All Christians in Saint Paul's time firmly believed in the early coming again of Christ. In this scripture, the apostle says that this means the end of time itself. Therefore all that is temporal was soon to be closed out, he was sure.

Now what happened is that Saint Paul drew the right conclusion but for the wrong reason. Many and many a lesser man has done the same. We all do sometimes.

All that is temporal is being closed out, or to use Saint Paul's language, the form of this world is passing away, not necessarily because Christ is coming again but because Christ came once. The lives of human beings are reformed. The human society is given new structure. Life values are radically changed. Relationships are quite different. All because Jesus Christ was here and lives forever. Nothing r…