Daily Bible Verses for 2/5/2017

Daily Verse(s)
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Reading Notes
The focus of Paul’s teaching and his life was to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul poured out his heart as he expounded on the whole counsel of God to the Corinthians. Paul taught the Corinthian church the Gospel of Christ along with the word of God, and he did so in an environment known for its bad behavior. During this time in Paul’s life if someone were to behave in a promiscuous manner, or have drunken celebrations, the people would say they were “corinthianizing.” The behavior of the city had become so immoral and so debased, and the people of Corinth had become so infamous for their bad behavior, that the city’s name became synonymous with immorality and bad behavior. Yet through the power of God, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul was used by God in the city of Corinth. God used the Apostle Paul to bring the people of Corinth to faith in Christ.

And as Paul states here, he did not rely on his outward appearance because he was not a handsome or tall man. Moreover, he did not rely on his speech, Paul was not an eloquent speaker, and it was actually said of Paul that in person he was weak, timid and unremarkable. Rather, Paul an educated and trained Pharisee, relied not on his knowledge, but on the power of God through his submission to the Holy Spirit and the power of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion, which by God’s grace, is the only thing that can reconcile sinful humanity back to a Holy God. In other words, it wasn’t Paul’s ability, but the power of Jesus, working through Paul. Paul’s submission to God’s will, gives us a wonderful example of how we too, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can help in the spread of the Gospel of Christ. That we as children of God, by our submission to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, can tell others how Jesus paid the price for our sins, once and for all time, in order that they too, by faith alone, in Jesus alone, may be redeemed back to a Holy God and have eternal life in His name.