Paul makes his body
his slave so that he may not be disqualified.
Not disqualified
from heaven, but disqualified from the joy of serving God as a
preacher and the joy of seeing myriads of people in heaven because of
his preaching.
Paul is talking in
this passage about being a successful preacher, about winning many
people to Christ. He compares this effort to a race, or to a boxing
match. So, Paul seems to be talking about being disqualified from
this race, from the honor of preaching the gospel and the honor of
receiving the victor’s crown (1 Corinthians 9:25). If he does not
keep in good spiritual shape he will disqualify himself.
So what is that
reward, or “crown?”
When Paul refers to
a crown it seems likely he is referring to the people he has won to
Christ and those he hopes to win to Christ. We see in Philippians 4:1
that Paul calls the people “my joy and crown,” and in 1
Thessalonians 2:19 he writes: “For what is our hope, our joy, or
the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus
when he comes? Is it not you?”
So, when Paul speaks
of being disqualified, he means that he does not want to be
disqualified from preaching and from winning even more people
to Christ. He looks forward to the largest possible crowd of people
in heaven as a result of his ministry – that is his heavenly crown.
Also, in the
here-and-now, he does not want to lose the reward of preaching the
gospel. He loves the ministry God has given him. In 9:18 he says his
reward is in offering the gospel for free and declining to use his
rights to charge for it, and in 9:23 he says he preaches so he can
partake in the gospel’s blessings. In 9:17 Paul says it is “woe”
to him if he does not preach the gospel. I think he loves preaching
God’s gospel so much that it would be agony not to preach it. How
sad he would be to give that up by refusing to be disciplined so that
he would be a fit tool for God to use.
1
Corinthians 10:12
If
you think you are standing firm be careful that you don’t fall.
In
our daily walk with God we can become self-confident and fall. This
falling does not mean we are permanently condemned, but simply that
we have stumbled.
1
Corinthians 11:29-32
The
one who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats
and drinks judgment on himself.
We
should prepare our hearts to receive the bread and the cup, but if we
don’t and we take part in this holy activity thoughtlessly then we
may face judgment. Paul says this judgment may include weakness,
sickness, or even death. Paul says such judgment is a discipline from
God so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
2 Corinthians
13:11
Be complete,
comforted, like minded, live in peace and God will be with You.
God will be with us
in our interactions with each other and in our daily life.
1 Corinthians
15:1-2
People are saved if
they hold fast to the word, unless they believed in vain.
Are you holding fast
to the word? Yes, of course, you slip at times, but if holding on to
God’s word is your general tendency, then that is strong evidence
that you really believed and did not believe in vain, or “without
effect,” as the Amplified Version puts it.
A few verses further
on, in 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul illustrates this “holding fast.”
He says that he worked harder than all the other apostles, but then
he amends that to say, “yet not I, but the grace of God that was
with me.” So, Paul worked harder than any of the other apostles,
but more technically, it was God’s grace working through him. We
may say the same about ourselves: We hold fast to the word, yet not
ourselves, but the grace of God that is with us. If we don’t hold
fast it is because the grace of God is not with us, and if it is not
with us that is because we never really believed in the first place.
1
Corinthians 15:10
Paul
says he is what he is by the grace of God and that he worked harder
than all the others, but not him, but the grace of God within him.
When
Paul says he worked harder than all the others he is speaking in a
common manner, but notice that he then clarifies his meaning by
saying that actually – down deep – it is not him who worked
harder, but the grace of God at work in him.
1 Corinthians
15:14,17
If Christ was not
raised your faith is in vain. If Christ was not raised you are still
in your sins.
Paul is not
questioning whether Christ was raised, but answering those who say
there is no resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12). If there was no
resurrection, he argues, then Christ wouldn’t have been resurrected
and these people’s faith would be in vain. But if Christ was
raised from the dead, which is Paul’s point, then if we have faith
in Him we are cleansed from our sins.
2
Corinthians 1:21-22
God
makes us stand firm in Christ.
2
Corinthians 2:15
We
are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those
who are perishing.
2 Corinthians
5:10
We must appear
before the judgment seat of Christ to be recompensed for deeds in the
body – good or bad.
This seems to be
addressed mostly to believers. It is preceded by discussion of how we
long to be clothed with our heavenly home and how the Spirit has been
given to us as “a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor.
5:5). But we will still appear before the judgment seat of Christ to
receive a reward for the good we’ve done, or to have such special
rewards withheld, or even, as in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, to have any
evil works burned away, though we ourselves will be saved.
2
Corinthians 5:20-21
Paul
implores the Corinthians on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to
God.
2 Corinthians 6:1
Don’t receive the
grace of God in vain.
Paul is telling
people not to listen to (“receive”) the grace of God without
responding to it, since that would be “in vain”.
2 Corinthians
5:17
If in Christ you are
a new creature, the old has passed away and the new has come.
2 Corinthians
5:21
God made Christ sin
for us that we might be the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians
13:5
Test if you are in
the faith – Is Jesus in you?
We need to be in the
faith; it is critical and so we should examine ourselves to make sure
that we are.
Galatians 1:4
Jesus gave himself
for our sins to rescue us from this present age.
Galatians
2:15-16
Man
is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.
The law justifies no-one.
Galatians
2:17
We
seek to be justified in Christ.
In
the previous verse Paul has just emphasized that our justification is
by faith in Christ alone, so why do we need to “seek” to be
justified? Since he goes on to discuss (2:20) the “life I live in
the body,” I believe he is speaking about our daily walk, of
seeking to live righteously in Christ day by day.
Galatians
2:19-20
Paul
says he has died to the law that he might live for God. He has been
crucified with Christ, and it is no longer he who lives but Christ
lives in him. He lives his bodily life in Jesus.
Galatians
2:21
If
righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for
nothing.
Galatians
3:2-5
Paul
reminds the Galatians that they began their spiritual lives through
faith but admonishes them for now trying to live their lives out by
their own efforts.
Galatians
3:6-9
Paul
cites Abraham as an example of one who believed, and he adds that
those who believe are children of Abraham, and he says that the
scriptures foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.
Galatians
3:11
No
one is justified before God by the law.
Galatians
3:13-14
Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law so the blessing given to
Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus so that we might
receive the promise of the spirit.
Galatians
3:22
What
was promised in scripture is given through faith in Jesus Christ to
those who believe.
Galatians
3:24-25
The
law was put in place to lead us to Christ that we might be justified
by faith. Now that we have faith we no longer need the supervision of
the law.
Galatians
3:26-29
Paul
says the Galatians are sons of God through faith in Jesus. All who
have been baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ.
If you belong to Christ you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according
to the promise.
Being
baptized into Christ is a spiritual event resulting from faith. It
may or may not involve physical water. See notes on Mark 16:16.
Galatians 5:2
If you receive
circumcision Christ is of no benefit to you.
This immediately
follows a reminder that “Christ has set us free,” and that we
should not again take on “a yoke of slavery.” So Paul means that
if you try to obey the ceremonial law – particularly circumcision –
and rely upon it to live a righteous life, then you are not trusting
in Christ and so “Christ will be of no value to you at all” in
living righteously. This does not seem to refer to salvation.
Galatians 5:4
If you seek to be
justified by the law then you are alienated from Christ.
When Paul talks of
believers who have “fallen from grace,” he means that they are
not appropriating the grace Christ can give them to live out their
faith in their daily lives, not that they lose eternal life. If you
try to obey the ceremonial law, relying upon it to live a righteous
life, you are not trusting in Christ.
Galatians 5:19-21
Those who practice
these sins will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul is saying that
people who practice the sins he lists here – and he seems to mean
that they constantly indulge in them – are showing that they have
not trusted Christ. He says in Galatians 5:24 that “those who
belong to Christ” have crucified the sinful nature, suggesting that
the ones who do practice these sins have not crucified
the sinful nature and do not belong to Christ; in other words,
that they have not believed in Him.
By the way, when
Paul speaks of crucifying the sinful nature, he does not seem to mean
that it no longer has power, but rather that we should be completely
separated from it and treat it as if it were dead. We see that the
sinful nature is not powerless because he warns in Galatians 5:13 not
to indulge the sinful nature, and in 5:16 not to gratify the sinful
nature, and in 5:17 he says that the sinful nature and the Spirit are
in conflict.
Galatians 6:4
Through the cross
I’ve been crucified to the world and the world to me.
Jesus did the work,
being crucified for us and setting us apart from the world. It is not
by our efforts.
Galatians
6:8
The
one who sows to please his sinful nature will from that nature reap
destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal
life.
In
Galatians 5:19-21 Paul lists the kind of things we can expect if we
sow to the sinful nature (sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery,
idolatry, witchcraft, etc.), and warns that such people will not
inherit eternal life. But, just a few verses later, in 5:24, Paul
says that “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the
sinful nature with its passions and desires.” So, those who sow to
their sinful nature are those who do not belong to Christ, and those
who do belong to Christ have sown – and do sow – to please the
Spirit, and they will reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:15
What counts is a new
creation.
What counts is
Christ making us into a new creation, not our old self trying to obey
the law.
Ephesians 1:6-7
God bestowed grace
on us in the Beloved [Jesus]. We have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians
1:13
Paul
says the Ephesians were included in Christ when they heard the word
of truth, the gospel. They believed and were marked in Him with a
seal, the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians
2:6
God
raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly
realms in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians
2:8-9
We
have been saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves. It
is the gift of God and not by works.
Ephesians
2:15-17
Jesus
abolished the law to reconcile both Jews and Gentiles, making them
one and reconciling them to God through the cross.
Ephesians 3:16-17
Paul prays that the
Ephesians would be strengthened by the Spirit so that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith.
Paul is not saying
Christ does not live in their hearts. We can see that he
recognizes the Ephesians are saved in Ephesians 3:16, where he prays
that God would strengthen them (not save them, as they’ve already
been saved), and in 3:18 that they might recognize “together with
all the saints” (suggesting that they are among the saints) the
depth and width of Christ’s love, and in 3:19 that they would “be
filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
So, Paul intends
this as an intensifier. His meaning is that the Ephesians need to
trust Jesus even more so they will fully appreciate Him, that
they would allow Jesus to “dwell” in their hearts, that they
would experience “all the fullness of God,” in other words, that
they would allow Christ to settle down and really make Himself at
home in their hearts. The Living Bible puts it this way: “I pray
that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts.”
Ephesians 4:1
We should live up to
the calling we have received.
God does not take
away our choice when we become believers. We need to live up to our
calling by giving our lives daily to Jesus.
Ephesians 5:5
No person who is
immoral, impure, or covetous has an inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God. Such people are idolaters.
Paul is referring to
non-believers. He is warning the Ephesian believers not to be
partners with these immoral, impure, and covetous people, idolaters
who will not inherit the kingdom of God (Ephesians 5:7). We should
not help these people advance the cause of unrighteousness.
Philippians 2:12
Work out your
salvation with fear and trembling.
Work out what is in
you very carefully, with fear and trembling, because it is God at
work within you (Philippians 2:13). We have salvation within us, now
let us express it outwardly, carefully and in deep reverence for God.
We should work out our salvation as if we were handling a rare and
valuable vase.
Philippians
3:8-9
Paul
considers all things rubbish that he may gain Christ and be found in
Him, not having a righteousness of his own, but that which is through
faith in Christ, from God and by faith.
The
righteousness Paul wants to gain here is the righteousness of living
daily for Jesus. We know this because in the next verse, Philippians
3:10, Paul says he want to share in Jesus’ sufferings and to
become like Him in his death, things that are only a part of this
life.
Philippians
3:10-11
Paul
wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the
fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, and to be like Him in death,
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul
is not here hoping that “somehow” he will be able to earn his way
to being resurrected. He is, I think, expressing wonder that
“somehow” – in some manner he does not fully understand –
Christ will do that for him. In the very next verse, Philippians
3:12, he says that he presses on “to take hold of that for which
Christ Jesus took hold of me.” So, Christ has already taken hold of
him; Paul simply wants to conform his life as best he can to what
Jesus wants.
Colossians
1:20
Through
Christ God reconciled to Himself all things in heaven and in earth by
making peace with his blood shed on the cross.
Colossians
1:21-23
We have been
reconciled to God and are without blemish and without accusation if
we continue in the faith and are not moved from the hope of the
gospel.
Paul has just
finished saying that God has brought the Colossians into the
kingdom of the Son (1:13) and that He has reconciled them to
God (1:22), but then he adds an “if” – if they continue
firm in their faith.
Since Paul has just
finished saying that God has reconciled the Colossians to God,
it would be very odd for the “if” to mean that what has already
happened depends upon our future behavior.
But I don’t think
Paul means that. I think he means what he says in 2 Corinthians 13:5,
that we should examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith.
We should ask ourselves if we are continuing in the faith, and
if we are not, then we should ask ourselves if we ever
really believed in Jesus in the first place?
So, to paraphrase:
We can know we are reconciled to God and are without blemish or
accusation if we see faith at work in our lives.
Colossians
2:11-13
Our
sinful nature was circumcised,
put
off, by Christ, and
we
have been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through our
faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Just
as it is a spiritual circumcision Paul is speaking of here, so it is
also a spiritual baptism. Our old self has been buried with Christ –
as is symbolized in physical baptism when we are dunked under water –
and then we are raised to life through our faith, as is symbolized
when we come up out of the water in physical baptism. But the
spiritual baptism does not require water, as we can see in
Acts 11:16, where Peter is surprised to see God baptizing Gentiles in
the Holy Spirit.
Colossians
3:3-4
We have died with
Christ and our life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ appears
we will appear with Him in glory.
1 Thessalonians
1:7,8
The Thessalonians
were a model to all the believers. Their faith in God had become
known everywhere.
1
Thessalonians 1:10
Jesus
rescues us from the coming wrath.
2 Thessalonians
1:8
God will punish
“those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
In context this
appears to be directed at those who reject the gospel.
2
Thessalonians 2:13
God
saved the Thessalonians through the sanctifying work of the Spirit
and through their belief in the truth.
1 Timothy 1:15
Jesus came into the
world to save sinners.
1
Timothy 1:16
Those
who believe on Jesus receive eternal life.
1 Timothy 2:4-6
God wants all to be
saved and come to know the truth. Christ is the one mediator between
God and man. He gave himself a ransom for all.
1 Timothy 2:15
Women will be saved
through childbearing if they continue in faith, love and holiness
with propriety.
This refers to being
saved from the power of sin in our daily lives. It appears Paul is
saying that we should keep busy with the good tasks of life to
prevent our minds from wandering into evil.
1 Timothy 4:10
God is the savior of
all men, and especially of those who believe.
God being the savior
of all people does not mean everyone will accept His salvation. Only
those who believe enjoy the benefit of God being their savior.
1 Timothy 4:15-16
Be diligent,
persevere and “you will assure salvation for yourself and those who
hear you.”
The context is that
of Paul instructing Timothy on his church leadership duties, so the
salvation referred to here seems to be to the daily salvation from
sin. I think Paul is saying that by his devotion to his duty Timothy
will save himself from slipping, from falling into sin, from failing
to be what God wants him to be. And in the same way, he will save his
congregation from the same failings.
1
Timothy 6:12
Paul
urges Timothy to fight the good fight of faith and to take hold of
the eternal life to which he was called when he made his confession
before many witnesses.
Paul
is encouraging Timothy here to live a godly life; I don’t think he
at all means that eternal life might slip out of Timothy’s hands if
he doesn’t hold on to it, but rather that for Timothy – and us –
to live for Christ in this life we need to take hold of eternal life
in our minds, to focus on eternity, so we are not led astray by the
glittering distractions of the world.
1
Timothy 6:18-19
Those
who are rich should do good and be rich in good deeds, thereby laying
up treasure for themselves in the coming age, so they may take hold
of the life that is truly life.
Their
good deeds do not get them to heaven, but they will result in a
treasure for them in heaven and true life here on earth.
2 Timothy 2:11-12
If we died with Him,
we will live with Him. If we endure we will reign with Him. If we
deny Him, He will deny us.
Paul is quoting a
common saying that appears to be directed at people in general. Those
who deny Jesus are those who never became believers. It is similar to
Matthew 10:23, “Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him
before my Father in heaven,” or Mark 8:38, where Jesus says if
anyone is ashamed of Him in this adulterous and sinful generation, He
will be ashamed of him when he comes in His Father’s glory. In the
same way, when this passage refers to those who deny Him, it seems to
mean those who refuse to accept Jesus in the first place, not
believers.
Also note that those
who died with him (by surrendering their lives to Him in faith) will
live with Him. Reigning with Him is a special reward in heaven for
endurance.
Titus 2:11
The grace of God
brings salvation to all.
Will we accept that
salvation He brings us? That is a different question.
Titus
2:14
Jesus
gave Himself to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify us.
Titus
3:4-5
Our
God and Savior saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy. Through the washing of rebirth and renewal
by the Holy Spirit.
Titus
3:7
We
have been justified by Jesus’ grace that we might become heirs,
having the hope of eternal life.
Hebrews
1:3
Jesus
provided purification for sins.
Hebrews
2:9
Jesus
tasted death for everyone.
Hebrews 2:14-15
Jesus took on flesh
and blood to go through death to free us who were enslaved by the
fear of death.
Hebrews
2:17
Jesus
made atonement for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 3:6
We are Christ’s
house if we hold on to our courage and hope.
We, the church,
are Christ’s house here on earth, and the church will remain
Christ’s house on earth while it holds on to its courage and hope.
We need to
understand the “we” in this verse as, “we the church” because
earlier the author makes clear that he is referring to groups of
people, not individuals. In verse 3:2,6 the author says that Moses
was faithful in God’s house (the people of Israel), and in 3:6 he
says that Jesus was faithful over God’s house (the church).
Hebrews 3:14
We share in Christ
[or, we share “all He has for us” Amplified Version] if we hold
fast the beginning of our assurance until the end.
We share with Christ
while we remain confident in Him, trust in Him. If we maintain our
confident assurance until the end of our lives, with no gaps, then we
fully share with Him and all He has for us in this life, and,
of course, in the next life. The use of the present tense – “share”
rather than “will share” – seems to indicate that this is
talking primarily about life in the here-and-now, though, obviously,
if we have never given our lives to Christ in the here-and-now, then
we will never share with Christ in eternity.
Hebrews 3:18-19
Those who were
disobedient didn’t enter God’s rest because of their unbelief.
In this passage,
disobedience is equated with unbelief. If we believe, we are being
and will be obedient, and if we do not believe we are being and will
be disobedient. We tend to act in accordance with what we really
believe – not perfectly, not always, but generally.
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