Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Sorrow over sin can lead in very different directions. Paul distinguishes godly grief, which produces repentance leading to salvation, from worldly grief, which produces death. What makes the difference? Paul takes no pleasure in the pain his letter caused the Corinthians. Yet Titus brings welcome news: their sorrow led to repentance, renewed affection, and an earnest response to correction. Throu...

“Now is the day of salvation.” Paul pleads with the Corinthians not to turn away from the grace God gives them in Christ. His ministry has brought suffering, poverty, and sorrow, yet through it God has given others forgiveness, life, and lasting riches. Why are their hearts narrowing toward the apostle whose heart remains open to them? And what does Paul mean when he warns against being unequally...

How can a sinner look forward to meeting his Judge? Paul longs to be at home with the Lord, even as he warns that we must all appear before Christ’s judgment seat. From the promise of bodily resurrection to the astonishing exchange in which the sinless Christ bears our sin, this chapter gives troubled consciences a reason for confidence. God has reconciled the world to Himself in Christ and entrus...

Afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, Paul carries the treasure of the Gospel in a fragile clay jar. His weakness makes clear that the power belongs to God. Yet how can a man who has suffered so much call his affliction “light” and “momentary”? Paul weighs present suffering against the eternal weight of glory promised in Christ. His confidence rests in the God who raised Jesus and wil...

God’s commandments came with glory, yet Paul calls their ministry a ministry of death. How can God’s holy Word condemn the very people who receive it? The Law exposes our sin and leaves us unable to claim righteousness through our obedience. The Gospel gives what the Law demands: righteousness before God through Jesus Christ. Paul traces this contrast through stone tablets, living hearts, Moses’ s...

A congregation has confronted a serious offense. Now Paul warns that its response could leave a repentant sinner overwhelmed by sorrow and give Satan an advantage. What happens when a church knows how to discipline but hesitates to forgive? Writing as a pastor who has shed tears over these Christians, Paul urges them to reaffirm their love. The stakes reach beyond one troubled relationship: this c...

Paul admits that he was so burdened beyond his strength that he despaired of life itself. What does an apostle cling to when he cannot see a way forward? As we begin Second Corinthians, St. Paul points this troubled congregation to the Father of mercies, whose comfort reaches His people in their affliction and passes through them to others. But the Corinthians also have questions about Paul himsel...

After proclaiming the resurrection of the dead, Paul turns to a collection, travel plans, and the people the Corinthians need to welcome. These ordinary concerns show what the Gospel means for a congregation learning to live together. Hungry Christians need help, faithful workers need support, and an open door for preaching comes with determined opposition. How will this divided church respond? Pa...

If Christ has conquered death, why are we still burying Christians? Our bodies bear Adam’s likeness, marked by weakness, decay, and death. Yet Paul promises that we will also bear the likeness of the risen Christ. What will that transformation mean, and what happens to those still living when the last trumpet sounds? As Paul brings his great resurrection chapter to its conclusion, he traces death’...

A body lowered into the grave looks like the end of everything. Paul compares it to a seed being sown, because Christ’s resurrection has begun a harvest that death cannot prevent. But what kind of body will rise, and how can something marked by decay and weakness become imperishable and glorious? Paul answers the Corinthians’ objections by pointing to the Creator’s power and Christ’s reign. The la...

Could Christianity still offer something worthwhile if the dead never rise? Paul refuses to let the Corinthians treat resurrection as an optional belief. If the dead cannot rise, Christ has not been raised, their sins remain unforgiven, and the Christians they have buried are lost. Everything rests on an event Paul received and proclaimed: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose, and appeared to...

“Judge not.” “I can do all things.” “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” These are familiar words of Scripture that even many unbelievers know. Does Jesus forbid us to call anything sinful? Does God promise success at whatever we attempt? What happens when we must confront wickedness? What happens when we simply cannot handle any more suffering? On this Free Text First Friday, we put fam...

Everyone seems to have something to say in Corinth, but who is being helped by what is heard? Paul would rather speak five understandable words than ten thousand in a tongue. He calls for speech that teaches, encourages, and consoles, then tells some speakers to wait, others to remain silent, and the Church to weigh what is said. His instructions also address women’s speaking in the assembly and c...

Imagine knowing every mystery, speaking with extraordinary eloquence, and giving away everything you own. Paul says that without love, even these impressive things amount to nothing. His familiar words about patience and kindness confront a congregation whose spiritual gifts have become occasions for envy and pride. What does love expose about the way we measure Christian maturity? And why will th...

Some Christians wonder whether they have anything to offer. Others act as though the Church could get along without everyone else. Paul answers both by pointing to the church as an image of a body that needs its eyes, hands, and feet, including the members that seem weakest. The Spirit who brings us to confess Jesus as Lord gives different gifts and joins us together in Baptism. What happens when...

Some leave hungry while others have had too much to drink, and the Corinthians still call their gathering the Lord’s Supper. Paul brings them back to the night Jesus was betrayed and the words that make this meal His gift: “This is my body, which is for you.” The Apostle also warns that receiving unworthily brings judgment. How can the Sacrament given for forgiveness be received to a person’s harm...

A covered head, an uncovered head, the length of someone’s hair: why does Paul give these things so much attention? In Corinth, outward appearance could communicate honor or shame within the congregation and between husbands and wives. Paul takes the discussion back to creation, then insists that neither woman nor man is independent of the other in the Lord. How do we distinguish the customs of an...

Meat from the market may be eaten with thanksgiving, but a meal at an idol’s altar is another matter. Why does the setting change what Christians may do? Paul answers by pointing to the Lord’s Supper, where the bread and cup give us participation in Christ’s body and blood. Fellowship at an altar means something, even when a person claims otherwise. As Paul distinguishes freedom from idolatry, he...

They passed through the sea, ate bread from heaven, and drank from the rock. Yet the wilderness became a graveyard for people God had delivered from Egypt. The Apostle Paul recounts that history to the Corinthian Christians who think they know enough to stand safely near temptation. What makes their confidence so dangerous, and why does Israel’s failure belong in a letter to the Church? Alongside...

Paul makes a convincing case that the Corinthians should support his ministry, then explains why he has refused their support. Why defend a right he will not exercise? The answer reaches beyond a pastor’s paycheck to the things Christians willingly surrender so that others may hear the Gospel. Paul’s freedom makes him a servant, and his calling demands the discipline of an athlete running to win....

An idol is nothing, and food cannot bring us closer to God. Some Corinthians know both truths and see no problem eating meat offered to idols. But across the table sits a fellow Christian who once worshiped those gods. What happens when he follows their example while believing he is returning to idolatry? Paul confronts a confidence so focused on being free and knowledgeable that it overlooks a br...

Marriage is God’s good gift, yet Paul advises the unmarried to consider remaining as they are. His reason brings an urgency to wedding plans and household concerns: “The present form of this world is passing away.” With trouble pressing upon the Corinthians, he wants to spare them added burdens and encourage undivided devotion to the Lord. How should Christians receive that counsel without turning...

Paul wishes others could remain unmarried as he is, yet he tells husbands and wives not to deprive one another of sexual intimacy. How do those fit together? For Christians in Corinth sorting through questions of desire, devotion, and marital faithfulness, neither marriage nor celibacy offers an escape from loving their neighbor. And when one spouse believes in Christ and the other does not, the q...

What if winning a lawsuit could mean losing something far more important? As Christians in Corinth take one another to court, Paul asks something most people would never be willing to consider, “Why not rather suffer wrong?” Their insistence on getting their own way reaches into their sexual lives, too, where freedom has become an excuse for sin. What changes when the person you wrong is your brot...

A member of the Corinthian church is involved with his father’s wife, yet the congregation remains puffed up with pride, unmoved by a sin that should bring them to tears. Paul tells them to remove him from their fellowship, not as punishment, but so that he may be saved. How can putting someone outside the Church serve his salvation? This difficult passage confronts the danger of leaving sin uncha...