Fellowship of Christian Railroaders

The people living in darkness have seen a great light. Matthew 4:16

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SUNDAY EXTRA:

Alaska Railroad Knowledge and Panning for Gold | Hobo Shoestring

The sunshine helped cause the gold dust to be seen easier. The Alaska Railroad bull caught me then a local train rolled by.

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SUNDAY EXTRA:

Railroad Knowledge Hobo Walk to the Yard | Hobo Shoestring

Plethora of railroad related information in this video. Information parts start around seven minutes into the video. So sorry for the blustery wind sounds and being bouncy. Thanks for encouraging me to get out!

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SUNDAY EXTRA:

How to 'Fire Up' a Steam Locomotive | blancolirio

At the Nevada County NGRR museum last weekend…

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SUNDAY EXTRA:

The Rise of Locomotive "Vandalism" | V12 Productions

In this video, we'll examine some of the locomotive "nose jobs" that have been appearing over the last five years. Colorful graffiti on trains isn't uncommon, but some of these paint jobs are in a gray area.

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For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:2

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Never were those arms opened so wide as they were on the Roman cross. One arm extending back into history and the other reaching into the future.

Max Lucado

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It is true that the sheer unadorned story of the life of Jesus has in it a unique power to move the hearts of men. Dr. James Stewart quotes an example. The Christian missionaries had come to the court of Clovis, the king of the Franks. They told the story of the Cross, and, as they did, the hand of the old king stole to his sword hilt. "If I and my Franks had been there," he said, "we would have stormed Calvary and rescued him from his enemies." When we deal with ordinary, untechnical people, a vivid, factual picture has a power that a close knit argument lacks. For most people, the way to the recesses of a man's inmost being lies, not through his mind, but through his heart.

~ Willian Barclay

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Lazy preachers have no right to appeal to 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 to justify indolence in the study and careless delivery in the pulpit. These verses do not prohibit diligent preparation, passion, clear articulation, and persuasive presentation. Rather, they warn against any method that leads people to say, “What a marvelous preacher!” rather than, “What a marvelous Savior!”

D.A. Carson

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". . . 1 Corinthians is more than a practical letter aimed at telling the readers what to do and what not to do. The letter in fact primarily seeks to influence the minds, dispositions, intuitions of the audience in line with the message Paul had initially preached in the community (1 Corinthians 2:2), to confront readers with the critical nature of God’s saving action in the crucified Christ in such a fashion that it becomes the glasses to refocus their vision of God, their own community, and the future. The advancing of such an epistemology gives the letter a theological purpose that unifies its otherwise unconnected structure."

~ Charles B. Cousar, "The Theological Task of 1 Corinthians," in Pauline Theology. Vol. II: 1 & 2 Corinthians, p. 102.

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Otherwise. . . pure gnosticism

Paul offered the example of his preaching among the Corinthians as a further illustration of what the wisdom of God can do in contrast to what the words that humans regard as wisdom can do.

"The matters of literary context and the continuity of the argument are all important in understanding 1 Corinthians 2. Otherwise, much of the chapter reads like pure gnosticism, and Paul is made the advocate of a private religion reserved for the spiritual elite (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)." [Note: Charles B. Cousar, "Expository Articles: 1 Corinthians 2:1-13," Interpretation 44:2 (April 1990):169.]

Thomas Constable

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1 Corinthians 2 | NLT

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Paul was determined not to sugar-coat the truth concerning the crucified Christ by eliminating the teaching about Him--he was determined to preach "Jesus Christ, and him crucified" no more and no less.

Charles Bailly

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In adding 'crucified'

In adding the word crucified, he does not mean that he preached nothing respecting Christ except the cross; but that, with all the abasement of the cross, he nevertheless preached Christ. It is as though he had said: “The ignominy of the cross will not prevent me from looking up to him (105) from whom salvation comes, or make me ashamed to regard all my wisdom as comprehended in him — in him, I say, whom proud men despise and reject on account of the reproach of the cross.” Hence the statement must be explained in this way: “No kind of knowledge was in my view of so much importance as to lead me to desire anything but Christ, crucified though he was." ~ John Calvin

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Paul had determined that his content would be a simple, clear, and frank presentation of both the person of Christ, including His redemptive work, involving the death and resurrection (‘and be crucified’).

Dr. Robert Gromacki

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Paul ‘reasoned’ (dielegeto, Acts 18:4), ‘persuaded’ (epeithen, Acts 18:4), and ‘testified’ (diamartyromenos, Acts 18:5). This was no mere statement of facts; his message conveyed spiritual, Biblical, and logical arguments. Logic, divine not human, can and must saturate our sermons.

Dr. Robert Gormacki

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Paul had been trained and trained well.

He was able to quote from Aratus (Acts 17:28), Epimenides (Titus 1:12), and Menander (1 Corinthians 15:33), but he did not rely upon these kinds of sources for his message (verse 13). He specifically denied using “excellency” of speech. Excellency (huperoche) is found only here and 1 Timothy 2:2 where it is translated “high place” (ASV) or “authority” (KJV). Classical writers used this word “to describe the peak of a mountain, the top of a beam, an excess of money, a rank that exceeds another” (CBL, GED, 6:365). Here it means Paul did not use “wisdom.” The word wisdom (sophia) referred to the content of speech. Rienecker and Rogers (p. 390) defined this word as “wordy cleverness.” Of the 28 times that Paul used this word, at least 15 of these places are in the first three chapters of this book. The description of Paul’s preaching reveals his unwillingness to preach the currently popular “success in life formula.” Paul taught people about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 10:10) because he wanted people to know about the Messiah. This was his subject, and his teaching style was not nearly as eloquent as some of the professional orators known to the Corinthians. ~ Brad Price

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1st Corinthians | NASB