Good morning. Now the next
verse does not say that the following will happen, just that if it does: for it
is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right
rather than for doing what is wrong. Now no one wants to suffer for any reason.
Our example, of course, is Christ. For Christ also died for sins once for all,
the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been
put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. Jesus said not My will
but Yours. He did suffer for doing right. In which also He went and made
proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the
patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of
the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through
the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you – not the removal
of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience – through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course baptism by itself does not save you
– it comes after you are saved. In the days of the early church, baptism was
immediately after receiving Jesus as Lord of your life; so it seemed as if they
were at the same instance. The old man is dead and buried. So if the devil comes
and says look what you did back then, you can say my conscious is clear. I
didn't do it - it was that old guy. Father thank You that the reader is walking
in Your will. He/she continually does what You want him/her to, and You bless him/her
richly every day.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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