Tuesday of the Ninth Week After Trinity

August 4, 2026Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 18:10-30; Acts 27:27-44“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Paul is presenting a typology. Fancy word, I know, but it just means that one thing is a type of another, or one thing is an example. The Church at Corinth has fallen into the same trap as the Israelites of old who wandered in the desert. Each thought that because they were God’s chosen people, they could go about and live however they desired, free from judgment or temporal punishment. That is why the five examples that Paul gives in our Reading for today are each specific sins that the Corinthians are struggling with.This is a very specific warning about viewing the Gospel as a license to sin as opposed to the grace to fight against temptation. Christ and His cross has accomplished everything of the Law, and He has done it for you, but that doesn’t give you permission to indulge in the sinful things of the flesh like idolatry, sexual immorality, and covetousness. … In the most simple of ways: the cross grants you forgiveness, not permission.And so against any sort of haughtiness that is prevalent in our sinful flesh, Paul urges us not to be so pompous as to think we cannot sin (v. 11). Instead, he confronts us with the reality that the sinner within the Christian is just as susceptible to temptation if he relies on his own reason or strength as the unbeliever. What is worse, the Christian has been given the Law so that he knows what loving God and loving his neighbor actually looks like. The good works of the Law are necessary for the Christian; they are just not necessary for salvation.Luther tells us, when commenting on verse 13, “‘But God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength’ … however different it appears to human reason and however much every temptation seems to be beyond measure and intolerable.” Call out to the Lord in the day of trouble, and He will answer you. Pray fervently to your Heavenly Father that He will stand firm in His promise to you and trust Him fully that He will do what He says.But most importantly, when you succumb to those temptations, do not despair as if you have no hope. Be forgiven for the sake of Christ and be raised to new life in your baptismal identity in Him.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.With prayer the Father we implore: O Father, glorious evermore, We plead with Thee for grace and pow’r To conquer in temptation’s hour, Alleluia! On Christ, the true bread, let us feed; Let Him to us be drink indeed; And let us taste with joyfulness The Holy Spirit’s plenteousness. Alleluia! ( LSB 874: 3, 5)Rev. Eli Lietzau, pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, CO.