Content related to 1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Lent 3B

Are there any other passages that sum up Lent better than these words from Paul?  As I have noted before, this is like drinking from the proverbial fire hose.  In verse after verse Paul scales ever higher theological heights and ever grander rhetorical flourishes as he stares, mouth agape, at the mysteries of God that…

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1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Advent 1B

The theologian Robert Jenson passed away recently.  “Jens” as he was known had the ability to see through to the core of many theological and historical matters.  He once made a curious point in the course of a seminar I attended one week.  Jens said that in history, the Christian Church has, of course, found…

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1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Epiphany 4A

Drinking from the proverbial fire hose, that’s what these verses from 1 Corinthians are like.   In verse after verse Paul scales ever higher theological heights and ever grander rhetorical flourishes as he stares, mouth agape, at the mysteries of God that all coalesce around the cross of Jesus Christ.   Few passages in Scripture so swiftly…

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1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Epiphany 3A

In the previous sermon commentary on the first 9 verses of 1 Corinthians 1, I riffed on Tom Long’s suggestion that Paul wrote those opening verses with tongue firmly embedded in cheek.  He praises the Corinthians for the very things Paul knows full well they were in deep trouble over.  He names as would-be compliments…

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1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Epiphany 2A

If what we call First Corinthians were a contemporary letter, then a good bit of this reading would be like focusing not on the shank or the primary content of the letter.  Instead, it would be like focusing on the part of the letter at the very end that begins with “Well, that’s about all…

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1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Lent 3B

Comments, Observations, and Questions This is a great text for this third Sunday of Lent because it focuses our attention not on Lenten disciplines (important and helpful though they may be), but on the cross of Christ.  That’s what Lent is all about.  Indeed, the cross of Christ is what Christianity is all about.  That’s…

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A Foolish Message

Preached at River Terrace Christian Reformed Church, Lansing, MI on August 14, 2006. Used with permission of the author and River Terrace.

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Saints

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1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Advent 1B

Comments, Observations, and Questions Sometimes I wonder what the inventor(s) of the Revised Common Lectionary were thinking when they chose the texts for the three year cycle.  I mean, take the reading for today, the first Sunday of Advent.  It is the very same text the RCL used for the second Sunday of Epiphany in…

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