The Strand Study Bible

Written From Ephesus During Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

I CORINTHIANS

1910

not as He had done at Mount Sinai, with mighty manifestations of His power and glory, but as a human babe. There followed a growth of mind and body, of character and personality. This natural human development reached the point where He became fully aware of who He was and what His purpose was for coming into the world. During this growth He made no divine claims for Himself. From infancy He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” 3

NOTE – The only logical conclusion available to us is that at His incarnation there occurred a shift in conscious-ness from the divine to the human. From His conception to His resurrection the only consciousness accessible to Him was what other men have. * The eternal authority over all things According to I Corinthians 15:28 , CHRIST will subject Himself to the FATHER and the SPIRIT for all eternity future. Which means: He is willing to give up certain aspects of His eternal omnipotence in order to pay for the eternality of man’s sin. NOTE – Something eternal had to give in order to pay for the eternality of man’s sin. Thank God Jesus was willing to pay it ( Rom 1:16 ). Remember: Jesus never sacrificed His deity (His equality of essence) at Calvary, only certain aspects of His eternal authority with the other two Persons of deity ( Phil 2:6c and Jn 20:17c ). 2. To illustrate for us real submission If Jesus (God) can submit to God (the FATHER and the SPIRIT ) and still remain God (Lk 2:51, Jn 6:38 and Heb 5:8), then we should be able to submit to God. 5:29 There existed among some of the Jewish believers at Corinth a superstitious practice of baptizing a living person in the place of some convert who had died before that rite had been administered to him. Though Paul did not endorse the practice, he pointed out the “meaningless of it” ( Else what shall they do ) if there was no resurrection. 15:31 The person who has practiced the art of dying ( I die daily ) before the dying hour will die well. He who reminds himself daily that earth is not home will learn to hold loosely onto this world and all that is in it. Max Lucado in The Devotional Bible notes: 15:33 THE ADAGE IS TRUE: The company you keep will determine the trouble you meet (Prov 1:10-19) 15:42 Paul reminded us of the same thing that Daniel did (Dan 12:3) –that our new “resurrected” bodies would shine like the stars of heaven (vs 41). Some will be bright. Some will not be so bright due to their failure to finish their race, use their gifts, or have the right motive for why they do what they do for God ( II Cor 5:10-11 ). 15:45 This word ( soul ) comes from the Greek word \XFK ( psuche ), from which we get our word “psyche,” denoting breath or breath of life, and is translated within the Bible soul , life , mind , and heart . When combined with the word OοJο9 ( logos ), from which we get our word “logy,” which denotes the expression of thought, doctrine, or theory of, these two words together mean, “the doctrine or theory of ( logy ) the mind and/or mental process ( psyche ) (the study of the soul ). Psychology , therefore, is the science (or, doctrine) of the mind and human behavior (mental life), which seeks to explain how we think, feel and act. It is interesting to note here that Paul made reference to the psyche (the soul ) 2,000 years ago by referring to a passage in Genesis, which took place 4,000 years before he was even born. Moses recorded for us in Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul . Notice the words “ breathed ,” “ breath of life ,” and “ living soul.” All three terms describe and define for us the Greek word \XFK , proving that true psychology is as old as the beginning of time. Psychology, after all, deals with the psyche (the soul ); an aspect of man that theistic psychology (Christianity) affirms ( Gen 1:26 b, 27 b ) but atheistic psychology (humanistic secularism) says doesn’t exist. Modern, secular, atheistic psychology, then, is a self-contradiction and needs to be understood for what it is –a non-God approach to the way we think, feel, and act ( Eccl 1:14 ). Unhappiness on earth cultivates a hunger for heaven. By gracing us with a deep dissatisfaction, God holds our attention. The only tragedy, then, is to be satisfied prematurely. To settle for earth. To be content in a strange land… We are not happy because we are not at home here. We are not happy here because we are not supposed to be happy here. We are “like foreigners and strangers in this world” (I Pet 2:11). 4

1 Walvoord, John F. Jesus Christ Is Lord , USA, Scripture Press Pub., 1983. Print. 2 bs.htm – www.acozy.net (Internet article) 3 Heppenstall, Edward. The Man Who Is God (Internet article) 4 Lucado, Max. The Devotional Bible , Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson, 2003. Print.