Page 854 - The MacArthur Daily Bible

TN_08_MacArthur_Bible_Aug.qxd 8/8/03 16:20 Page 835

AUGUST 20
Unable to fully break with the culture from which it came, the church at Corinth was excep-
tionally factional, showing its carnality and immaturity. After the gifted Apollos had ministered in
the church for some time, a group of his admirers established a clique and had little to do with the
rest of the church. Another group developed that was loyal to Paul, another claimed special alle-
giance to Peter (Cephas), and still another to Christ alone (see 1:10–13; 3:1–9).
The most serious problem of the Corinthian church was worldliness, an unwillingness to
divorce the culture around them.Most of the believers could not consistently separate themselves
from their old,selfish,immoral,and pagan ways.It became necessary for Paul to write to correct this,
as well as to command the faithful Christians not only to break fellowship with the disobedient and
unrepentant members, but to put those members out of the church (5:9–13).

When He punishes, how shall I answer
AUGUST 20 Him?
Did not He who made me in the womb
15
make them?
Job 31:1–32:22 Did not the same One fashion us in the
31 “I have made a covenant with 16 womb?
my eyes;
Why then should I look upon a young “If I have kept the poor from their desire,
Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
woman? 17 Or eaten my morsel by myself,
2 For what is the allotment of God from So that the fatherless could not eat of it
above, 18 (But from my youth I reared him as a
And the inheritance of the Almighty father,
from on high? And from my mother’s womb I guided
3 Is it not destruction for the wicked, the widow);
And disaster for the workers of 19 If I have seen anyone perish for lack of
iniquity? clothing,
4 Does He not see my ways, Or any poor man without covering;
And count all my steps? 20 If his heart has not blessed me,
5 “If I have walked with falsehood, And if he was not warmed with the
Or if my foot has hastened to deceit, fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have raised my hand against the
6 Let me be weighed on honest scales,
That God may know my integrity. fatherless,
7 If my step has turned from the way, 22 When I saw I had help in the gate;
Or my heart walked after my eyes, Then let my arm fall from my shoulder,
Or if any spot adheres to my hands, Let my arm be torn from the socket.
8 Then let me sow, and another eat; 23 For destruction from God is a terror to
Yes, let my harvest be rooted out. me,
And because of His magnificence I
9 “If my heart has been enticed by a cannot endure.
woman,
24 “If I have made gold my hope,
Or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s Or said to fine gold, ‘You are my
door,
10 Then let my wife grind for another, 25 confidence’;
And let others bow down over her. If I have rejoiced because my wealth
11 For that would be wickedness; was great,
Yes, it would be iniquity deserving of And because my hand had gained
much;
judgment. 26
12 For that would be a fire that consumes If I have observed the sun when it
to destruction, shines,
And would root out all my increase. Or the moon moving in brightness,
So that my heart has been secretly
27
13 “If I have despised the cause of my enticed,
male or female servant And my mouth has kissed my hand;
When they complained against me, 28 This also would be an iniquity
14
What then shall I do when God rises up? deserving of judgment,
835