1 Corinthians 11 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Lord’s Supper

¹⁷ But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, ¹⁹ for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. ²⁰ When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. ²¹ For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. ²² What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷ Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

³³ So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— ³⁴ if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

REFLECTION

• Read this passage slowly. If time allows, read through the whole chapter once before reading the selected portion to gain a better and fuller picture.
• The communion service is a memorial. As the Israelites ate the Passover meal, each family relived the experience of its ancestors. Today through the bread and cup, we return to the foot of the cross. So, in the communion service, as we are united with Christ through faith, we share His death and His resurrection.   “Do this in remembrance” invites us to experience the awesome moment when our salvation was won. It invites us to experience the holy God and to offer Him our thanks, our worship, and our praise.
• We need to approach God with respect and great care. The God we come to honor is worthy of our best. Therefore, Paul called Christians for self-examination. We need to examine our hearts as we come to God, renounce any evil we find, and let the service of worship lift our hearts up to God.
• If possible, kneel down to pray. Tell God all your gratitude and other emotions for all that Jesus has done on the cross for you. During next communion service, practice self-examination before partaking it. Remember to take Communion “in remembrance” of Jesus and His Sacrificial Love with respect and great care. And.

1 Corinthians 10 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? ¹⁹ What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²² Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Do All to the Glory of God

²³ “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. ²⁴ Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.²⁵ Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁶ For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” ²⁷ If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁸ But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— ²⁹ I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰ If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

³¹ So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ³² Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, ³³ just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

 

REFLECTION

• If time allows, read the whole chapter. Then read the passage for today.
• Again, the Corinthians were divided. Some held a very strict rule that they would not sit down to a meal if the meat had been purchased at a pagan meat market. Others exercised their new found freedom so liberally that they could eat the Lord’s Supper (communion) and then commit sexual immorality.
• Paul reached to both groups of believers and gave them the guideline to do everything “for the glory of God” (v31). Christians are free because we know the truth in Christ. But we are willing always to surrender any freedom that will benefit believer or unbeliever alike.
• What “questionable” practices have you wrestled with personally?How can the principles discussed in this passage guide your behavior in areas that might be “permissible” but not beneficial?

 

 

1 Corinthians 9 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.²⁵ Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

 

REFLECTION

• If time allows, read the whole chapter. Then read the passage for today.
• Paul presented himself as one who had surrendered many personal rights for the benefit of others. This was not bragging. It was sharing. As such, it was a powerful revelation of the motives that not only drove Paul, but also can energize us as we seek to serve the Lord.
• Note the rights Paul surrendered – and then his motives. He gave up the right to marry and travel with a “believing wife” (v5). He gave up the right to be financially supported by those he ministered to (vv6-12). And he gave up the right to live as he pleased in order to meet the expectations of those he ministered to (vv19-23).
• Why? Paul wanted to make preaching the gospel a gift, not a purchase (v18). He wanted to fit in with others, so as not to personally offend anyone who needed to hear the gospel (vv22-23). He placed such a high value on the rewards Christ will give in the future that mere earthly pleasures held little attraction (vv24-27).
• In giving up the rights as Paul did, how are we like athletes in training (vv. 24-27)? Right now, in the race of the gospel, are you a runner or a spectator? Do you long for the crown (trophy) that God is going to reward you? Talk to God about your role right now, ask Him to help you prepare for the race.

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 8 English Standard Version (ESV)

Food Offered to Idols

¹ Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. ² If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.³ But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

⁴ Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” ⁵ For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— ⁶ yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

⁷ However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸ Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. ⁹ But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? ¹¹ And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.¹² Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.¹³ Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

 

REFLECTION

• Read the whole chapter a couple of times.
• In Corinth most fresh meat was purchased at temple markets, which sold meat offered to the deity they honoured. Some Christians in Corinth argued that to buy meat at such market was participating in idolatry. Others thought this view foolish. After all, the gods represented by the idols weren’t real. Paul affirmed the right of the Corinthians to eat such meat, but urged those who feel free to do so to consider surrendering this “right” in any situation where a weaker brother’s conscience might be harmed.
• Is there something in your life that when your exercise your freedom, it becomes a stumbling block for others? Drinking? Clothing? Music? Lifestyle? Political viewpoints? Legalism?
• Prayer: “Lord, is there someone stumbled because of my freedom?” As you pause to listen, ask the Holy Spirit to bring the person to mind and pray for wisdom and grace to face it.

 

 

1 Corinthians 7 English Standard Version (ESV)

Live as You Are Called

¹⁷ Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. ¹⁸ Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. ¹⁹ For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. ²⁰ Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. ²¹ Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) ²² For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. ²³ You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.²⁴ So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

The Unmarried and the Widowed

²⁵ Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. ²⁶ I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. ²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, ³⁰ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,³¹ and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

³² I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. ³³ But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, ³⁴ and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. ³⁵ I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

 

REFLECTION

• If time allows, read the whole chapter. Then read the passage for today.
• In chapter 6 Paul dealt with those who justified a permissive lifestyle in the name of Christian freedom. In this chapter he battled on the opposite front. Some Corinthians opted for celibate marriage, assuming sex even in marriage was sinful. Some thought they should divorce unconverted spouses. Others, who had been deserted by pagan spouses, wondered if they were somehow guilty of violating Christ’s command, and if they were still bound in a now-empty relationship. In this brief chapter Paul clarified all these vital issues, and answered questions many ask today.
• Paul summed up his teaching with a general principle that is applicable to many different situations. Did God call you as a married person? Then don’t feel you have to be free. God can use us wherever, whomever, we may be!
• So, don’t fall into that awful “if only” trap. If only I were a college grad, we think, God could use me. If only I had a million dollars. If only I’d gone on to seminary. If only I weren’t not married and had kids. The devil loves to have us play “if only” game. It keeps our eyes on fantasy, and off reality. If we open our eyes to what’s around us, we might be used by God where we are.
• What are some of the things that you’d like to have changed in your life? Would verses 17 & 19 provide some direction and principle? Tell God about it and, if needed, contact your pastor for further help.
• Whether you have never been married, are currently married, divorced, or widowed, what is one way you can show your “undivided devotion” to the Lord this week (v35)?

1 Corinthians 6 English Standard Version (ESV)

Flee Sexual Immorality

¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

 

REFLECTION

• If time allows, read the whole chapter. Then read the passage for today.

• In both Ch 5 and 6, Paul has brought up the issue of the sexual conduct of Christians. Here Paul reminded Corinthian Christians that sexual immorality is unthinkable for the redeemed believers because of their union with Christ.
• The newspaper, television and roadside billboard are all covered with sexual images.  How do you see these things?  Nothing wrong? Uneasy but couldn’t help it? Disgusted and turned away?
• Have a quiet time with God. Silently consider your own body.  It’s for God and belongs to God and united with God.  Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you, pointing out any unclean, unjust behaviour or thought.  Ask for forgiveness and God’s help to honor God with your body.

 

 

1 Corinthians 5 English Standard Version (ESV)

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church

¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. ² And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? ¹³ God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

 

REFLECTION

• Read the whole chapter a few times.
• Apparently, in the Corinthian church, someone was having an on-going sexual relationship with his stepmother – “his father’s wife”. Paul understood that this kind of incestuous relationship would be considered taboo even among the pagans of their culture, yet the Corinthian Christians seem accepting of this behavior. As bad as the sin was, Paul was more concerned that the Corinthian Christians seemed to take the sin lightly, and they were unconcerned about this behavior.
• Corinthian Christians were probably allowing this in the name of “tolerance”. They probably pride themselves for being “open-minded”. Paul rebuked them as “arrogant” and should’ve been grieving both for the man and for what they must do to him (be removed from among you).
• The Word of God is relentless. It insists that we face up to our sin whether that sin is indolence, idolatry, or immorality. For if that diseased part of the body is not dealt with, it puts the entire body at risk.  Paul urged them to sever all relationships with those sinning people.  His purpose is for the protection of the church lest they be led into the same sinful trap.
• How do you react when you hear about serious moral and spiritual problems of people in your church? What about your attitude do you think might be inappropriate or judgmental?
• What will happen to your attitude when you grieve for them and others? How would this affect the prevention of sin’s “yeast effect”?
• Ask God to help you take whatever steps necessary to maintain both personal and corporate purity.

 

1 Corinthians 4 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Ministry of Apostles

¹ This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³ But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.⁴ For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.⁵ 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 his commendation from God.

⁶ I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷ For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

⁸ Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!⁹ For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹ To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, ¹² and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; ¹³ when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

¹⁴ I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹ What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

 

REFLECTION

• Read the whole chapter a few times.
• Quarreling over leaders in Corinth was an expression of pride. The faction parties wanted to feel superior, so they claimed to follow the more polished and powerful preacher!
• With rhetoric full of sarcasm and irony Paul contrasted his own way of life with theirs in vv8-13. The Corinthian Christians (in their own eyes) were rich, self-satisfied, wise, strong, honoured. Paul was viewed by them as a poor fool, poverty-stricken, weak, dishonoured.
• However, even the unspiritual Corinthians had to realize that in service to Christ, Paul towered above them all. They even owed their faith to the apostle, who “became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel”. As a father had the right to set the pattern for his son’s way of life, Paul urged his spiritual children to discard their pride, grow out of spiritual infancy, and “imitate me” (v16).
• How would imitating Paul’s way of life (vv 16-17) require changes in your thinking and actions?
• Thank God for the leaders who have formed and impacted your Christian faith and walk.

 

1 Corinthians 3 English Standard Version (ESV)

Divisions in the Church

¹ But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. ² I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴ For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰ According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³ each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

 

REFLECTION

• If time allows, read the whole chapter. Then read the passage for today.
• Paul told the Corinthian Christians that they were immature, worldly and quarrelsome and could not be addressed as spiritual people because they misunderstood the gospel, the church and its ministry (vv1-4). Even a child knows what infants are like. They are those tiny people who cry and scream, who kick their arms and legs without going anywhere, and who mess their diapers.
• It’s the same spiritually. There’s one unmistakable sign of spiritual babyhood: worldliness. They think and behave just like the people of this world who lack the Spirit. Here adulation of leaders, and the “jealousy and strife among” them were characteristic of the way of “merely human” think and act.
• On the other hand, true servants of God aren’t motivated by adulation or a large following. They honestly want to build Christ’s church. And they build on the one true foundation, Jesus Christ. They keep the focus of their followers on Jesus, not on themselves.
• Paul understood that his accomplishments would be evaluated one day on just this basis. Was he working to promote Jesus or himself? When Judgment Day comes, “each one’s work will become manifest” (v13).

Boast about your pastor, someone might come to hear him, and be impressed. 
Boast about your church building, someone might come to see, and compliment you. 
Boast about Jesus, and someone might realize his need, and be saved.

• Everything we do must be founded on Christ. Before God, search your attitudes and actions, and pray that this would be true of you.

 

1 Corinthians 2 English Standard Version (ESV)
Wisdom from the Spirit
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

REFLECTION
• If time allows, read the whole chapter. Then read the passage for today.
• The “wisdom of this age” relies on human senses to gather information, and the “rulers of this age’ rely on the human intellect to put the gathered date together. Yet, Paul said that none of the rulers understood what they were doing when they crucified Jesus. The human senses (the eye & ear) and intellect (the mind) simply cannot grasp what God is doing in the world, “for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (v9).
• The Holy Spirit who inspired the words of Scripture, lives in us, and enables us to accept and apply spiritual truth. He interprets (or brings together) “spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (v13). Paul is saying that the Scripture speaks a language that is foreign to humankind. Only a person with the spirit (ie who is spiritual) can understand what is really being said.
• Paul concluded this chapter by saying that as you live your life all you need is the Scripture and the Spirit to make wise and godly choices. In the Spirit, you have access to the very “mind of the Lord” and can know God’s will (v16).
• Don’t waver back and forth with every breeze of well-intended advice. Listen. But rely on the Spirit to show you what the Lord wants you to do.
• In what area of your life do you need wisdom? Ask that you would be given the true wisdom that comes from the Spirit.