Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 7:10

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“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One of the phrases people sometimes use in a moment of exasperation is, “Good grief!”  Charlie Brown is particularly famous for saying this.  But, if you’re at all like me, you’ve always kind of wondered at this phrase because grief isn’t good.  Right?  No one wants to grieve and when we are it means something has gone wrong, doesn’t it?  Well…not necessarily. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 6:3-10

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“We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise.  We are treated as imposters, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

When it comes to sharing the Gospel with the world around us, our goal should be to make certain that the only offensive thing about us is our message, the Gospel itself.  Everything else about us should be a gigantic yes to the world.  Or, as Paul puts it here, we commend ourselves in every way. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 3:17

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“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Two points here.  The first is that you won’t find a more direct connection between the Father and the Spirit than this.  While the connection between the Father and the Son is fairly easy to make in the Scriptures, for the sake of the Trinity, it is more difficult sometimes to connect the Spirit as the third person.  What Paul says here makes it pretty plain.  The Lord is the Spirit.  There you have it. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 22:1

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“A good name is to  be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”  (ESV)

One of the memories from my childhood that will always stick with me is a picture that hung in the hallway of the house where I grew up.  It had a picture of my dad’s dad (whom I never met), a picture of my dad, and a picture of me.  Next to the pictures, in its own space, was a poem.  I never knew who wrote it, and some digging on the internet has revealed more than one version attributed to more than one author.  The version that hung on the wall goes like this:  Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 14:34

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“…the women should keep silent in the churches.  For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

See, I knew it!  Paul is clearly a misogynist.  He wants women silent and in the back, or better yet, barefoot and in the kitchen.  The church of Paul has no real place for women to become fully who God always intended them to be.  We need something fresh and new with feminism at its heart in order for both men and women to find the place God has for them.   Read the rest…