Saved out of Mormonism?

Someone I know through messageboards, etc. has an online interview about how she came to know Christ even as a zealous member of the Mormon church. She put alot of work into this, you can read it here:

1 Corinthians 4

1 Corinthians 4

4:1-5 Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do no tgo on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.

- Paul is painting a picture here of stewards of a household, they must first be trustworthy.- Paul was being accused of having alterior motives when bringing the Gospel and he is expressing his accountability go God for his motives and actions. He's convinced that he is trustworthy and God will be pleased with him.

4:6 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.

- "What is written" = "Jesus Christ and Him Crucified" from 1:18-19 and 2:24.
- Don't get wrapped up in the teachers, they are accountable to God just like you. Worry about his message being preached.

4:7-9 For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

- We are NOTHING without the things God has given us. Nothing that we have is of ourselves. - "exhibited" = put on display
- "become a spectacle" - Slaves being led in triumph, spoils of war
- God will lead us in victory as a spectacle to the world

4:10-14 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuded, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

- The Corinthians aren't preaching the gospel!
- Paul has become foolish for the sake of the gospel because the gospel is a foolish message.
- "scum" is the word for feces in a cesspot
- "dregs" is the word for the offscouring of plates
- Paul is admonishing them to set pride aside and take on the gospel's foolishness.

4:15-16 For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be tutors of me.

- "tutors" - Parents would hire pedagogues (slaves) who would follow a child around with a whip to catch him whenever he did something out of line. This is what Paul is calling the legalist "super-apostles" in the church who were trying to discredit Paul's message and get the people to follow their legalist teachings.
- Paul wants them to be like him, as a father, not like the child whippers.

4:17-21 For this reason I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

- Paul is telling them to remember his example by looking at Timothy.
- Arrogance is the cause of division and immorality but humility is the outcome of sharing the gospel.



I am copying this straight from my journal. Usually I write a summary at the end of the chapter but I didn't on this day. Chapter 4 is hitting on the same things that 1-3 do. There were people in the church who were trying to tell people that Paul was just in it for the money and Paul is saying that this is not true. Those people were trying to get something out of it for themselves, alot of them were trying to get the people to revert (or revert back) to judaism and the legalist teachings that came from it.

This whole letter is about humility. We are slaves of God and we have been given a foolish message and in order to be effective members of God's household we have to realize that we are nothing. Later in the book are the passages that people love to pull out: head covering, husband/wife authority, spiritual gifts, love - but Paul writes all of those things with the idea that we need to get over ourselves, stop being offended, offensive, proud and jealous and get down to the work that your master left. He could be back at any time and you'd better be ready to give a report of what you've done while he was gone.

1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 33:1-5 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

- Paul did not give them "solid food" because they are caught up in jealousy and strife over factions.
- "I am of Paul" is eimi with the genative..."I belong to Paul" or "I am a slave of Paul" is the implication.
- Paul says he and Apollos are "mere men." "anthropos" is the major term used for slaves.- Paul says that he and Apollos are "Servants." They are dispatched servants carrying a message, the gospel. They were only given opportunities to preach from God.

3:6-9 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

- It doesn't matter who teaches you, God is the author of your salvation and the one who reaps the glory
- We are God's "building" which is a word that is only used in the first century in reference to a building under construction.

3:10-11 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

- God has laid the foundation of the Gospel (Christ) and others build on that, but be careful how you build - you can not replace the foundation.
- Builders were slave workers

3:12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw

- "Precious Stones" is always a reference to the large foundation stones used in large buildings. These stones sometimes weighed 600+ tons.
- "wood, hay and straw" were thatched together and used to build the load bearing walls - it was the sheet rock of the ancient world, this is not a reference to the burning, no temble being burned in the first century had any gold or silver left.

3:13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

- "the day" is inspection day, this is the exact language used in building contracts.- The quality of your work will be tested - No Cracks!

3:14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

- "work" is a word for a building
- "receive a reward" is also common language from building contracts. An escrow account was set up in the contract and if the building passed inspection that account was given to the builder.

3:15-17 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

- "You" is plural in these verses, literal translation could use "y'all" for clarification.
- We are a building in which the Spirit of God dwells.
- "destroys" in verse 17 can also mean "to build incompetently."

3:18-21 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness"; and again, "The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless." So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you,

- God's message and wisdom is foolishness to the world's "wise." This is emphasized again because the slave work done to build the building is the sharing of the gospel, that is the treasure that God left us to multiply and that is what He will be "inspecting" when he comes to judge the slaves, the believers, the building.

3:22-23 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

- We have possessions here on Earth, but we belong to Christ and therefore belong to God. Everything is His!


We are slaves who have been given the job of bringing a "stupid message" to a "wise world." It doesn't matter how good you are at sharing the Gospel with people - God reaps the harvest! He left us a job to do, build His building, and He will be back to judge our efforts and results. We build using all sorts of materials (talents and skills, spiritual gifts) but as long as we don't change the foundation, Christ, we are to share and let the results to go God.

1 Corinthians 2

1 Corinthians Chapter 2
2:1-3 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,

- Paul was not proud in his presentation of the gospel - he understood the foolishness of the message of a crucified Christ. - He spoke to them in weakness, fear and trembling. Paul was scared to death when he went to Athens and Corinth by himself (his friends met up with him later). He had been ostrasized and run out of the last two towns. (Acts 17:5-10; 13-15)

2:4-5 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

- Demonstration of the Spirit and of power = People getting saved through the foolish message.- Don't base your faith on man's wisdom (I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, etc.) base it on God's power.

2:6-10 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

- God's wisdom (foolishness to the world) is truly wisdom to thowe who are "mature" (capable of understanding).- We speak it as a "mystery" (a message divinely revealed). - The rulers of the world (supposedly wise) did not recognize the wisdom because they did not have the Spirit's understanding. Without the Spirit the message of the gospel seems foolish.- 2:10 "God revealed them through the Spirit" - "Them" = Jesus Christ and Him Crucified (v. 2), the wisdom of God that is revealed through the Spirit

2:11-16 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

- In Rome someone who "had the Spirit" was a son of th eFather. Slaves were referred to as the ones who do not have the Spirit. People who are not saved (not sons of the Father) do not understand the mind of God.


The message of the gospel is foolish by worldly standards. Men think they are wise because they are proud but the true wisdom of God is foolishness to them. Only the ones who are willing to listen to the Spirit will truly understand God's wisdom. Don't feel ashamed when people call you stupid for preaching Christ crucified. You are a slave to God and He will deal with those who mistreat you for following His commands.

1 Corinthians (last one for Chapter 1)

1:26-29 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

- "wise according to the flesh" is being wise by human standards
- "mighty" means politically powerful
- "noble" are the well-born types
- God doesn't choose very many people who are powerful by the worlds standards to use in His great works because God demands all of the glory. He has chosen things that are nothing so that he can nullify the things that are.
- "No man may boast before God" is a reference to a courtroom setting - we can't go before God and say "see all of the wonderful things that I've been able to do?" because even our great abilities are ones that were given to us by God.

1:30-31 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

- Even if some of us do have great abilities (and we do, He has given them to us - v.7) we only have them because God has given them to us. We have no room for boasting because we belong to the Master and everything that we do have ultimately belongs to Him.

We are slaves of God! Our salvation is only based on what God has given us and He even did that through the humblest possible means. On the day of judgment when His slaves are glorified iw till be that much more humiliating to the world's "wise." We have no basis for being proud, not of ourselves. God has called us to humiliation, but through that humiliation people are saved. We are no better than the worldly or the person in the next seat - glory totally belongs to God. Everything a slave accomplished was attributed to his master.

God has commanded us to share the gospel. He knows that it is hard and that it is humiliating - He made it that way. He knows that we will be made fun of and shunned when we share His humiliating message - He put it right here in His word. It doesn't matter if we are scared to do it, God has givien us all of the abilities and He expects us to use those gifts like He has commanded us to use them. When the master comes back and He has court with His slaves, our judgment will be based on how well we have followed his command. In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus sheds some light on this judgment. Whenever the master came back from being gone on business he had a Bema Seat judgment with his slaves where he would hear their cases and pass judgment on how well they handled his orders. Are you going to keep God's command and multiply the treasure that He has given you? Or are you going to be afraid and tell God "I didn't want to risk messing it up! I know that you are a powerful man and I didn't want to make someone's situation worse by muddying the waters...so I left that for you. I kept your message buried though and see! Here it is!" God's responses to both of these situations are right there in Matthew for us to see, it's up to you what type of slave you want to be.

1 Corinthians..again

1:18-19 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside."

- "foolishness" is "Stupid Folly!" The word "cross" or "crucify!" (Staurow) was the greatest offense in first century Rome. Crucifixion is how disloyal slaves were killed. Just mentioning the word could get a slave killed.
- "destroy the wisdom of the wise" - The message of the cross was stupid to the people of the world!

Crucifixion was considered the pinacle of humiliation in Rome, they were experts at torturing and humiliating people. The person being crucified was naked and hung on display for everybody to see. They typically took 20+ hours to die. They couldn't just come down and use the privy when they needed to and then hop back up on the cross, they were forced to hang there and soil themselves. Towards the end when their lungs started to burst because of the pressure on them they would start spitting up blood and choking to death. After the person died, they weren't even given the right to a propper burial. The reason that Joseph of Arimathea's asking for Jesus's body was such a big deal is because most people were left to hang on the stick while the birds and other scavengers came and tore apart the body. The idea that God (whom the jews thought would be coming back and immediately starting His rule as king) would let Himself be crucified was ridiculous. People made fun of the early Christians because of the foolishness, this made it a hard thing to tell people. One piece of first century graffiti has a picture of a man worshiping Jesus on a cross but Jesus is drawn with the head of a donkey. They said "You worship an Ass God."

1:20-21 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

- The "Where is.." statements are rhetorical statements that were made in a courtroom. The most common past time in the first century was going to the courts and listening to the rhetoric of the lawyers.
- The world thinks that they are wise. Caesar thought that he was a god. Even today we have the same thing with Science. In spite of this, God saves the world through a message of foolishness, bringing humility and persecution.

1:22-25 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those whoa re the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

- Jews and Greeks looked for answers through signs and wisdom but we preach Christ "having been crucified" - "Stumbling block" is the word "skandalon" where we get "scandal." That is the type of emotion that a crucified God stirred up in the "wise" people of the world.
- The literary device in verse 25 can be translaged "Because the foolishness of God, the message of the cross, is wiser than the wisdom of men and the weakness of God, the message of the cross, is stronger than the power of men." The cross was foolishness and weakness because of the humiliation. People used euphamisms to talk about crucifixion because it was so unmentionable. Apollo called it "death bound with iron," Tacitus called it "extreme penalty" and Manicus Felix called it "on the fatal wood of the cross."

The message of the cross has been one that is foolish to the world since day one. People couldn't understand it then and they can't understand it today, that's why responding to God requires an act of faith. As wise as the people in the world think they are, God saves the world through His means which are foolish according to the wisdom of the world - responding to the Gospel requires humility.

1 Corinthians 1 (cont'd)

1:10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

- "agree" means to speak the same words
- "made complete" can be translated "fitted together." This is a term used in building. The building stones were carved in a way that there were no spaces between them, they fit together perfectly (there wasn't any mortar).

1:11-16 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I am of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that I do know know whether I baptized any other.

- "I am of" is the same "Eimi" with the genative that Paul used earlier when he called us the "Church of God." These people thought that they were bigshots in speech and knowledge (v.5) and they took on the names of people whom they viewed as important to puff themselves up. Some people do this today saying "I am of MacArthur," etc. The point here is that there were divisions being caused in the body based on people's pride. Paul is trying to put a stop to this because these are the types of things that distract us from the master's orders.

1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

- Paul is introducing the point that he is about to make (we Baptists would call it the next "section" ). He is saying that he is not here to baptize people and make them HIS followers, he is here to spread the Gospel. He doesn't even do it in cleverness (which is the boastful speech and knowledge that the Corinthians loved) because man's wisdom would make the message of the cross void.

1 Corinthians chapter 1

Okay so I typed all of this up for a message board and figured I'd copy and paste what I wrote here too in case someone might be encouraged. It will probably be 4-5 posts long.\

1 Corinthians chapter 11:1-3 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

-Paul starts off by saying that he is writing to the "church of God" with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours."
- "Church of God" is a phrase using the greek word, eimi (I Am), with the genative case (which denotes possession). We are "of God" in the sense that we belong to God. We are His possession, it is a term used for slaves who are owned. We belong to him.
- Paul also uses the word "Lord" right away. He says "call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." He also uses this term at the end of verse 9 later in the passage. This word is also a slavery term in the first century. We belong to God as His Church and we belong to Christ - He is our Lord.

Paul starts off the book by talking to the people of the church like someone would talk to their servants. This sets the tone for the whole book.

1:4-8 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. That in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

- "the grace of God given you in Christ Jesus" tells us that Paul is writing to believers.- "all speech and all knowledge"
- These are two areas where the Corinthians thought they were bigshots. When we think of philosophers and such we think of the Athenians but the Corinthians liked to think that they were also good in these areas.
- "you are not lacking in any gift"- Paul is acknowledging that God has given us everything that we need to accomplish the task that the master has left for us. He, the Master, is the one who equips us with these things.
- "revelation" in verse 7 is a term meaning judgment. Almost every time "revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ" shows up in the New Testament it is a reference to the day when Christ will judge his slaves for their behavior while He was gone. Jesus paints a picture of this judgment in Matthew 25:14-30.
- Paul says that we eagerly await the "judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ" because we know that (v. 8) we will be declared blameless - we will be found without sin because of the death of Christ. That does not mean we are not accountable for what we've done with the task that the master left for us while he was away.

1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

- God WILL keep his promises and he expects us to keep His commands. The emphasis on "Lord" in these first 9 verses (used at the begining and again at the end = emphasis) with the words for judgment are a reminder. Christ is going to judge us for what we've done with His message.