🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
1 Corinthians III, 19 – literally catches
the wise in their adroitness, skill.
The general meaning of the Apostle
Paul’s words is: a person who lives in the world, which has distanced
itself from God, who is creative, skillful, he or she will not avoid
sin, and he or she will not be able to hide his or her sins from God.
Therefore, the advice to become foolish
in this world (a world
dominated by sin) is a manifestation of wisdom. And the key question is
how far the world is dominated by sin, how far it has moved away from
God. If to an extreme extent, then such a world should be avoided. If
there are many sources given by the Lord
, like once through Moses in
the desert – then by God’s grace it is the opposite – a field for work
and Christian mission. It must be remembered that the appearance of a
spring in the desert is a miracle, there may be no springs in the middle
of the desert, but they may appear by the work of God. It also depends
on the person themselves: if he or she is full of God’s grace, like the
apostles, and has zeal, then he or she will go with faith into the
world, if there is even a little hope of saving at least some. If a
person is weak, then he or she needs to be careful. And I will add that
the apostles did not consider themselves wise in this world.
1 Corinthians III, 22 – Kepha
means stone
in Aramaic, Peter
in
Greek, and means the apostle Peter. Apollos is an apostle from the 70s,
active in preaching and talented, full of gifts of the Holy Spirit. See:
24052023.html
I will add that among the Corinthians there were many educated, in
modern language intelligent
people, and also among Christians there
were many spiritual gifts. This should be remembered when reading the
epistles.
Explanation of the parable of the wheat and the weeds by Jesus Himself (therefore, the main idea in it, which, however, does not negate additional ones in advance). As the researchers note, the plot of the parable is based on the fact that wheat and weeds, until they grow and bear fruit, are visually very similar, which is why it is said that they can be difficult to distinguish. From this it is concluded that even the angels do not have all the knowledge about people and their state until the Judgment of God takes place, because God knows everything.
It is interesting that this text is read at the morning service in front of the Council of Archangel Michael and all the Heavenly Incorporeal Powers, and today is the Council of the 12 Apostles. Apostles are also somewhat similar to angels in that the Lord sent them and also in that they obey the Lord.
To the apostles:
1 Corinthians IV, 10 – ‘μωροι’ – ‘moroi’ – ‘foolish’ – from ‘μωρος’ -
‘moros’.
1 Corinthians IV, 13 – ‘παρακαλουμεν’ – ‘parakaloumen’ – ‘we pray, we ask (God)’ (here, in general, the word is polysemous).
1 Corinthians IV, 16 – ‘παρακαλω’ – ‘parakalo’ – ‘I ask’ (here, in general, the word is polysemous).
The Apostle’s reading about the apostolic work. The apostles work as pioneers, paving the way, and then it is much easier for the faithful to follow them. And as pioneers, it is always more difficult for apostles. But the Lord strengthens them.
From the Gospel – the election of the 12 apostles by Jesus Christ Himself (with the largest number of details among the Gospels, in particular regarding the sons of Zebedee).
Since Judas Iscariot fell away and perished, Saint Matthias was chosen in his place (Matthias, not to be confused with the evangelist Matthew, who was earlier in the list of 12) later.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!