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Phillip Ross's Articles

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Morality and Maturity False gods are powerless because they are not real. And yet, people falsely believe they are real, and establish very real and destructive behaviors on that false basis. Consequently, the more mature are bound by the weaknesses of the less mature as a matter of service to the weaker brothers. Unbelievable Truth Too many of the Corinthians who now associated themselves with Jesus Christ had not made a clean break with their former beliefs. They brought many of those former beliefs -- false beliefs and the false worldview of Greek philosophy -- into the Corinthian church with them. Still happens. The Illusion of Knowledge Knowledge based upon personal experience is neither objective, nor trustworthy. But because the Bible has been vetted by many people in many different cultures over many thousands of years, it's knowledge is as close to being objective as is humanly possible. Sexual Ignorance Paul gives advice about marriage during periods of social upheaval, the marriage bed, difficulties related to child rearing and God's care that supersedes it all. Potential Jerusalem Marriages Previously he had dealt with the new circumstance of mixed marriages. Here Paul was addressing another unusual circumstance that First Century Christians had been thrown into. That circumstance was not only the gospel explosion that was growing in the wake of persecution, but the fact of persecution itself. Calling, Contentment and Slavery Christians are not called to do the same things, but each Christians has a unique calling that is uniquely suited to his or her unique situation. Bloom where you are planted. Unbelieving Spouse If the unbelieving partner walks away from a marriage because the other person has become a Christian, then the one who walked away is not rejecting the believing spouse, but he or she is rejecting God. The rejecting spouse may argue that the believing spouse has changed since becoming a Christian, that the believing spouse is no longer the same person that he or she married -- and we hope that that would be true! Mixed Marriages Paul turned his attention from the marriages of believers to what we call mixed marriages, where one marriage partner is not a believer. This is a special circumstance and calls for special treatment. Paul's Celibacy Paul surely knew that if all Christians were celibate, they would die out. The Essenes believed that Paul wanted all Christians to be celibate, and they actually died out. Paul was not stupid. Celibacy is a strategy of death, not life. This all suggests that Paul was not speaking in this verse about celibacy as a gift of the Spirit. This misunderstanding has been read into the verse, not taken from it. Marriage And The Trinity The principle of all unity is God's covenant, or God's law. God's law is the binding force that holds the world together. All things exist because of or on the basis of God's law (or God's love). God's love and God's law are different expressions of the same thing, the same reality. And just as law holds human societies together so God's law holds the entire universe together. Thus, all violations of God's law (sin) are ultimately suicidal. What's Wrong With Sex Apart From Marriage? Sex apart from biblical marriage violates God's covenant, and God's covenant is the unifying factor of the universe. So, to violate God's covenant constitutes a violation of most fundamental cohesion of the universe. It violates and blurs one's own personal identity and the fabric of social cohesiveness. It destroys trust and promise-keeping, truth and the dependability of nature, social law, scholarship, science, etc Membership Is Not A Club Being a Christian is not like being in a club. It is much deeper. Christian membership cannot be compartmentalized or separated from other aspects of life. It necessarily affects all of life, nothing is excluded. And what is more, being a Christian means being a Christian here on the earth today. It's not simply about going to heaven. Freedom and Possibility Real freedom is not doing what you want. Our wants are controlled by sin, so that kind of freedom is slavery to sin. Real freedom is doing what God wants us to do. Heaven's Short List Who goes to heaven and who doesn't? What is the difference between believers and unbelievers? Paul does not neglect the spiritual aspects of this difference between believers and unbelievers. He simply makes the point that the difference is not merely spiritual. It also manifests in the flesh. Separation The problem was not that some of the members were living in sin. Who isn't? The problem was that some of the members had not repented of their sin. They were in process of justifying it to themselves and to the church, trying to make it okay in the eyes of God by suggesting that God forgives everyone of everything, that in the light of the amazing grace of Jesus Christ repentance and turning from sin doesn't matter. Whittling The List Paul was not calling the Corinthians to greater effort. Rather, Paul was calling them to Jesus Christ. The only righteousness available to them was the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Paul was painfully aware of the sins of the Corinthians. And he was painfully aware that too many of them had hold of the righteousness stick by the wrong end. He knew that they had been chasing worldly foolishness and forsaking godly wisdom. Shame and Judging People True reformation and revival of the Christian church must reform and revive church courts. Indeed, as the civil court system continues to collapse from the backlog of cases and the moral corruption of the legal system, the Christian church may well find itself faced with an opportunity to actually be what God has called it to be -- a vehicle of forgiveness and reconciliation among all people. Community Union Christians need to fellowship with other Christians. Because our values and interests change once we have been converted, we find that we have less and less in common with people who are not Christian. Our circle of friends changes because we like being with Christians more than with non-Christians. The old adage is that birds of a feather flock together. Viral Pride The problem today is not keeping people from the pride virus because virtually everyone has it. The problem today is finding the cure. And again, the key to the cure is like the key to contagion -- contact. Porneia It is very interesting to simply define a word that Paul used and understand it as he understood it. This kind of clarification speaks volumes about our own abandonment of God's law in the Twenty-First Century. By simply defining a word, we come face to face with our own immorality. Foolishness, Pride and Church Growth Imagine that Paul is your boss, who has been away, and you are talking to him on the phone. He has a disagreement with how you are handling things in his absence, and he tells you that he will return next week. Then he asks you how you would like him to approach you about this problem when he gets back. Against Originality We are taught in our schools, colleges, universities and through the media that being human means being original, that we become most human when we are most original. Indeed, Humanism is the celebration of original thinkers as embodying the best that humanity has to offer. Artists will know what I'm talking about. But the Bible teaches that human beings were created in God's image. We are not originals, but some sort of copies of the Original. The Art of Genuine Imitation Paul calls Christians to imitate him, but not to be mass produced copies of the real McCoy. Rather, Paul has called Christians to become life artists, artists whose medium is life itself. False Christianity The Corinthians were engaged in worldly thinking and outright sin -- all in the name of Christianity! He told them that they were proud of the success that their church enjoyed -- it's wealth and political power -- because they were worldly minded and unfaithful to Christ. Their pride in their church was an expression of their faithlessness and their misunderstanding of the gospel. Baptisms Apollos had been missing one thing. In spite of the fact that Apollos had been nurtured by and educated in the essentials of Christianity, and had been teaching and preaching about Jesus in a correct and accurate way, he was for a time still missing the central element of faithfulness -- a changed heart or baptism by the Holy Spirit No Common Ground If the difference that Christ makes is insignificant or trivial, then we might say that our experience or perspective is not much different from that of unbelievers. But if Christ makes a significant difference, a real difference, then we don't see things in the same light, we don't know or experience things in the same way. The more real Christ is, the greater this difference. Crazy Christians We have been trained by the values of secular humanism through our public education, through the secular values and practices of the media and the workplace. That training has taught us to ignore the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit when that testimony is not in conformity with the values and practices of secular humanism. And Christians are not immune from the pervasiveness of secular humanism in contemporary society. Defilement & Unity Inasmuch as we defile the church, God will defile us. It appears that God will give back to us what we give to Him. Denial The spiritual person considers or evaluates everything on the basis of Scripture. The spirituality of such a person effects everything that they think, say and do. Such a person applies the categories of Scripture to everything, and, first and foremost, the wisdom of Scripture is applied to his own life. Born Again Show me someone who thinks that Christianity is foolish, and I'll show you a worldly person. The reason that they think Christianity is foolish is that they cannot perceive the reality of God. Christian Antithesis The church will grow in faith and in numbers when it is seen as a viable option to the ways of the world. It will grow by differentiating itself from the world, not by trying to integrate itself into the world, or by trying to grow on a foundation of worldliness. Marketing Christ Virtually all contemporary Christian marketing pays lip service to Jesus Christ but is focused on the people in the pews. It is primarily concerned with noses and nickels related to particular institutions. It lobbies against preaching or sharing any biblical truth that has a hard edge, that will make people uncomfortable, or that may be difficult to understand. And, like it or not, biblical truth will make us all uncomfortable. It's supposed to! Everyone Benefits From Christianity Though education does not and cannot save anyone, Christian education is good for everyone. The saved need to be educated in godliness for their own sanctification. The lost who are not-yet-saved need to be educated in godliness in order to draw them into salvation and sanctification. And the unsavable need to be educated in godliness in order to help them from being as evil as they can be. Chasing The Culture vs. Leading It Too many Christians think that they need dress the gospel up in the latest fads of music, drama, literature, etc., in order for the gospel to be relevant to contemporary people. Too many Christians have it ass backwards. It isn't that the Bible needs to be relevant to people, but that people need to be relevant to the Bible. Is the culture to lead the church? Or is the church to lead the culture? The Foolishness Of Trying To Save Everyone Christians don't need to make an appeal to others on the basis of worldly values and aesthetics because those who will respond truly will respond to the power of the gospel alone. They will not be dissuaded by what the world sees as a foolish and irrelevant message Discerning Divisive Divisions and Understanding Unity Unity and diversity in the Christian church comes in two flavors -- cultural and doctrinal. Paul said "yes" to one and "no" to the other. Failure to note this difference has caused much confusion.