Commentaries and Podcasts

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 12: Idolatry, Angels and Demons

Discussing the first portion of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 we had seen Paul's own assertions that the Corinthian Greeks to whom he had written this epistle were indeed descended from the Israelites of the Exodus. We discussed corroborating historical evidence which proves that Paul's words are literally factual. For that reason Paul had also admonished them not to commit the sin of fornication, or race-mixing, as their fathers had done and for which many of them were destroyed. This was among other acts of disobedience which Paul had mentioned from Scripture as an illustration for their admonishment. From fornication, Paul then turned to admonishing the Corinthians concerning idolatry. There he made a very revealing statement, one which is often glossed over by churchmen who are ignorant of its significance, where he said “Behold Israel according to the flesh” and then after a few rhetorical questions concerning the efficacy of idols he finished his reference by stating that “whatever the Nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to Yahweh”. It is absolutely evident that Paul's intention with those words was to identify the nations of the oikoumenê as “Israel according to the flesh”, or as the Christogenea New Testament has it, “Israel down through the flesh”.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 11: Israel According to the Flesh.

It can be imagined that if Paul of Tarsus had sat down and wrote a book explaining the Biblical and historical foundations of his Christian teachings, and why he had taken the Gospel of Christ exclusively to the nations of Europe and Anatolia, that the introductory chapter of that book may include some of this very language found here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, but it would also include the language found in Romans chapters 4 and 9, and then in Hebrews chapter 8. Many of the most notable nations of Europe as they were at the time of Paul of Tarsus had consisted of and were even founded by the descendants of the children of Israel of the Old Testament. Paul's epistles explicitly state as much, and the literal interpretations of those statements are dismissed or even mocked by the so-called scholars of today. This concept is indeed consistent with all Biblical teaching as well as archaeology and the classical histories, and it only sounds fantastic to modern men, men who are conceited in their worldly knowledge, because this concept is not taught in worldly schools. That, however, is not the fault of Paul of Tarsus, because it certainly should be taught.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 10: The Operation of a Valid Christian Ministry.

Towards the end of our previous presentation we broke into 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Since the beginning of chapter 7, Paul had been writing “concerning the things you have written”, where it is evident that Paul had received a letter from Corinth and ever since chapter 7 he has been addressing the inquiries made in that letter. Therefore in chapter 7 he wrote of the feasibility of marriage in an era of Christian persecution. That also afforded us an opportunity to learn many of Paul's perspectives regarding what constituted both marriage and divorce. Then, in chapter 8, he wrote of the eating of things sacrificed to idols, touching on proper Christian conduct in the pagan world. Paul will discuss these things further later on in the epistle. But here in chapter 9 Paul has turned to defending himself, where it is evident that he must have been answering questions which had been posed directly to him by the assembly, while at the same time he is using both himself and others of the apostles in his examples of what license he had as an apostle.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 9: License and Licentiousness

In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 Paul addressed certain issues relating to marriage, beginning his discourse with the words “now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me”. There it was evident that the Corinthians had written Paul for advice concerning marriage, ostensibly because the assembly at Corinth was undergoing the trial of persecutions, something which is passed over by many commentators but which is certainly evident in Paul's words found at verses 26 and 28 of that chapter. Here it is evident that as the topic changes from marriage to idolatry, Paul continues to address issues for which the Corinthians had enquired of him. Paul addresses this topic of idolatry, with several digressions for other things which he was compelled to discuss, through chapter 11 of this epistle. Then in chapter 12 he moves on to other things which the Corinthians had evidently asked him about in their letter to him. So for 4 chapters here, 8 through 11, Paul addresses certain aspects of proper Christian deportment in relation to the idolatry of Greco-Roman society, and in relation to Christian license and un-Christian licentiousness. Paul uses himself as an example., and also in turn makes an example of the assembly. While some of the circumstances have changed, we shall see that Paul's discussion is every bit as relevant today as it was in his own time.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 8: Marriage and Divorce

While Paul of Tarsus discusses several things which open up for us other avenues of interest which merit attention, here in our presentation of 1 Corinthians chapters 6 and 7 we have made it a point to illustrate the Biblically Christian definitions of marriage, fornication and adultery. Doing this, we hope to have established that the term fornication describes race-mixing as well as prostitution and other forms of illicit sexual activity, such as sodomy. We also hope to have established that adultery is the violation of the marriage of another, however for an Israelite adultery is also the violation of the marriage covenant which Yahweh God has with the children of Israel, and therefore race-mixing can also be considered as adultery in that context, as it is so frequently found in the words of the holy prophets. One example is given in Numbers chapter 36, where it says “7 So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.” These definitions may be contested by the water-carriers for the denominational sects, but they have been established from Scripture and they certainly should not cause controversy within Christian Identity circles.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 7: Marriage and Fornication

(The audio file links were broken for most of the first week that the program was posted. We apologize for the inconvenience. UPDATE: On August 18, 2021 it was noticed that the file was missing from the server. Now it has been replaced from a backup.)

In our last presentation of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, discussing the first half of chapter 6, we elaborated upon the Biblical concepts of marriage, adultery and fornication. We did this so that we could offer a better understanding of the nature of the sins of adultery and fornication. Denominational sects confound the definitions of these sins. Some of them claim that fornication is idolatry. However here in verse 9 we saw that fornication and idolatry were distinguished. These denominations evidently seek to disguise the fact that among the acts which the Bible calls fornication is the act of miscegenation, or race-mixing.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 6: The Judgment of the Saints

While discussing 1 Corinthians chapter 5 last week, although in that chapter Paul himself did not state anything explicit in regard to worldly governments, we noted the historical fact that Christians are powerless to execute the laws of Yahweh their God under the beast governments in which they have been and in which they are even now held as captives. Paul did explain the function of the worldly governments in the plan of God in Romans chapter 13. Studying Paul's ministry and epistles, it is evident that the epistle to the Romans represents much of Paul's most fundamental teaching, since he had not yet been to Rome when he wrote that epistle. But since Paul had already spent a year and a half with these Corinthians, which we see in Acts chapter 18, and since after he departed from Corinth he had written to them at least one epistle before this one, which we may see here in 1 Corinthians 5:9, we can rather safely assume that the Corinthians understood the things which Paul had also written to the Romans. This is especially true since, as Paul tells them in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, he had already “spake all things to [them] in truth”, indicating that he had already taught the Corinthians the fundamental aspects of the Gospel and the prophets that he was obligated to teach them.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 5: Delivering Sinners to Satan

Discussing 1 Corinthians chapter 4 in the last segment of our presentation of this epistle, we saw that Paul made an analogy of himself to a skilled architect, laying the foundation of Christ wherever he went with the expectation that others would come and build upon that foundation after him, thereby further edifying the Christian assembly. As we also pointed out, Peter made a similar analogy by comparing the members of the body of Christ to living stones, Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone of His ekklesia.

At the same time Paul also made an analogy of himself to a planter, and of Apollos to one who waters, indicating that the various servants of Christ had differing abilities and differing roles in tending to the assembly of Christ. However in our discussion we did not elaborate on how Paul had concluded this analogy, so we will do so here. Paul said that “6 I have planted, Apollos has watered, but Yahweh has given increase. 7 So that neither he who is planting is anybody, nor he who is watering, but Yahweh who is making to grow.”