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Jul 27, 2022
JEREMIAH
13-14:
In
yesterday’s reading, Jeremiah complained to the Lord,
12:1
“Lord, if I argued my case with you,
you would [be shown//prove] to be
right.
Yet I must
question you about matters of justice.
Why are the wicked so
prosperous?
Why do
dishonest people succeed?
And the Lord replied in an answer that bears reading in context and needs some thinking about,
“Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against
people,
how can you race
against horses?
If you
can't even stand up in open country,
how will you manage in the jungle by the
Jordan?
PSALM 144:
This poem is quite a contrast with what we have
just heard in Jeremiah. This is the joyful prayer of a king who is
leading his people according to the will of God.
1Corinthians 1:
In Paul’s day, Corinth was a metropolis on the
Mediterranean Sea with a population of between one hundred and
fifty thousand and three hundred thousand Roman citizens and about
460,000 slaves. There was evidently a healthy criminal population,
and the city was a center of banking, so there were incredibly
wealthy people there. The city was full of idol shrines of deities
from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and there was cult
prostitution.
Some commentators claim that 1 Corinthians contains parts of two letters from Paul, so that 2nd Corinthians might actually be a third or fourth letter. I don’t buy that.
Key topics of the letter include the divisions in the church, the obstacles to sharing the Gospel, God’s wisdom as it appears to Greeks and Jews, partnership among apostles of Christ, vice in the church, various instructions about marriage, the Lord’s supper, food sacrificed to idols, Paul not cashing in on his rights as an apostle, spiritual gifts and the spiritual fruit of love, and the resurrection of Christ.
NLT Translation
notes:
1Cor.
1:12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are
saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,d”
or [even] “I follow only Christ.”
17
For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good
News—and not with clever speech, [so//for fear] that the cross of
Christ would lose its power.
22
It is [foolishness/foolish] to the Jews, who ask for signs from
heaven. And it is [foolishness/foolish] to the Greeks, who seek
human wisdom.
27
Instead, God chose things [and people] the world considers foolish
in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose
things that are powerless to shame those who are
powerful.
30
God has [joined you as one//united you] with Christ Jesus. For our
benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with
God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.