Good morning. God is faithful (even when we are not),
through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now I exhort you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree
(literally, speak the same thing) and that there be no divisions among you, but
that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. That’s
pretty harsh, Paul. Sadly though, it can be necessary in some churches. It’s
hard for any group to do much of anything unless there is agreement on most
topics. This is especially true in the church. My interlinear New Testament
translates the phrase that is here translated “be made complete“ as “having
been joined together”. Instead of division, we are to be joined together. The
only way we can do that is to be “in the same mind and have the same judgment”.
Father help the church to be in agreement and that there be no divisions;
instead that we be made complete, in the same mind, and in the same judgment;
that we may show forth Your will for our lives.
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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