Download Audio Download Text “The Word of the Cross” 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23-25 February 3, 2019 The Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn As I mentioned last time, coming to the end of my tenure as pastor of this church I have been concentrating on the main points of Christian faith and life. And […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Examine Yourselves” 2 Corinthians 12:11-13:14 August 3, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn This morning we conclude Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Paul, remember, has been recounting his ministry, both its troubles and its privileges, as a way of exposing the claims of the false teachers in Corinth […]
Download Text “Unanswered Prayer” 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 July 20, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment We considered this same text last Lord’s Day morning in regard to the meaning and the application of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” I want to read it again, this morning, to deal with another aspect of its […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Strength in Weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 July 13, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.1 Remember, Paul’s “boasting” is a ploy, a means to expose the false apostles who were troubling the church in Corinth. He “boasts” to expose their boasting for the proud, self-assertion that it […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Through Many Dangers” 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 July 6, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.16 Paul reminds his readers that in all of this “boasting” about himself he is only playing a role. By making a point about himself he is exposing the bogus apostles for what […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Heretics and Heresy” 2 Corinthians 11:1-15 June 29, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.1 This next section of the letter, extending to 12:10 drips with irony. A title for the entire section might be “A Little Foolishness.” [Witherington, 445] Paul has just said, at the end […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Standards of This World” 2 Corinthians 10:1-18 June 22, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn We have considered the matter of the collection in the last two chapters. Now the last four are something of a section to themselves. You will notice a change in tone as chapter […]
Download Text “Sowing and Reaping” 2 Corinthians 9:1-15 June 15, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment We are in the midst of Paul’s discussion of the collection that the Corinthians are to make for the poor in Jerusalem. He is encouraging them to be generous. He has characterized such generosity as a grace […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Grace of Giving” 2 Corinthians 8:1-24 June 8, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment In the previous chapter Paul had described his immense relief to have received from Titus such an enthusiastic and positive report concerning the Corinthian Christians and their continuing loyalty to Paul, proved […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “True Repentance” 2 Corinthians 7:2-16 June 1, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.2 This is a resumption of the appeal already given in 6:11-13. But it also represents the end of a long excursus on Paul’s ministry that interrupted the defense of his conduct at 2:13. […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Marching Orders for the Next Fifty Years” 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 May 25, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.14 The image of being yoked together is taken from Deut. 22:10. One translation that catches the meaning is: ‘Do not get into a double harness with an unbeliever.” […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Dedicated to Christ” 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 May 18, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.1 Paul has already said in 5:20 that God makes his appeal to men through him. It is God himself who stands behind the message. It is hard to know precisely what Paul […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Reconciled to God” 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 May 11, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v. 15 All died in the sense that Christ died in their place. This is one of many places in Paul’s letters in which the death of Jesus Christ is taught to have […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Judgment of the Just” 2 Corinthians 5:6-15 May 4, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Now Paul is discussing his ministry in these verses and, last week, we considered, in our treatment of 5:1-10, the confidence with which he faces the troubles of his life, knowing as he […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Living Now for the Future” 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 April 27, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn After some weeks’ hiatus, we return now to our studies in Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. Remember, we are in a section in which Paul is describing and defending his ministry, a […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Treasures in Jars of Clay” 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 March 23, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.7 Paul has just spoken of the majesty of his message: the glory of God in the face of Christ. Now he contrasts that with the fragile and much troubled nature […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Impossibly High Stakes” 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 March 16, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn The section which is concluded with the verses we are about to read began at 2:14. There Paul began by acknowledging that a gospel ministry has, inevitably, a double effect. It is an aroma […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Fortunate Ministers” 2 Corinthians 3:1-18 March 9, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Now, we have a peculiar problem facing us in our text this morning. In my judgment, the burden of Paul’s remarks is quite simple and straightforward, but it is usually missed and another interpretation is placed […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Double Effect of the Gospel” 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 March 2, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.13 Paul now returns to the theme of his itinerary, which, as you remember, had been the grounds for a charge made by some in the Corinthian church that Paul […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Extravagant Forgiveness” 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 February 23, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.5 The great question that agitates the interpretation of this short paragraph is the identity of the individual being mentioned. Until recently it was virtually the universal judgment of the church that Paul is […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Right Kind of Boasting” 2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4 Feb. 9, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.12 Now, strange to say, “boasting,” and especially Paul’s boasting is a major theme in this New Testament letter. In fact the word group, the verb “to boast” and two related […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Vindication of Faith in Suffering” 2 Cor. 1:1-11 February 2, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.1 Timothy is with Paul as he writes. And he writes the letter not only to the Corinthians themselves, but to the other churches in the area, as 9:2 and […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “It Never Ends” 2 Corinthians 1:1-3 January 26, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn We completed 1 Corinthians last Sunday. We began our study of that great letter last April 4th and thirty-two Sunday morning sermons later we completed it. But the history of Paul and that congregation was […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Lord’s Work” 1 Corinthians 16:5-24 January 19, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.5 Remember, Paul was in Ephesus, in present-day Turkey, when he wrote 1 Corinthians and was making plans to visit Corinth before returning to the Holy Land. The longer, but easier way was […]
Download Text “Rich Toward God” 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 January 12, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.1 The main body of the letter was concluded at the end of chapter 15. Now, characteristically, Paul adds some comment on more incidental matters. This “collection” is referred to several times in Paul’s letters and, obviously, […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Resurrection Body” 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 January 5, 2003 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.35 Paul’s answer to that question is going to be that the dead will rise with a body with some elements of continuity and some of discontinuity with the body they had in […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Christ’s Resurrection and Ours” 1 Corinthians 15:12-34 December 15, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment We are making our way through the argument of the great apostle Paul in the 15th chapter of I Corinthians. We read the first 11 verses last week and there noticed how […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Christ of History” 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 December 8, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment Chapter 15 is a long chapter and a separate argument in its entirety. Scholars now divide the chapter into the various parts of a single piece of rhetoric organized in the customary […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The God of Order” 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 December 1, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.26 “What shall we say, then…” amounts to “What is the upshot then of what we have been saying so far?” Remember, Paul has been making the point that the spiritual gifts […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Primacy of the Intellect” 1 Corinthians 14:1-25 November 24, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment Remember, we are in a long section dealing with abuses of spiritual gifts in the worship of the Corinthian church. The great statement on love we considered last time was made […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Love: The Christian Way of Life” 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 November 10, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Remember, now, we are in a long section devoted to problems in the worship services of the Corinthian church. The pride and self-love of at least a number of these Christians were […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Taking Our Proper Place” 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 November 3, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment We read verses 1-11 and vv. 27-31 last time and made comment on them as we read. So I will refrain from making additional comment on them. v.12 Now, what follows is […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Different Gifts” 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 27-31 Oct. 20, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment The text we have before us this morning is too large to take in a single gulp. It raises several big questions that beg for answers and some of those are beside […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Worship as a Way of Life” 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 October 13, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment Remember, we are in a section of the letter in which Paul is dealing with problems in the worship services of the Corinthian church. The first such problem was a […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Men and Women in Worship” 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 October 6, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment To be entirely honest with you, I did not look forward to preparing the sermon on this text. That is not so much because Paul’s teaching here has become so controversial […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Living the Lord’s Supper” 1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1 September 29, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment Paul has been warning the congregation in Corinth to take heed to their lives. Their indifference toward one another, their lack of loving regard for one another, must raise the question whether […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Raising the Stakes” 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 September 22, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment We are still in the section in which Paul is dealing with the controversy in the church regarding the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols. But we are now in […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Being Serious” 1 Corinthians 9:19-27 September 15, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment Remember now, we are still in the middle of a section dealing with the controversy that erupted in the church in Corinth because some Christians felt free not only to eat meat that had […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Paul’s Defense” 1 Corinthians 9:1-18 September 8, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment The previous chapter ended with Paul’s noble pledge to deny himself, even to deny himself what was rightfully his, if that self-denial would foster the spiritual interests of a Christian brother or sister. Now, […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Love Builds Up” 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 September 1, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.1 Remember, the phrase “Now about…” indicates that Paul is taking up another matter raised in the Corinthians’ letter to him. We saw the same phrase at 7:1. We’ll see it again. The […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Main Thing” 1 Corinthians 7:17-40 August 18, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment In chapter 7 Paul is responding to questions raised by the Corinthian Christians regarding marriage and divorce. He has so far considered the situation of those who are already married, those believers who […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Opening a Can of Worms” 1 Cor. 7:12-16 August 11, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.12 In the previous verses we considered last Lord’s Day, Christians are forbidden to divorce. Paul doesn’t raise the exception that we find in Jesus’ teaching, that of adultery, he is […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Not the Way Things Ought to Be” 1 Corinthians 7:8-11 August 4, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment Remember, now: chapter 7 began with Paul taking up an issue raised by the Corinthians in a letter to him. That issue was the idea of a sexless marriage […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Cherishing the Flame” 1 Corinthians 7:1-7 June 30, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment v.1 The Corinthians had written a letter to Paul and he is now responding to what they wrote. The same formula, “now about” will occur five more times in 1 Corinthians, almost certainly […]
Download Text “Sexual Purity” 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 June 23, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment In this following section Paul returns to the matter of sexual immorality that he has dealt with in 5:1-12, in connection with the specific case of the man living in an incestuous relationship with his step-mother and which […]
Audio: Unfortunately, the audio for this item is incomplete. Download Audio Download Text “And So Were You” 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 June 16, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment In the previous chapter, as we saw, Paul commanded the church to pass judgment on the behavior of one of her members. There is […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “Excommunication” 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 June 9, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment Paul has completed the first “argument” in the probatio, the main bulk of the letter extending from 1:18-16:12, containing the argument of the letter. He has dealt with the disunity created by competing loyalties to […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Real Difference Grace Makes” 1 Cor. 4:1-21 June 2, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment This chapter 4 concludes the first main argument of the letter which has been concerned with the contrast between worldly wisdom, which had so beguiled these Corinthian Christians, and the true […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Worldly Christian” 1 Cor. 3:1-23 May 26, 2002 Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment I commented on the text as we read it last Lord’s Day morning. So I will read it without comment this morning. Now, as you may know, this text, perhaps more than any […]
Audio: Download Audio Download Text “The Indwelling Spirit” 1 Cor. 3:1-23 May 19, 2002 “Pentecost” Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rayburn Text Comment I intend to preach twice from this text. This morning, being Pentecost, I want to pay attention to that dimension of its teaching that is summed up in the statement in v. […]