First Day

Although Paul does not know the members of the Church in Rome, he fells as responsible for them and their faith as he does for the Galatians, Thessalonians, and Corinthians. His goal is to have theirs and his faith to increase. 

This episode covers Paul's greeting to the Christians of the Church in Rome. Paul explains that he was no choice but to address and, hopefully, bring believers there back into a full relationship with Christ Jesus, so that they may also fulfill their call to to the same for other. 

This is an introduction episode to the podcast's new series on Romans. Please listen, like, subscribe, and share. 

(NRSV, 1989) 1 It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. Paul continues his exercise in absurdity—acting in a way that makes him so uncomfortable to prove his point to the Corinthians who have fallen for boasting. If the church must have boasting, again, a common practice in the church that is addressed in 1 Corinthians, Paul...

(NRSV, 1989) As mentioned in the introduction episode, with its radical shift in tone and subject matter, there is a thought among scholars that 2 Corinthians 10-13 represent another Pauline letter addressed to the church—a fifth. In my estimation, this is a reasonable position. Reread the chapters before this one and tell me that Paul’s words haven’t become harsh; some argue that this is not a fi...

(NRSV, 1989) Now it is not necessary for me to write you about the ministry to the saints, 2 for I know your eagerness, which is the subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you may not prove to have been empty in this ca...

(NRSV, 1989) 1 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; 2 for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, 4 begging us earnes...

(NRSV, 1989) 2 Make room in your hearts for us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 I often boast about you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with consolation; I am overjoyed in all our affliction. Paul’s relationship with...

(NRSV, 1989) 1 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you,     and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8 from the LXX. Here’s the quote in context: “This is what the LORD who rescues you, the God of I...

(CSB) Thank you for listening to First Day. Paul continues in chapter five informing the Corinthians the outcomes that they should expect following their decision to die to self and live in Christ. These are the results of righteousness. Up front let me tell you that this chapter is one of the heaviest, most theologically and doctrinally dense chapters in the New Testament. Some of the commentary...

(CSB) Thank you for listening to First Day. 1 Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth. Paul spends much of chapter four discussing the ministry of th...

(CSB) Thank you for listening to First Day.  1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on tablets of stone but on tabl...

(CSB) Thank you for listening to First Day. 1 In fact, I made up my mind about this: I would not come to you on another painful visit. 2 For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me? 3 I wrote this very thing so that when I came I wouldn’t have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I am confident about all of you that my joy will also be yours. 4...

Many people consider 2 Corinthians to be Paul’s most personal and emotional letter(s). Now I say “letter(s)” because there is the possibility that 2 Corinthians represents two separate letters, commonly referred to as Letter D —chapters 1-9—and Letter E —chapters 10-13, due to the sudden development of a noticeably strained relationship between Paul and the Corinthians after the appearance of cert...

(NRSV, 1989) In my estimation, 1 Corinthians 15 is one of the most doctrinally dense chapters in the New Testament outside of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Why the apostle writes what he does in here is easily in keeping with the rest of this letter, but the nature of its subject matter is not. In respect to the former, the Corinthians have strayed from what they were taught and had been demonstrat...

Thank you for listening to First Day. I am Patrick Cooley. Please like, subscribe, and share so the podcast can reach its goal of seventy new listeners per series. And speaking of series, we are coming up on the conclusion of this series on 1 Corinthians. So, let’s get going on chapter fourteen. Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. For the person who speaks...

(NRSV, 1989) Thank you for tuning into First Day; I am your host Patrick Cooley, currently the pastor of Northport Methodist Church. Please like, subscribe, and share.  In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul gives the Corinthians something to consider: that each person has an equally important and necessary part to play in completing the mission of the Church and that although the Holy Spirit has equipped each...

(NRSV, 1989) Thank you for listening to First Day. Please like, subscribe, and share. My goal is to reach seventy new listeners each series by the end of 2024, and you can help make that happen. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.  Paul ends chapter eleven criticizing those in the Corinthian church who are participating in Holy Communion with selfish and self-cente...

(NRSV, 1989) Paul turns his attention toward another problem within the church that the Corinthians are creating for themselves because of their refusal to see themselves as one and to seek one another’s betterment.  Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church the...

(NRSV, 1989) Thank you for listening to First Day. I am Patrick Cooley. Please like, subscribe, and share on Apple, Google, and Amazon Podcasts.  Of all the scripture that I have studied and taught in my ministry as well as in these series on the New Testament, thus far this is the most difficult I have encountered to wrap my mind and heart around: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. If we take scripture serio...

(NRSV, 1989) So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread. Flee the actual idols t...

(NRSV, 1989) Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless God was not pleas...

(NRSV, 1989) In chapter nine, Paul uses himself as an example for those Corinthians who are lording their under freedom over others. Keep in mind these people’s statement: “Everything is permissible for me.” Both slavery and freedom were ever present in the Roman world. Roman citizens, like Paul, had not fear of enslavement within the Empire; however, this is not true for others. Freedom in Paul’s...

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that ‘we all have knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. But if anyone loves God, he is known by him. As Paul turns his attention toward the subject of Christian Corinthians eating food that has been “sacrificed to idols,” we are again confronted with Corinth...