of a display or setting forth so that they can be seen. Then with the word that is used for death ("as it were appointed to death") is a special form of the Greek word for death which was frequently used for the kind of death where individuals were thrown from high places or fed to the lions. Also, the Creek word from which we get our word thea ter is the word spectacle ("we are made a spectacle"). In other words, "we are in a theater where every body can see us — both heaven and earth, and we are put to death." The apostles are martyrs, but not the Corinthians. They are hon ored guests. Do you see the irony here? But now what else does he do to bring them to their senses? In verses 10 through 13 he even ex tends this unique contrast. In verse 10 we read, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in
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if we could get rid of the whisper ing and undercutting that goes on in Christian circles today and learn to do a little more intreating. Let us walk with and talk with one another. I am sure there would be less division and more joy and peace. As Paul closes verse 13, he says, "We are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." This is a graphic picture in their language. Let me bring it up to date so you can get the full impact. If you were to clean your rugs with a vacuum cleaner and then remove the dirt from your vacuum, that dirt would be the offscouring of the rug. Lit erally, in the Creek language, it is what is left-over after you clean or purify something. Paul's message is, "We are being defamed and we are filth; we are what is left-over after they have cleaned up some thing; we are trash to be tossed away. These are strong words. But Paul seeks to bring these people to their senses. Do we need this mes sage today? Any time we feel we can set other Christians straight, fully judge the ministry of a ser vant of Cod, or rest on our per sonal laurels, we need such a mes sage. Paul lived a life of constant service and genuine humility; it grieved him to see Christians brag ging and fighting. I suspect it grieves our Lord when we act like the Corinthian church of old. May Cod work a wonder in our lives! ADMONISHMENT OF BELIEVERS How can you help another Chris tian who is living so improperly that he is a detriment to the rest of the Christian community? Page 15
and are rich; their teachers are poor. He says in verse 12 that "And (we) labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; be ing persecuted, we suffer it." Reviled simply means that peo ple are speaking harshly against us. Then he sets in contrast the word bless. Where people speak harshly against us, we bless, or more spe cifically, have a good word for them. So, no matter what people say to us, we always have a good word for them. Then he says, "we are persecuted, but we endure it." The concept of the persecuted here is to be pursued and to be chased and to be under pressure like a criminal hunted down or a leper that is driven out of a com munity. Paul says that we endure that and we continue our ministry. In verse 13, he continues, "Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." "Defamed" means to be spoken ill of, to be slandered. The idea is that people are speaking behind our back. Now notice this contrast because it is tremendous. When Paul is defamed he, in turn, intreats. The word Intreat is a pic ture of walking beside someone and talking directly to them. Peo ple may speak behind the apostle's back and undercut him, but his approach is not to turn and under cut them. He is not going to wait until the next opportunity and stand up in the square at Corinth and denounce these people pub licly. His approach is to intreat them, to put his arm around them, to walk with them as the word Intreat means, and to counsel with them. Now would it not be wonderful
Talbot Seminary (Myers Hall) at the entrance of the Blola campus is the classroom and office facility for 250 graduate students.
In verses 14 through 17 of I Cor inthians, chapter 4, Paul gives some excellent material for dealing with other Christians, either within our own home or our own commun ity. I Corinthians 4:14 reads, "I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you." Here Paul gives the purpose for his admonishment to the church at Corinth. It is in this purpose that I think we can learn a great lesson. Paul says that his purpose was not to crush them but to counsel and guide them. The word shame ("I write not these things to shame you") gives the picture of turning back upon one's self. Every once in a while we will say that an individual turned upon another person in anger. The image that we get there is that he turned on his heels to set some one straight. The Creek word for shame gives a similar picture but instead of turning upon another person, it is the idea of turning upon yourself. You are turning to yourself and you are remorseful and you are angry with yourself. You are telling yourself off. What Paul is saying is this, "I did not write these things to force you to turn upon yourself." I wrote in stead to warn you. What does he mean by warn? Is it the same as our word warn? Does he want to stear them away from some act? No, this is a very positive word. It comes from two Creek words mind and to place or to put something in its place. To the Corinthians of that day, verse 14 would mean, "I write not these things to shame you, or turn you upon yourself, but I write these things to you to put them in your mind so that you might under stand what you are doing." Page 17
derstand their actions in the light of a Christian testimony. I Corin thians is an epistle of understand- ing for change; not a message to bring misery and remorse. On this point, let me also add a comment on Christian literature— particularly tracts. Some do little more than shame the non-believer. They do not help him understand his need before Cod. Tracts should not be written to make the writer feel better, they should be wisely written to aid understanding so de cisions can be made. I think the very simple but very effective tool that is used by Cam pus Crusade for Christ, the Four Spiritual Laws, is a most effective tool in helping the unsaved indi vidual understand his need and the tremendous provision of Christ. But I have also seen other tracts that do little but tell others off. All shame but no warning as we have understood it. One series of tracts in particu lar that is calculated to reach high school young people has a lot of excellent material in it. But the over-all thrust probably produces more anger than understanding on the part of those who do not love Christ. We can pray that the Holy Spirit will use a tract as we place it in the hands of an individual, but I think that we are off-base if we use poorly prepared material that is not effectively thought out and is not tried out in a number of ways to see how effective it is. We can learn much from the marketing techniques that the world has. They are not going to put out a product, without exten sive testing to see whether or not it will be accepted, understood, and purchased. A good tract—even a
Then, as now, people seldom see themselves as they really are. Paul's first task was not to shame them—that would not be fair if they truly did not know how bad off they were. He seeks first to get them to see and understand the poor life they have been living. Understanding is now more im portant than merely telling off! This is a good principle to fol low in dealing with others. Help them understand what they are doing, help them see the conse quences of their actions. Lasting change for the better is more like ly to come from self-understand ing than just self-incrimination and remorse because of a tongue lash ing. In fact, when we seek to shame people we may be merely venting our anger. If we want to help peo ple, other approaches are better. Is it not strange that we often take more care in guiding an ani mal into good behavior than our own children? Those who have successfully worked with animals know that venting our displeasure by shouting or even kicking an animal seldom produces good re sults. You have to help a dog or horse understand what you want. And you have to blend discipline with praise. You do not want to shame an animal into cowering in the corner. You want him to un derstand and respond. It is strange that we seldom are as patient and show as much love to people as we do to pets. Prob ably we expect people, with their Cod-given intelligence, to under stand more. However, none of us see ourselves as we really are. We, too, need understanding and can learn about ourselves from others even as we seek to help others un
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Verse 16 reads, "Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me." Why would Paul ask them to be followers of him when the basic problem at Corinth is that individ uals were following Paul or Apollos or Cephas or some other leader? This would almost seem at first glance that he is encouraging fur ther division. Not so. Paul says, "Be ye followers of me." By that he does not mean, "I am your leader and you should all become 'little Pauls'." Rather, he wants them to follow his pattern of being like Christ. Paul's desire was to be like Christ. In Philippians we have that spelled out very clearly for us and what Paul is saying here is, "I wish that you could do the same thing that I do — attempt to be like Christ, be an imitator of me in this process of imitating Christ." And to that end we see in verse 17 that he sent Timothy. Why? "Who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ." Paul taught in Philippians 2:3ff that we ought to be humble, we ought to follow the example of Christ and humble ourselves before others. Already in I Corinthians 4, Paul has indicated that these peo ple are puffed up, that is, they are full of hot air, talking about them selves. And now in verse 18 of I Corinthians 4, he comes back to that same idea and he says, "Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you." Perhaps Paul, feeling that since he indicated that Timothy was go ing to come and help teach them, they might think Paul was afraid to show his face. But he says, "No, that is not it at all." In fact, as he Page 19
printed message needs to be tested to see whether or not the intended message is getting across. As pow erful as the ministry of the Holy Spirit is, as powerful as prayer is, we are still obligated to use the new minds we have in Christ to produce effective material. The more we use the intelligence that Cod has given us in producing lit erature, the more that literature is going to be able to be used of God Himself. Paul is saying in I Corinthians 4:14, "I have not written these things to shame you, but I have written these things to bring about understanding." Remember that in Isaiah 1:8 we have an excellent pattern that we ought to be follow ing in our life as we attempt to reach others. There Isaiah writes, "Come now let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." In verse 15, Paul gives the reason for his approach. He writes, "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Je sus I have begotten you through the gospel." There is genuine con cern here. As an apostle, he knew of their response to the message of salvation and he was eager that they would grow and mature in the Christian life. I believe it grieved Paul that some at Corinth would encourage division and even allow immorality to exist without con cern for the life of the Church. He is motivated by a fatherly love and he longs to impart understanding. In addition to love, he was moti vated by a strong desire for change, not an argument.
tive in reaching them. We must ever have before us the objective that Paul had, to build up the body and to follow Christ in daily living. BEHAVIOR OF THE CHRISTIAN Things are never quite as they seem in the world today. No long er are areas black or white, they are tinged with grey and punctu ated with question marks. Is it ever right for one believer to break fel lowship with another? I Corinthi ans 5:1-8 indicate that there may be instances when this will be nec essary. The primary basis to con sider is if there has been some gross violation of a Biblical precept or principle. The first thing we find here is the abhorent sin of incest. The word for fornication in the or iginal is the same one from which we get "pornography." Today's so ciety uses this to refer to printed or visual materials. Originally the connotation included prostitution or any illicit sexual relationships. It is an abomination to God Him self (Leviticus 18:6-8). Paul's concern was that unbe lievers in Corinth would question why such immoral conduct was tolerated in their fellowship. If so, where was the advantage in being a Christian when the same kind of problems were in the church as those upon which society in gener al looked down upon. Even among the Gentile unbelievers of that day incest was contemptible. Paul pointed out that such activity vio lated God's laws as well as the world's standards. There is a very interesting story in Greek legend. Have you heard of the Oedipus Complex? This is an attitude a son may have against his father. Oedipus had run away
says in verse 19, "I am going to come shortly and I am going to see whether some of these who have been talking along with hot air really have power in their lives. By that I mean are they led of the Spirit or pure human desire." He indicates in verse 20 that the King dom of God is not simply a lot of words, but it is a demonstration of the Holy Spirit living in and through the life. So Paul is not afraid to come again— in fact, he hopes to get there. But he does state that they are puffed up and that they need to follow him in being more like Christ. Paul closes this fourth chapter of I Corinthians with this verse, "What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?" Paul loves these people too much to let them make a mess of their lives. So he said, "If this understanding that I hoped to impart to you through the strong passages that I have writ ten will do the job, then fine. But if not, I will have to be more blunt next time and I may have to come with even stronger language than I have done before." I think this kind of echoes what we hear in I Corinthians 11:31 where Paul writes, "If we would judge our selves we would not be judged." That is, if you will listen to the les sons that I have given to you and apply them to your life then you will be using the self-corrective method and you will not need ad ditional correction from me or from God Himself. We must have the proper pur pose in counseling and working with other Christians. We must un derstand people deeply and com pletely if we are going to be effec
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from home to get away from his father. He was afraid that he might do something which would harm his parent. According to historical lore he had been reared as a foster child by the King of Corinth. Later, when Oedipus grew up, he went to the sacred city of Adelphi. His concern was that he might kill his father and marry his mother. This is why he fled. On his way he ran into a man along the pathway who caused him a minor skirmish. A battle ensued and Oedipus killed him before going on to the city of Thebes. That city had been hit by a plague which was broken by his arrival. The people were so jubi lant that they gave him, as his wife, the widowed queen of the city of Thebes. It was then that Oedipus discovered that the man he had killed along the road was this wo man's husband. To make matters unbelievably worse he learned too late that the widowed queen was his real mother. He had been sent away as a child to be reared in the city of Corinth. The word was so stunning Oedipus gouged out his eyes and went into exile. His moth er, who had become his wife, committed suicide. That is quite a legend. Such was well known to the people of Corinth. Even the unsaved of Paul's day considered incest totally unacceptable behav iour. Paul then points out to the Cor inthian believers that people in the church should be brought to see the seriousness of their behaviour (I Corinthians 5:2). Instead of re acting with remorse to the sin, these people became full of pride. Their lack of humility outstripped their concern for Cod's direction. They foolishly felt they could do
anything they liked. There was no grieving or remorse for their sin. How sad that they should think that their liberty in Christ would allow them to offend both God and the world. When a person does not recognize the seriousness of his behaviour, blatantly going on his way without any concern, drastic action has to be taken. Even today there should be an awareness on our part of any deviation from Cod's prescribed course of life. Paul uses the illustration of leav en (vrs. 6 to 8). This goes back to Exodus 12:15ff and 13:7. Leaven is a symbol of that which was evil. It was to be removed from the home so that the people might be cere monially clean, prepared for the passover. When the Apostle writes, "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" he has reference to those little sins which can so easily permeate our lives. Such will always cause great er problems. As Christians we are to keep our lives prepared in ser vice for Him. The danger is that we overlook the small sins until they have grown so large they have got ten completely out of hand. Paul urges the believers to take action (vrs. 3-5). It seems rather severe for him to exhort them, concerning the unrepentant sinner "to deliver such an one unto Satan for the de struction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." The apostle is pointing out that the individual's position in Christ is immaterial since he is saved and has the assurance of heaven. The question concerns his physical body in which the un speakable sins have been com mitted. You simply cannot flaunt the laws of Cod and make prog- Page 21
ery activity? Are we rather to be come islands of separation, totally removed from society? Is there a middle road which we should take? Our study in I Corinthians 5:9-13 answers many of these questions. When we are born again we be come new creatures in Christ. The distinctives of our life should be commitment and conduct. A Chris tian must stand in marked contrast to the pattern of the world. It is true that we cannot completely es cape association with some evil character in life. We are instructed to avoid getting involved "with the fornicators of this world" (vs. 10). The word used has reference pri marily to illicit sexual relationships. Originally, it meant simply prosti tution until later it covered all such sins of the flesh. From this word we get our familiar term "pornog raphy." Next we are cautioned to keep away from those who are covet ous. The idea in the original is to have more and more. This is not simply mild materialism but rather a form of practical atheism. No wonder there is also mentioned extortioners. In our everyday lan guage we refer to this as a crook; one who takes things by force. Paul's point is not that we should climb a mountaintop or enter a monastery. We have to to be real istic. The second point is that not on ly is it impossible to escape asso ciation with these people but also our responsibility is to live in such a manner that they will know that we have been changed completely. The apostle is pointing out that we should not associate with those who maintain they are Christians but are living only for self and not
ress in your Christian life. The in dividual is judged procedurely but not positionally. The latter was al ready settled with his initial recep tion of Christ as Saviour. What exactly do these words mean? Will he call Satan up from hell to take the Christian brother back to the underworld with him? What he re fers to is that this person is going to be turned out from the comfort of the Christian community where his sin is being condoned. He will have to live in the world since society of that day would accept incest. He will be forced to take the consequences of his act. By contrast it is inferred that there is, in Christian fellowship, love, con cern, support and protection for one another. This is as it should be. Paul has said that the sinner will experience no more of these benefits whatsoever. He will have to take his "lumps" in the world. Maybe in this manner he will come to his senses. In this way then the mercy of Cod can be demonstrated. Christians ought not to condone the sinfulness of believers. This is especially true when the activities involve things that are even odious to the world. Our job is to reach the unsaved with a positive testi mony. Always does the grace of Cod remain evident (vs. 5). Man has been wrong, but Christ's work is sufficient to the repentant heart. We need to ask forgiveness so that we may be restored to the fellow ship, enjoying all the blessings which can be ours in the Saviour. COMMITMENT AND CONDUCT What is a desirable position for a Christian in a world of turmoil, sin and error? Should we enter with enthusiasm into any and ev
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