by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
There were some at Corinth that did not like Paul for one excuse or another. Perhaps they did not like his appearance, his style of oratory, or skill in the same, but whatever was the excuse, they were not thinking correctly. There were carnal members who were not spiritually minded (I Corinthians 3:1f), and this was the problem. By cutting Paul from their friendship list or from their list of brothers they would include in their circle, they were “restricting” their own hearts from good things. Paul wrote the second letter to them and told them, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections<\/em>” (II Corinthians 6:12). They were affectionate toward others, even toward false teachers, but made Paul an enemy for telling them the truth. Who knows how much richer they could have been inside had they not closed out Paul and others? They restricted themselves from a wonderful brother and friend who could have enriched them if they had only been more open.<\/p>\n Why do people form a circle that closes others out? What might we be missing if we opened our circles, opened our minds, opened our hearts, and gave a person a chance to share their faith, hope, and love with us? It is worth a lot of thought to consider whether we might be restricted from a special friendship because we have chosen to have affections for others based upon prejudice and unfair judgment that restricts us from some great spiritual opportunities with great spiritual people.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton There were some at Corinth that did not like Paul for one excuse or another. Perhaps they did not like his appearance, his style of oratory, or skill in the same, but whatever was the excuse, they were not thinking correctly. There were carnal members who were not spiritually minded (I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1905,608,253],"class_list":["post-94638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-cliques","tag-excuses","tag-fellowship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1314,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-did-paul-mean-by-chiefest-of-the-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":94638,"position":0},"title":"What did Paul mean by “chiefest of the apostles”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What did Paul mean by \"chiefest of the apostles\" in\u00a0II Corinthians 11:5? Answer: The context of this verse reads: \"Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly--and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62850,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/traditions-traditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":94638,"position":1},"title":"Traditions, Traditions!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Thessalonians 2:13-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When two people have a disagreement, there is a strong desire to label the position of the other person. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Often this makes the discussion easier. A word or short phrase is easier to repeat than a long detailed description of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64501,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christ-sent-me-not-to-baptize\/","url_meta":{"origin":94638,"position":2},"title":"Christ Sent Me Not to Baptize","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton In I Corinthians 1:17 Paul said, \"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.\" The assumption that denominational people make is that Christ did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-mark-peters-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":94638,"position":3},"title":"Was Mark Peter’s son?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Peter 5:13 Peter said, \"The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus, my son.\" Since Peter was married, could Marcus be his son? Answer: It wasn't unusual for preachers who worked closely with younger men, who would eventually succeed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":802,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-were-the-ten-commandments-written-on-stone-and-the-ceremonial-laws-written-on-paper-scrolls\/","url_meta":{"origin":94638,"position":4},"title":"Why were the Ten Commandments written on stone and the ceremonial laws written on paper scrolls?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did God write the Ten Commandments with His own finger on stone? And why did He allow Moses to write the ceremonial laws on paper scrolls? Answer: Peter instructed Christians, \"Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God.\" (I Peter 4:11) As a teacher\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-the-gentiles-allowed-to-go-into-the-synagogues\/","url_meta":{"origin":94638,"position":5},"title":"Were the Gentiles allowed to go into the synagogues?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were the Gentiles allowed to go into the synagogues? Answer: Gentiles were allowed to come to the temple complex, but they were restricted to remain in the outer court, the court of the Gentiles. The question is whether some similar restriction forbade Gentiles from entering synagogues. We know that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}