Lesson 10: Authentic Christian Ministry (2 Corinthians 3, 5-7, Jeremiah 31)

This past week I attended a camp meeting! I had been invited to speak on religious liberty at a religious liberty conference. But the organizers decided to broaden it into several days of presentations about religious liberty and the gospel. Thus it became a “camp meeting.” The viewpoints of several of the speakers brought me back to my youth when I would regularly attend camp meetings that focused on personal holiness. This caused me to contemplate, once again, the faith versus works debate. Although I come down firmly on the faith side, it is always good for me to remain open to the possibility that my view needs correction. Because so many people read these lessons, getting this balance right matters. With that mindset, it hit me hard when Paul called the Ten Commandments “the ministry of death.” 2 Corinthians 3:7. Let’s plunge into our discussion of Paul’s letter to see if we can get this right!

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The Current Quarter’s Bible Studies on 1 & 2 Corinthians 2026.

Lesson 9
Love-driven Ministry
(2 Corinthians 1)
Have you experienced times when your problems seemed overwhelming? What if the problems were not your fault? What if they arose because you were trying to do God’s will? If the problems had nothing ...
Lesson 8
The Power of Christ’s Resur
(1 Corinthians 15)
Logical arguments have a certain structure. That structure requires at least one premise, and more often two, before you can reach a conclusion. Here is an example. Murray is a grasshopper. All grassh...
Lesson 7
A Portrait of Love
(1 Corinthians 13)
What does love mean? Today, it has so many meanings that the word is essentially meaningless. Take, for example, the phrase “tough love.” Doesn’t that seem to be a contradiction in terms? How ca...
Lesson 6
Spiritual Gifts
(1 Corinthians 12-14)
Recently, a member of my church asked me, “Who chose you to teach the Sabbath School class?” It was a good question. I thought back to when I was in law school and my local church asked me to teac...
Lesson 5
All to the Glory of God
(1 Corinthians 8 & 10, Romans 14)
Have you been in a situation in which you were absolutely right, but you ended up losing? In American law this is not supposed to happen. You have the facts in hand, you argue the application of the c...
Lesson 4
Sin in the Church
(1 Corinthians 5 & 6)
Just before writing this introduction, I had a wonderful discussion with my granddaughter. She is about to become a teenager, and we spoke about the importance of choosing her close friends carefully....
Lesson 3
Unity in Christ
(1 Corinthians 1 & 3, Philippians 2)
Have you seen a divided church? Have you ever entered a church where you could see the division simply by observing where people are sitting? I recall as a young man attending my grandmother’s churc...
Lesson 2
The Message of the Cross
(1 Corinthians 1:17-31)
On the surface, our study this week seems incredibly odd. Last week, we learned why Paul was entitled to call himself an “apostle.” Yet his background was nothing like that of Jesus’ twelve disc...
Lesson 1
Paul’s Ministry in Corinth
(1 Corinthians 1 & 2, Acts 17 & 18)
Have you moved to a new church and wished the people would view you as a valuable new addition? Have you taken a new job and wanted your new employer and fellow employees to take you seriously? I reca...

Emotional Intelligence

Can the Bible help you get promoted at work? Can the Bible increase your pay? Can the Bible help you keep your job? Improve your marriage? The answer is “Yes!” The Bible teaches principles of “emotional intelligence” that can actually help you to be smarter and get along better. Bruce Cameron, the writer of these Bible studies and a law professor, has published a paper written for lawyers which presents 17 Bible-based rules of emotional intelligence which God gave us to improve our lives. Best of all, Professor Cameron’s paper is free and you do not have to be a lawyer to understand it. To get your free copy, first click on this link. Second, when you see the title of the paper (EI, EI, Oh What an Employee), click on the “One-Click Download” and the paper will download to your computer as a PDF. If you have friends who want to read the paper, have them go to the website and download it as well.