this court is now in session

I COR 8:4-6  So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

"alkdj ajdklajdljfjj oeulejlfjf"

Sometimes this is how my mind reads scripture.

I look at the letters, but I don't get any meaning out of them... until I slow down and read it just to see what it says.

I have no goal today.

I just want to see what it says.

A good lawyer gets the big picture, then goes in for the details.  I'm not a good lawyer.  I'm not a lawyer at all.  But Paul was.  If he's making these points, there was a reason.  He would have laid them out so that no argument from the defense attorney would hold water.  A lawyer with eye witnesses and a true story has the confidence that his case is won already, but he'll still need to prepare correctly or he'll get shot down with well spoken lies.

So here's Lawyer Paul.  First he establishes what we all know.

1.  An idol is nothing at all in the world.
     No carved sculpture made by man's hand is capable of changing anything.  It can't hear, answer or act.  It's just wood or stone or plaster.  Done.

2.  There is no God but one.
    This was pretty radical for those days, and even now actually.  5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”)... as in magistrates and authorities... 

 But Jesus Christ is the only ONE that offers a guilt free relationship with an infinite, all-powerful God.  (Some offer the all powerful, but you are not allowed a relationship.  Some offer a relationship, but only with a finite being.)

, 6yet...(but wait! that's not all, folks)

for us:  truth must be applied to us/for us or the law is without effect

Now the lawyer reviews our part in "what we all know":

6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; 

OK, there's God's identity:  the Father
There's God's infinite, all-powerful attribute:  from whom ALL things came
There's our puny-ness in relation to Him:  for whom we live

(Is it nerdy to admit that I am now having fun?)

and  It's cool Paul didn't say "however"  We have the infinite Father God AND Jesus.  Not either/or.

there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

there IS   ...not "there was" because he died and that was that.  There IS can be said only if Jesus was truly resurrected.  Paul was confronted in person with the resurrected Christ.  (See Acts 26)  Paul, the lawyer.  Paul the skeptic.  Paul the murderer of "mislead politically dangerous believers".

one Lord, Jesus Christ   Paul, the TOTALLY convinced about the IS of Christ.  There is one Lord, and He has a name.

through whom all things came and through whom we live.  And Christ is God, says Paul, as the lawyer attributes infinite power to Jesus as he does to God the Father.

we live.  Oh yeah, just a little cool side benefit.  I don't think Paul, the murderer, who could have been slapped the the ground and singed for his persecution of Christ takes it lightly that this all-powerful, infinite risen God, Lord lets us live...  guilty as we are... because He has the authority to chose to forgive us!

(Paul... I just glanced back at the story of his Christ confrontation.  He didn't just faint and go delusional.   When that bright light hit, he said, "We all fell to the ground,...."  I can't see many people fainting simultaneously as a coincidence.  LOL)


So for today, it's a pretty big darn deal that Jesus lets us live when we ignore Him the way we do.

This court is in recess till tomorrow.

(Oh, and have a great day getting to live.  :)