OUR FATHER PUT ALL THINGS UNDER THE FEET OF HIS SON

1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 12 - 28.

12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

The apostle Paul, having established that the gospelˋs foundation was the death, burial and ressurection of the Lord Jesus Christ, points out that some of the Corithians were claiming that there is no such thing as the ressurection of the dead.

Paul counters the claim by saying that if there is no ressurection of the dead, that meant that Christ himself had not risen and if Christ had not risen, what Paul had been preaching was pointless and their faith was in vain.

Paul proclaimed that the entirety of Christianity pivots on one point; Jesus Christ rose from the dead. If Christ did not rise from the dead, faith in Him is fultile and we are all still in our sins and we will perish along with everyone else and believers would be the most pitiable for having placed our faith what was not going to save us.

However, with all the witnesses who were still alive at that time to attest to the factuality of Christˋs ressurection, Paul asserted that the ressurection from the dead for believers was going to happen because death came to mankind through one man named Adam and likewise, life would come to mankind through the one man Jesus Christ.

20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

Paul, looking far into the distant future, builds on the assertion that there will indeed be a ressurection and that this ressurection represents the  last enemy that Christ will destroy which is death.  When Christ is revealed at the time of the end, He will have dissolved the heirachies the kingdom of darkness made of rulers and authorities and powers and all things will have been put under Christˋs feet and as Paul indicates, the ˋall thingsˋ excludes the One who put all things under His feet. 

At this time, Christ will then hand the victorious kingdom to His Father and will Himself be subject to the one who put all things under Him and this final state unifies everything in God.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHOSE GRACE MAKES ROOM FOR US TO LABOUR IN HIS KINGDOM

The Aposte Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 -  11, urges the Corinthian believers to hold fast to the gospel that he had brought to them because if they fell way it, their original belief would have all been in vain.

Paul summarized the sequence of events that form the tenets of the gospel and these important tenets were attested to by many people.

1. Christ dies for our sins according to the scripture
2. Christ was buried
3. Christ rose again on the third day
4. The risen Christ was seen by 
1. Cephas (The Apostle Peter)
2. All the twelve apostles together
3. Five hundred at once (most were still alive as the time of Paulˋs writing)
4. James the Apostle
5. The twelve apostles again
6. Seen by Paul

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Paul, acknowledging that he started off as an enemy of the church of God, writes that he was given grace to believe and that he, by that same grace laboured abundantly for te sake of the gospel.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO ADOPTED US AS HIS SONS

The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 26 - 40, writes to establish decency and orderliness in church meetings by prescribing in what way  spiritual gifts should be expressed.

26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

The chart below lays out how the various gifts should be operated during meetings;

• Edification - A Psalm, a teaching, a revelation or an interpretation can be brought by anyone
• Tongues - Two or three can speak  (with one interpreting if available)
• Interpreter - If none, tongue speakers should speak only to themselves or to God
• Prophecy - Two or three can speak and the other propets can judge the prophecies. Prophets should also prophecy one by one as their spirits are under their control.

34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.

Paul then prescribes that women should not speak in churches but are to be submissive. Here, Paul is reiterating the discussion in an earlier passage related to women covering their heads in church. In that context, Paul was alluding to the grand stage upon which all people perform the parables of the temporal that reveal the eternal. Men play the part of Jesus the groom and the women play the part of the bride. In the same way that women cover their heads to illustrate that the church is to cover her glory and point all glory to Christ, men play the part of Christ who is the head of the church and has the sole directive voice on matters of the kingdom of God and women play the part of the church who is to heed the voice of her groom and submit herself completely to Christ.

Controvercy has surrounded this question. Some point to the emergence of female leaders of Israel like Deborah and in the new testament church like Phoebe and Junia to show that women were not relegated to the sidelines in church life but were integrated key players.

With one passage saying that women should not speak in church and yet bible-certified women leaders clearly existed, what could be made of this controvercy.

The key is to understand the progression of the Christian from infancy to maturity.

Ephesians chapter 1 verses 4b - 5,  Paul writes that all believers are chosen from before the creation of the world and they are then matriculated for adoption into sonship through Jesus Christ.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will

This  adoption into sonship is indistinguishably applied to men and women and so in the spirit, men and women are equally required to pursue spiritual growth and maturity. Once a woman is adopted as a son and matured, she is qualified to be a leader in the church as a mature son would be in his father's household. If she is not mature in faith, she is to remain silent as any immature man would be required to be.

36 Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? 37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.

39 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Paul advises the Corinthians to submit to the scripture (including his letters)  because they did not originate it and it a universal word that applies to all believers and not just to the Corinthians. 

Therefore, if anyone believed they were a prophet or a spiritual person, they could only be considered to be so if they submitted to the words Paul wrote concerning their practice and conduct.

The apostle again encourages the believers at Corinth to desire the gift of prophecy but on this occasion, he also instructs church leaders not to forbid the speaking of tongues. 

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SPEAKS TO UNBELIEVERS USING MEN WHO SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES

1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 20 - 25 continues with the Apostle Paulˋs advice to the Corinthian church were he adjures them to be mature in understanding of spiritual things and yet to be like children in things like malice and vengeance. Paul then points to an old testament scripture that references the speaking of other tongues and with foreign lips that would be used to speak to the children of Israel and yet they would not hear the Lord.

20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.

21 In the law it is written:

“With men of other tongues and other lips to

I will speak to this people;

And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord.

22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. 23 Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.

Paul tells the Corinthians that the gift of tongues is not a sign to believers but to unbelievers while prophecy is a not a sign to unbelievers but to believers. He envisions a scenario where a believer who does not know of tongues or an unbeliever enters a building where all members are speaking in tongues,  would they not say that the people are out of their minds and reject them?  This is what the scripture why the scripture was saying that those who heard the speaking of tongues would not listen to the voice of the LORD.

On the other hand, Paul says that if they all prophecied instead of speaking in tongues, the unbelievers and skeptical people might hear the prophetic excavation of their lives and fall down and worship God which would contradict the scripture.

Thus Paul says that speaking in tongues is the proper prescription for public spiritual expression if unbelievers and skeptics are present. Prophecy is for the edification and guidance of believers and not unbelievers or skeptics.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO PRIORITIZES LOVE OVER FUNCTION 

In 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 1 - 19, the Apostle Paul embarks on establishing the best practices related to the use of spiritual gifts. He begins by setting the order of operations as  1)  - ˋPursue Loveˋ and  2) -  ˋDesire spiritual giftsˋ.

This could be understood to mean that we are to pursue love and then desire spiritual gifts to help facilitate the exercise of that love.

Paul identifies prophesy as the ideal gift to desire because doing so edifies the body of believers while speaking in tongues ( which is the spirit of a man praying) does not edify the body of believers because no one can understand the words being spoken unless there is a person around who has the gift of the interpretation of tongues who can render the mysteries being spoken in an unknown tongue into a comprehensible language.

Paul thus counsels the Corinthian believers, who were zealously seeking spiritual gifts, to make the edification of the church their prime directive when it came to developing their giftings. If some only spoke in tongues, Paul advised them to pray for an interpreter so that the words of direction, confirmation or encouragement could be understood and acted upon.

1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

6 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? 7 Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? 8 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? 9 So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance. 11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. 12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.

13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; 19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Paul thus concluded that individuals should engage in prayer in the spirit and also in prayer in their understanding and they should also sing in the spirit and sing in their understanding and also bless with the spirit and bless with understanding if their efforst were going to have any benefit for the listeners.

The apostle clarified that even though he spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthian believers, he nevertheless would rather have only spoken a few words in the common language than do so voluminously in an unknown tongue.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO KNOWS US AND WHOM WE WILL KNOW

1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 1 - 13 is the famous ˋlove chapterˋ often referenced at weddings and convocations. The apostle Paul, in the previous chapter, described the subject of  this chapter as 'the more excellent way'.

Paul, having laid out the array of spiritual gifts that are made available to believers for the florishing of the body, now discusses an ingredient to all the gifts that, if missing, renders all the functions of the gifts as moot and profitless

Paul is of course speaking of love which he describes as the greatest of all the virtues that are measured when transactions between the seen and unseen realms take place. (The virtues or stances are faith, hope and love).

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Paul lays out a panoply of lofty exploits that believers could engage in and all the sacrifices they could offer but he unequivocally states that doing all these things without love is pointless.  Love can then be understood as the primary prerequisite or qualifier of any spiritual transactions associated with the kingdom of God. It is like the pin number of the company credit card and transactions that are carried out on that credit card without the pin number are unauthorized transactions and are thus nullified.

Paul then lists the characteristics of love by describing the things that it does and some of the things that is does not do.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Itemizing the list of the characteristics of love can help to comprehend the nature of love especially when we understand that God Himself is love and so these characteristics are also the expressed nature of God.

1. Love suffers long  ( is patient )
2. Love is kind and thoughtful
3. Love does not envy but wishes well for others
4. Love does not parade itself or boast
5. Love is not puffed up ( is not proud )
6. Love is not rude or dishonor others
7. Love does not seek its own way ( is not selfish )
8. Love is not easily provoked or angered
9. Love harbours no evil or vengeful  thoughts or keep record of wrongs
10. Love does not delight in evil things
11. Love rejoices at the truth
12. Love always bears or carries all things and lets nothing fall away
13. Love always believes or trusts all things
14. Love always hopes or looks to the best of all things to comes
15. Love always endures or withstands all things

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

Paul changes gears and moves far into the future where the dispensation we are currently partakers of is no longer in operation and so all the mechanisms of transacting between the spiritual realm and the natural realm are no longer needed and so these partial mechanisms such as prophesy, speaking in tongues and words of knowledge will cease and give way to the perfect connections which is the eternal mechanism of love. 

This is why practicing the gifts of the Spirit without love is pointless because the ultimate aim of these gifts ( which are temselves merely temporary substitutes for the real connection between God and man) is to facilitate the establish an eternal loving relationship between God and those who believe in Him.

Paul discusses this further by using  the progression from childhood to adulthood  as an analogy of the progression of the use of gifts to learn the rudiments of knowing God to directly knowing God and being loved by God and experiencing him face to face and knowing Him as much as He knows us.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The greatest and the ultimate and the final state is love.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO GIVES GIFTS TO MEN

The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 verses 12 - 31, continued on the subject of spiritual gifts by comparing the body of Christ with the human body and even as each body part has a function that benefits the whole body, each person has a spiritual gift that benefits the whole body of believers.  

As such, Paul advises the people at Corinth understand that they are a single unified body and each individual should humbly and gratefully supply to the the body what they were gifted to provide. Paul cautions against divisions that could arise from some wishing for greater honor and being unwilling to participate in functions of lesser honor.

12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.

15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

The Apostle Paul speaks to the crucial role that each person has in the body of Christ and there is a unity that the interdependence on each other brings.

Paul lists the appointed positions that are distributed to the individual members of the body of Christ from which the spiritual gifts could be dispensed but for most of these appointments, he rhetorically asks if all are appointed to them to clarify that not everyone is given the particular positions. However, the assignment to the office of helps and admistrations are not questioned which implies that all members of the body are appointed to these positions and can assist with the tasks of organising suport efforts and helping people in need.

1. Apostles - Are all apostles?
2. Prophets - Are all prophets?
3. Teachers - Are all Teachers?
4. Miracle workers - Are all able to do miracles?
5. Healers - Are all healers?
6. Helps - 
7. Administrations - 
8. Varieties of tongues -  Do all speak with tongues?
9. _________   -  Do all Interpret?

The interpretation of tongues is not included in this list but is mentioned rhetorically as being a given only to some people which suggests that Paul included the interpretation of tongues in the broader category of  ˋvarieties of tonguesˋ.

To conlude the subject, the apostle Paul encourages believers to desire greater gifts meaning that they should seek to develop their giftings so that they operated at higher levels of quality and power so as to be more edifying to the body of believers they served. Also implied is that believers should desire different gifts that would be more useful to the members of the churches.

For as much as spritual gifts are astonishing and desirable, Paul finalizes his discussion on the subject by telling the Corinthian believers that there is a far superior thing than gifts and he goes on to discuss this better thing in the famous 1 Corinthians chapter 13 often called the ˋloveˋ chapter.

Amen.

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