Faith without religion.
Unity and Division in the Early Church
Biblical Literalists, God’s Will, Partnership
In a recent YouTube video, a father and daughter duo, Delaney and her dad, embark on a journey to understand the Bible, specifically diving into the first chapter of First Corinthians. They explore the context of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, questioning the relevance of biblical texts to modern readers. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding the historical and cultural context in which these letters were written, emphasizing that while the Bible offers timeless lessons, it was initially addressed to specific audiences.
The conversation delves into the complexities of interpreting scripture, touching on topics like biblical literalism and the different interpretations of God’s will. They discuss the nuances of translation, noting how different versions of the Bible can convey varying meanings, which can significantly impact understanding.
As they navigate through the text, they reflect on the early Christian community’s challenges, such as divisions among believers and the anticipation of Christ’s return. The dialogue underscores the timeless nature of human tendencies toward division and the struggle to maintain unity within the faith.
The video serves as a reminder of the importance of personal exploration and understanding of religious texts, encouraging viewers to read and interpret the Bible for themselves rather than relying solely on established doctrines. Through their candid and inquisitive approach, Delaney and her dad invite others to join them in their quest for deeper understanding, highlighting the value of questioning and learning in the journey of faith.
Podcast Transcript:
I don’t get the Bible I don’t either get the Bible but we’re here trying to I’m with my daughter Delaney let’s get into
it we are in First Corinthians go First Corinthians 1 first chapter first
chapter okay like we said the letter is from Paul it’s a letter from Paul to the
Corinthians from who I mean to who to the Corinthians does he say that oh it
doesn’t say that oh yeah wait I’m writing to God’s Church in Corinth now
the question I have right off the bat see this is going to take us a long time because I know I have so many questions
right First Corinthians who did he write the letter to God’s church that at Corinth at
Corinth are you in in the Church of Corinth and so I have the argument with
everybody who uses the Bible to defend positions show me the evidence that that
was written to you and we don’t have it so we have this problem biblical
literalists say we take every word of the Bible TR uh truth so you have that and so you say a Biblical literalist
well do you take that truth and they’ll say well no it’s applied to no you can’t say that do you get that why that’s now
it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t ins Spirit uh uh meant for us to and for us to learn but we have to always
distinguish between why Paul gave it to them in that place then and how we use
it today okay it’s literally the equivalent of taking a
book a non-fiction book and saying this is talking about my life
yeah which is incorrect but you can read that book and understand something about
Humanity that can then be applied to you that’s how it is love it yeah so you can
read this letter from Paul to the Corinthians you can then read the
historians that talk about who the Corinth were and why he’s saying these things and then you can learn about how
you’re similar or different and how Paul would talk to you absolutely and that’s
the same thing that you can get when you read even the Old Testament there are principles in the Old Testament that you
we can we can derive from it so much but it doesn’t mean it’s materially for us
to do yeah okay well okay so this letter is from Paul chosen by the will of God
to an apostle of Christ Jesus and from our brother s the that’s the first verse
um I the phrase made me realize that the phrasing the will of God like
we say the will of God but it to me it implies um that he like choos I didn’t
realize it like he like chooses a direction for things to happen like if
God has a will for Paul like it’s as if God
ha I don’t know I always thought of the will of God as like a plan that was like
set before he even existed sort of thing and it instead seems like there’s
options for God and he has a will of which option it would be was that right the scripture talks about his imperative
will oh and his permissive will there’s two different Greek words for his will
the W the word will has two different words wow and one is I prefer this but
you can choose the other one is this will be my way oh my gosh and uh if memory serves I
could I was going to try to recite the two different Greek words but bottom line uh this is is where it gets radical
because there there is a place where he says um I will have you do this I’ll
have you do that and it’s his permissive will but the place where we have his
will being an imperative is where it says and God will not have any be
destroyed it I will not have any be it’s my imperative will none will be lost
when it’s talking about like the believer no it’s about the world wow and
so it was that verse that led um the guy who uh was a friend of mine is a friend
of mine and his daughter was killed at Coline who was a pastor that verse shifted him and another known Christian
scholar to see that God will uh have victory over all oh my gosh and that’s
what changed them it caused him to write a book that was in given to his daughter-in-law given to me and I read
it and it changed my eye mind about what God’s Will and purpose is in the in in
doing all of this in for about hell right that’s what you’re talking about yeah none will perish okay that’s his
expressed will those people aren’t like this doesn’t have to do with fulfillment necessarily does it it plays into it but
it’s just another little key to help you see why that is crazy um you don’t by chance know what
this will of God is like is it also do Calvinists address these different types
of Wills no they say he’s Sovereign and his will is always an imperative and he
always has his will and he always gets his way and you don’t even have a choice have you talked to any of them about the
two words sure but they have an explanation for it because what they would say is yeah his imperative will is
for believers they yeah and so when it says and he will not have any perish any only
applies to Believers because the scriptures written to Believers therefore it’s only to
Believers therefore it’s not to non-believers and therefore his will is that all will perish but then they can’t
see that it’s written to Jews and that it was fulfilled and what all of it it’s endless and so you have to find somebody
who’s honestly trying to figure out what this thing’s saying without religion coming into play it’s really hard cuzz
the I had a really hard time with the Fulfillment argument because it you’ll
say you can’t pick and choose yeah and for some reason the argument comes off
like picking and choosing when you don’t know anything right and that’s a really hard position to defend from I can’t
imagine cuz you are not picking and choosing that what you just described
with freaking calvinist is picking and choosing that’s they pick and choose and so you can create any superstructure of
belief when you cherry pick but they’re blind to the passages that speak to
those who are non- Calvinists yeah who also pick and choose because they don’t
want Calvinism so they Overlook the the ones where God is Sovereign and electing picking and
choosing if you don’t pick and choose the result is a whole jumble of inputs
that kind of don’t make sense with one that’s the and that leads you to like
subjective Christian like you have a really strong sense of what it could mean altogether but there are things
that are like you don’t know what this means or that and people don’t like you’re getting deep now because now he’s
going to take us through doctrinal positions and you’re going to get rocked by what this little thing we’re going to
do through First Corinthians and that’s just one book Okay so that was one
verse um uh SES I just have to ask who’s that
some dude some guy okay a Greek sanes is a Greek okay he says I’m writing to
God’s Church in Corinth to you have been called by God to be his own holy people
I won’t always read all of it but it it helps right now so um yeah
what um there’s probably a lot there in them being called to be his holy people
I’m not sure Calo uh in the Greek what that actually means there it could mean
called or it could mean appointed to be in which would be in harmony with the
calvinist idea and which may be true relative to the Bride of that age that
he actually did call and elect them to be the Saints of that bride in that age
and Calvinism in that instance could have play because he would elect
specifically we know that by virtue of Paul being called he was elected by God
on the road to Damascus no question I mean how many of us are walking along and God calls us and and and Jesus
teaches us so there was an election there we’re not against election but we have to put it in context do yeah do you
think there’s like election it could be that the Calvinists have it right for that time and it’s over ah ding ding
ding now you know my understanding of predestination and election it was of
the Jews to bring them in and perhaps the bride that was Jews and Gentiles in
that day right yes that makes sense that’s context not Gentiles as maybe
some because he’s in he’s in uh Corinth and he’s saying you’ve been chosen elect I don’t know again the Greek but if if
that does support the calvinist view then yes even gentiles okay okay um and he says he
made you Holy by means of Christ Jesus just as he did for all people everywhere
who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ their lord and ours that’s funny because it that’s the opposite of being
called to me as he did all people everywhere yeah yeah like made you holy
just as he did for all people everywhere yeah who call on the name of the Lord so
um God’s church I’m writing to God’s Church
in Corinth and then just as he did for all people everywhere so I just wanted to
identify that God’s church is obviously a group of people yeah and those people are everywhere yeah um and this is the
one this group is in Corinth but it’s not like a a place that it’s not like a
building sort of thing no it’s the it’s elaia and it’s the called out and it’s
often translated uh well first of all the King James uh told the translators
every time you see elaia translate it to be church and eaia is synonymous with
the synagogue and it doesn’t mean a building it means a group of people
called out from the world gathered together they can be evil they can be good but they are a group of people
that’s the Ecclesia translated Church often in Scripture okay
um sorry who did you say did that did that changing of AES Church King James
okay he says I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gift he has
given you now that you belong to Jes to Christ Jesus um and I was wondering if Paul
has like a previous relationship with these people it sounds like it there
doesn’t it yeah uh either that or he wrote the letter uh
while with them and is just saying I’ve always been thinking of you and praying for you we don’t really know I don’t
know on that and then it not to be picky but the next sentence is through him
talking about Christ Jesus and him is lowercase yeah uh the case in uh
scripture is weird Okay they don’t they will not capitalize him when it comes to
uh often when it comes to Christ oh that’s weird I didn’t know that
MH okay um through him God has enriched your church in every way with all your
eloquent words and all of your knowledge this confirms what I told you about Christ is
true H there’s like several questions here the one main not a main one but
maybe a side one is to me it seems that
knowing Christ increases eloquence and knowledge like that’s the God has
enriched your church in every way with all your eloquent words and all of your knowledge this confirms what I told you about Christ is true sounds like it is
that an incorrect yeah I don’t know because I don’t recognize that that uh passage so you’re reading it from
something different than what I’ve known and I don’t know what the King James
says but what I I’m curious about what the King James says at that yeah me too hold
on King James not that your translation’s wrong well I’m reading the
easy one um now I beseech you Brethren by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you uh this is the previous one but that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment wow that is very different very
different oh my gosh yeah and that’s why you got to be careful because I don’t agree with what your first version said
and that’s why it wasn’t commenting because it didn’t it doesn’t it doesn’t ring true to the rest of scripture to me
oh wait that was a different verse I’m so sorry that’s classic I was like what
that was not even the I’m so sorry we Sav by Grace that’s
it it’s not of anything we can do
wait through him I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace
of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that’s the I always think my God okay okay that in everything ye are
enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge even as the testimony of
Christ was confirmed in you so that is that no there we still one more that’s
God has enriched your church with all your eloquent words and all your knowledge oh is that what we were
talking about yeah okay yeah yeah uh it’s a terrible
translation because the the translation you first gave puts it on them and their
knowledge and their eloquence when the latter translation that you read puts it on Christ who’s given them this eloquent
knowledge okay I want to read it one more time the first one says through him God has
enriched your church in every way with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge okay all of your eloquent
words and all of your knowledge all right and the other one says I thank God
always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Christ that in everything ye are enriched in Him in all
utterance and in all knowledge even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you it’s subtle but it’s very
significant that’s so different you got to be careful what what you read in your
translation you pick King James is not perfect by any means uh and neither are
the other translations but they all should sort of concur they should but I cannot I would
ask too many questions about King James yeah I know so just keep going here we we we’ll we f it through it what does ye
mean that’s what I would ask okay so he says now that you have every
spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ okay so right there what are they
eagerly awaiting in that day 2,000 years ago from the Apostle Paul they’re eager
yeah waiting I took note of that for sure Sor and and no and that spiritual
gifts were needed in that weight they were like a thing that was a a necessity
to for whatever reason keep them strong keep them unified they were being attacked they were being uh uh put to
death all sorts of things so I mean it was just a different age yeah there’s we
have I could see that there are still spiritual gifts now but like they’re not
this life or death thing that we need they’re a blessing to Believers to use
you know but if but then it was like yeah okay he will keep you strong to the
end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns second reference to him
coming back yeah within the first paragraphs of
this letter like this is what’s going on with you like the first thing he says is
you guys are waiting for him to come back I’m glad that you have all this stuff there’s a bunch of chapters left
to but and and this is early on in the writings of Paul uh as he progresses
toward the day when the signs that he’s about to get here come so he’s he’s even
talking about it way way before it’s not as emphatic as he’ll uh describe it
later but it’s still there it’s emphatic still like I don’t even want to know what emphasis is later
um and he will keep you strong so that you’ll be free from all the blame when our lord
Jesus returns so blame was a thing that’s in the air
that they could have on them right that’s right and the blame would come when Jesus returned with judgment or
reward that’s how it’s described so he says you want to be free from from blame
and so you know you’ve been gifted spiritually to hang on until this comes yeah
what Co what would cast blame on somebody refusing him that’s it yeah
well for a Jew it would be to refuse him for a Believer it would be to uh accept
him and not follow him inity unblemished life staying away from
all the trappings trying to get them to be defiled so that is how they would be
judged and how do we know that because the uh second and third chapter of Revelation Yeshua actually speaks to the
seven churches of Asia Minor and he tells them I’m not going to save you if you don’t change this about yourself
you’re doing this you’re having associations with this that will not do in my bride you know so that’s the
setting of what is this is all talking about yeah um oh
man wait
what did you just say sorry people if you
don’t I had a question blame for Jews was not
believing on him blame for believers was to believe and not like follow through
with Purity what where where was it like
denoted for the Believers in that time of how to act that’s what all these
letters are conveying to us as readers today it’s how we know what is expected of them how to act it’s in what the
apostles direct how they directed them through their letters but so far at
least in First Corinthians it’s like Paul speaking to them as if they already know what is expected of them and
they’re failing or something so how would they have already known just by Paul telling them previously they came
to Faith somewhere we don’t know I mean maybe Paul introduced it to him years ago or before and and there were
directives when people when Apostles or whoever it was came and told these
people to believe in Jesus it was followed up with do this and this and
this to keep yourself pure yeah always and do we know what are those things
those things are un unveiled or revealed to you as you continue to read through
First Corinthians Romans all of it the collective body of apostolic directives
are gathered up in those writings on how they were to live and that was given to
the apostles just through the spirit they knew it through the spirit
okay um verse n God will do this for he is faithful to do what he says and he’s
invited you into partnership with his son Jesus Christ our our Lord I never
thought of it as partnership for those people at least I do for us now May
maybe maybe partnership though yeah we are joint heirs with Christ that’s a
quote joint airs yeah this is I would have if I were to assume something from
partnership it’s that it’s his bride I don’t know where bride comes in but like
Jesus is a is a husband groom and the
church is the bride so they’re his partner and way yeah and but anybody who
is his is in uh has the spirit of Christ in them which is the spirit of a deified
man and so when you receive him by faith and the spirit of Christ dwells in you
you become a daughter or a son of the Living God because that’s who Jesus was
okay yeah and that’s how it works you’re you you are brought in to suffer with
him is what it says okay he’s invited you into partnership with his son is
suffering and it says that somewhere else yeah it says that in several places
the interesting thing about that is I don’t know if partnership is ever used in any version I’ve ever read so oh I
don’t know what the what the other versions say about I got to try again I have see verse
n God is faithful into Fellowship okay says the king J yeah Fellowship is the
word that King James will use partnership was used there there’s a little bit of a distinction between
those words partners are equal owners Fellowship is a communion kind of thing
yeah really very strange the semantics are they’re yeah they’re key so
effective yeah okay I appeal to you dear brothers and sisters by the authority of our Lord
Jesus Christ live in harmony with each other let there be no no divisions in the church I have several questions
about this but rather be one mind United in thought and purpose for some members
of Khloe’s house have told me about your corals my dear brothers and sisters some of you are saying I’m a follower of Paul others are saying I’m a follower of
Apollos I follow Peter or I follow Christ only um Delany how often do we see
that we have something called the united front we have something called the Christian peace initiative we are trying
to bring people into peace we’re trying to bring the body of Believers into Unity this is what Paul was doing there
it’s the same thing and how we have allowed ourselves to divide into the
multifaceted ways we have is so anti what the gospel was about it’s anti what
the gospel is about but also the first thing I thought was these are people who just heard
about about this and they’re divided already yeah they’re like immediately divided I follow Paul I follow like I
did not know that was even yeah a thing that was going on in Bible times it’s
crazy it’s gone on since the dawn of man well I yeah I’ve always I really have
always thought that it’s just a condition of like modernity that we at this sorrowful time but it’s been
they’re making little idols and selling them and they’re dividing with each other within weeks it’s CRA it goes all
the way back wow it’s our nature um which is also to say there’s
no possible way if they’re dividing right then that the church was intended
to last longer than a generation finally thank you for that Insight it’s like
what how is it supposed to last it’s lasted perfectly right it can’t last in
a little town it can’t last in a room of a group of
people it cannot be material it cannot real that is so real it’s so freaking
obvious yeah and Paul goes on and on and I’m not talking about here in Corinth later things he’ll be like we can hardly
keep this together today wow there are so many enemies Among Us I and and then
also prophecy says that if God didn’t shorten those days up nobody would have
been left wow that’s how how divisive we are and that’s what the scripture
teaches I’m sorry but it must be so hard to go through life going have a drink
after this is over you know don’t don’t uh Don’t Damn me because I need to
escape it’s insane the misunderstanding so
like yeah but you’re own you this whole time and I I’m like convinced of the
perspective yet it still is like revealing like oh my gosh like and I’m
glad this is revealing it to you so you can ask and you see it without me even explaining it yeah without even reading
all of the other stuff you’ve read like there’s so much more this is one verse yeah at the beginning of the first
letter I’m reading and it’s OB PR yava the light shining in onight youngest and
hopefully you guys are listening because I would never teach this child something
that I think would hurt her never I mean I I I’m a Libertarian I mean I’m full of
Liberty but I would never teach her a doctrine that is going to harm her faith
in God that’s my everything and she’s my second everything so I’m so glad you’re
here in it no yeah if anything second everything meaning family Mary you know
girlfriend that’s okay yeah if anything you don’t give you
don’t give the answers you do not there’s a reason I still don’t get the
Bible and I’m 30 like he doesn’t I don’t indoctrinate my children with You Must
Believe yeah not at all okay good um the other thing too is Paul saying I heard
from a member from Chloe’s household that you guys are doing this and this it’s so like tightnit the way
it’s working yeah I love that and Christians today love to talk about the house churches because that was innocent
that was well before we needed to have some brick and mortar thing this is when
they were just kind of and they were afraid to meet in public so they had to secretly do it because they were getting
persecuted so brick and mortar even then was not the way to go it what didn’t
exist yeah um we might actually want to just end this episode there um good cuz I need
some more tequila I it should just be I always say
that it should be said it should be said that people don’t get you your perspective cuz they literally haven’t
read the Bible yeah that’s all it is yeah like the people that have read the Bible and have a different perspective
that’s another type of demon that is horrific but I can’t with them
they’re so cruel we we have to say this and I’m going to say this now and I’m echoing the sentiments of Grady and
others when you get a man or a woman who understands the Greek they understand
the Hebrew they’ve spent a life studying it and in the process have have become
popular and built up when they excuse me John MacArthur when they will not teach
the truth they do the very same thing the Jews did in jesus’ day they withhold
it because they don’t want the masses to know and become free that is so sketch
you can’t know this language we I’m a dumb man I am really I can’t do
mathematics for the life of me I can’t draw a straight line I’m insane when it comes to this world if I can get it they
got it yeah yeah oh no not what not yeah to you’re dumb but like no you have like
a you have a way of being able to step out out of the what you’ve been taught
yeah and they know obviously but it could it there’s the there’s factors
that could be persuading them well yeah like ju it’s even out of just
convenience like they’ve build up an Empire and they don’t want to destroy it like even if it’s not to let well that
this the consequence is they aren’t sending people free but it’s just selfish they don’t want to mess with
what they’ve already built a friend and he came to a conclusion of something in Scripture that was true and he went to I
won’t say his name a major pastor and the pastor’s response to him was my job
is to teach the people really close to the edge of the mountain oh guys like
you can go out on The Fringe and you can uh talk and believe these things my job
is to keep them close from The Edge and I found that so reprehensible that is in
sane yeah that’s so it makes me want to cry
it’s insane my friends I have friends my age there’s a reason I’m doing this cuz
I’ve heard from a lot of people who’ve grown up so thick in the
church either Church Mormon or Christian and they have not read the Bible and
they’re like either starting to right now or they’re totally questioning it like there’s no urgency to read it and
there’s like full like the hardest of convictions about it without having even
read it it’s insane yeah and does what you’re fighting sense to you that we do
grip our prejudices most when we are ill informed yeah it really is like on as
random celebrity deed or nothing about you’re like I hate that person like you
just think you know them when you don’t know anything the more you know about the Bible the less you
know almost I’m sorry you done oh no no we’re
still record I’m blessed in other ways this is a blessing to me um okay uh next
still going in chapter one but we’ll do another episode yippe bye-bye
