>> Jen: Hey, faithful listeners, buckle up, because today we're going to be talking about legalism and judgment and all sorts of other modern hot button issues in first corinthians four. I'm very excited to get into this episode today. I'm going to be reading it out of the web version and also switching over to the NLT version at some point in time. So let's go ahead and read one corinthians four, one through nine today, because I do think it's potentially going to be a longer episode today.
So I'd like to jump right in once again, that's one corinthians four, one through nine. Grab your cup of coffee and let's enjoy reading scripture together. So, let a man think of us as Christ's servants and stewards of God's mysteries here. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by man's judgment. Yes, I don't judge my own self, for I know nothing against myself,
yet I am not justified by this. But he who judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring light to the hidden things of the darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts, then each man will get his
praise from God. Now, these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and apollos for your sake, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another, for who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn't receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us.
Yes. And I wish that you did reign, that we might also reign with you. For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we were made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. So in the first couple chapters of one corinthians, Paul talks about how people who are just anti God are going to think of the gospel as foolish. And so that is why the corinthian church needs to act differently from these people,
because they need to be set apart. They need to be holy. The gospel message to the corinthian church is not supposed to be foolishness. It is, to them, supposed to be life giving and wisdom. So that was the first two chapters of one corinthians but then in the last chapter, Paul went into how each individual person has been given a task by God, either to lay the foundation of the church, like to plant a church, or to build on that foundation.
But even though each person has been given a task, that doesn't mean that those people are divine or have achieved any kind of godhood, including Paul himself. Paul says, I am a mere human being who has been given a task by God. Because the corinthians in the corinthian church were fighting. They were doing like this infighting about which human being, human preacher they liked better. So some would be like, I like Paul better. I'm going to follow the teachings of
Paul. And then others would be like, well, I like apollos better, so I'm going to follow the teachings of apollos. And Paul's like, that's stupid, because we're all just human beings. It is God who gave us the gospel message. And so Paul continues on with this theme in one corinthians four one. So let a man think of us as Christ's servants and stewards of God's mysteries. You'll notice that Paul often refers to himself as a slave of Jesus Christ.
He always does this. This is very contrary to what some people think about Paul. Some people think that Paul promoted the idea that we, you and I, are like little g gods, little gods theology. Some people think that because they take and twist the letters of Paul say, such as, we have the mind of Christ, that doesn't mean that just because Christ has lovingly and mercifully given us aspects of himself, that we have achieved godhood or christhood or something along those lines.
No, Paul never says anything like that. And Paul himself always said, I am a slave of Jesus Christ. I am nothing but a servant. So if we are nothing but servants, and Paul says, I am nothing but a servant, then how can we possibly be little g gods? We can't be, because the little g God theory says that we can achieve christhood. We can basically become on the same level as Christ. But scripture clearly states, no, we are Christ's servants. A servant is not above the master. Those are
Jesus's literal words. He said those words to his disciples. He says, you guys are not above the master. You guys are not equal to the master. You are servants. And Paul echoes that saying of Jesus, we are servants. We are not gods. He says, think of us as Christ's servants and stewards of God's mysteries. The word steward here was a specific type of slave.
If you think about Joseph, for example, way back in the book of Genesis, Joseph was the son of Jacob, one of the patriarchs of the, um, israelite nation, who got sold into slavery by his brothers. And Joseph ended up becoming a steward, which basically meant that he became the accountant. He oversaw all of the finances for his master's home. That is what a steward is, is someone who oversees the inner workings of the home. That is what Paul calls himself, a specific type of slave, a steward.
I am a steward of God's mysteries here. Moreover, it is required of us, uh, stewards, that they be found faithful as stewards of God, as slaves and servants of goddess. We have to be faithful because that is the point of a servant. And of a slave. We faithfully take care of what our master wants us to take care of, and God is our master, so we have to be faithful to him, and we have to be faithful to his words and be good stewards of those particular words. But then Paul changes his
tune a little bit and he starts talking about something else. He says, with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by man's judgment. Yes. I don't even judge my own self. So Paul's like, you know what? You guys can judge me all you want, because, you know, Paul, his authority was always being questioned. Every place he went, people would always be like, well, who are you to say this or that about God's
words? And Paul says, you know, I am judged all the time by both Christians and Jews and gentiles alike. And to me, I don't really care. You can judge me all you want. In fact, I'm not even going to judge myself, is what Paul says. We often misjudge ourselves, either in the fact that we're overly critical about ourselves or in the fact that we're overly
generous towards ourselves. So we'll beat ourselves up over something that is not that big of a deal, or we will give ourselves way too much mercy when we don't deserve it. We are terrible judges of ourselves. So Paul's like, I'm not even going to attempt to judge myself. He says, because I don't even know anything against myself yet. I am not justified by this. But he who judges me is the Lord. So Paul's like, I am way worse than
I can even imagine. That is basically what Paul is saying. He says, I probably think I am way better than I am. So I'm not going to judge myself. I'm going to let God judge me. So then Paul gives a very specific command to the corinthian church and to everybody who is reading this letter, therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of hearts, then each man will get his praise from God.
So I'm sure many people will take this verse and be like, see, Paul says you can't judge anybody. Paul says you cannot be mean to anybody. God is the only one who is able to judge. Well, to those people, I asked the question, how do you rectify that with Romans, chapter one. You know, the chapter where Paul is talking about all of these terrible sins that the gentiles and the Jews alike were doing?
Also, M. How do you justify that with what we're going to read later on in one corinthians where Paul is telling the church that they need to stop doing these evil things that they're doing. For example, first Corinthians, I think actually the next chapter, I think it's one corinthians five, Paul is going to go into some sexual sins that the Corinthians were doing. So to anybody that's like, see, Paul says that only God can judge you.
Well, what about all the other chapters that Paul writes and all the other verses that say you need to get this crap out of your church? So is Paul contradicting himself? Is he saying, oh, we can't really judge anything, but also we have to judge things? No, he's not contradicting himself at all. It's because nobody understands what the word judge means. Everybody thinks that the word judge means like saying something mean to somebody or calling out sin.
But that is not what the word judge means. The word judge means to condemn somebody, to condemn them. When christians tell somebody that what they are doing is sinning, those Christians are not condemning that person. They are saying, hey, you are sinning. You probably shouldn't do this because it's not good for you and it's not good for the people around you. That is what the christians should be doing anyway. I am sure that there are
christians out there who do condemn people. That is wrong, because as Paul says here, it is God's place to judge or to condemn somebody. We aren't supposed to condemn people, but we are supposed to protect our churches. We are supposed to call out sin as Jesus did and as Jesus told us to do. In fact, Jesus himself said, you're gonna know people by their fruits.
So if somebody is saying one thing and doing another, you're going to be able to tell that that person is not actually believing what they're saying because they're doing something totally different. Jesus himself said that as a warning for us to look out for people who are corrupt that are coming into the church. Jesus also gave parables about how the church is going to become like this big mustard tree, where all of these different types of birds from all over the world come and
nest in its branches. But some of these birds are going to be crows or ravens, and that signifies how the church is going to become this huge movement. The christian church, and all sorts of people from all over the world are going to take, uh, comfort in Christianity and believe in it. But some of those people that come to that church are corrupt people, which signifies the ravens or the crows. Jesus himself said that. Jesus said, watch out for people who are like wolves in sheep's
clothing. So there is a level of judgment that we have to have when we are in the church to make sure that people don't come into the church and spread false and bad ideology and teach other people to do those terrible things. We cannot do that. So the misunderstanding of what the word judge means has really, really done detrimental damage to the church nowadays because we think that, oh, we can't judge anybody. That means we can never call out sin. That is absolutely wrong. And Paul
himself says that multiple times. But we don't condemn people. That is God's job to do. God is the one who is going to condemn it, says he's going to reveal the hidden things of the darkness of the heart, and he's going to reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God. So we just need to wait for God's justice and God's judgment
condemnation to come. Because then, at the very end, when God eventually does reveal all of those things, on the day of judgment, all of us will receive our reward from Christ. Now, these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself in apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which were written and none of you be puffed up against one another. What is Paul talking about here? Paul is talking about
legalism. I believe now legalism means adding to scripture things that are not part of scripture, that somebody has to do in order to have a better relationship with God. For example, I grew up in a very legalistic church. I went to an IFB church, independent fundamental Baptist. And we were taught that women were sinning if they did not wear skirts that came down below their knees, if they were wearing skirts that were like, to the knees or a little bit higher than that. Uh uh. That is a sin.
If somebody wanted to play drums, that was also a sin because the drum is like the devil's instrument or something. I don't even know where they get that one from. But that is legalism. When somebody says, you have to do this, something that is not stated in scripture in order to get closer to God or in order to be a better Christian, which, by the way, I didn't realize this until recently, but legalism can also go in the other direction as
well. I grew up in more of a conservative kind of legalism, but there's also a liberal kind of legalism that is actually much more popular today than I think even conservative legalism is. And the liberal legalism is, well, you have to do this. And if you don't do that, you're not actually loving your neighbor. For example, if you don't wear a mask, you are not loving your neighbor. If you don't get a electric
vehicle, you are not loving your neighbor. If you don't, uh, affirm this person's ideology, you are not loving your neighbor. But all of those things are anti biblical, and none of them are mentioned in scripture. You will not find the words electric vehicle in scripture. You will not find the words surgical mask in scripture. They are not in
scripture. So if somebody is adding to scripture and is saying, you have to do these things in order to love your neighbor or in order to become a better christian, that is legalism. That is what Paul is talking about here, that you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another. What does legalism do to somebody? It literally makes you arrogant.
It makes you like, oh, you know, I'm wearing skirts that are below my knees, and this person is not, um, I'm better than this person because, you know, I'm actually following modesty guidelines that the Bible teaches about. Or I'm using an electric vehicle and it's giving off less emissions into the environment. So I'm a better person than that guy over there who is driving that old Ford pickup. That is what legalism does, is it makes you
arrogant. And that is why Paul says, don't add to scripture and don't think up things that aren't written down in scripture. The truth of scripture is what has been written. It's not the Bible, and it's not the Bible plus this that gets you closer to God. The only thing that can get you closer to God is the Bible itself. Is the gospel message. What has been written down, that is how we have a relationship with God, is by following what scripture
says. So Paul says, don't add things to scripture because it makes you arrogant, and it makes you teach other people things that are not a part of scripture. And it just trips people up, and it adds burdens to them. The same way that the Pharisees in the days of Jesus were adding burdens to all of the people, rules that were not written in scripture that they were forcing the people to do. Then, in verse seven to nine, to conclude, who makes you different, and what do you have that you
didn't receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn't received it? So he's like, who is making each and every one of you different? Who is giving you the things that you have, the talents, the gifts, the resources? Who is giving you all these things? It's God. God made you unique. He made you different. He gave you different life circumstances. He gave each and every one of you a different gift. So why are you acting as if you did all of
these things by yourselves? You did nothing by yourselves. And that's another thing that points away from the little God's theology. We are not little gods because God created each and every one of us. We are below God. We can't create anything ourselves. It was God who gave it all to us. So he says, don't boast about these things that you have been given. Then in verse eight, I'm going to switch over to the NLT here. First Corinthians four eight says, you think you already have
everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God's kingdom without us. I wish you really were reigning already for then we would be reigning with you. So Paul kind of like rips into the corinthian church because of how arrogant they have become. So they were becoming, it sounds like legalistic. It sounds like they were beginning to add to scripture a little bit. It sounds like they were following man's theology instead of God's
theology. And another way they were becoming arrogant was they were boasting about all of their talents and their gifts and their wealth and resources that they've been given, and they didn't think that they needed anything else. They thought that they were already spiritually fulfilled and that they didn't have anything more that they needed to learn. You know, I actually
know people like that. I know people who do not go to church because they think they are beyond the church, you know, there's really nothing we can learn at church. There's no point for us to even go. And I would argue that anybody that thinks that way doesn't really know very much at all, because that's not the point of church. The point of going to church is to fellowship with people and to maybe, yes, learn something about the gospel that you don't
already know. But it's mostly to be an encouragement to other people and for other people to encourage you as well. That is the main point of going to church, is for the other people, is for serving God's people. So Paul says, you know, the Corinthians were beginning to think that they were fully 100% spiritually mature. And Paul is about to show them you're not. You are not 100% spiritually mature. And here is why.
Sorry, guys, I know I didn't finish with verse nine, but I'll talk about that verse a little bit more on Thursday because it goes. It actually flows really well into the next portion of one corinthians four. So, faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. It was a pretty heavy topic, but maybe you were convicted. And also, if you know somebody who might benefit from hearing today's portion of scripture, please share it along. Tell people that the Bible
explained podcast exists. And also make sure to write a review on whatever podcasting platform you're listening on, because all the reviews that the podcast gets helps it to be found by more people. That's just how the algorithms work. So it's a weird little way to evangelize is just to write a review. Even if it's not a fantastic review, it actually still helps people to find the podcast. So whatever you think of the podcast, write a review. Love to hear them.
All right, faithful listeners, I will see you all tomorrow as we discuss the book of one kings once again and more about Solomon's reign. I'm going to go because I'm starting to lose my voice, and also, I am in the process of painting my kitchen right now, so that's what I'm going to go do for the rest of my day. Hope you all have a fantastic rest of your day. Happy listening, and God bless.