Jesus Speaks!
8/31 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 24; 1 Corinthians 5; Ezekiel 3; Psalm 39
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8/31 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 24; 1 Corinthians 5; Ezekiel 3; Psalm 39
1 Corinthians 5:3
For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
PRESENT
As Paul writes this letter to the Corinthian church from Ephesus during his third missionary journey, although he is not with them in person, he made his decision against the one who committed sexual immorality in having an intimate relationship with his stepmother. This chapter and situation are ever so important to us, not only for that particular sin committed among their number, but also for what the Holy Spirit ministered to Paul to say in his dictation of the letter. While this certainly addresses a historical event, we often tend to forget that although the New Testament explains the Old Testament, the New Testament Scriptures are Christ’s love letters to us. Many of us certainly understand that through the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus dwells spiritually, intimately, and personally with each believer (Heb 13:5). Yet we should also recognize that our King of kings rules and reigns at the right hand of Majesty on high, and that these letters are to you and me, His beloved redeemed. While Jesus is physically absent in [the] body of Christ, His church, He is certainly present in spirit. Christ’s instructions to us from the New Testament epistles, as well as His teachings to the disciples recorded in the gospel accounts of His earthly ministry, carry the same weight and importance as if He had spoken the words with His very lips in our presence. We surely proclaim the Bible to be God’s Word, but are we living as if it were the very words of Jesus to us? Jesus has spoken: in the Old Testament; through His earthly ministry; in His prayers; through His arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection; upon the throne of grace; and He will speak in the judgment, and in the new heaven and earth at the consummation of all things— moreover, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit…
“…will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to [us] the things that are to come.” John 16:13
The Holy Spirit tells us what Jesus has said to us. Hallelujah! What a Savior!