New Testament

Free to do What?

Thursday: Men and Women in the Church

July 30, 2026

As Paul moves from the end of chapter 10 to the beginning of chapter 11, we see how the theme of freedom continues with regard to how men and women relate within the church of Jesus Christ and also in marriage. Although Paul is certainly responding to concerns that had been brought to him by the Christians in Corinth, he is linking his answer with what he said in chapter 10 about freedom. There are restrictions that apply in how each other uses this freedom.

Free to do What?

Friday: True Freedom

July 31, 2026

Jesus spoke of Himself as the one who gives freedom, and it is the freedom that comes in the Gospel, of which we read in the written Word of God. As Jesus said in John 8, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (v. 32). The truth of God is what we find in passages like these, where we see that we will not be free when we say to ourselves, “I must be able to do what I want to do, and whenever I want to do it.” Rather, true freedom is found when we can say, “I want above all things to have God glorified in my life.”

Until He Comes

Monday: Problems at the Lord’s Supper

August 3, 2026

One of the wonderful things about the sacraments and ceremonies of the Christian Church is that when they are practiced properly, they recognize the equality of all men and women before God. None of us comes with any special privilege, but rather we all come as sinners in need of the grace of God, and that we must come equally and be received equally on the basis of what Christ has done.

Until He Comes

Tuesday: Three Time Elements

August 4, 2026

Another problem, which is closely wrapped up with the first and seems to be Paul’s major concern, is that by conducting themselves in that manner they were actually producing divisions among themselves in the very midst of the observance that was supposed to indicate that the church, in all of its diverse parts, was actually one.

Until He Comes

Wednesday: “This Is My Body”

August 5, 2026

It is a great shame that the Lord’s Supper and our interpretation of it have become such a cause of division within the Christian Church. The chief cause of trouble here is the Lord’s statement that the bread is His body. There are four major ways in which this has been interpreted.

Until He Comes

Thursday: Our Spiritual Response

August 6, 2026

The fourth view is that of John Calvin, who took something of a middle position between that of Luther and Zwingli. Calvin argued that Christ is present in the communion service, but not physically. In that respect, Calvin thought Zwingli was right. The body of Jesus is in heaven, where He has ascended and has given gifts to men. But that is not the only way Christ could be present. Calvin maintained that Christ is present spiritually, which he believed was far more important than a material presence. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is with us in a spiritual way by the Holy Spirit, He can say in Matthew 28 that He is with us even to the very end of the age (v. 20).

Until He Comes

Friday: Taking Communion Seriously

August 7, 2026

There is the future element because we do not just look to the past, to a Christ who died on the cross for our sin and rose again. Rather, that same Jesus who died and rose again ascended to heaven, and He is coming again. He said to His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3). The same Jesus whom we look to in the past is the Jesus we look to in the future.

Spiritual Gifts

Monday: For Building Up the Church

August 10, 2026

He lists the gifts at the very end of this twelfth chapter, and every time he does that, whether here or elsewhere where he mentions tongues, he always puts tongues at the end of the list. That is a subtle way of communicating what he goes on to say as he gets to the very end of the chapter about desiring the better gifts. Paul is saying that if God gives you tongues, that is fine. It is a gift and should be used. But if you are concerned for anything, let your concern be for love, which is what he is going to talk about in chapter 13.

Spiritual Gifts

Tuesday: Unity and Diversity

August 11, 2026

As we look at chapters 12 through 14, if we approach them with the idea that what Paul is dealing with here is chiefly, or perhaps exclusively, the matter of speaking in tongues, what we are going to do is miss something which really should apply to every one of us. It may be that someone here or there is given this gift of tongues; but that is a minority, I would think, by the very fact of the multiplicity of the gifts. What we fail to see is that Paul is actually dealing with gifts, not just the gift of tongues.

Spiritual Gifts

Wednesday: A Healthy Church

August 12, 2026

So, if you are concerned about your gift, and thinking about what it is, the place to start is with these lists. Look over them and ask yourself what gift you have. Pray and ask God to show you what your gift is. And when you come to know this, remember that your gift is needed in the particular church where you are.

Spiritual Gifts

Thursday: The Body and Its Parts

August 13, 2026

When he talks about the body having many parts, we remember that in Pauline theology (and you find it very strongly in the book of Ephesians) the body is not simply the church as if it were our body collectively considered, but the body of Jesus Christ, with Christ Himself as the head. By this image he links it all together. What gift we have, and how we use it, matters because in all our diversity we together belong to Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Gifts

Friday: Honoring God the Giver

August 14, 2026

Let me make three applications. The first is to be content with what you have been given. If you are not content, what are you telling God? You are telling God that you know better than He does. The second is not to exalt one of God’s servants over another. If there is anything we are guilty of in the Church of Jesus Christ, it is that. What do we have but what we have been given? If God gives us talents that put us in a place where people see it, well, it is all from God. And if God gives us talents that put us in a job where nobody sees us, that, too, is from God. Let us not exalt one Christian over another.

The Greatest Thing in the World

Monday: A Life of Love

August 17, 2026

Sometime during the last half of the nineteenth century, a Scottish author and evangelist by the name of Henry Drummond wrote a classic sermon called “The Greatest Thing in the World.” It was about love and was based on 1 Corinthians 13, which is certainly viewed as one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. If people know anything at all about the book of 1 Corinthians, this is probably the chapter that comes most to their mind. In any collection of great chapters, this is one that must necessarily be included.

The Greatest Thing in the World

Tuesday: The Importance of Love

August 18, 2026

It is not a hard chapter to analyze. I think it is a hard chapter to preach on simply because it is so profound. There is a preface in the New International Version, which is carried over from the last chapter and printed properly with this one. Paul says, “Now I am going to show you a more excellent way.” Then he has three points which are easy to follow. He talks about the importance of love in verses 1-3. Then he talks secondly about love’s nature in verses 4-7. The third point is love’s permanence, which you have in verses 8-12. Finally, he wraps it all up with the very last verse about faith, hope, and love.

The Greatest Thing in the World

Wednesday: The Nature of Love

August 19, 2026

The apostle John wrote his first epistle to reassure people who want to know they are saved. He gave them three tests by which they could know they were Christians. The first was to believe the right things about Christ, because if you do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Lord, you are no Christian. The second was to obey God’s commandments and live a righteous life. The third test was that of love. Do you really love the Lord, and because you do, do you really love the brethren?

The Greatest Thing in the World

Thursday: The Perfect Standard of Love

August 20, 2026

In addition to knowing people who are patient and kind, there are also those who do not envy, those who do not boast, and those who are not proud. But the difficulty, you see, is in getting all of these things together. I know people who are patient, but they do not persevere. Or there are people who are kind, but they are really not very hopeful. When you begin to ask if there is anybody like that, we conclude that there is no one who meets that standard from which we all fall short except for Jesus Christ. Isn’t this a portrait of Christ?

The Greatest Thing in the World

Friday: The Permanence of Love

August 21, 2026

That leads to our last point, which is where Paul himself is going. He has talked about the importance of love and the nature of love. And if we really understand these two things, it follows that love never fails. All these other things he mentions are going to fail. Prophecies will cease. Tongues will be stilled. Knowledge will pass away. All these things are partial. But love will not pass away. He concludes this chapter by saying that faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love. Even when our faith falters and our hope disappears for a season, the love of God for us in Christ abides.

Is God Among You?

Monday: Foundational Principles

August 24, 2026

Every part of the Bible is relevant and is helpful for us in any time of history or any period of our lives. But it is true that some parts speak to contemporary problems more than others. I suppose in some ways this fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians that we come to now is one of those parts.

Is God Among You?

Tuesday: An Important Contrast

August 25, 2026

Finally, at the very end of the chapter he gives this principle where he tells the Corinthians to “be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues” (v. 39). You see, when you speak about all these difficulties or dangers in the practice of the gift, it might be our tendency to say, “Well, a gift like that which produces obvious disruption in the church and which is attended by so many dangers of misunderstanding probably should not be practiced, and might even be invalid. But Paul does not do that. He has far more balance and judgment than we do.

Is God Among You?

Wednesday: Benefiting the Church

August 26, 2026

As he talks about prophecy here, he does so in three areas. Prophecy is better than speaking in tongues for the church, the individual, and for the sake of unbelievers. In the first place Paul says that prophecy in this sense, that is, communicating the Word of God in a clear and applicable way is better than tongues because it helps the church to grow.

Is God Among You?

Thursday: Benefiting the Individual

August 27, 2026

Paul says that if you are really thinking about other people, if you are really concerned about them, and if you are beginning to exercise the kind of love about which he spoke in the thirteenth chapter, you will recognize that people are hurting. So in your worship services you will not be trying to call attention to yourself as so many people do. But rather you will seek to do that which is helpful to them.

Is God Among You?

Friday: Edification and Order

August 28, 2026

Finally, Paul talks also of the benefit of this for unbelievers. It is interesting how he does it. He begins to talk about it in verse 22, saying that tongues are signs, not for believers, but for unbelievers; while prophecy is for believers, and not for unbelievers. What he means by that is that tongues is a miracle, which is something that the unbelieving world will notice, whereas in the experience of Christian people, it would not get their attention in the same way.

The Gospel Core

Monday: Denying the Resurrection

August 31, 2026

1 Corinthians 15 is the most comprehensive chapter in the New Testament on the resurrection. It joins Hebrews 11, which is the great chapter on faith, and 1 Corinthians 13, the great chapter on love. There are many other great chapters in the Bible, of course. But I think of those three together because at the very end of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (v. 13). I think 1 Corinthians 15 fits into that list well because the resurrection is the essence of the Christian hope.

The Gospel Core

Tuesday: Delivering and Receiving

September 1, 2026

Paul has some interesting terminology here that is not at once apparent in our English translations but is more so in Greek and probably in the Hebrew terms that stand behind it. Paul says that he delivered to the Christians in Corinth that which he had received. Those two terms, “delivering” and “receiving,” to us sound like just incidental verbs. But in the language of rabbinic literature, those two terms were important because they describe what was the essential duty of a disciple of a master.

The Gospel Core

Wednesday: Put to Death, Buried, and Raised

September 2, 2026

Now, it is important when Paul points out that Christ did not merely die, but that He died for our sins. If he had said merely that Christ died, somebody could very well reply, “Well, so what? Everybody dies.” But when he says that Christ died for our sins, he puts that in a different category altogether. People die for different reasons, such from old age or an illness. Some might even die in a heroic fashion on behalf of somebody else. Or we might die as a martyr for some noble cause. Jesus did not die in any of those ways. He died for our sins, which means that He died in our place, as our substitute.

The Gospel Core

Thursday: Evidences for the Resurrection

September 3, 2026

I think it is interesting that, although Paul’s concern in this chapter is to talk about the resurrection, nevertheless, when he gets to this point and mentions the fact that Jesus Christ appeared to him last of all, Paul immediately thinks of the grace of God to give such a revelation and entrust such a Gospel to a person like himself.

The Gospel Core

Friday: Where the Gospel Core Leads

September 4, 2026

That is what the Gospel core leads us to. If you do not think in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ dying for your sin, being buried, and then being raised on the third day according to the Scriptures to declare in a public way that God has accepted His sacrifice on your behalf, then you are like Paul before his conversion. You will boast in your supposed good works and think God has to take note of that.

The Gospel Core

Monday: The Lord’s Brother

September 5, 2026

The great Samuel Johnson once said about John Milton’s Paradise Lost that although he knew many people who had “read it,” he knew very few who had read it “through.” That is true of many literary classics. Books like Plato’s Republic, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Melville’s Moby Dick, and others are recognized as outstanding works. But there are millions of people who have never read them and have no intention of reading them. The same is true of much biblical literature. In fact, even Christians neglect much of it. When we talk about the New Testament one book that fits this category is James.

Speaking Sense

Monday: God’s Gospel Made Known

September 7, 2026

In last week’s devotional we looked at the first eleven verses of this chapter. We saw that Paul was dealing with a situation in Corinth on this subject. There were people who apparently did not believe in resurrection. You cannot tell exactly from these verses whether they discounted the resurrection of Christ as well—probably not from the way he argues. But they were certainly willing to discount the resurrection of believers.

Speaking Sense

Tuesday: Consequences of Denying the Resurrection

September 8, 2026

As I read verses 13 through 19, I find that every verse except verse 16 has a consequence in it. This is no doubt because verse 16 is simply a repetition of a consequence that came earlier. Thus, every single verse talks about something that is bad if you deny the resurrection. In verse 13 Paul writes, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.” There is where he starts because the first great problem, if you are going to deny the resurrection in general, is that in order to be consistent you have to deny the resurrection of Jesus as well.

Speaking Sense

Wednesday: Further Consequences of Denial

September 9, 2026

Paul had preached the Gospel of Jesus’ resurrection to the Corinthians, and they had responded positively to his preaching. They believed what he had taught them. So Paul has to tell them that if they follow the philosophical mood of their day and deny the resurrection, they must understand that they are then saying that the apostles, including Paul, who came to them with this Gospel were lying about Jesus’ resurrection. Do the Corinthians really want to go to that conclusion?

Speaking Sense

Thursday: The Resurrection in Cosmic Perspective

September 10, 2026

The essence of the flow of history and where it is going, and also how we as Christians fit into it, is based on the resurrection because we are united to Jesus with our whole being—body, soul, and spirit. Moreover, one day even death itself is going to be destroyed. We are going to be part of the victory as we stand with Christ in our resurrection bodies.

Speaking Sense

Friday: But Christ Has Been Raised

September 11, 2026

Paul is saying that there really is a resurrection. Christ has been raised, and, moreover, His resurrection is the firstfruits of those that sleep. Christians who are now dead, and will go on to die before Christ returns again, are one day going to rise because Christ has risen. All those united to Him in saving faith will follow. What happens to Christians after death is not some vague and meaningless existence. Rather, we look forward to a genuine resurrection of our bodies in a new and glorified way. We are going to be raised up and made like Jesus Christ in His resurrection body. That is our destiny, if we belong to Jesus Christ.

Death Swallowed Up

Monday: How Are the Dead Raised?

September 14, 2026

In the twenty-second chapter of Matthew and also in Luke’s gospel, there is a story about the Sadducees’ coming to test the Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of the resurrection. It was one of a number of tests because people were trying to attack Him on different subjects. They had asked Him about the law and what was the first and greatest commandment. There was also a question about taxes, hoping to catch Him on His views concerning the relationship between one’s obedience to God and to the Roman government. Then the Sadducees came with their question about the resurrection.

Death Swallowed Up

Tuesday: Correcting False Ideas

September 15, 2026

The Corinthians’ difficulty with the resurrection grew naturally out of Greek philosophical thought. The Greeks basically had a great difference between mind and matter in the sense that everything that was of the spirit or the mind was good, and everything that was of matter was evil. They would have said that the problem is not that we are sinful human beings—including our minds and our spirits, which is what the Bible teaches. Rather, they believed that the problem is that we have bodies, which are the cause of our evil desires and bad behavior. These bodies tend to drag us down, while there is something within us, the mind and the spirit, that aspires to go upward to God.

Death Swallowed Up

Wednesday: The Nature of Our Resurrection Bodies

September 16, 2026

Once we move into the second half of chapter 15, Paul still needs to deal with other areas surrounding the idea of resurrection. At this point, the Corinthians might have come to acknowledge that the resurrection of Jesus is true, and that because we are united to Jesus by faith, we too will one day experience our own bodily resurrection. Nevertheless, they still had a question about the nature of this resurrection body. How is it possible, a Greek would argue, that a material body can inherit an immaterial, heavenly existence? Everybody acknowledges that God is spirit and that the realm of heaven has to be a realm of spirituality, not materiality. So how can you talk about a resurrection of the body?

Death Swallowed Up

Friday: The Reality of the Resurrection

September 18, 2026

When Paul gets to the end of this chapter, he has a great conclusion, but the conclusion has weight only if the resurrection is as real as Paul says it is. When Paul gets to the end, he encourages the Corinthian church, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (v. 58). If there is no real resurrection, our labor in the Lord is in vain, because there would be no forgiveness of sins and peace with God. But if Jesus rose, as the Bible says He did, then it is also true that He will return to reward those who trust in Him.

Monday: From Doctrine to Practice

September 21, 2026

After such a careful analysis of the resurrection in the preceding chapter, and the victory that is ours because of it, chapter 16 almost comes as a surprise. We see that it is a very practical chapter, which almost feels like an anticlimax to the grand and sweeping theological theme he just wrote about. He begins to talk about Christian giving, which is followed by a section that deals with personal matters and the people involved. Paul then concludes with some greetings and closing statements.

Tuesday: Principles of Giving

September 22, 2026

As Paul begins 1 Corinthians 16, in the first four verses he mentions the collection, and he lays down some principles for giving. One principle is that of local giving. He informs the Corinthians that he is telling them to do the same thing that he had told the Galatian churches to do and presumably what he would also instruct the Roman churches to do, and the churches in Philippi, and all the other places where he had visited. He is saying that in Christianity giving should be on a local level.

Wednesday: Some Personal Words

September 23, 2026

Paul was the great apostle, the dynamic leader. Timothy was quieter, and seems to have been regarded less by some because he was not like Paul. So when Paul is writing to these churches, he tells them to receive Timothy, to be kind to him, and to accept him. And when Paul writes to Timothy, he tells him not to feel inferior because of his youth, but to set an example to the believers in all the various Christian graces.

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