Presbyterian Teacher: Love

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Teaching Notes I CORINTHIANS 13

Hugh Wood, Atlanta, Georgia

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The first Quarantine in the USA since 1918 continues. It is Day 30 or something. Today is Easter. Sunday April 12, 2020. This is the first time in my life when we cannot go to a church for Easter. Perhaps it will have to be virtual this year. [The virtual did not work for IT technical reasons].

April 8 - 16, 2020 is Passover. I pray that the Angel of Death that is out there "passover" me and my house. Amen.

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"The grass withers and the flower [fades], but the word of [the Lord] endures forever.” Isaiah 40:8."

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This Book, the First Letter to the Church at Corinth, was almost certainly written by Paul. It is addressed to the church in Corinth, in Greece. It is in every early accepted copy of the Bible. It is likely written by the end of AD 53 or the spring of 54.

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Peachtree [Presbyterian] Church when we could gather together at a prior Easter

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Chapter 13. Love

The Premier Teaching of Christianity. An undying expression

of Jesus’ doctrine of Heavenly Love. More potent for the build-

ing of the Church than any, or all, of the various manifestations

of God‘s Power. Love, the Church’s most effective weapon. Love,

without which all the various Gifts of the Spirit are of no avail.

Love, the Essence of God's Nature. Love, the Perfection of Human

Character. Love, the most Powerful Ultimate Force in the Universe.

Even if I bestow all my goods to Feed the Poor, even if I give

my body to be burned, if I Have Not Love, it Proﬁts me Nothing,

Ver 3. What a Thought-Provoking passage! The Gift of Speaking

like an Angel, of Prophesying, of having All Knowledge, of Faith

that Moves Mountains, of Charity to the last dollar, even

Martyrdom, all of no use unless we have the Spirit of Christian

LOVE. What a call to Self-examination.

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From The Bible Project (c)

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1 Corinthians 13 New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 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. 12 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.

13 And now these three remain:

faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Footnotes:

1 Corinthians 13:1 Or languages

1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts body to the flames

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New International Version (NIV)

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Hugh C. Wood, Atlanta, Georgia

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END

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Teaching Notes GALATIANS 5 and 6

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GALATIANS

Chapters 5, 6. Freedom in Christ

Paul could not understand how any human being

would deliberately choose to risk his

salvation on works rather than on the gracious mercy of

Christ.

Christ saves us. It is paid for and without cost to us.

One need only accept the free offer of salvation.

We do not save ourselves. It is the difference between freedom

and slavery: But freedom in Christ does not mean license to

continue in sin.

Paul never fails to lay special stress on that. Those who follow

fleshly lusts cannot be saved, Chapter 5:19-21. One of the “spiritual laws

of the natural world” is that a man shall “reap what he sows",

Chapter 6:7, inevitable in its working, whether the seed be wheat or tares.

“Large letters”, 6:11, evidence of the genuineness of his own hand

see note on his “thorn in the ﬂesh” under II Cor 12. writing,

“Branded with the marks of Jesus”, Chapter 6:17. His enemies

claimed that Paul was not a genuine Apostle of Christ.

His battered, bruised, and scarred body was

his testimony that he was genuine. See II Cor 4,6,11.

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Galatians 5 New International Version (NIV)

Freedom in Christ

5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

Life by the Spirit

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Footnotes:

Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.

Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18

Galatians 5:17 Or you do not do what

Galatians 6 New International Version (NIV)

Doing Good to All

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load. 6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Not Circumcision but the New Creation

11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to[b] the Israel of God.

17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

Footnotes:

Galatians 6:14 Or whom

Galatians 6:16 Or rule and to

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New International Version (NIV)

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Hugh C. Wood, Atlanta, Georgia

END

Presbyterian Teacher

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Teaching Notes I CORINTHIANS 13

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Teaching Notes GALATIANS 5 and 6