Author Archives: Samuel Chetty

1 Corinthians 7:1-9

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1 Corinthians 7:1-9 (NRSV) – “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ‘It is well for a man not to touch a woman.’ But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. This I say by way of concession, not of command. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.”

I want to start with end of the passage above and then work backward. Paul writes that “it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.” This series of posts has discussed passion a lot. In particular, how faith in the transformation of believers through Christ allows us to accept our core passions and trust God to work through them.

In the case of sexual passion, it is important to understand that this kind of passion does not exist in a box. What I mean by this is, the hormones and neurotransmitters involved with it, such as testosterone, acetylcholine, GABA, and dopamine, are intrinsically involved with one’s physical and mental energy, central nervous system function, concentration, mood, and memory. This is a point which, unfortunately, I often perceive is not well appreciated in Christian teaching on abstinence until marriage.

It is not the ultimate goal of such teaching that I object to, but rather, the means of getting there. Particularly, the tendency to portray sexual energy as “rebellious,” “sinful,” “selfish,” or a threat to one’s spiritual purity that has to be fought against. Even though it is taught that people ultimately need to trust in God for power to deal with these passions and resist temptation while single, the appeal to trust in God comes only after painting a very negative, and sometimes harmful, picture of one’s natural state.

The consequence of this teaching is that it twists the natural functions of the brain into unhealthy patterns. If one’s mind is stressing out over the biochemical processes involved in sexual desire (and day-to-day mental function), the activity of these chemicals is suppressed, causing poor psychological health in one’s day-to-day life. And unfortunately, when these people eventually get married, their brains may be twisted out of shape already, and the damage can follow them into marriage.

Once people are married, God wants for them to be understanding and respectful of each other’s needs. Paul writes, “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer.”

I suspect this understanding and respect is harder if a couple enters marriage with their brains distorted by harmful teaching during their single years. If years were spent trying to conquer one’s self, I am concerned this could lead to an attitude in marriage that is excessively focused on one’s self.

The challenge, while single, is to confront the faulty ideas, fears, or personal pursuits that keep someone from being able to find fulfillment of desires. For instance, if what you really want in life is to be in a sexual relationship, but you have personal quests, or carry certain fears, or believe certain things about yourself or others that inhibit you from getting married, you can seek God to reorient your thinking so that you can be open to getting married but make a wise decision.

On the other hand, if marriage is really not an option, you can believe for God to lead you to an activity or a non-sexual relationship that expresses your passions. But you need to have a positive view of the chemistry behind your passions in order to see how God can do a creative work through you.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

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1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NRSV) – “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything. ‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,’ and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

This passage is centered on the concept of becoming “one flesh” through sexual intercourse. It is important to analyze what this means in order to understand the Biblical mindset for sexual morality.

When Paul writes “the two shall be one flesh,” he is quoting the part of the Genesis creation account that depicts the creation of Eve from Adam:

“The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:21-24).

Although most translations say that God removed a “rib” from Adam to form Eve, I don’t think that is exactly correct. The word translated “rib” is the Hebrew word “tsela,” which is translated as “angular organ” in the Concordant Version of the Old Testament. The commentator William W. Bentley, Jr. viewed the term in this context as suggestive of female sexual anatomy (see “Scene 3” in exposition), writing, “Whereas Adam had been created a bisexual human, God separated the male and female reproductive function by removing an angular organ from Adam and forming another body around it.”

Another commentator, Martin Zender, describes another instance of the term “tsela” that occurs in Ezekiel 41:7, describing the structure of a temple’s “side chambers,” which resemble the shape of a uterus (see 14:00-16:00 in the linked video). Zender also states that the normal Hebrew word for rib would be “ala,” not “tsela” (12:10-12:30).

The “rib” translation is convenient for a kids’ Sunday school class, but the real meaning of the term unlocks a powerful truth about how God works with humanity.

The original Adam, created intersex, had a sense of balance not found in humanity since then. If God simply wanted Adam to have a partner, He could have created another human like Adam. But God was up to more than just that!

I doubt that Adam woke up from this operation feeling good. He probably felt internal irritation and weakness. But, together with Eve, he found something resembling the balance that was lost. Male-female attraction is actually a symbol of humanity seeking God, because ultimately all humanity is lacking something that God has, leading to irritation in life.

During times in life when there seems to be continual frustration from something needed for peace and balance getting taken away, my belief is that God ultimately causes/allows (whichever you prefer) these things to happen, and if it makes you feel any better about it, He’s been doing this since the very beginning of humanity, starting with the disruption He caused inside of Adam. But ultimately, this sets the stage for the Biblical process of redemption, in which God transforms humanity into a new creation, restoring what was lost and creating something even more glorious. And we can believe for this transformation to play out in circumstances of our present lives.

Now, getting to the concept of becoming “one flesh” through sexual intercourse, the significance of sexual intercourse in the Bible is that, by uniting male and female genitalia, humanity is brought into a new state of being that resembles the completeness that it had before the disruption. Since this affects the core essence of one’s existence, the Bible is concerned with the circumstances under which it occurs, and who it occurs with. This is why Paul writes that “every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself” (1 Cor. 6:18).

Sexual immorality is not fundamentally about utilization of sexual organs. Rather, it is about creating a new state of humanity with another person which takes us farther from, rather than closer to, the state of being God has called us toward.

Paul writes that “The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power” (1 Cor 6:13-14). 

God is working on our entire being through this power to bring us into our destiny. The exhortation toward sexual morality is meant to encourage us to live in harmony with this transformative power.

Paul also writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

This is an encouragement to trust in what the Holy Spirit is doing inside of us. On one hand, there is still a lack of balance in humanity stemming from the disruption to Adam, but the Holy Spirit is working with believers on this, so this should be an encouragement to stay optimistic and trust in the process rather than resorting to immoral sexual intercourse out of hopelessness.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

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1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NRSV) – Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

The message of this passage is that the behaviors cited do not jive with the new life that God has given believers and the destiny that He is bringing them into. Those whose objective for life involves pursuing these behaviors indicate that they do not have the vision for life that comes from faith in the Gospel, and thus are actually unbelievers who will not be part of God’s kingdom in the coming eons.

Two behaviors on Paul’s list that have become rather controversial are those which the translation above (NRSV) renders “male prostitutes” and “sodomites.” While these terms may seem to evoke the broad concept of homosexuality, in both the Old and New Testaments, the specific act referenced is sexual intercourse between two men (ex. Leviticus 20:13).

In the passage from Corinthians quoted above, where the NRSV says “male prostitutes,” some Bible translations (including the King James Version) have the word “effeminate,” which needlessly broadens the concept to allude to personality or expressions. To the contrary, Strong’s Concordance makes it pretty clear that this is referring to a role in sexual intercourse.

The other term Paul uses, “sodomites,” has been rendered with the generic term “homosexuals” in some translations (such as the NASB). However, Strong’s Concordance indicates that the term refers to sexual intercourse, with “male” in the word origin.

So where am I going with all this? I know that there are believers with same-sex attraction trying to figure out where they fit in with Biblical morality. Some Christian teaching on the subject has led these people to think that there is a systemic sinfulness associated with their attractions. I went into the translation of words to show why I do not believe in this notion. To the contrary, I believe it is important for these people to feel confident in their core nature and personality, and to have faith that God is working through their nature to bring forth positive developments in their lives.

But what about the specific act of male-to-male intercourse? Except for a small percentage of the population that does not feel sexual attraction to anyone, many people seem to think that if same-sex attraction in a general sense is viewed positively, then desire for intercourse naturally follows and would be seen as an expression of love.

But really, this is not different from some other behaviors on Paul’s list. Such as “revilers.” Sometimes, legitimately righteous indignation gets out of hand and leads to verbal abuse directed at those perceived as immoral or heretical, in the name of “tough love.” On one hand, these believers with righteous anger should respect their core concern about truth and morality. In fact, Paul writes in Ephesians 4:25-27 (NRSV), “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” 

The key is for believers to have a positive view of their core passions but to have a vision for life that involves expression of these passions without problematic behaviors that Paul cites. It is ultimately God who makes this happen. He knows us a lot better than we know ourselves, and He leads us through life in a way such that our unique nature becomes an inspiration to others, and the more that this is realized, the more we receive insights and epiphanies on how to live in peace without the problematic behaviors.

1 Corinthians 6:1-8

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1 Corinthians 6:1-8 – When any of you has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court before the unrighteous, instead of taking it before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels—to say nothing of ordinary matters? If you have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believer and another, but a believer goes to court against a believer—and before unbelievers at that? In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—and believers at that.

Apparently, the Corinthians were quite inclined toward suing each other. Paul admonishes them to find wise believers to settle disputes rather than going to secular courts. I think he is concerned about an image issue. If the church’s faith has given believers a deeper perspective on life, but that does not enable them to solve practical disputes, and they are then reliant on non-believing judges, Paul is concerned that observers will wonder whether the Gospel is all that it is claimed to be. But Paul’s deeper concern is their eagerness to sue in the first place.

Now, if someone has filed a lawsuit against you, there is nothing in this passage to forbid you from making your case in court. In this case, the passage above is directed toward the person that issued the lawsuit.

The real question is, what if you have signed a document such as a license agreement with another believer, which the other believer subsequently violates. Paul appears to advise that certain believers act as “judges” to handle disputes among other believers. But in most societies today, with churches split into many different congregations and denominations, I really do not see how such a “judiciary” among believers is possible. Furthermore, Paul assumes that if the Corinthians took their case to a government court, that they were taking their case before unbelievers to decide. But today, depending on where you live and whether Christians can serve in the judiciary, that may not be the case.

Paul also says “to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Cor. 6:7). What should we make of this?

As with some other matters we have discussed in this epistle, I think it really comes down to attitude. I think what Paul is referring to are situations where a believer may feel the urge to sue another believer simply on the basis that some “right” was violated. I think Paul is encouraging us to exercise the principle of grace in real life. God has the right to punish any of us on the basis of immoral things we have done, but He does not exercise it, and as believers in Christ, God sees us as free from Law (Romans 7), and He works with us so that over time our lives line up with the way He wants us to live.

Similarly, instead of laying the law down on other believers and harassing them over our “rights,” Paul is implying we should be patient with them as God is with us. We can pray for God to work with them so that they become motivated to honor their commitments more seriously, and trust in God for wisdom on how to talk to them about the issue.

At the same time though, even though God does not deal with people in a punitive way, He has determined that His will shall be fulfilled in this world, and He can get people out of the way if they would obstruct what He is working to accomplish through believers (as we saw with the immoral man in the previous chapter). Likewise, in a situation where another believer has obviously wronged you and refuses to correct the situation, and the infraction could derail your progress toward fulfillment of your calling in life, I respect your judgment on what you believe to be the correct course of action. They key is to not make it a self-centered endeavor to defend your rights, but rather, to take whatever action you believe is correct to keep pressing toward the vision for life that God has given you, which is ultimately for the good of those He has placed in your life.

1 Corinthians 5

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1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NRSV) – It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you? For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

There is a man in the Corinthian church living in an incestuous relationship. Paul takes this extremely seriously and urges the church to do so as well. But what really are the circumstances with this man?

Suppose that this man believes that Christ died and rose from the dead to set him free from sin and make him a new creation. Suppose that this man believes in God’s calling to him, and believes that God is working with him toward a future in which he will accomplish great things through righteousness. But at the moment, he is in a sinful relationship. Suppose God has finally had enough of it and tells Paul and the church to “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.” What would this accomplish? In my view, it would accomplish nothing except to end his life prematurely. Under that scenario, this man would have a vision for his life that would last until he’s dead, and would never come to true fulfillment.

To the contrary, I believe that what we are dealing with here is a man who is building his whole identity and vision for life around this immoral relationship. For him, this relationship is what life is about. This contradicts the Gospel message, which should remind us that there is more to life than our passion at the present moment. God has made us new creations and set us on a new path in life as part of his working of all things according to His will (Eph. 1:11). The Christian life is about living in appreciation of this. I believe that the point of this man in Corinth being handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh is to get him to think about God rather than the sexual relationship. If he gets sick and fears that his life is coming to an end, he may seek knowledge of something that transcends this life and recognize that God’s sovereign purpose and the power of grace that comes through Christ are what really give meaning to life. Through this recognition, his spirit would be saved. If anything else were required, salvation would be of his own works or effort at holiness rather than by God’s grace through faith.

Paul strongly urges the Corinthians to recognize the serious of this man being in their gatherings. He calls for the man to be excommunicated. He criticizes the church for being arrogant, yet in all their supposed wisdom, failing to recognize that a person in fellowship with them held an attitude about his life that contradicted the vision of the Gospel message. By maintaining fellowship with this person, the church was legitimizing his attitude and compromising the entire church’s sense of vision for a righteous future. In order to preserve the integrity of the church’s vision, that man had to be removed.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 – I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one.

Again, we are dealing with people who claim to be believers but whose vision for life revolves around these immoral behaviors. Paul wants true believers to have no association with such people. Notice that Paul explicitly says that he does not apply the same standards for association with nonbelievers. There are cases in which you might know a nonbeliever who, despite having built his life on some wrong things, still has some common interests with you on other matters. In this case, Paul is not exhorting us to cut off communication.

It is really important that we view this chapter in light of the previous four chapters, which were all about unity in the church on the basis of respecting God’s calling to each other. If we utilize principles of this current chapter to cut off interaction with other believers simply because they have some issues in their lives, we are discarding the message of unity in the prior chapters, and exhibiting a lack of faith in God’s ability to work things out in others’ lives according to His will. What we are dealing with in this chapter are people with an attitude that is toxic to the vision for life that God instills in believers.

1 Corinthians 4

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1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (NRSV) – Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.


Paul apparently perceives the Corinthian church to be judging him, but he is not bothered by it because he recognizes that ultimately only God can judge him. In our current day, there seems to be a trend of Christians accusing famous church leaders of character issues. In the context of this post, I am not addressing cases of serious moral or criminal offences committed, but rather, judgment on church leaders that stems primarily from disagreements on theological or cultural issues. For instance, those who do not agree with the Prosperity Gospel will accuse its proponents of being “greedy.” Or Fundamentalists will accuse liberal Christian preachers of being “lukewarm,” “asleep,” or “cowardly.” Then liberal Christians will accuse hardcore Evangelical preachers with a fire-and-brimstone message of being “abusive.”

But ultimately, it is only God who truly knows these people and can judge their character. It may be tempting to think of famous preachers as celebrities who are trying to gauge what is popular or see what power or wealth they can gain from their ministries. But only God can truly see whether this is the case, or whether they are preaching out of genuine conviction, albeit possibly misguided. It is in this way that God will “disclose the purposes of the heart,” as Paul writes.

1 Corinthians 4:7-13 – What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

Apparently the Corinthians were first-century armchair experts. It seems they had a tendency to view apostles as celebrities who, like themselves, were very opinionated or image-focused. As a result, the Corinthians felt free to take sides the same way people today might side with certain political leaders or cultural icons. Paul seeks to dispel this notion by showing how apostleship is actually not glamorous.

I have to admit that this is another area where I go through some internal debate. I see preachers who are teaching things that I disagree with, but I see that they have sacrificed a lot to spread their message and that their beliefs enable them to endure hardship with a great deal of grace. They also seem very humble and empowered by the Holy Spirit as Paul describes of himself in the beginning of Chapter 2. Thoughts cross my mind about whether my disagreement with them carries an attitude of arrogance.

At the same time though, when I look at my past experiences from a Scriptural perspective, there are certain things that have to be true. The process of realizing these things was difficult personally. But perhaps that was for a reason, so that remembering the process would keep my ego from inflating and thinking I was naturally “wise” enough to choose to believe certain things.

When my mind is confronted with the fact that I disagree with some believers who are sincere and devout, my thought processes are healthier if I focus on the fact that I am believing what I have to believe as a result of Scripture and experience, rather than trying to build an “identity” around my beliefs to contrast with the identity I perceive from the beliefs of others.

1 Corinthians 4:14-21 – “I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”

I think the essence of this passage is to just calm down and be reasonable. Paul says that his writing in this chapter is not intended to shame anyone. He just wants the Corinthians to stop the incessant, arrogant chatter in order to think clearly and follow his teaching to live from an appreciation of life. When he suggests he might have to come to them “with a stick” if they do not change their attitude, I don’t think this is about punishment, but rather, speaking sternly enough to startle them a bit and at least make them be quiet for a minute.

1 Corinthians 3:10-23

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1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (NRSV) – “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.”

After Christ’s return, we will undergo a review of our lives. My understanding is that by the time this happens, believers will have already been resurrected or converted to immortality. So, on a physical level, we will fully embody the new creation. However, our intellectual understanding of matters will still need to be adjusted. That is what the process described in the passage above will accomplish.

As I said in the first post in this series, when all is said and done, we accomplish in this life what we were made to accomplish. But at the same time, we do things and think things that are not in line with the new creations that we were made to be. It is often difficult to tell what deeds are in line with God’s ultimate vision for us, and which ones are not. We do the best we can in this life, but it is the fire described above that will ultimately set it all straight. The fire will reward acts that are in keeping with the gospel of grace and transformation, and also show us which acts were out of line with that message, so that we can arrive at a full understanding of the new creation.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

This means that a believer’s physical and psychological being is illuminated by God’s Spirit. Suppose there is a house that, normally, would not be very attractive to you. Maybe you don’t like the design or colors, or you think it’s messy. But if a person you really like and respect lives there, and you can think of the house as that person’s place, then perhaps you think more positively about it.

So it is with ourselves and God’s Spirit. Suppose that you do not particularly like another person’s personality, in and of itself. But if you can see that person’s brain as part of the Holy Spirit’s temple, then the person’s personality should seem fascinating and inspiring.

There is also a concept of justice associated with the treatment of God’s temple, as Paul writes, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person.” This applies to both physical violence and psychological violence. On a psychological level, if you destroy a person’s self-confidence over perceived faults, then the consequence is that your own conscience will disrupt your self-confidence by constantly nagging you over your own flaws.

1 Corinthians 3:18-20: “Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’”

The Holy Spirit works with people in ways that confound normal sensibilities. Instead of focusing on judging or critiquing other believers, why not just watch them out of curiosity and see what God is up to? You are going to see a lot of fascinating, and sometimes perplexing, things happen. To “become fools so that you may become wise,” as Paul writes, I think the key is to just get off the soapbox long enough to be intrigued and perhaps amused by God’s working with somebody else, and then you will see others with new eyes and be more capable of giving useful advice if needed.

On that note, Paul returns once again to the subject of sectarianism in the Corinthians church:

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 – “So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

Sometimes, unhealthy sectarian dynamics result not from substantive disagreement, but rather, just differences in personality or manner of speaking. But the teaching of believers being the Holy Spirit’s temple should enlighten people to be open minded to the way God works with others and resist the urge to separate into groups as a knee-jerk reaction to perceived differences.

Since this post opened with the subject of limitations in our understanding of spiritual matters, I will close by being honest about something. When Paul says, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you.” 

I don’t know what that means.