By Sam E. Stone Last week we considered the first half of 1 Corinthians 12, and this week we will study the last half of the chapter. J. W. McGarvey wrote, “In the early church the Spirit of God . . . endowed certain members with miraculous gifts . . . As gifts were bestowed […]
By Sam E. Stone The apostle Paul spent about 18 months in the prominent Greek city of Corinth during his second missionary journey. Although he faced strong opposition (Acts 18:1-11), still the church grew and prospered. Later Paul received a letter from Corinth raising several important issues. He addressed them in 1 Corinthians. His discussion […]
By Sam E. Stone The three short letters sent from the apostle John to first-century Christians were likely all written about the same time. Reading 3 John, the shortest book in the Bible, we see that it is similar to 2 John, but it is more specific in naming the individuals involved. Salutation 3 John […]
By Sam E. Stone Deceivers are all around us. While the last two letters from the apostle John are characterized by his emphasis on the importance of love (as in 1 John), he was equally strong in his warnings about false teaching—2 and 3 John are the shortest documents in the New Testament, but they […]
By Sam E. Stone It is easy to understand why John has often been referred to as “the apostle of love.” That theme runs throughout the letters that he wrote to the first-century church. Today’s text is the third time in this epistle when John described love as the supreme test of the Christian life […]
