Q

Paul said that one day Jesus “will change our frail bodies into glorious bodies like his” (Philippians 3:21 Casual English Bible). What kind of body do you think Paul had in mind?

A

Paul may have been thinking of the kind of body Jesus exhibited at the Transfiguration and after his resurrection.

Transfiguration: “While he was praying, something happened to him. His face looked different and his clothing beamed a dazzling white” (Luke 9:29).

Resurrection: He could disappear and suddenly appear elsewhere, pass through walls, yet eat food with a physical body (Luke 24:13-43). The description might sound like a physical body with super powers.

I remember an editor at a Christian publishing company I won’t identify telling me he thought bodies in the afterlife would be flesh and bone with no blood. He said blood limited our lifespan.

I think it’s just the opposite. The less blood in our body, the worse off we are.

When he told me what he thought about our bodies in the afterlife, the word that came to mind for me was “zombie.”

His point was that the afterlife body isn’t just some kind of energy or ethereal spirit. It’s a punch-you-in-the-nose body, though we shouldn’t do that in heaven.

Paul gave a good description of resurrected bodies when he wrote to the church in Corinth.

What a resurrected body looks like

Some folks are going to ask, “How on earth are people raised from the dead? And what kind of body will they carry around with them?”

Don’t be absurd. It’s as simple as this. When you plant a seed, it has to die before it comes to life.

The body of any seed you plant—whether it’s wheat or something else—isn’t the same body you get when it comes to life.

God gives each kind of seed whatever body he wants to give it.

Not all living creatures are the same. There are humans, animals, birds, and fish.

There are also bodies made for heaven and bodies made for earth. Each kind of body is wonderful in its own unique ways.

The sun has its own brand of splendor. So do the moon and the stars—in fact, each star has its own unique splendor.

It’s the same way when it comes to the resurrection of the dead. The body is buried dead. But it is raised never to die again.

It is buried in humility. It rises in majesty. It is buried limp. It rises strong.

It is buried as a physical body. It rises as a spiritual body. Both exist. Just as there are physical bodies, there are spiritual bodies.

The Bible says, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” Well, I’d like you to know that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

But notice the sequence. The Spiritual One didn’t come first. The physical one came first, and the Spiritual One came afterward.

The first man comes from the earth and was made of dust. The Second Man comes from heaven.

Everyone on earth has a physical body, just as the man of dust did. Everyone in heaven has a heavenly body, just as the Man of Heaven does.

Right now we resemble the man of dust. One day we’ll resemble the Man of Heaven.

I’m telling you, dear family, this flesh and blood body of ours will not make it into the Kingdom of God. Nothing that decays is fit for immortality.

Listen up. I’m going to tell you a secret. We’re not all going to die. But we’re all going to be changed.

It’s going to happen in an instant, in the blink of an eye. The final trumpet will blow, the dead will rise as immortals, and we’ll never be the same again.

This temporary body of ours needs a makeover. We’re mortal now, but we need to dress for immortality.

When that happens—when this mortal body gets a permanent upgrade to immortality, the Bible prophecies will be fulfilled:

“Death got chewed up and spit out.
Hey Death, you’re a loser.
Hey Death, you sting like a butterfly.”

1 Corinthians 15:35-55 Casual English Bible

Adapted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Philippians
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Q

My goodness, Paul has strong words to describe what sin does to us. Harsh, even.

Take a look at his descriptions in Romans 3:10-18.

“No one is good. No one.

No one understands. No one looks for God.

Everyone has gone off in some other direction. No one is doing anything good. No one. They’re good for nothing.

Their throat is a toxic pit. Their tongues fling lies. Their lips are pockets of snake venom.

Their mouth is an arsenal of profanity and bitterness.

Their feet rush them to victims they can kill.

Wherever they go, they ruin lives and leave people suffering in misery.

They know nothing about peace.

They have no respect for God.”

If you had to describe the power of sin that you’ve seen at work, which of these descriptions nails it for you?

A

One solid category: anything to do with opening our mouth. We cause so much trouble by what we say.

“Their throat is a toxic pit. Their tongues fling lies. Their lips are pockets of snake venom. Their mouth is an arsenal of profanity and bitterness” (Romans 3:13-14).

Sound like anyone we might know in politics?

Hopefully not anyone on the church board. Or worse, in the pulpit. Then there’s the family; God help us all to be grateful for the kind souls in our gene pool and patient with the [mentally fill in a descriptive word or phrase].

Another contender: “Wherever they go, they ruin lives and leave people suffering in misery” (Romans 3:16).

People sometimes pack up and move “to get a fresh start.” The trouble is that wherever they go, they take themselves with them. It’s not always the location that’s the problem. It’s the moving dot on the map who causes the trouble.

Adapted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Romans
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Q

ONLY ONE STATEMENT IS TRUE. Which one?

1. At least one of the four Gospel writers said Jesus was nailed to the cross.
2. An Olympic champion swimmer can beat a Nile crocodile in a 50-meter race.
3. Apostle Paul, who told Timothy not to let women speak in church at Ephesus, was a married man.
4. Abortion is not a topic specifically mentioned in the Bible.

A

Yeah, let’s start the weekend getting in trouble.

The correct answer is number four.

Though the Bible frowns on murder, there’s no specific mention of abortion. And abortions were taking place in Roman times, when Jesus ministered. If he addressed the topic, none of the writers picked up on it. Because there is no mention of abortion, the Bible doesn’t link abortion to murder.

Early Christian leaders, however, did declare abortion wrong.

As for 1-3:

1. Thomas presumed Jesus was nailed to the cross, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands” (John 20:24 NLT). But he may have been somewhere hiding during the crucifixion. “The disciples scattered. They all ran away, deserting him” (Matthew 26:56 Casual English Bible).
2. A Nile croc swims about twice as fast as the fastest Olympic champion, about 9 mph (15 km).
3. Paul was a bachelor. Surprise.

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Q

First Paul tells Timothy to keep women quiet in the church that Timothy pastors in the city of Ephesus.

“The ladies need to keep quiet” (1 Timothy 2:12).

Then he sends greetings to a woman in Rome who some scholars say he regarded as an apostle like himself, only better looking and less pushy when it comes to fundraising. (Give and give generously, like the Macedonians who don’t have as much as you do but who gave a dickens of a lot.)

“Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was” (Romans 16:7).

Paul also tells slaves to work hard for their masters, which came in handy for American slave owners in the early 1800s.

“Slaves, do what your slave masters tell you to do. Shake with fear about it. What you do for your masters, do with all the sincerity you can muster. Treat their request as though it’s coming from the Messiah” (Ephesians 6:5).

“Can I hear an Amen out there?”

“Amen, Master…[whisper] to Emancipation Proclamation.”

Then Paul writes to a Christian slave owner who hosts a church in his home, and tells him to free the returning runaway slave Onesimus.

“I’m sending him back to you. And it feels like I’m tearing my heart out.

I wanted to keep him with me while I’m here in prison. That way he could’ve helped me tell others the Good News—as your representative.

But I didn’t want to do anything without your permission. I wanted you to help me not because I ordered you to do it, but because you wanted to do it. . . . I’m sure you’ll do this for me. In fact, as I write this I know that you’ll do even more than I ask. One more thing, fix up a guestroom for me” (Philemon 1:12-14, 21-22).

Did Paul know how to twist an arm? Yes he did.

But here’s the question. What do we make of this flip-flopping?

A

You know what, here’s my answer: It’s complicated.

It was complicated getting the Christian movement started, especially with all the rumors about it.

Christians would call a shared potluck meal a love feast, and outsiders would think “orgy.”

Christians would take communion, eating bread and drinking wine to commemorate the broken body and shed blood of Jesus at the crucifixion, and outsiders would think “cannibalism.”

Christians like Paul didn’t want to invite trouble by starting a culture war when he was fighting spiritual one.

Regarding the ladies in church, maybe sometimes they got too chatty there in Ephesus.

And about those slaves, maybe sometimes Paul saw an opportunity to swim against the cultural current and free a slave when most folks thought it was okay to own someone else’s flesh like they’re some kind of a baseball player who can get sold to the highest bidder.

On the other hand, maybe Paul was simply as inconsistent as everyone else walking around with their nose politely planted in someone else’s business.

About Junia, many scholars say she wasn’t an apostle, but was a Christian highly regarded by the apostles…and possibly not highly regarded because she kept quiet in church. Women did pray and prophecy in church (1 Corinthians 11:5).

What do you think? You’re allowed to think.

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Q

Paul creates a thoughtful and sometimes entertaining list of traits he wants to see or not see in church leaders (Titus 1:5-9). Just for fun, how about trying to put them in order of importance—as you would rate them? Or just pick out some of the ones that you think pose the greatest problem in local churches today.

YES

• Squeaky clean and above suspicion
• One-woman man
• His kids are believers
• Hospitable
• Fan of goodness
• Even-tempered
• Fair
• Devoted to God
• Disciplined
• Believes what he has been taught about the faith
• Tells others about Jesus
• Stands up to people who attack the faith

NO

• Party animal
• Rebellious
• Snooty
• Bad-tempered
• Drunk
• Violent
• Greedy

A

There are two main reasons local church ministers get in big enough trouble to get fired: sex and money. So we might want to put those concerns near the top of the list when we’re looking for a minister. “Even-tempered” probably needs to be up there, too, because in a sense, ministers are in sales. They are selling Jesus and the Christian faith. In so doing, they have to interact with humans. Some humans are more human than others—so human that a sensible person might rather make a living by observing and recording the nitpicking habits of snow monkeys in Japan.

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas Titus & Philemon

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