Paulson Post

What does delivering a person to Satan in 1 Corinthians 5:5 mean? Paul said this regarding the person who lives with his father’s wife or stepmother, a sin considered particularly grave in the Christian context. This sin is not found among those who have not known Christ. Paul says such a thing is “not tolerated even among pagans” (1 Cor 5:1). When he heard about this, Paul wrote to the Corinthian church “to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.” This is not the only place where Paul used this expression. Later, while writing to Timothy, he said he had “handed over to Satan” Hymenaeus and Alexander so they may learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim 1:20). Some think that Paul intends the death of the sinner so that he may not continue in his sinful flesh to sin more and lose his eternity. Does Paul suggest that this man should die now “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord?” But it is unreasonable to think that the community of believers have the right...

  God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt” -Exod 13:17 God considers our strengths and weaknesses when he maps our journey with him to eternity. There will be hurdles on the way, but he will not let them happen at random. He carefully plans it, considering our spiritual stamina at every stage of our Christian growth. The shortest route to Canaan is through the ancient trade route called Via Mari (Way of the Sea), which starts from Egypt and runs through the coastal plain along the Mediterranean Sea to the North of the Levant. It runs through the land mass called Negeb between Canaan and Egypt. Abraham passed through this area when he visited the northern part of Egypt. Jacob and his family also went to Egypt this way. However, the southern part of this coastal route is now populate...

“This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6—7). Paul wrote this letter towards the end of his life to his young colleague Timothy, who will continue the ministry by caring for the churches they founded. Paul advises Timothy to remain faithful and continue his example in faith and ministry. To emulate Paul in his life and ministry, Timothy does not need any more spiritual gifts; he has all he requires to serve God and God’s people. But he has to “fan to flame” what he has already received. An ember would slowly die and grow cold if not fanned to flame. Similarly, spiritual gifts given to us for service will die if not used regularly and properly. The master condemned the person who buried the talent, but those who multiplied what they were entrusted with were honoured and trusted with more (Matt 25:14—30). Similarly, t...

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col 3:1—2). Christian faith is not just a set of beliefs but involves experiencing the Lord daily. Growing in faith means experiencing more and more of our Saviour and Lord and becoming increasingly like him. The Christian life begins when we recognise the need for a saviour and continues as we identify with him in his death and resurrection in Christian baptism. We are seated with him through the spiritual resurrection, though we are still physically on earth. Paul sums up this experience: “Even when we were dead in our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus….” (Eph 2:5—7). People who have accepted the salvation God offers through Jesus Christ should also kn...

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright” (Psa 20:7—8). Read Psalm 20:1—9. Wishing the king success as he set out for military campaigns was a significant part of the life of nations in the ancient world. Only one party wins any battle. Defeat is the last chapter in the life of that nation. The king who leads the battle may lose his life, along with many army officers and soldiers. The survivors will end up in exile in faraway nations, never to see their homeland again. Psalms 20 and 21 are written against this historical background. The first one is the prayer offered while sending out the army led by the king, and the second one celebrates the victory. In this case, the king and the army returned victorious. In the first five verses of Psalm 20, the subjects wish that everything will go well with the king. As they wish the king success, the people do not praise the king or his army...

The famous song ‘Servant King’ by Graham Kendricks begins with this line: ‘From heaven You came helpless babe.’ It is indeed a wonderful song which goes on to describe Jesus who is ‘The Servant King.’ However, the phrase ‘helpless babe’ needs to be explored. How helpless was this babe born to Mary in a little manger in Bethlehem whom we celebrate during the season of Christmas? Or put in other words who was Jesus in his incarnation? The christological hymn in Philippians 2:6-10 is certainly profound. However, the phrase ‘but made himself nothing’ (Phil 2:7) has given rise to much speculattion. The Greek phrase literally means ‘but he emptied himself’ as CEB puts it. However most English translations avoid the literal meaning. The English Standard Version has it as ‘but made himself nothing’ and KJV has it as ‘But made himself of no reputation.’ The original word comes from the Greek word KENOW which means ‘empty.’ The resason why the translations avoid the literal translation is t...

When my wife is away, I get into the kitchen for my culiniary experiments. Having followed the recipe in all its details, I leave it to be cooked on the stove and get back to my desk. Most of the time, I get so engrossed in my work and remember my cooking only when the burning smell wafts to my office from the kitchen. That is when I remember that I had left a vessel on a burning stove. Genesis 8:1 surprises us with this obervation: ‘But God remembered Noah’ (ESV). This is the first time the word ‘remember’ occurs in the Bible. Does this mean that God had forgotten Noah and all that he has in the ark? What would have happened if God did not remember them—certainly it would have been disastrous. The supply of food would not last for ever for all of them. This short phrase brings out the turning point in whole story—a turning point from the devastating flood to the new earth and newness of life. In other words it is the fulcrum on which the events turn from annihiliation to reconstru...

Hiding is the second oldest sin in the history of the world ̧a sin that is the consequence of the first one ̧disobedience. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit that they were not allowed to eat. Before eating that they were naked but were not ashamed of their nakedness (Gen 2:25). When they disobeyed God by eating the fruit that God forbade them to eat they realised their nakedness and were ashamed of it. The Bible says, Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Gen 2:7̆ ESV). Shame was a consequence of the sin of disobedience. We go into hiding as Adam and Eve did because we are ashamed of our disobedience. In this case of Adam and Eve they tried to hide their nakedness from each other. They never had to do that before they committed sin. Before sinning they were naked but were not ashamed; but after sin they did not become naked but were ashamed of their nakedness. They never ha...

God is the God of surprises. In our walk with God, there is some surprise waiting for us at every turn. In the narrative of John’s birth in the Gospel of Luke (1:5-25) we find many divine surprises. First of all, Zechariah the priest did not expect to find Gabriel, the angel of God as he entered the area where the altar of incense was. The old priest was startled at the sight of the heavenly being right in front of an earthling like him. Secondly, he did not expect the announcement that he is going to become a father. He was old and has accepted the fact that he and his wife will be childless for the rest of their life. The worshippers waiting outside had their surprises too. They were surprised that the priest has taken unusually long time to return. Now, finally when he emerged he was not able to talk to them. He was mute. Then they concluded that the priest might have had a encounter with an angel in the inner court of the temple. That also is a surprise—an angel in the inner ...

Paul Piff, social psychologist has studied how wealth affects attitudes and behaviour. His empirical studies has uncovered that the wealthy are more prone to corruption and very poor in giving. They tend to be more likely to be law-breakers than those who are poorer than them! However, he says that these can be improved, though he doesn’t tell us how. There are exceptions to this rule certainly. The exceptions comes to us in the form of Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates and Narayana Murthi (Infosys) and many others who though rich are engaged in commendable service to humanity and liberal in their giving. I think Paul Piff, has provided a modern scientific commentary to what Jesus said in the first century: ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God’ (Mark 10:25). He meant ‘eye of the needle’ literally. It is not a small gate in the city of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time as some interpreters think. There was no such gat...

Elihu was a patientl listener to the arguments back and forth between Job and his friends. However, it came to a point were he blew his top! ‘Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong’ (Job 32:2-3). It is not an acceptable behaviour in ancient societies for young people to speak in the presence of the elders, leave alone criticise them. Elihu had reserved the most disrespectful, caustic comments about the whole thing. The reason for his frustration is not that the debate between Job and his friends has been the poorest show on earth but they proved themselves to be fools, though they were widely accepted wisemen! He burst out, ‘I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I sa...

Most parents at least once in life have to answer this question their curious little ones toss at them: ‘Where did I come from?’ The child is too young to understand the complex biological activity that brought the child to this world. Embarrassed and bashful, parents resort to explanations that they might have got from their own parents. A white stork that flew over their roof carrying a little cute baby in a sling hanging from its long beak dropped it through the chimney! They found the cute little baby by the fire-side in the morning! The children are usually happy with that explanation and may watch for storks flying across their rooftops with babies in slings hanging from their long beaks, until they grow up to find out the truth for themselves. The storks don’t carry babies in their beaks nor deliver them to couples longing for children. It is all ...

The synagogue is the place where the Jews worshiped their God. But do you know that the first exorcism that Jesus performed was in a synagogue? It sounds paradoxical: casting out demons in the house of God! In the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark it says that ‘ there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit’ (Mark 1:23). How can a demon-possessed survive in a religious place as a synagogue? Why nobody dealt with this evil-spirit in the synagogue until Jesus walked in? Probably he appeared perfectly normal so that nobody knew he was a demoniac? Or did they just let him be there since they were not able to do anything about it? This story tells us three things about the nature of demon-possessed people. 1. First, they may look and behave like normal people. 2. Don’t expect to find them only in weird places like grave yards, dark gullies of down town areas, or mental asylums. 3. They can look very n...

The Bible teaches us that love is a fruit of the Spirit and it has supremacy over the gifts of the Spirit. In fact Saint Paul argues that the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit is useless if devoid of love. Being devoid of love is a state of existence which can be very well described as "being nothing” (1 Cor 13:2) and such lives "gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:3). The love mentioned in this passage is a entirely different type of love, very different from what we usually mean by it. The Greek word AGAPE is consistently used throughout the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, the greatest poem on love. It was a common word for love which found a new meaning in the New Testament because of the experience of love that the writers had. Their experience was different from those who lived before their era, before Christ came in to this world to put up a magnifcient show of this special love. The translators of the Old Testament into Greek who lived about 200 years before Christ had ma...

If the chief goal humans is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism has expressed, then human beings ought to be in the look out for reasons for glorifying God. God's glory revealed in nature is indeed the most explicit stimulus for glorifying God. A second realm which impels us to praise God is what he has done in our lives. Put it another way, praise of God happens when we acknowledge what God has done in our lives.If that acknowledgement doesn't happen we will be singing praises to ourselves or to anything other than God. The Psalmists pour out praises to God because they maintained hearts of thankfulness to God. For example, the psalmist who penned Psalm 116 says, “How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD” (Psalms 116:12-13). In the Bible, the cups are described in terms of what they are made of or what they contain. For example, a silver cup is one made of ...

There are times when we are very few in number when we gather for worship on Sundays. Our eyes scan the room to find who has come and who has missed that Sunday. Our spirits are down when we are few and up when there are many people. The preacher feels less "anointed" when there are more empty chairs than people and the spirit of the worship team depends on the number of people too. I have been pasturing an urban church for three years now where the number dwindles during the holidays. During the holiday season, most of my church members would like to travel, visit their families and only a faithful few will be left during for weeks. I have learned to cope with this and am teaching my leaders to cope with this. We are learning to keep the same level of "anointing" and the spirit whether we are few or many! The first thing that we realize is that we are not few in worship even when there are empty chairs around. Christian worship is a joint celebration with the angel...

When Jesus said, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32) he was talking about himself who is the way, the truth and the life. However, it was based on a larger principle that God expects us to be seekers of truth. God expects us to be truthful as well. As the debate with his opponents progressed Jesus made a frontal attack on the devil and all those who model devil in their behaviour: "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! (John 8:44). What characterizes those who follow Jesus and those who follow Devil? Those who follow Jesus have a penchant for truth while the opposite camp has a penchant for lies. This is an observation I made recently while studying h...

There is an Indian saying: Silence is the glory of the wise! It means the wise person keeps quite and by implication it means the fool keeps talking (certainly all nonsense!). But silence at times could be malicious, dangerous and even a grave sin. So let us say that like tumors, silence could also be of two types: the benign ones and the malign ones. In his vision of God Isaiah confessed: "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty" (Isa 6:5). The word "ruined" could be a mistranslation. It is equally possible to translate it as "been silent" though many modern translations still follow the KJV in this regard. The translation "silent" fits the context too. The sin of the people of Isaiah has to do with speech (unclean lips) and the cleansing that God does has to do with speech. Moreover, the commissioning that Isaiah receives is to speak! Al...

A proper perception of human beings will enhance our appreciation of God and lead us to praise him more meaningfully. In a Psalm of Praise of God (Psalm 8) the Psalmist exclaimed "what is man that you are mindful of him?" Which meant man is not anything that God should mind especially compared to the celestial bodies that God has created. However, he goes on to say that in spite of this, God still gave man a place of honor and glory since his position is just below the angels. Human beings are incomparable to God. One popular metaphor of life is that of a journey: A journey that we start at birth and end in death. In this journey we meet people of all sorts and learn many things from them. It is possible that we are drawn to some people because we see rare virtues in them. They become our role models and even idols in our lives. We adore them, we follow them because their exhibited virtues and charisma. All idols are multi-dimensional or multi-faceted. There are facets of t...