Thursday, April 9, 2026

Opening Scripture

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:3-8

Opening Prayer

Gracious Father, your Word says that we who follow the Lord Jesus are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who belong to you. You have called us out of darkness into your marvelous light so that we may declare your praises to this lost and fallen world. Help me to live today in such a way that others might glorify you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

Reflection  

The city of Corinth had two lives in antiquity. Originally, it flourished as a Greek city-state. However, after getting crosswise with the Roman Empire, Corinth was destroyed around 146 BC. Almost a hundred years later, it was rebuilt as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar.

Corinth’s strategic military and commercial location was simply too good to leave undeveloped. It’s two harbors lay in a straight line between Italy and Asia. The five- mile, stone road that connected them served as a natural link between East and West, and the rapid influx of cultures from both directions created an incredibly diverse society.

The active commerce and quick growth attracted a wide array of religious expressions. It also produced the kind of immorality one would expect in a busy seaside town. By the time Paul arrived, around AD 50, Corinth was a wealthy, pagan, cosmopolitan, very Hellenized, Roman city.

Here’s how David Garland summarizes the challenge that followers of Jesus were facing in this setting. “The Corinthians appear to be getting on quite well in their community… In Corinth, no countercultural impact, so central to the preaching of the cross, is evident. Their faith appears not to have created any significant social and moral realignment of their lives. They face little or no social ostracism, and the lack of external pressure contributes to their internal dissension… The problem was not that the church was in Corinth but that too much of Corinth was in the church… They did not view this world as decisively evil and consequently were ready to make compromises with it.”

Heresy and false doctrines were threatening the church. Immorality and worldliness were threatening the church. Immaturity and divisiveness were threatening the church. The Corinthian Christians were providing very little divine light to their very spiritually dark community.

Good theology matters. So does godly living. When Christians fail to embrace sound doctrine or live like Jesus, their faith is futile, and they are of all people most to be pitied. Someone in the Corinthian Church was denying bodily resurrection in the afterlife. Paul explains how that belief undermines Jesus’ bodily resurrection, which undermines the very essence of the Christian faith.

Paul’s reference to those who are “baptized for the dead” has raised many questions. It suggests that some in Corinth were being baptized on behalf of deceased individuals, either by proxy or in honor, but the exact meaning or intent of this practice is unclear. It does reflect confusion in the early Church about baptism and resurrection and the need for Paul to address it.

Paul ends this passage with a stern rebuke: “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.” Paul quotes the Greek playwright Menander’s well-known line here as if to say, “Even unbelievers understand this truth.”

Although people should have been coming to the believers in Corinth to see, hear, and learn truth, instead they see, hear, and learn untruth. Good character is being corrupted by bad character. They’re guilty of the sin of wrong theology and wrong behavior.

Flourishing Habit

Character and Virtue

This is the second time in his letter that Paul tells the Corinthian Christians not to be deceived or misled (mē planasthe). In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul says, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Clearly, the Corinthian believers were struggling here. In a culture of false teachers, bad theology, and rampant immorality, the church was being led astray. Rather than following Jesus and becoming like Him, many were following the lost world around them and becoming like it. They had adopted the philosophy “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Here’s what Paul told the Christians in Ephesus. “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.”

“That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:17-24).

Who and what is shaping your character these days?

How are you “taking off your old self” and “putting on your new self”?

What’s one thing you can do today to make every effort to cultivate faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and love, in order to keep from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!