Morning Devotional April 19, 2017

1 Corinthians 14:37

“If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”



O if modern preachers would only follow this! The Apostle Paul knew his letters to the churches were truth as the Lord had taught him. God had given Paul the knowledge and the boldness to write what he wrote. He had the authority as the apostle to the gentiles to chastise and correct the churches when they followed after false doctrine and false teachers.
The very commandments of the Lord. Why would God permit these letters to be a part of the canon of scripture we call the Holy Bible? Because they are truth.
Now notice Paul wrote that “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual,” another words if a man thinks he is a preacher or teacher, one who is proclaiming the Word of God, or if he thinks himself to be more spiritual than others, he is to acknowledge that Paul's writings are the commandments of the Lord. Not just nice words or a good story. But they are the commandments of the Lord.
I have heard men who claim that Paul wrote his own thoughts and feelings in these letters. They claim this because they try to find every excuse possible to not follow the commandments Paul wrote of in his letters. But, according to Paul if we deny the commandments he has written we are denying the very Word of God. That is a very serious matter.
We are commanded to preach the whole counsel of God. Just because we don't like what a particular writer wrote on a particular topic does not give us liberty to refuse what they wrote. If what that writer wrote goes against what we believe then we are in the wrong not them. Remember the writers of the scriptures were holy men of God inspired to write by the Holy Spirit of God. To say that what one of the writers wrote was his own words and not what God intended is a very serious matter and puts in jeopardy the whole of the scriptures. Just because we don't agree or don't understand a teaching does not make the writer at fault.



Praise ye the Lord!!!