Hi Pastor John,
I have been reading your translations, and am now reading I Corinthians. I don’t understand a few verses in chapter 3:
12. If anyone builds upon this foundation, whether with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw
13 each man’s work will be made manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will prove each man’s work, what sort it is.
14 If anyone’s work which he has built thereon survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Could you explain these for me?
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You will understand it well when you stop to consider the men and women who, in the name of the Lord, condemned you unjustly when you were a young believer and almost ruined your whole life. They were acting in accordance with the misguided doctrine they had been taught, and they believed they were serving God, even though what they did to you and some other young people was terribly wrong. It is possible that although their work for the Lord will come to nothing on the Day of Judgment, they themselves will still be saved if they have at least sincerely done what they did, and if they have kept the moral commandments of God. Of course, it will be up to God to make the Final Judgment. Such things are far beyond us.
So, what Paul is saying is that some of God’s children, with a sincere heart, will try to serve God in ways that do not please Him, and in the last day, they themselves may be saved while all that they have done “thinking to do God service” will be thrown in God’s trash can. Such saints will have no reward from Jesus beyond their own salvation. That’s Paul’s message.
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Also, as I was reading Chapter 5 and 6, it made me realize the importance and the great responsibility of being a part of Gods family, being a part of the body of Christ. I know how important it is to receive the holy Ghost, but it seems to me that once in His family, there is great responsibility, especially the more knowledge you have. I mean, to look at your brothers and sister and to judge their life, their actions, according to what the Lord has set out for His family, is huge. How can someone do this and do it right if you yourself are not living as you should? Am I reading this right? I know a lot of people say, “You’re not suppose to judge,” but what I have read from Paul is that he is telling the brothers and sisters exactly what to do, what to do with the world, and what to do when it’s your brother. What a fearful thing to serve the true and living God!
Michelle
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The Christians who tell God’s children that they must not judge are foolish. The major problems that plagued the Corinthian believers existed because, according to Paul, the saints in Corinth exercised no judgment among themselves. “What!” Paul said at one point, “Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not one that is able to judge among the brothers?” If a man had told Paul that God’s saints should not make judgments of others, Paul would have told that guy that he was a fool. Without elders making judgments, there is no standard in the body, and where there is no standard, there is no growth in wisdom and holiness.
The truth is, we all judge many things, every day. And if we obey Jesus, we will make “righteous judgments” (Jn. 7:24), as he commanded us to do.
Yes, in order to be able to judge rightly, we ourselves must be free from condemnation. Condemnation makes it more difficult for us to recognize the voice of the Lord, and without his voice leading us, we cannot know how to judge what is right or wrong.
Pastor John