Do Not Be Mastered begins with 1 Corinthians 6:12, where Paul addresses believers in Corinth who were learning how the gospel should shape bodily conduct. The surrounding chapter deals with disputes, sexual immorality, and the proper use of freedom. Paul appears to repeat a saying familiar to the Corinthians, “All things are lawful,” and then answers it with two qualifications. Something may be claimed as permissible, yet still be harmful or capable of gaining control over a person.
LESSON 2
Bring Darkness into Light
Primary passage: Ephesians 5:11
Bring Darkness into Light centers on Ephesians 5:11. In the surrounding passage, Paul contrasts the believers’ former darkness with their new identity as light in the Lord. He calls them to walk accordingly, testing what pleases God and refusing participation in works that bear no good fruit. The command is not an isolated instruction to expose other people; it belongs to a larger appeal for a community whose conduct is shaped by truth, goodness, and Christ’s light.
LESSON 3
Carry Burdens Together
Primary passage: Galatians 6:2
Carry Burdens Together is grounded in Galatians 6:2. The preceding verse speaks about restoring someone caught in a fault with a spirit of gentleness, while watching oneself against temptation. Soon afterward, Paul says that each person must bear his or her own load. These statements are not necessarily contradictory: the passage joins mutual help with personal responsibility. Some weights overwhelm a person and should be shared, while each believer still remains responsible before God for faithful conduct.
Grace in Weakness draws from 2 Corinthians 12:9. Paul describes a troubling “thorn in the flesh” and says that he pleaded three times for its removal. The passage never identifies the thorn, so claims that it was a particular illness, opponent, temptation, or addiction go beyond what the text explicitly reveals. What is clear is that the burden remained and that Christ answered Paul by directing him to sufficient grace and power displayed through weakness.
