1 Corinthians 5:3 - I am with you in spirit

5:3

Paul was the founder of the church in Corinth, and an apostle. He therefore expresses his view on the matter. It was true that he was not physically present with them, but he was with them “in spirit”. He has therefore given his judgement on the matter in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. A favourite phrase these days is “do not judge”. Well, Paul is giving judgement here. When someone says “do not judge” we can be fairly certain that the next thing they say will be utter nonsense, an excuse for sin. “Do not judge” means not considering ourselves better than others, not thinking we can definitively assess the character of a person. But we are to judge actions.

1 Samuel 12:1-3 - Now you have a king as leader

12:1

This chapter in the ESV and NIV (and no doubt others) is titled “Samuel’s Farewell Speech” or something similar. Actually Samuel still has quite a role to play before he leaves the scene, not least the anointing of David as king. However, it does mark a key moment, with the era of the judges being superseded by the era of the kings. So Samuel begins his speech by pointing out that he has “listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you”. Israel will now be a nation with a king.

12:2,3

Samuel states the obvious by reminding them that he is “old and grey”. He also says “my sons are here with you”. I’m not sure why he says that. His sons were a couple of evil godless scoundrels and completely out of the picture. However, Samuel’s main point is to highlight his integrity. He had served as their judge since his youth, during that time he had never been corrupted by power, as demonstrated by his failure to unjustly take anything from them, he had oppressed no one, he had never accepted a bribe. He had always acted honourably.

1 Corinthians 5:1,2 - There is sexual immorality among you

5:1

Paul now starts to deal with a number of practical issues. Some of these, such as the one addressed in this chapter, he became aware of through reports of one kind or another. Others were questions that the Corinthians themselves had raised with Paul (1 Cor 7:1). The matter here is one of sexual immorality, and involves a case of incest. A man was sleeping with his father’s wife. This was prohibited in the Old Testament (Lev 18:8; Deut 22:30), and it was even looked down upon in the pagan world. This was a measure of how terrible it was. It is likely that the woman was the man’s step mother, rather than his birth mother.

5:2

“And you are proud!” The Corinthians had a high opinion of themselves, yet they were tolerating this sort of disgusting behaviour. Instead of being proud they should have been in mourning that such a thing could happen among them. The common attitude in much of the church today when someone sins is not to be “judgemental”. Not considering ourselves better than others is a good reaction (Gal 6:1-4), but sin must be taken most seriously (James 4:9). The man should have been dealt with seriously, he should have been put out of the fellowship.

1 Samuel 11:11-15 - No one will be put to death today

11:11

In the meantime Saul was on his way and on arriving organised his troops into three divisions. In the morning he attacked the Ammonite camp and slaughtered them. Very few were left alive, and they were widely scattered. In military terms it is a lot easier to attack an army that is out in the open, which is what the Ammonites were, than to attack an army that is holed up in a town (which is what happened at Stalingrad).

11:12,13

When Saul had been publically anointed as king there were some who had refused to give allegiance to Saul. Those who had honoured Saul, now offered to kill the renegades. Saul, however,  declared that no one was to be executed, for the Lord had delivered His people. While Saul had many faults, he was not totally bad. Here he is being magnanimous in victory. 

11:14,15

Samuel then seizes the moment  and calls on the people to go up to Gilgal and “renew the kingship there”. If Saul had allowed the renegades to be killed it could have allowed division to take root in the nation. Instead Samuel can engender unity in the land. So Saul was made king (again) and there was unity and rejoicing. Offerings were also made to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 4:17-21 - What do you prefer?

4:17

“For this reason ...” Because of Paul's deep and personal concern for the Corinthians he sent Timothy to visit the church. Given what Paul has just said, it is significant that he refers to Timothy as “my son whom I love”. Timothy is not a mere emissary, but someone who is very close to Paul. Timothy is completely in tune with Paul’s approach to life and the gospel. He would faithfully represent the proper teaching of the gospel.

4:18-21

Paul then takes an even more serious turn. There were some who had become arrogant. They considered Paul to be someone who was far away and would never visit them again. Paul assures them that, God willing, he would visit them soon. Then the truth would be known. For the gospel and the kingdom is not about talk, but about power. It is about a real change in life. This is actually about the only time that Paul uses the term “kingdom”, however, all of his teaching is relevant to “the kingdom”. Paul presents the Corinthians with a challenge, should he come with a rod of iron, or with a gentle spirit. He would much prefer it was the latter. If they persisted to act in an arrogant manner, then he would come with a rod of iron, for their condition would be serious that drastic action was needed. But if they were humble and repentant, ready and willing to learn from God, then he could come in a gentle spirit. The same is true of our relationship with God. If we are hard hearted then God has to be stern with us. But if we are humble in spirit, He can gently correct us when we need it.

1 Samuel 11:8-10 - You will be rescued

11:8,9

There was a great army, with numbers for Israel and for Judah. Later Israel (the northern kingdom) would split from Judah (the southern kingdom). It seems there was a distinction between the two at an early stage. Saul then sent a message to Jabesh telling them that deliverance would soon be with them.

11:10

The men of Jabesh told Nahash that they would come out the next day and he could then do whatever he liked. I have to say that Nahash seems a bit thick as he has seemed to be too willing to let Jabesh set the terms. However, as mentioned earlier, it was probably that the cost of attacking, even with overwhelming forces, would have been very high. In the second world war the siege of Leningrad lasted three years, and failed, Stalingrad ended in defeat for the Germans. War is never simple.

1 Corinthians 4:14-16 - I urge you to imitate me

4:14

Paul has spoken directly, and the Corinthians could not be blamed for thinking that Paul was having a go at them, for in many ways he was. However, Paul was not doing this in order to condemn them. He was doing this to warn them “as my dear children”. The road they were going down was one that would lead to destruction, and certainly not to the growth of the kingdom amongst them.

4:15,16

And Paul was writing to them as a father, as someone who had a deep and true care and concern for them. And Paul warns them to beware of “guardians”. Guardians had some responsibility for their charges, but it was not the deep concern and care that Paul was talking about. Paul’s preaching had brought them to Christ and Paul had the concern of a father. They needed to beware of having guardians rather than fathers. They needed to imitate the heart with which Paul did things. Today churches need to beware of becoming too managerial. Yes we need to organise ourselves properly, but relationships in Christ must be the real basis of what we do.