More About Resurrection

Posted on July 24, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

As Paul continues to make his case for the resurrection, he makes a point that should be self-evident: If Christ rose from the dead, then a Christian cannot say there is no resurrection of the dead, because if they do, they negate their own faith in Christ. It would appear from 15:12 that certain elements in the congregation were saying just that:

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. (15:12-16)

Yes, it should be self-evident that there either is resurrection or there is not; there is no cherry picking in the matter of resurrection. He continues…

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (15:17-19)

To put it in its simplest form, you can’t really be a Christian and deny the resurrection, for denying resurrection of the dead entirely negates being a Christian.

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Have mercy

Posted on July 24, 2025 by Don Merritt
rock-island-035

Countless generations have come to understand their need for mercy; countless generations have found it. Ours is no different.

Of course, there have always been those who think they do not need it, and these are a sad lot.  They reject the one thing they need most of all; their pride defeats them.

I see better things for all of you, for the very fact that you have taken time to look at this post would indicate that you are not so proud as to think that God’s mercy is beneath you.  You, dear reader, will see a greater future than those who are blinded by pride, for you will seek God’s favor and find it though our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:1-2

May all of us fall on our knees and pray like this with the hope and expectancy that our God will hear our prayer, and that the work of Jesus Christ on the cross will suffice for our cleansing before God. May we also rise from this prayer filled with hope, joy, and love for our neighbors, and may that hope, joy, and love suffice for us to share His Good News with them.

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Misunderstandings about Resurrection

Posted on July 23, 2025 by Don Merritt

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Paul begins a new section about resurrection with these verses. It would appear that this was not a question they asked in their letter to Paul but reflects an issue that Paul has heard about that was troubling the congregation. It would seem that then, as now, certain elements within the church were challenging the resurrection.

These two verses give us the introduction for what will follow in this chapter. Once again, Paul is using a persuasive outline; this is his thesis statement in which he points out that our entire faith is based upon the proposition that Jesus was raised bodily from the grave.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

His first point is that Jesus has been seen by hundreds of people post resurrection− there are many eye witnesses who can still tell you that they saw Him. In the old Law, truth was established on the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses− Paul has hundreds of witnesses… and oh yes, he was also a witness. You might also note that he twice said “according to the Scriptures” in this paragraph. It should not have surprised anyone that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day since this had all been foretold in the Scriptures.

This is actually a very compelling argument because it might be possible to get a few people to conspire together to perpetrate a fraud, but the more people who participate in a lie, the higher the likelihood that someone will recant their story under pressure, and many of these had been under pressure. In fact, many had been pressured by Paul himself…

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

1 Corinthians 15:9-11

Paul himself had persecuted the Church, had put serious physical pressure on people to renounce their faith, even to deny that they had seen the risen Christ, I would suspect. Yet they did not do so. Then he had been approached on the Damascus road by none other than the risen Christ Himself, and somehow, by God’s amazing grace, Paul had been not only saved from his egregious sins, but he became the Apostle to the Gentiles: He has given reliable testimony to the Corinthians about the resurrection of Christ, and it is because of the resurrection of Christ that they have a foundation of faith.

From here, Paul takes an unusual approach as he continues his case for the resurrection…

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Starting on a New Adventure

Posted on July 23, 2025 by Don Merritt

The Apostle Paul sat in jail. He had been arrested for his testimony about Jesus and the power of His Gospel; yep, there he was, chained up in jail alone, miserable, unhappy, and afraid… or so we might have thought.  I wonder, what would I do if that guy chained up in an ancient prison cell had been me…

Yet it wasn’t me, it was Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.  Let’s see what he was doing in this miserable circumstance.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:3-8

Maybe it isn’t all that surprising that he was writing letters, after all he was neither the first nor the last prisoner to write letters home, but from these verses we can see that he’s also been praying.  Maybe that isn’t such a shock either, lots of prisoners pray in prison, some for the very first time I would imagine, but did you notice that he isn’t praying for himself?

Paul is remembering his friends in Philippi, and giving thanks to God for them.  He doesn’t sound miserable, for he says that he is filled with joy because of the partnership of the Philippians with him in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It would seem that our Paul feels thankful and joyful, because of the people in Philippi for they share not only in the gospel, but in God’s grace with Paul. Now I don’t know about you, but I’m guessing that God’s grace might not come to mind for me if I was locked in prison and bound in chains.

Paul misses his friends.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11

Paul prays for his friends.  Look carefully at his prayer, for it contains something for us to reflect upon: Paul’s prayer is not just for them to prosper in their faith and do well, it is for them to grow in their love, knowledge, and depth of insight, so that they may be found pure and blameless on the day of the Lord, so that they might give glory to God! Yes, that’s right, Paul’s prayer is one of purpose− God’s purpose.

While the rest of us might be demanding answers from God, Paul is praying for God’s purpose, for God’s glory.  Yes, let us reflect upon this!

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The Section Concludes

Posted on July 22, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 14:26-40

Some of the new translations place a subheading between this section and the last, and while that may be a convenient way to break up the chapter, it gives the impression that the subject has changed, but actually it would appear that Paul is winding up the whole discussion from 12:1-14:25… What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? (14:26a)

In 14:26b-28 Paul indicates that whatever kind of message, whether a hymn, instruction, a revelation or something in a tongue, they must be presented in an orderly and clearly understandable fashion for the edification and building up of the entire Body of Christ. If someone is going to speak to the assembly in a tongue, there must be an interpreter, or else the person must hold their tongue. Again, this is for the sake of edification of the entire assembly.

In the next paragraph, Paul gives essentially the same word for any prophets or prophetic messages.  In 14:34-35, he indicates that the women should remain quiet in the assembly and address any questions or comments to their husbands at home, and then…

Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. (14:36-38)

If you just read through this passage, Paul was moving right along giving instructions… no big deal, just take notes and make necessary corrections to improve the flow of your worship time. Then suddenly, he changes the tone entirely, which seems to me to indicate that there were three groups in the Corinthian assembly who tended to insist on causing confusion or disruption in their worship services: People speaking in tongues, people bringing prophecy, and… women.

The modern eye skips right to the last one and jumps to the conclusion that Paul has just uttered a shocking, terrible and sexist bit of instruction. I wouldn’t be too quick to jump to conclusions if I were you…

Paul is writing this in response to an inquiry made in a letter from Corinth about a situation they were experiencing there, c. 55 AD. We can only infer from the answer Paul has given what the exact issue was, since sadly, their letter is not available to us. In any case, the culture and circumstances of mid first century Corinth were quite different from anything we are likely to experience today. Secondly, and this is my guess, it may have been that the people speaking in tongues and prophesying were predominantly female. If that guess is correct, then Paul’s quiet comment would have been directed more in the direction of the women who insisted on speaking in tongues and giving prophecy in a disorganized fashion, then on women generally, and then there are Paul’s final words on the subject:

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. (14:39-40)

Paul’s conclusion of the section (Chs. 12-14) is an inclusive one. All should be eager to prophesy, none should forbid tongues, and all should conduct themselves in an orderly manner in the assembly. This is why I see Paul’s comments in 14:34-35 as actually intended for those who are causing disruption rather than at women as a class of humans. Sadly, many over the years have not seen it this way.

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The Role of Spiritual Gifts

Posted on July 21, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

All too often we study this section without taking its context into account. As a result, many of us use this passage as a source of proof texts to back up one position or another regarding speaking in tongues. This is troubling on several levels, not the least of which is the fact that we tend to use the same passage to prove conflicting positions.

As you might suspect, when this happens, context is being ignored in favor of winning an argument. In this particular case, we are engaged in an argument that we shouldn’t even be participating in, no matter which side of it you are on.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this section, this is a study of 1 Corinthians, it is not a study of spiritual gifts as such.

Let’s remember that chapter 14 is the third chapter in a section of the letter to Corinth that is discussing misunderstandings about spiritual gifts. It follows along from the previous chapter’s discussion of love as a contrast to the gifts themselves, as something that is eternal, while spiritual gifts are not. Paul has moved into a discussion here of the gifts in the context of the church assembly, and his overall point is that speaking in tongues really isn’t something that belongs in the worship assembly. He doesn’t say that because there is anything wrong with speaking in tongues; he says he himself speaks in tongues. Rather, his point is that it simply doesn’t edify the Body of Christ.

I realize that many would jump in here and assert that there is no longer any such thing as speaking in tongues… or prophecy, for that matter. I know this because that’s the way I learned it myself. If that happens to be your view, I would only say that Paul’s discussion here is in answer to an inquiry from the church in Corinth c. 55 AD: Context again!

I would also point out the lack of evidence from the New Testament for such an assertion.

Paul’s use of the contrast between speaking in tongues and prophecy is an interesting one, and it may be a bit confusing for some of us. That confusion would arise from a misunderstanding of what prophecy actually is. So often in our time prophecy is spoken of as though it was foretelling the future and nothing more. Yet this understanding is a mistake, for a prophet is one who brings a message from God to His people. Quite often in Scripture this message is one of correction in which God is telling His people that action is needed to correct an error of one kind or another. Certainly, that is case for most of the Major and Minor prophets of the Old Testament.

With this in mind, the contrast between speaking a clear message from God to His people is in rather sharp contrast to someone speaking in tongues we cannot understand. Thus, Paul clearly makes his point.

Notice that Paul wraps up his point by pointing out that should an unsaved person visit the worship assembly and be confronted by people who speak in an unintelligible manner, they would conclude that Christians were crazy, but if they heard a clear message from God they might well be brought to repentance and relationship with Christ.

That is the case Paul is making in this passage. It applies just as much today as it did then, and we will miss that critical point if we indulge ourselves by mining the text for ammunition to use in an unnecessary argument.

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Sunday Sermon Notes: July 20, 2025

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Don Merritt

Please remember that the six lessons we are going over all come as explanations of what it means to present ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord from Romans 12:1-2…

Lesson 6: Walk in the Light

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 13:11-14

 These verses are the summation for this entire section (12:1-13:14) and serve to bring the message into sharp focus. Remember that Paul has been teaching about our response to God’s grace, giving us a clear picture of what our daily lives should look like. Here he sums it all up with a metaphor: Light.

And do this, understanding the present time (13:11) is the transition, referring back to the prior section discussing love in action. It is time to wake up, for the day is coming when the Lord Jesus will return. Notice the urgency in what Paul is talking about here; time’s a wasting! It may seem funny to us all these centuries later to read this urgency, but it is important for us to always bear in mind the fact that Jesus is coming. His literal return could be at any time, or it could be in 10,000 years, and no one knows for sure either way. Yet He came for every single recipient of this letter a long time ago. He came for all of those who have ever read this letter in the centuries that have followed, and He will come for us soon enough, thus Paul’s urgency applies to each of us: Wake up!

Paul’s metaphor of living in the light of day is clear enough; we are to behave in a respectable manner, not as people do in the wee hours when nobody is looking. In verse 13, he mentions several behaviors, and I think they are obvious, so I will only comment on two of them; dissention and jealousy.

I try not to miss opportunities to make a plea for Christian unity, and this is certainly such an opportunity. Must we continue fighting among ourselves, arguing over every little doctrinal difference of opinion? Must we be jealous about the name on the sign in front of the building? Is all of that really so essential?

I don’t believe that it is, do you?

Maybe I’m just a fool, but I think that the times we are living in today are much too serious to indulge ourselves in this sort of thing. Our calling is to build the Body of Christ, so let’s get to building instead of tearing it apart. Let’s clothe ourselves in Christ, and answer our calling instead of glorifying ourselves in endless arguments.

Incidentally, this is a transitional thought that leads us into the next section, verses 14:1-15:13 which discuss our liberty to hold different opinions.

So why argue?

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Spiritual Gifts and Love, part 2

Posted on July 19, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Paul continues his discussion of spiritual gifts and love in this section, telling us that the gifts will one day pass away, but that love will remain. It is evident fairly quickly that what Paul has in mind here is that this age will pass away when the Lord returns, and after that time, the gifts of the Spirit as we now understand them, will pass away, for they will no longer be required to build the Kingdom of God. Remember, the gifts or manifestations of the Spirit are not given to puff up their recipients, but for the common good to build up the Body of Christ.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12

Using childhood as an analogy, Paul points out that when the completion comes, the things we now see from the incomplete vantage point of this world will change, and we will then see things as they truly are, from a heavenly point of view. When this happens, the manifestations given to us for this time will no longer be necessary, but love remains always, for the way of love is the way of God.

I would imagine that this point was as difficult for the Corinthians to accept as it is for most of us today. We read things like this and respond with a certain amount of skepticism in our earthly perspective. It sounds to many of us like just another academic abstraction, a nice concept, but totally unrealistic in the real world we live in.

Who can argue that point?

Maybe we should consider the possibility that this world of ours isn’t actually the “real” world at all, for this world has been corrupted by evil, and it is not at all the world God created and placed humanity into at the beginning. Maybe the fact that human nature contains a generous portion of evil desire is not the “norm” and maybe love is.

Oh yes, to have a heavenly point of view is counter-intuitive in the extreme!

I’ll leave you with a thought:

Before God created the physical universe that we know, He lived in eternity past, with no time or space as we understand them. Then He created our universe and added humanity to mix to fulfill His purpose in the Creation. After doing so, a period of time elapsed before humans were corrupted by sin in Genesis 3. Maybe that period was days or weeks, and maybe it was centuries; no one knows. We also cannot know how many years have passed since then, but it has been quite a few. Jesus is set to return to do away with evil entirely in the Final Judgment, and then we will spend eternity with Him. Notice that “eternity” is on both sides of “time”.

From an earthly time and space point of view, there is only time, for we have no frame of reference from which to comprehend eternity. Yet from God’s perspective, “time” is but a blip on the radar, so vast is eternity.

This concept isn’t easy to wrap our brains around; it may not even be possible to do so. Yet we can be sure that love endures through all of this… And that dear reader, is precisely the point that Paul is making in this chapter.

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Spiritual Gifts and Love

Posted on July 18, 2025 by Don Merritt

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

This is the beginning of what so many people call “the love chapter”. It is comprised of some of the most beautiful prose ever written, it is quoted in most weddings, so many people say it is their very favorite of all Bible passages, but it is really about spiritual gifts, more than it is about love. Remember that we are in the middle of a three-chapter section in this letter in which Paul is dealing with misunderstandings about spiritual gifts, and love is not a spiritual gift.

No sir, love is a commandment:

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:29-31

In our three verses, Paul mentions love 3 times, but in those same verses, he mentions 5 spiritual gifts, and his very obvious point in writing is that it is more important to have love than any manifestation of the Spirit. The real question we should be asking ourselves is why did he feel it necessary to make this point?

If we have been reading through this letter, we already know the answer: There was division in the Corinthian church along socio-economic lines. The people were proud and liked to show off their lofty positions. They also enjoyed showing off their intellectual sophistication. Of course, they would prize spiritual gifts that tended to place them in “the front of the room” as they taught in strange tongues, showed off their great knowledge, wisdom, and discernment, or while they spoke prophetically.

Yet while they may have been quite gifted, they appear to have lacked one of the very fundamentals of the faith, for they lacked love. That lack has been on display for us in each of the sections we have covered thus far.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Looking at these verses, we see a whole list of attributes that the people in Corinth had in abundance, but that are not a part of the way of love. Sad to say, the attributes that Paul mentions here are all too common in human society, but to follow Jesus Christ is not to follow the ways of men, it is to follow the way of love.

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Spiritual Gifts, part 2

Posted on July 17, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

As we continue Paul’s discussion about misunderstandings of spiritual gifts, Paul has taken great care to emphasize that the manifestations of the Spirit within us are to be a unifying force, not a source of division. He continues this discussion through 12:12-26 with a lengthy analogy in which he uses the human body as an example to illustrate how manifestations of the Spirit work in the Body of Christ. Just as each body part in the human body is necessary for the well being of the entire body, so also is each manifestation of the Spirit in the Body of Christ. Thus, each brother and sister in the Body has his or her own role to play, according to God’s plan and provision, and no one is more important than the rest.

That is such a simple lesson, you would think we’d learn it some day!

He sums this up at the end of the chapter:

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And yet I will show you the most excellent way.

1 Corinthians 12:27-31

We cannot choose our spiritual gifts, for as we have seen, they are distributed by the Holy Spirit according to His good pleasure. Yet we can desire greater gifts, and as we grow in maturity in the Lord, we may come to receive some of the more mature ones. Should we desire one of these “greater gifts” it will help us if we bear in mind that jealousy and envy, not to mention anger and resentment, will not likely hasten the day along to a greater gift.

Unity again!

Paul has a better way for members of the Body of Christ to orient themselves as they follow the Lord Jesus Christ through this life: The way of love.

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