Through a glass, dimly

1 Corinthians 16:21 (NLT)
Here is my greeting in my own handwriting-Paul.

- Most of us use computers but don't know how to program them. In previous eras people used words, but didn't necessarily read or write. They used scribes just as we might hire someone to create a website.

At the end of this letter to the church at Corinth, Paul adds his name in his own handwriting, to personalize this greeting. I can imagine him carefully drawing out the letters under the tutelage of his scribe.

I wonder how much this method of dictating texts, might change their "voice?" Surely some scribes were better than others at capturing the exact words spoken, while others might elaborate a little or paraphrase, or might even add passages in their own words. For example I might direct my scribe to include a paragraph explaining what I said to a crowd of people yesterday, in a meeting he also attended.

All this is just me wondering how current-day "bible-ologists" account for the use of scribes when they determine the validity of bible texts. I've heard theologians say that such-and-such a book is not considered as coming directly from the author claimed by the text itself because it does not match his style of writing in other documents. But how certain can we be that such differences aren't caused by the use of different scribes?

Just wondering.

1 Corinthians 16:1 (NLT)
Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God's people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia.

- Paul is responding to a previous communication from the believers at Corinth. It's too bad we don't have that message as it might help understand the context of some of Paul's instructions in this letter.

1 Corinthians 16:14 (NLT)
And do everything with love.

- Paul never stops emphasising the importance of love.

Ultimate Hope For All!

1 Corinthians 15:17-19 (NLT)
And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. [18] In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! [19] And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (NLT)
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

1 Corinthians 15:26 (NLT)
And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

- I was raised in a good Baptist belief that salvation is a kind of exclusive club, reserved for the few select folks who say the "sinner's prayer," and "accept Christ" according to a narrow, formulaic method.

Now that I've studied the bible for myself, I've come to see salvation as a huge thing! This passage is just one place where I find my evidence. Paul is saying that there is a specific order to the resurrection of the dead, but that ultimately death itself will be defeated. And though he highlights here the resurrection of believers at Christ's return, his message does not stop there.

In verse 20 he claims Christ is the first of "a great harvest of all who have died." And he goes on to say that the last enemy to be destroyed is death itself (verse 26). How can Paul claim that death is destroyed if death still holds onto the souls of millions of "lost" people, (as claimed by traditional Christian understandings)?

If this doesn't mean Ultimate Life for all, then I don't understand why Paul would say that. This is the only interpretation that justifies the claim, Good News! regarding Jesus' life and mission. Surely this is the understanding that is embodied in Paul's triumphant cry:

1 Corinthians 15:55 (NLT)
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

Call me a heretic... But now I see a tremendous message of hope for all the world for all time.

Contoversial Paul

1 Corinthians 14:20 (NLT)
... Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind.
...

- Good advice!

1 Corinthians 14:34 (NLT)
Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says.
...

- This verse is a strange one, especially in light of other verses relating the huge role of some prominent women in raising and sustaining churches. I suspect Paul is dealing with some issues specific to the churches in Corinth, as indicated in this verse:

1 Corinthians 14:36 (NLT)
Or do you think God's word originated with you Corinthians? ...

The Primacy of Love

...
1 Corinthians 13:2 (NLT)
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing.

- After two thousand years do we get it? Do we understand that to love is the ultimate call of Christ on our lives? This is not a shallow, self-serving counterfeit love that we humans often fall for, but rather the kind of self-giving love that has the power to change the world, for the better, forever. Do we really "get" it yet?

If there were millions of Christ-centered people in the world who were steeped in and abandoned to this kind of love, would the world still be the messy, often-violent place it is?

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT)
Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.