21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31But eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.
Dig Deeper
One of the most popular concepts in American society today is that of diversity. Diversity is preached everywhere from children’s cartoons to school classrooms. This version of diversity tells everyone to be who they “really” are and to do whatever feels good to them. Regardless of how bizarre of selfish the behavior of being “who you are” should be, we are told, not just tolerated but accepted and embraced. The problem is that this kind of diversity is truly empty because there is no unity to temper it. Paul deeply desires diversity in the Corinthian Christian community but only if they realize that diversity is only meaningful when unity prevails and ties it together.
Paul’s eagerness here is focused on helping every member of the body of Christ to realize that they are all important, vital, and necessary. There are no stars in the true body of Christ. Because of this, no part of the body can begin to see the other parts as dispensable or unimportant. When Romans used the image of the body to compare it to their social or political organizations, their point was that some jobs were jobs of status and were more important than the others. Some people were more honorable and more valuable to the common good than were others. Paul does something quite common for him, taking a popular idea in his society and turning it on its head. He makes the opposite point. Although there are differences in the body, that does not at all make one part more important than any other. Jesus constantly stressed that in the Kingdom of God, the first would be last and the last would be first. This is precisely Paul’s point. Thus, those that are less honorable in the eyes of the world are treated with honor in the community of Christ. The parts that are unpresentable are not parts we wish we did not possess. Rather there are things in the Christian community that are too important for just any passer-by to see, much like the Emperor was usually kept from normal public view.
It is not exactly clear what Paul has in mind with each specific example but his overall point is that every part of the body matters precisely because God has combined them just as he wanted them. God has masterfully crafted the body together so that it might run at a maximum level. The nonsense of weak and strong Christians, that he has addressed earlier, should not be used to create hierarchies of value within the Church. Everyone is not just connected together, but they are connected together in just the way God wanted it. If one part of the body suffers then the entire body suffers; if one part is honored or experiences pleasure then we all should. This applies not only to our local congregation but to the body of Christ throughout the world as well. This is a challenging concept that selfish Americans must return to again and again before we are really able to fully embrace it. We are to think and act like part of the body rather than an individual.
Beginning in verse 27, Paul will take this talk of the body of Christ out of the realm of theory and into the real world of application. As Paul begins to apply the concepts of unity and diversity we should note what he does as he mentions the various gifts and roles within the body of Christ. If we examine the passages in which he mentions these things (1 Corinthians 12:8-10; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:11), we find that no list is ever the same. Paul is obviously using these lists in a representative rather than exhaustive way, but he is also showing the rich diversity of gifts and roles that God has given to the Church. Note also that there are no two places in the Bible where Paul discusses church offices or leadership that are the same. This should all remind us of the need for flexibility in the body of Christ. There is no one way to do it. In one society, a strict hierarchy might be helpful in the Church, while in India (where the caste system can be a big problem) it would be neither helpful nor desirable.
In listing the different roles and gifts in the Church, Paul puts the talk of the different parts of the body into the real language of the Church. These are the roles and gifts that many had been valuing or devaluing in comparison to one another. If the Corinthians had been struggling with valuing certain gifts and the ones who possessed those gifts, then it is worth noting that miracle workers, those with gifts of healing, and speaking in tongues are the only three items that are mentioned in all three of Paul’s lists in this chapter. Undoubtedly, this is due to the fact that these were the three flashiest and most desirable gifts in the minds of the Church in Corinth. Those who possessed these gifts would have been thought of as more important and more valuable than those who did not.
Paul asks, in verses 29-30, a series of rhetorical questions that, in the original language, all imply that the obvious answer is ‘no’. Some would claim, in our day, that some of these gifts must be possessed in order to demonstrate that someone is a Christian. Yet, this is in clear contrast to what Paul is saying. Because each person is equal in importance and each gift is equal in importance, and the fact that there is no gift that everyone possesses, it should be understood that God has ordered all of this exactly as He wanted and it is the responsibility of the Christian to see everyone as equally important. Gifts were given to build up the body not exalt individual parts of it. There are, as Paul makes clear, greater gifts, but they are not what the Corinthians would expect. This is what he will turn to next.
Devotional Thought
In our particular community we are not very tempted to exalt those that work miracles, heal, or speak in tongues, but what gifts are we tempted to value over others? Are there any people in the body of Christ that you treat differently based on the gifts they possess or lack? What would Paul’s answer be to your attitude in this area?
Friday, June 19, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
1 Corinthians 12:12-20
12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Dig Deeper
Everyone has a body of some sort another. We all inherently understand the fact that a body is connected and that the various parts of a body must work in unison while at the same time, each part of the body serves very different functions. The best athletes are those that have trained the various parts of their body to work in unison and under a great deal of control. On the other side, some people contract diseases like Parkinson’s that leave them unable to completely control various parts of their body which can be a debilitating state.
Many people in both modern and ancient times have used the body as a metaphor for a group of people coming together as a unit. It’s a beautiful example really, because the human body is made of all kinds of different parts that work together for one common goal. Paul was not the first one to use this analogy, but his has become perhaps the most famous. Paul’s reasons for using this as an analogy are often misunderstood, though, or at least not fully understood. He is not just limiting himself to the idea that everyone who joins the Church has their own gifts and talents and should use them and be appreciated. Of course, Paul is saying that, but he is also saying much more than that.
Paul hasn’t just used the body as a random metaphor for the Church here. There are at least two important reasons that he chose this particular imagery of the body. One of the things that Paul has been trying to get the Corinthians to understand throughout this letter is that they are the embodiment of the new humanity. They have entered into the life of the Messiah so that what is true of Him is true of His people. That means that, as His people, they are to model the new humanity. In Genesis 1-2 God created humanity in paradise in order to have a perfect relationship with them and with each other. The sin of Genesis 3 ruined all of that and has kept humans from realizing their full humanity ever since. Jesus came and lived a human life of perfect communion with God and man and was killed for it. Because of that, though, we are able to choose to die and enter into His death, raising to His life. Christians thus, embody the Messiah and His life, so Paul using the metaphor of the Church being a body is a metaphor, but it is more than just that.
The second major reason that Paul used this particular image of a body was that it was a common image used in his day for various groups, especially social and political groups. In fact, it was not uncommon to talk about the political make-up of Rome as a body with Caesar as the head. This means that Paul is using a common symbol for communities and applying it to the Christian community as the only, true body. And that is exactly his point. The Christian community is the new and true humanity. The new way of humans living in concert with one another.
In verse 12, Paul stresses his belief that Christians have entered into the life of Christ and become synonymous with Him. He says that just as the human body is made up of many parts, “So it is with the Messiah” (Of course, “Christ” simply means “Messiah”). The amazing thing here is that when Paul says that, he is talking about the Church, not specifically Jesus. When Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus for persecuting the church, Jesus asked “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Clearly Jesus felt that what was happening to his church, happned to him. Paul applies the same concept that the Messiah’s people can be so closely identified with the Messiah that he can call them Christ. The individual parts of the Church have entered into the life of Christ and now embody the Messiah.
At the same time that Paul celebrates this unity in the Messiah, he also celebrates the diversity of the many parts that make up the body. Many have supposed that Paul is saying “unity in diversity and diversity in unity,” but that is not really the case. Diversity is important to Paul, but unity is more so. If Paul really has a theme here it is “diversity in unity, but unity over diversity.” For Paul, in Christ unity overshadows diversity and makes it meaningful. The people in Corinth were using their diversity to create distinctions and cause divisions. This is not at all what it meant to be one body in Christ.
He reminds his readers that the way they all entered into this community of the body of Christ was through baptism (as he does elsewhere: Romans 6:2-11; Galatians 3:27). Many have argued that Paul is referring to a special experience with the Spirit apart from baptism, but that is little more than wishful thinking. He is talking about the common unifying experience of entry into the Messiah’s body, the waters of baptism where all are equal. It is the Holy Spirit who enters the individual, sealing them as one who has entered into the body of Christ.
Beginning in verse 15, Paul modifies a popular saying of his day that was written by the Roman historian Livy. In that fable, the parts of the body speak to one another. Paul uses that image to make the point that no part of the body is without value or importance, so the possession or lack of certain spiritual gifts does not give one more or less value in Christ. Just as differences are necessary in order for the human body to function properly, so are they in the body of Christ. It is God who has arranged the parts just as they are, just as He wants them to be. This is an important reminder because God is not a respecter of persons. It is humans, thinking in a worldly way, that think of some humans as more important than others based on their spiritual gifts. God does not think or work that way. There must be different abilities and gifts so that the body of Christ can do all the things that need to be done.
As it is, though, Paul says, there is much diversity but there is but one body. Here again, he stresses the unity that comes from being in Christ over diversity. Diversity is necessary and important but it all pales in comparison to the way all Christians are united in Christ.
Devotional Thought
Paul is clear here, as he is in Galatians 3, that entry into the new humanity of the body of Christ cuts across all social and cultural divisions. Do you do that in your life in Christ? Do you and your church stand out from the people in your community by challenging social and cultural norms? Many people find that their church might engage in this anti-cultural inclusion, but they don’t so much in their own personal lives. Make a commitment to be as radical in your inclusion in your personal life as Paul called the first Christians to be.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Dig Deeper
Everyone has a body of some sort another. We all inherently understand the fact that a body is connected and that the various parts of a body must work in unison while at the same time, each part of the body serves very different functions. The best athletes are those that have trained the various parts of their body to work in unison and under a great deal of control. On the other side, some people contract diseases like Parkinson’s that leave them unable to completely control various parts of their body which can be a debilitating state.
Many people in both modern and ancient times have used the body as a metaphor for a group of people coming together as a unit. It’s a beautiful example really, because the human body is made of all kinds of different parts that work together for one common goal. Paul was not the first one to use this analogy, but his has become perhaps the most famous. Paul’s reasons for using this as an analogy are often misunderstood, though, or at least not fully understood. He is not just limiting himself to the idea that everyone who joins the Church has their own gifts and talents and should use them and be appreciated. Of course, Paul is saying that, but he is also saying much more than that.
Paul hasn’t just used the body as a random metaphor for the Church here. There are at least two important reasons that he chose this particular imagery of the body. One of the things that Paul has been trying to get the Corinthians to understand throughout this letter is that they are the embodiment of the new humanity. They have entered into the life of the Messiah so that what is true of Him is true of His people. That means that, as His people, they are to model the new humanity. In Genesis 1-2 God created humanity in paradise in order to have a perfect relationship with them and with each other. The sin of Genesis 3 ruined all of that and has kept humans from realizing their full humanity ever since. Jesus came and lived a human life of perfect communion with God and man and was killed for it. Because of that, though, we are able to choose to die and enter into His death, raising to His life. Christians thus, embody the Messiah and His life, so Paul using the metaphor of the Church being a body is a metaphor, but it is more than just that.
The second major reason that Paul used this particular image of a body was that it was a common image used in his day for various groups, especially social and political groups. In fact, it was not uncommon to talk about the political make-up of Rome as a body with Caesar as the head. This means that Paul is using a common symbol for communities and applying it to the Christian community as the only, true body. And that is exactly his point. The Christian community is the new and true humanity. The new way of humans living in concert with one another.
In verse 12, Paul stresses his belief that Christians have entered into the life of Christ and become synonymous with Him. He says that just as the human body is made up of many parts, “So it is with the Messiah” (Of course, “Christ” simply means “Messiah”). The amazing thing here is that when Paul says that, he is talking about the Church, not specifically Jesus. When Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus for persecuting the church, Jesus asked “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Clearly Jesus felt that what was happening to his church, happned to him. Paul applies the same concept that the Messiah’s people can be so closely identified with the Messiah that he can call them Christ. The individual parts of the Church have entered into the life of Christ and now embody the Messiah.
At the same time that Paul celebrates this unity in the Messiah, he also celebrates the diversity of the many parts that make up the body. Many have supposed that Paul is saying “unity in diversity and diversity in unity,” but that is not really the case. Diversity is important to Paul, but unity is more so. If Paul really has a theme here it is “diversity in unity, but unity over diversity.” For Paul, in Christ unity overshadows diversity and makes it meaningful. The people in Corinth were using their diversity to create distinctions and cause divisions. This is not at all what it meant to be one body in Christ.
He reminds his readers that the way they all entered into this community of the body of Christ was through baptism (as he does elsewhere: Romans 6:2-11; Galatians 3:27). Many have argued that Paul is referring to a special experience with the Spirit apart from baptism, but that is little more than wishful thinking. He is talking about the common unifying experience of entry into the Messiah’s body, the waters of baptism where all are equal. It is the Holy Spirit who enters the individual, sealing them as one who has entered into the body of Christ.
Beginning in verse 15, Paul modifies a popular saying of his day that was written by the Roman historian Livy. In that fable, the parts of the body speak to one another. Paul uses that image to make the point that no part of the body is without value or importance, so the possession or lack of certain spiritual gifts does not give one more or less value in Christ. Just as differences are necessary in order for the human body to function properly, so are they in the body of Christ. It is God who has arranged the parts just as they are, just as He wants them to be. This is an important reminder because God is not a respecter of persons. It is humans, thinking in a worldly way, that think of some humans as more important than others based on their spiritual gifts. God does not think or work that way. There must be different abilities and gifts so that the body of Christ can do all the things that need to be done.
As it is, though, Paul says, there is much diversity but there is but one body. Here again, he stresses the unity that comes from being in Christ over diversity. Diversity is necessary and important but it all pales in comparison to the way all Christians are united in Christ.
Devotional Thought
Paul is clear here, as he is in Galatians 3, that entry into the new humanity of the body of Christ cuts across all social and cultural divisions. Do you do that in your life in Christ? Do you and your church stand out from the people in your community by challenging social and cultural norms? Many people find that their church might engage in this anti-cultural inclusion, but they don’t so much in their own personal lives. Make a commitment to be as radical in your inclusion in your personal life as Paul called the first Christians to be.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Spiritual Gifts
1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
Dig Deeper
A well-known American basketball player, Kobe Bryant, recently won his fourth NBA championship. He had won three very early in his career but spent the last several seasons coming up short, amidst much criticism that he was a selfish player. He no longer had great veteran players around him like he did when he was younger and won his championships, he was now surrounded by younger players. Bryant, said his critics, would never win again until he learned to trust his teammates and actually pass them the ball on occasion. Kobe had to learn that his immense individual talent would be of little advantage if he only used it with himself in mind. He had to harness it and use it to build up and support his teammates. He finally learned how to do this year and won another championship.
Paul now turns his attention to a question that the Corinthians have written him concerning spiritual gifts. There are many varieties of spiritual gifts, yet what Paul seems to be ultimately after is a realization among the Church for the need of unity. They have been operating as individuals not as a team. The great thing about good teams is that they have all sorts of players with different skills and talents. A good basketball team must have some players who can shoot from the outside well and others who can score from the inside. Just as they need these great offensive players, the team also needs great defensive players and great rebounders. Each player has his own gifts and when they are put all together towards the same purpose, a symphony of unity flows out in a beautiful display of team basketball. This is what Paul wants for the Corinthian Church. Just as a players on a team all need each other if they are to succeed, so do Christians in the Church.
The root problem that Paul is apparently dealing with is that some in the Church at Corinth were considering themselves more important than others in the Church. This is yet another sign of their problem with pride and self-focus, and is quite probably another instance of the rich and self-important looking down upon the rest of the Church. Paul will take the next three chapters to address this issue and it will help us greatly to remember that all three chapters are part of a larger argument. In this chapter Paul will address, in theory, the issue of unity. In chapter 13 he will remind the Corinthians that all of this must be seen in the light of the great motivator, love. In chapter 14, he will take the theory, drenched in love and apply it to real situations that they were having. He will bring this all together in chapter 15 as he discusses the foundation for the way they act in the present age which is the Gospel, the resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of those in Christ.
Paul begins reminding them that they used to be pagans (or Gentiles). He has three points in this. The first is that He sees Christians as a different sort of human being from the normal categories of Jews and Gentiles. The second is somewhat of a sarcastic reminder that they have been wrong before. The third is to make an analogy. Just as pagans are led astray in their use of spiritual things, so were the Corinthians. They had not made a direct enough break between spiritual behavior and Christian behavior. Some of them were getting caught up in the emotional fervor of spiritual behavior rather than seeking to glorify God with their Christian spiritual gifts. It is easy to suppose that anything that looks spiritual is also automatically from God. Some in Corinth were getting caught up in the hype of their own spiritual gifts and believing that this spiritual experience made them better than others. Thus, Paul’s point is that it can be difficult to distinguish between genuine Christian behavior that glorifies God and ecstatic spiritual behavior that exalts oneself. The test is whether the behavior truly exalts Christ and acknowledge that “Jesus is Lord,” or does it exalt oneself and thus, ultimately, deny the lordship of Christ?
All of the different gifts and abilities that were available within the body of Christ must all be tempered by the unity of the source. In making this point, Paul turns to very trinitarian thought, although he is not directly addressing the issue of the Trinity. If he didn’t embrace some sort of belief in the equality and unity of the Trinity, though, verses 4-6 would not only be incoherent, they would be blasphemous. There are varieties of gifts given by the Spirit’s grace that are to be used in the Christ-like attitude of service, and are the result of God’s powerful working in someone’s life. All of the different aspects and gifts that are ordained by God, enabled by Christ, and bestowed by the Spirit must bring the body together not cause division among it.
Paul now turns to the discussion of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, but not before reminding them that these gifts are given for the common good, not for exhilarating personal experiences. He gives an extensive representative, but not exhaustive list of the gifts of the Spirit. He mentions nine gifts that can be divided generally into three categories. The first category is revelation (wisdom, and messages of knowledge); the second is proclamation (prophecy—giving the message; distinguishing between spirits—recognizing the proper message; and interpreting tongues—the proper language); the third is confirmation (faith, healing, miraculous powers and tongues) to confirm that one really was from God.
Verse 11 serves as a summary for what Paul has just said, yet it underlines his point. All of these gifts are the work of one and the same Spirit; they all come from the same source, the Spirit, who is perfectly united with God. Just as the Spirit is united with the Father and the Son, so should the Church be. At the same time, though, Paul points out that these gifts are given at the determination of the Spirit. Thus, in the same sentence he both confirms the unity of the Spirit and His gifts, while affirming the diversity of free will and creativity. Both are important in the body of Christ and a balance between unity and diversity must always be found and struck in the healthy Church.
Devotional Thought
Do you value the gifts that God has given you and the role in which the Spirit has placed you, or do you often question the gifts and role that God has given to you? We are often prone to the opposite errors of thinking ourselves better than others due to our gifts, or thinking our gifts not good enough when compared to others. Neither attitude pleases God. Where do you fall? Are you grateful and humble about the things God has given you or do you need to rethink your attitudes in this area?
1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
Dig Deeper
A well-known American basketball player, Kobe Bryant, recently won his fourth NBA championship. He had won three very early in his career but spent the last several seasons coming up short, amidst much criticism that he was a selfish player. He no longer had great veteran players around him like he did when he was younger and won his championships, he was now surrounded by younger players. Bryant, said his critics, would never win again until he learned to trust his teammates and actually pass them the ball on occasion. Kobe had to learn that his immense individual talent would be of little advantage if he only used it with himself in mind. He had to harness it and use it to build up and support his teammates. He finally learned how to do this year and won another championship.
Paul now turns his attention to a question that the Corinthians have written him concerning spiritual gifts. There are many varieties of spiritual gifts, yet what Paul seems to be ultimately after is a realization among the Church for the need of unity. They have been operating as individuals not as a team. The great thing about good teams is that they have all sorts of players with different skills and talents. A good basketball team must have some players who can shoot from the outside well and others who can score from the inside. Just as they need these great offensive players, the team also needs great defensive players and great rebounders. Each player has his own gifts and when they are put all together towards the same purpose, a symphony of unity flows out in a beautiful display of team basketball. This is what Paul wants for the Corinthian Church. Just as a players on a team all need each other if they are to succeed, so do Christians in the Church.
The root problem that Paul is apparently dealing with is that some in the Church at Corinth were considering themselves more important than others in the Church. This is yet another sign of their problem with pride and self-focus, and is quite probably another instance of the rich and self-important looking down upon the rest of the Church. Paul will take the next three chapters to address this issue and it will help us greatly to remember that all three chapters are part of a larger argument. In this chapter Paul will address, in theory, the issue of unity. In chapter 13 he will remind the Corinthians that all of this must be seen in the light of the great motivator, love. In chapter 14, he will take the theory, drenched in love and apply it to real situations that they were having. He will bring this all together in chapter 15 as he discusses the foundation for the way they act in the present age which is the Gospel, the resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of those in Christ.
Paul begins reminding them that they used to be pagans (or Gentiles). He has three points in this. The first is that He sees Christians as a different sort of human being from the normal categories of Jews and Gentiles. The second is somewhat of a sarcastic reminder that they have been wrong before. The third is to make an analogy. Just as pagans are led astray in their use of spiritual things, so were the Corinthians. They had not made a direct enough break between spiritual behavior and Christian behavior. Some of them were getting caught up in the emotional fervor of spiritual behavior rather than seeking to glorify God with their Christian spiritual gifts. It is easy to suppose that anything that looks spiritual is also automatically from God. Some in Corinth were getting caught up in the hype of their own spiritual gifts and believing that this spiritual experience made them better than others. Thus, Paul’s point is that it can be difficult to distinguish between genuine Christian behavior that glorifies God and ecstatic spiritual behavior that exalts oneself. The test is whether the behavior truly exalts Christ and acknowledge that “Jesus is Lord,” or does it exalt oneself and thus, ultimately, deny the lordship of Christ?
All of the different gifts and abilities that were available within the body of Christ must all be tempered by the unity of the source. In making this point, Paul turns to very trinitarian thought, although he is not directly addressing the issue of the Trinity. If he didn’t embrace some sort of belief in the equality and unity of the Trinity, though, verses 4-6 would not only be incoherent, they would be blasphemous. There are varieties of gifts given by the Spirit’s grace that are to be used in the Christ-like attitude of service, and are the result of God’s powerful working in someone’s life. All of the different aspects and gifts that are ordained by God, enabled by Christ, and bestowed by the Spirit must bring the body together not cause division among it.
Paul now turns to the discussion of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, but not before reminding them that these gifts are given for the common good, not for exhilarating personal experiences. He gives an extensive representative, but not exhaustive list of the gifts of the Spirit. He mentions nine gifts that can be divided generally into three categories. The first category is revelation (wisdom, and messages of knowledge); the second is proclamation (prophecy—giving the message; distinguishing between spirits—recognizing the proper message; and interpreting tongues—the proper language); the third is confirmation (faith, healing, miraculous powers and tongues) to confirm that one really was from God.
Verse 11 serves as a summary for what Paul has just said, yet it underlines his point. All of these gifts are the work of one and the same Spirit; they all come from the same source, the Spirit, who is perfectly united with God. Just as the Spirit is united with the Father and the Son, so should the Church be. At the same time, though, Paul points out that these gifts are given at the determination of the Spirit. Thus, in the same sentence he both confirms the unity of the Spirit and His gifts, while affirming the diversity of free will and creativity. Both are important in the body of Christ and a balance between unity and diversity must always be found and struck in the healthy Church.
Devotional Thought
Do you value the gifts that God has given you and the role in which the Spirit has placed you, or do you often question the gifts and role that God has given to you? We are often prone to the opposite errors of thinking ourselves better than others due to our gifts, or thinking our gifts not good enough when compared to others. Neither attitude pleases God. Where do you fall? Are you grateful and humble about the things God has given you or do you need to rethink your attitudes in this area?
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
1 Corinthians 11:23-34
23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
Dig Deeper
One of the policies that I always kept as a basketball coach was to expect the players to discipline themselves. There was a very clear expectation of what kind of people they would be if they were going to be on our team and it was clearly understood that they should hold themselves to that standard. In fact, if players did break certain team expectations, I expected the players themselves to bring judgment on the violators. If they refused or failed to do so in a proper manner, then I would have to step in and bring judgment. When all was said and done, their willingness or lack of willingness to institute self-discipline and judgment was a demonstration of their understanding of the team concept. If they truly understood the value of the team concept we were building then they would revere the team enough to not allow detrimental behaviors or attitudes.
This is something of what Paul is saying here concerning the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians need to understand who they are and what exactly the Lord’s Supper is. If they don’t use it as an opportunity to examine and judge themselves properly, then they will face the judgment of the Lord Himself. If they refuse to deal with these divisions and attitudes during the Lord’s Supper then that was, in itself, a demonstration that they really did not understand or value the concept of the body of Christ.
The first thing that we have to realize is the seriousness with which Paul viewed the Lord’s Supper. There are two important things that color Paul’s investment of importance in the Lord’s Supper. The first is the very thing Paul declares in verse 26. Whenever Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper they proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. When he writes this he is not referring to the Communion message, nor is he saying that the Lord’s Supper is a great opportunity to preach. What Paul believes is that the Christian community taking part in the Lord’s Supper is actually announcing Christ’s death in and through the communion itself. The meal is not just a memory inducement, it is the action of the body of Christ being brought together into the Messiah’s death and declaring to the world that there is a different way to live. This announcement of Jesus’ death is a wonderful announcement for a world enslaved to sin, but it is also extremely subversive. The announcement of Jesus’ death is also a declaration that all of the rulers and authorities in this world are mere pretenders to the throne. It is the announcement of the kingdom of God, the announcement that life and resurrection are available to all those that would enter into the life of Christ.
The second thing Paul believes about communion is that, when it is taken, the Lord Himself is actually present. It is the point in time when the past of Jesus’ death meets the future of His imminent return. The Lord’s Supper is a time when all of history, past, present, and future converge. As surely as the power of the Cross is present, it also brings the future to bear. Just as the Israelites were able to eat of the fruit of the promised land while they were still in the desert, the communion is a meal of the age to come. It doesn’t just point to the age to come, although it does do that. Just as the Israelites were truly eating the fruit of the promised land, but were not there, so do we eat the Lord’s Supper, becoming the body of Christ, the people of the ‘age to come’ in the present age.
All of what Paul believes about and will say concerning the Lord’s Supper comes from the traditions that have been transmitted to him. What Paul does not state clearly is how he received this particular tradition. The language he uses is ambiguous and could refer to the fact that he received the tradition orally through the types of eyewitnesses such as Luke describes in Luke 1:2. In this case, his point in verse 23 would be that the tradition was passed down straight from the Lord through these sources. It is also possible, however, that Paul is referring to a direct revelation from Christ of the sort which he describes in Galatians 1:12.
With Paul’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper in mind, his words concerning judgment become a bit clearer. First, we should say that Paul is addressing Christians and should not be applied to a non-Christian who takes part in the Lord’s Supper without really understanding what they are doing. This is meal that acts and announces to the world that those partaking in it are actually becoming the body of Christ, united in His death and being raised to His life. This is another allusion to baptism, the moment when we reach into the future and pull down our judgment in the present. Thus, Christians face the Lord’s judgment in the present age, which manifests itself as being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. The Christian should either examine and judge themselves, making themselves available to the Lord’s discipline in the present or risk the scrutiny and judgment of the Lord himself when he returns. Trust me, we would rather be part of the body of Christ and face His discipline and training now rather than facing His judgment when He returns. In fact, Paul believes that this is so serious and that all of life is so interlocking, that disregarding the Lord’s discipline could result in his disciplining them by allowing them to get sick and even die (Paul is not at all arguing that all sicknesses are a result of sin, he merely opens this as a possibility in some cases, no doubt alluding to situations like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.
When they were dividing the body of Christ by their actions, they were denying in action the very thing that they were claiming to be by partaking in the Lord’s Supper. To have a communion meal while dividing the body of Christ would be like having a wedding ceremony for a divorce proceeding. It just doesn’t make sense.
Finally, Paul brings his point back to his original criticism. When they come together they should wait until everyone is there and then ensure that everyone is treated as an honored guest. They should not put social custom ahead of the very meaning of the meal and so, nullify the very point of the Lord’s Supper, endangering themselves of incurring God’s judgment rather than His discipline. Paul’s final words, promising further instruction on this issue, reminds us that the Bible, although absolutely authoritative, does not cover every possible situation. It is up to us to responsibly think through other areas of church life and practice and apply the principles of the bible in a discerning manner.
Devotional Thought
Do you have the same high view of the Lord’s Supper as Paul did? Do you see it as a time when the past of the Cross and the future of the ‘age to come’ actually converge in the present? Each time you take communion, remind yourself that you are eating of the food of the ‘age to come’, and at the same time, taking part in the powerful act of being joined together as the body of the Messiah.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
Dig Deeper
One of the policies that I always kept as a basketball coach was to expect the players to discipline themselves. There was a very clear expectation of what kind of people they would be if they were going to be on our team and it was clearly understood that they should hold themselves to that standard. In fact, if players did break certain team expectations, I expected the players themselves to bring judgment on the violators. If they refused or failed to do so in a proper manner, then I would have to step in and bring judgment. When all was said and done, their willingness or lack of willingness to institute self-discipline and judgment was a demonstration of their understanding of the team concept. If they truly understood the value of the team concept we were building then they would revere the team enough to not allow detrimental behaviors or attitudes.
This is something of what Paul is saying here concerning the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians need to understand who they are and what exactly the Lord’s Supper is. If they don’t use it as an opportunity to examine and judge themselves properly, then they will face the judgment of the Lord Himself. If they refuse to deal with these divisions and attitudes during the Lord’s Supper then that was, in itself, a demonstration that they really did not understand or value the concept of the body of Christ.
The first thing that we have to realize is the seriousness with which Paul viewed the Lord’s Supper. There are two important things that color Paul’s investment of importance in the Lord’s Supper. The first is the very thing Paul declares in verse 26. Whenever Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper they proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. When he writes this he is not referring to the Communion message, nor is he saying that the Lord’s Supper is a great opportunity to preach. What Paul believes is that the Christian community taking part in the Lord’s Supper is actually announcing Christ’s death in and through the communion itself. The meal is not just a memory inducement, it is the action of the body of Christ being brought together into the Messiah’s death and declaring to the world that there is a different way to live. This announcement of Jesus’ death is a wonderful announcement for a world enslaved to sin, but it is also extremely subversive. The announcement of Jesus’ death is also a declaration that all of the rulers and authorities in this world are mere pretenders to the throne. It is the announcement of the kingdom of God, the announcement that life and resurrection are available to all those that would enter into the life of Christ.
The second thing Paul believes about communion is that, when it is taken, the Lord Himself is actually present. It is the point in time when the past of Jesus’ death meets the future of His imminent return. The Lord’s Supper is a time when all of history, past, present, and future converge. As surely as the power of the Cross is present, it also brings the future to bear. Just as the Israelites were able to eat of the fruit of the promised land while they were still in the desert, the communion is a meal of the age to come. It doesn’t just point to the age to come, although it does do that. Just as the Israelites were truly eating the fruit of the promised land, but were not there, so do we eat the Lord’s Supper, becoming the body of Christ, the people of the ‘age to come’ in the present age.
All of what Paul believes about and will say concerning the Lord’s Supper comes from the traditions that have been transmitted to him. What Paul does not state clearly is how he received this particular tradition. The language he uses is ambiguous and could refer to the fact that he received the tradition orally through the types of eyewitnesses such as Luke describes in Luke 1:2. In this case, his point in verse 23 would be that the tradition was passed down straight from the Lord through these sources. It is also possible, however, that Paul is referring to a direct revelation from Christ of the sort which he describes in Galatians 1:12.
With Paul’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper in mind, his words concerning judgment become a bit clearer. First, we should say that Paul is addressing Christians and should not be applied to a non-Christian who takes part in the Lord’s Supper without really understanding what they are doing. This is meal that acts and announces to the world that those partaking in it are actually becoming the body of Christ, united in His death and being raised to His life. This is another allusion to baptism, the moment when we reach into the future and pull down our judgment in the present. Thus, Christians face the Lord’s judgment in the present age, which manifests itself as being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. The Christian should either examine and judge themselves, making themselves available to the Lord’s discipline in the present or risk the scrutiny and judgment of the Lord himself when he returns. Trust me, we would rather be part of the body of Christ and face His discipline and training now rather than facing His judgment when He returns. In fact, Paul believes that this is so serious and that all of life is so interlocking, that disregarding the Lord’s discipline could result in his disciplining them by allowing them to get sick and even die (Paul is not at all arguing that all sicknesses are a result of sin, he merely opens this as a possibility in some cases, no doubt alluding to situations like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.
When they were dividing the body of Christ by their actions, they were denying in action the very thing that they were claiming to be by partaking in the Lord’s Supper. To have a communion meal while dividing the body of Christ would be like having a wedding ceremony for a divorce proceeding. It just doesn’t make sense.
Finally, Paul brings his point back to his original criticism. When they come together they should wait until everyone is there and then ensure that everyone is treated as an honored guest. They should not put social custom ahead of the very meaning of the meal and so, nullify the very point of the Lord’s Supper, endangering themselves of incurring God’s judgment rather than His discipline. Paul’s final words, promising further instruction on this issue, reminds us that the Bible, although absolutely authoritative, does not cover every possible situation. It is up to us to responsibly think through other areas of church life and practice and apply the principles of the bible in a discerning manner.
Devotional Thought
Do you have the same high view of the Lord’s Supper as Paul did? Do you see it as a time when the past of the Cross and the future of the ‘age to come’ actually converge in the present? Each time you take communion, remind yourself that you are eating of the food of the ‘age to come’, and at the same time, taking part in the powerful act of being joined together as the body of the Messiah.
Monday, June 15, 2009
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
Dig Deeper
One of the great ironies of the early years of America is that in our new country’s quest for freedom and equality, those very things were denied to millions of black slaves. In blurring many lines of social custom and culture, there were other lines that had not even been questioned. The shocking thing for us today, is that we realize that in many ways, these racial lines are among the very first that should have been dealt with if true freedom was to be achieved. It is simply a sham, in many ways, to stand up above the crowd and claim to be the land of the free when you are standing on the necks of millions of black slaves in order to do so. America could not even begin to truly be the land that she claimed to be until that fundamental issue that caused anger and disgust for so many was dealt with.
Paul feels the same shock and disgust as he hears reports of what is going on in Corinth. In the previous passage, Paul dealt with the fact that in bringing equality and freedom in Christ, the Corinthians had blurred natural lines of the created order that did not need to be meddled with. Now he turns his attention to the rift between rich and poor. Like the treatment of slaves in America, this should be an obvious distinction that is realized as contrary to the very nature of the body of Christ, yet it is one that the Corinthians have continued without much thought as to the fundamental contradiction between their actions and their status in Christ.
Whereas before, Paul praised the Corinthian effort but redirected their actual practice, here he has not even a morsel of praise to offer them. He can’t even offer a bit of consolation by saying that their heart was in the right place. In fact, he says that by meeting the way they have, they are doing more harm than good. This is a remarkable chastisement that can only make sense if we recall Paul’s understanding that the body of Christ is the true and only representative of Christ to the world. Their heart and actions in the case of the Lord’s Supper have been such a contrast to true heart of Christ, that it would be better if they had not even met together. In creating divisions during the Lord’s Supper they were denying the very nature of the meal itself. The Lord’s Supper was a declaration to the world of their unity as one body in Christ, so to come together and divide themselves over petty values of the world was to nullify the very thing they were claiming to take part in. It would be like a groom committing adultery during his wedding reception, violating the whole point of the event of which he is taking part.
Paul confirms that what he is addressing here comes from the oral reports that he received. This means that this is presumably not a question written from the Corinthians; in other words, they didn’t even see this as an issue worthy asking Paul about. They were just going about having the Lord’s Supper in the manner which Paul talks about here as a normal course of events. So what were they doing that was so distasteful?
As with many things in a letter like this, it is difficult to piece together the precise situation, but based on what Paul says we can get a pretty good idea. When the Church in Corinth came together they were practicing and continuing divisions among them. These are not the same divisions that Paul addressed earlier in the letter. These are division based on social status and wealth. It was common among trade union dinners in Corinth for people of all classes to eat, but very clear distinctions would be made between the rich and the poor. The Corinthians had continued this practice without question. The wealthier Christians in Corinth were hosting these love feasts or communion meals, but were evidently continuing the practice of having the rich eat in the main, private dining room and being served the very best food and wine. Meanwhile, the poorer among them , who probably would have arrived late because they were working, would be placed in outer rooms that reminded them of their lower standing. The only food they would receive was some leftovers or they would be served inferior food. It is even possible that they weren’t served any food but were expected bring their own, which they would have been very limited in being able to do. Thus, a small, wealthy minority were gorging themselves, while others were getting very little or none.
Although many take verse 19 at face value, It is probably best understood as biting sarcasm. Paul is saying something to the effect of, “Are you sure you really want to perpetuate divisions? Because if you do, the only divisions that have been created are ones that show that some of you don’t get it at all. All you’ve done is show that you do not have God’s approval.”
It is important to note that Paul’s issue is not that some are wealthy. He does not deny them the right to eat well and enjoy their homes. The problem is that when they come together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, it is not the Lord’s Supper at all because of the worldly attitudes they are displaying. Paul has been trying to show them throughout this letter the life in Christ that they are supposed to be living and how that looks in the real world of their everyday lives. They are supposed to be modeling the true humanity, the life of Christ to the world. Instead, however, they are acting just like them. They are despising the very church of God of which they claim to be a part when they act like this. By their practices, they have shamed and humiliated the poor. This, Paul wants them to know in no uncertain terms, is contrary to everything it means to be a Christian.
Based on Paul’s statement in verse 22, it appears that the Corinthians thought they might be praised for this. They apparently believed that in welcoming the poor into their home, they had created a pluralism to be praised rather than a divisiveness to be derided. Paul notes that there is nothing in their actions to be praised. Christian unity is essential but unity without diversity is meaningless. But that diversity should not be the cause of separation or division. In the body of Christ, all must be treated equally and with respect or God’s church, and in fact, Christ Himself are being shown disdain.
As Christians today, we must realize that we face the same fundamental issues even if they manifest in different ways. We still have divides in the body of Christ over wealth, race, and many other issues. We still have cliques in the body of Christ. We need to seriously examine and challenge those inequities when we see them. It is important to not be over-sensitive and imagine cliques or exclusion when they are not there, but when divides and exclusion are taking place, we must take the same harsh action that Paul did. We simply cannot stand for this kind of behavior in the body of Christ. If we do allow it to continue, then, says Paul, we’re not being the body of Christ at all.
Devotional Thought
We don’t tend to have entire meals when we meet together for the Lord’s Supper but when we do all eat together we usually make sure that everyone eats the same. Yet, are there other ways in our churches that we allow the wealthy and the poor to create the same divisions and send the same subtle or not-so-subtle signals that are sent in society? Or, do we allow other areas of division to continue in the Church unchecked and undealt with?
Dig Deeper
One of the great ironies of the early years of America is that in our new country’s quest for freedom and equality, those very things were denied to millions of black slaves. In blurring many lines of social custom and culture, there were other lines that had not even been questioned. The shocking thing for us today, is that we realize that in many ways, these racial lines are among the very first that should have been dealt with if true freedom was to be achieved. It is simply a sham, in many ways, to stand up above the crowd and claim to be the land of the free when you are standing on the necks of millions of black slaves in order to do so. America could not even begin to truly be the land that she claimed to be until that fundamental issue that caused anger and disgust for so many was dealt with.
Paul feels the same shock and disgust as he hears reports of what is going on in Corinth. In the previous passage, Paul dealt with the fact that in bringing equality and freedom in Christ, the Corinthians had blurred natural lines of the created order that did not need to be meddled with. Now he turns his attention to the rift between rich and poor. Like the treatment of slaves in America, this should be an obvious distinction that is realized as contrary to the very nature of the body of Christ, yet it is one that the Corinthians have continued without much thought as to the fundamental contradiction between their actions and their status in Christ.
Whereas before, Paul praised the Corinthian effort but redirected their actual practice, here he has not even a morsel of praise to offer them. He can’t even offer a bit of consolation by saying that their heart was in the right place. In fact, he says that by meeting the way they have, they are doing more harm than good. This is a remarkable chastisement that can only make sense if we recall Paul’s understanding that the body of Christ is the true and only representative of Christ to the world. Their heart and actions in the case of the Lord’s Supper have been such a contrast to true heart of Christ, that it would be better if they had not even met together. In creating divisions during the Lord’s Supper they were denying the very nature of the meal itself. The Lord’s Supper was a declaration to the world of their unity as one body in Christ, so to come together and divide themselves over petty values of the world was to nullify the very thing they were claiming to take part in. It would be like a groom committing adultery during his wedding reception, violating the whole point of the event of which he is taking part.
Paul confirms that what he is addressing here comes from the oral reports that he received. This means that this is presumably not a question written from the Corinthians; in other words, they didn’t even see this as an issue worthy asking Paul about. They were just going about having the Lord’s Supper in the manner which Paul talks about here as a normal course of events. So what were they doing that was so distasteful?
As with many things in a letter like this, it is difficult to piece together the precise situation, but based on what Paul says we can get a pretty good idea. When the Church in Corinth came together they were practicing and continuing divisions among them. These are not the same divisions that Paul addressed earlier in the letter. These are division based on social status and wealth. It was common among trade union dinners in Corinth for people of all classes to eat, but very clear distinctions would be made between the rich and the poor. The Corinthians had continued this practice without question. The wealthier Christians in Corinth were hosting these love feasts or communion meals, but were evidently continuing the practice of having the rich eat in the main, private dining room and being served the very best food and wine. Meanwhile, the poorer among them , who probably would have arrived late because they were working, would be placed in outer rooms that reminded them of their lower standing. The only food they would receive was some leftovers or they would be served inferior food. It is even possible that they weren’t served any food but were expected bring their own, which they would have been very limited in being able to do. Thus, a small, wealthy minority were gorging themselves, while others were getting very little or none.
Although many take verse 19 at face value, It is probably best understood as biting sarcasm. Paul is saying something to the effect of, “Are you sure you really want to perpetuate divisions? Because if you do, the only divisions that have been created are ones that show that some of you don’t get it at all. All you’ve done is show that you do not have God’s approval.”
It is important to note that Paul’s issue is not that some are wealthy. He does not deny them the right to eat well and enjoy their homes. The problem is that when they come together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, it is not the Lord’s Supper at all because of the worldly attitudes they are displaying. Paul has been trying to show them throughout this letter the life in Christ that they are supposed to be living and how that looks in the real world of their everyday lives. They are supposed to be modeling the true humanity, the life of Christ to the world. Instead, however, they are acting just like them. They are despising the very church of God of which they claim to be a part when they act like this. By their practices, they have shamed and humiliated the poor. This, Paul wants them to know in no uncertain terms, is contrary to everything it means to be a Christian.
Based on Paul’s statement in verse 22, it appears that the Corinthians thought they might be praised for this. They apparently believed that in welcoming the poor into their home, they had created a pluralism to be praised rather than a divisiveness to be derided. Paul notes that there is nothing in their actions to be praised. Christian unity is essential but unity without diversity is meaningless. But that diversity should not be the cause of separation or division. In the body of Christ, all must be treated equally and with respect or God’s church, and in fact, Christ Himself are being shown disdain.
As Christians today, we must realize that we face the same fundamental issues even if they manifest in different ways. We still have divides in the body of Christ over wealth, race, and many other issues. We still have cliques in the body of Christ. We need to seriously examine and challenge those inequities when we see them. It is important to not be over-sensitive and imagine cliques or exclusion when they are not there, but when divides and exclusion are taking place, we must take the same harsh action that Paul did. We simply cannot stand for this kind of behavior in the body of Christ. If we do allow it to continue, then, says Paul, we’re not being the body of Christ at all.
Devotional Thought
We don’t tend to have entire meals when we meet together for the Lord’s Supper but when we do all eat together we usually make sure that everyone eats the same. Yet, are there other ways in our churches that we allow the wealthy and the poor to create the same divisions and send the same subtle or not-so-subtle signals that are sent in society? Or, do we allow other areas of division to continue in the Church unchecked and undealt with?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Propriety in Worship
2I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.
3Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. 6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. 7A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.
11In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 13Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
Dig Deeper
This next section is admittedly among the most difficult to understand in the entire Bible. It contains language that is at times difficult to determine whether Paul is using it literally or metaphorically. It also is difficult because we do not know the situation in Corinth that induced this discussion, so at best, we can attempt to make educated guesses as to what exactly Paul was addressing and what he was trying to accomplish with this passage. In fact, many biblical scholars tend to throw their hands up at this passage and surrender. Keeping in mind that, at almost every turn, there are different ways to interpret and understand what Paul is saying, we will attempt an approach at interpreting this passage that goes beyond asking a lot of questions only to come to the conclusion that we don’t know what exactly Paul was trying to say. We will not have the time to discuss the various possibilities for this passage, though, and will only present one view.
Paul begins with a brief word of praise before moving on to what he wants to teach them concerning this topic. His primary concern throughout this passage is with authority and propriety in worship. We should also be clear that Genesis 2 is a backdrop for most of this passage. The word that Paul uses for ‘head’ in verse 3 is kephale. He is seemingly using the term in a metaphorical sense, in that he he means ‘head’ in the sense of the one with authority in the example that they set, such as a military leader who charges into battle ahead of troops. This would make sense, considering that Paul has just urged them to imitate him as he imitates Christ. The words translated ‘woman’ and ‘man’ here can also mean ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ and should probably be understood to read, “and the head of the wife is the husband.” Thus, Paul is not offering a complete hierarchy of the creation, rather he is offering several examples of authority that should be imitated. In a sense, then, his point is that the leader, or the one to be imitated, is Christ for the man, the husband for the wife, and God, the Father, for Christ.
It seems that women in Corinth were taking Paul’s teachings, as seen in places like Galatians 3:27, to heart. They believed that there were truly no divisions or distinctions among the body of Christ, but were taking that to an extreme. They were moving beyond the idea that salvation was open to all, moving past the fact that women were clearly allowed to pray and prophesy during official worship (something that needs to be remembered when we get to chapter 14) and even moving past the sometimes radical equality of status that Jesus and his followers gave to women; they were apparently arguing that there should be absolutely no difference in men or women in any way. This is ultimately an issue of authority that was being manifested in many different ways.
Some of the Corinthian women, in their quest for total equality, were going too far. They were throwing all social customs to the wind, which could be a big problem. Among other things, we can assume, they were wearing absolutely no head covering and letting their hair down during worship. Paul uses this as an example for two reasons. The first is that generally only prostitutes in that society went around without their head covered. In exercising their freedom, they were doing more harm to the Christian reputation than good (once again Paul returns to the concept of exercising freedom in the larger context of selfless love). They were not thinking of the delicate conscience and sensibilities of those around them, particularly visitors who might come and be completely turned off by such a display. The second is that having a covering on one’s head was a sign of authority. Thus, a woman needed to have her head covered in that society to demonstrate that she recognized her own role. Verses 7, 8 and 9, then, are not meant to put women in their place. They are a celebration of women. In trying to live out the equality for all humans in Christ, they were actually casting off the very nature of being a woman as though the role of women was inferior. Paul’s point is that women are exactly as God created them and that they shouldn’t try to escape their God-given role.
He then adds one more reason in verse 10. Most commentators don’t quite know what to do with this verse. It is, quite possibly a reference to the fallen angels of Genesis 6, that came and consorted with women, producing the Nephilim. These women and angels had abandoned their God-given domains of role and authority. Because of the spike in demonic activity during the ministry of Jesus and the early church, there was apparently some fear that more fallen angels might attempt the behavior described in Genesis 6 (cf. 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6,7 and many early church fathers talked about these fallen angels and their offspring). Thus Paul gives them one more reason to remain in their God-given roles and domains: they don’t want to go outside of these roles and cast off the authority that God had provided, opening themselves up to perversions. Paul probably doesn’t really think that it is a possibility for them to consort with more fallen angels, but rather, uses this as an extreme example of what can happen when women cast off the roles that God has given them.
They should realize that roles are important. They don’t exalt one gender over the other, they are just different. The fact is men and women are interdependent, yet we should always keep in mind that everything comes from God. Paul finishes with a return appeal to follow the social custom which demonstrates propriety. In verse 16, he assumes that this might not be taken well, but returns to the idea from chapter 1, that the body of Christ goes far beyond Corinth. All the other centers of the body of Christ understand this concept and so should they.
It really all does come back to his ongoing argument about finding a balance between living the life of God’s future age to come in the present age and the need to still put the interests of others ahead of their own freedom. We do have freedom in Christ, men and women alike, but that freedom needs to be tempered by love and interest for others. It is always a fine line for Christians to determine and discern the line between inappropriately bowing to our culture rather than following the life of Christ and properly limiting ourselves so as not to set up a barrier to someone who might otherwise be drawn to the Gospel or to harm another brother or sister in Christ that have a stricter conscience. Above all, the self-giving love of Christ becoming increasing manifest in our lives should be the determining factor.
Devotional Thought
For Paul, worship was part of the reconciliation of the creation. It was the time when a small part of the world was truly set to rights. Worship is a window into the ‘age to come’. This is why Paul is adamant about having the proper understanding, attitude, and order in worship. Do you see worship as a time when Christians demonstrate to the world what it looks like to be in perfect harmony with God?
2I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.
3Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. 6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. 7A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.
11In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 13Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
Dig Deeper
This next section is admittedly among the most difficult to understand in the entire Bible. It contains language that is at times difficult to determine whether Paul is using it literally or metaphorically. It also is difficult because we do not know the situation in Corinth that induced this discussion, so at best, we can attempt to make educated guesses as to what exactly Paul was addressing and what he was trying to accomplish with this passage. In fact, many biblical scholars tend to throw their hands up at this passage and surrender. Keeping in mind that, at almost every turn, there are different ways to interpret and understand what Paul is saying, we will attempt an approach at interpreting this passage that goes beyond asking a lot of questions only to come to the conclusion that we don’t know what exactly Paul was trying to say. We will not have the time to discuss the various possibilities for this passage, though, and will only present one view.
Paul begins with a brief word of praise before moving on to what he wants to teach them concerning this topic. His primary concern throughout this passage is with authority and propriety in worship. We should also be clear that Genesis 2 is a backdrop for most of this passage. The word that Paul uses for ‘head’ in verse 3 is kephale. He is seemingly using the term in a metaphorical sense, in that he he means ‘head’ in the sense of the one with authority in the example that they set, such as a military leader who charges into battle ahead of troops. This would make sense, considering that Paul has just urged them to imitate him as he imitates Christ. The words translated ‘woman’ and ‘man’ here can also mean ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ and should probably be understood to read, “and the head of the wife is the husband.” Thus, Paul is not offering a complete hierarchy of the creation, rather he is offering several examples of authority that should be imitated. In a sense, then, his point is that the leader, or the one to be imitated, is Christ for the man, the husband for the wife, and God, the Father, for Christ.
It seems that women in Corinth were taking Paul’s teachings, as seen in places like Galatians 3:27, to heart. They believed that there were truly no divisions or distinctions among the body of Christ, but were taking that to an extreme. They were moving beyond the idea that salvation was open to all, moving past the fact that women were clearly allowed to pray and prophesy during official worship (something that needs to be remembered when we get to chapter 14) and even moving past the sometimes radical equality of status that Jesus and his followers gave to women; they were apparently arguing that there should be absolutely no difference in men or women in any way. This is ultimately an issue of authority that was being manifested in many different ways.
Some of the Corinthian women, in their quest for total equality, were going too far. They were throwing all social customs to the wind, which could be a big problem. Among other things, we can assume, they were wearing absolutely no head covering and letting their hair down during worship. Paul uses this as an example for two reasons. The first is that generally only prostitutes in that society went around without their head covered. In exercising their freedom, they were doing more harm to the Christian reputation than good (once again Paul returns to the concept of exercising freedom in the larger context of selfless love). They were not thinking of the delicate conscience and sensibilities of those around them, particularly visitors who might come and be completely turned off by such a display. The second is that having a covering on one’s head was a sign of authority. Thus, a woman needed to have her head covered in that society to demonstrate that she recognized her own role. Verses 7, 8 and 9, then, are not meant to put women in their place. They are a celebration of women. In trying to live out the equality for all humans in Christ, they were actually casting off the very nature of being a woman as though the role of women was inferior. Paul’s point is that women are exactly as God created them and that they shouldn’t try to escape their God-given role.
He then adds one more reason in verse 10. Most commentators don’t quite know what to do with this verse. It is, quite possibly a reference to the fallen angels of Genesis 6, that came and consorted with women, producing the Nephilim. These women and angels had abandoned their God-given domains of role and authority. Because of the spike in demonic activity during the ministry of Jesus and the early church, there was apparently some fear that more fallen angels might attempt the behavior described in Genesis 6 (cf. 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6,7 and many early church fathers talked about these fallen angels and their offspring). Thus Paul gives them one more reason to remain in their God-given roles and domains: they don’t want to go outside of these roles and cast off the authority that God had provided, opening themselves up to perversions. Paul probably doesn’t really think that it is a possibility for them to consort with more fallen angels, but rather, uses this as an extreme example of what can happen when women cast off the roles that God has given them.
They should realize that roles are important. They don’t exalt one gender over the other, they are just different. The fact is men and women are interdependent, yet we should always keep in mind that everything comes from God. Paul finishes with a return appeal to follow the social custom which demonstrates propriety. In verse 16, he assumes that this might not be taken well, but returns to the idea from chapter 1, that the body of Christ goes far beyond Corinth. All the other centers of the body of Christ understand this concept and so should they.
It really all does come back to his ongoing argument about finding a balance between living the life of God’s future age to come in the present age and the need to still put the interests of others ahead of their own freedom. We do have freedom in Christ, men and women alike, but that freedom needs to be tempered by love and interest for others. It is always a fine line for Christians to determine and discern the line between inappropriately bowing to our culture rather than following the life of Christ and properly limiting ourselves so as not to set up a barrier to someone who might otherwise be drawn to the Gospel or to harm another brother or sister in Christ that have a stricter conscience. Above all, the self-giving love of Christ becoming increasing manifest in our lives should be the determining factor.
Devotional Thought
For Paul, worship was part of the reconciliation of the creation. It was the time when a small part of the world was truly set to rights. Worship is a window into the ‘age to come’. This is why Paul is adamant about having the proper understanding, attitude, and order in worship. Do you see worship as a time when Christians demonstrate to the world what it looks like to be in perfect harmony with God?
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
23"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. 24Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
25Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
27If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake— 29the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? 30If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 11
1Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Dig Deeper
There are two types of good preachers. One is the preacher who is able to grasp and communicate the large, sweeping principles and themes from the Bible. This type of preaching helps to inspire and enliven listeners but can often leave them searching for what to do when it comes to specific situations in their lives. The other type of good preacher is one who is able to concretely and understandably preach the small details of the Scriptures. These preachers are great at giving practical advice, but often miss the great themes of Scripture that tie all of the little things together. The great preachers are the ones who can communicate both the big-picture themes and the practical details. This is exactly what Paul does in this passage in finally bringing to a close his long discussion on eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols. In fact Paul deals with the big-picture view in verses 23-24. In verses 25-30, he narrows his focus into more practical, real-to-life, situations. Finally, he finishes the remainder of his thought by widening back out to an even broader view than in verses 23-24, one which gives a full perspective to the balancing act of freedom and concern for others.
Paul returns to his format that he began in 6:12 of quoting the Corinthian’s slogans and then answering them. He picks up the slogan, everything is permissible, with a double response that magnifies the importance of this principle. In one sense, Paul might agree that everything is permissible, but that would be missing the larger picture. Even if it is true that the types of things being discussed are permissible, they must meet the more important criterion of being beneficial and constructive. Paul now sums this up with a slogan of his own: Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. Real freedom is the realization that it doesn’t need to be exercised all of the time, otherwise one would be in the ironic position of being a slave to their freedom. The only one to whom the Christian should be enslaved is Christ because each Christian has entered into the life of Christ and has an obligation to live as He did. As Paul pointed out in chapter 6, our lives and bodies belong to Christ and he has reserved them for resurrection so what we do with them matters. How we live in community with other Christians and treat our brothers and sisters in Christ matters. Thus Paul is teaching a very Christlike attitude of “not my good, but yours be done.”
Paul now turns his attention to the particular situations in which the Corinthians find themselves. He quotes Psalm 24:1 in verifying that everything belongs to the Lord, and so, they should have no problem eating meat sold in the market place. This may seem confusing, because in v. 14-22, Paul has made it clear that they should not, under any circumstances, go into pagan temples and take part in the pagan rituals. A closer look, however, will show us, that this is not at all a contradiction, but rather a distinction between venue and menu. The temples are off-limits to the discerning Christian, but the food is not. The pagans may be sacrificing that meat to idols, but if a Christian eats and is not bothered by that history, knowing that they are not honoring the pagan god in any way then they should feel free to do so.
Beginning in verse 27, Paul narrows his focus even more, as he offers a specific example that could happen to any Corinthian Christian. In the first century, dinner parties were held in a much more open, less private manner than they are now, so anyone might walk by and see what was going on or make comment on the happenings. Paul would like for all Christians to get to the point where they did realize the full extent of their freedoms, but he realizes that the conscience is a tricky thing. It cannot be rushed or forced, but it can do great damage if it is violated. So, if another Christian were to walk by and take offense at the situation, then they should put the good of that person ahead of their own freedom and refuse the food. They do not have to refrain from eating any food for their own sake, so this is not a restriction on their freedom. When the good of a third party comes into play, Christians have a different set of responsibilities that trump their freedoms.
Verses 29b and 30 should be understood as Paul providing an imaginary dialogue between himself and any objectors in Corinth who might not agree with him. He asks two questions in this dialogue before answering them: Why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscience and why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? The answer to these questions is the overriding principle of the entire section. Whatever a Christian does should be done for the glory of God. Because of this, Christians should be careful not to cause anyone to stumble. These two principles mirror the two great commandments given by Christ, himself: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Luke 10:27). Paul’s underlying goal in all of this is to accomplish the the same goal for which Christ came, to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). For Paul, then this is what it looks like when the Christian truly clothes themselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27) and walks about in the ‘real world’. It is not, we should carefully note, that the practice of eating meat or anything similar becomes a sin because it violates another’s conscience. The action is still perfectly acceptable, but should be passed on for the benefit of the one who is genuinely bothered by it.
Let’s take this principle and put a modern face on it. One Christian is deeply bothered by Harry Potter movies and books, believing sincerely that they are dangerous and can pull someone into the occult, and at the very least, support and celebrate the dark arts. Another Christian believes that the books are simple fantasy and know that they in no way plan to participate in magic, talking to the dead, the occult, or anything else involved in the Harry Potter story. Applying Paul’s principles to this situation would mean that it is probably fine for a Christian to read a Harry Potter book so long as their conscience is not pricked by the Holy Spirit. Yet, for the Christian who is sincerely bothered by these things, it would be wrong, a sin in fact. The Christian who feels the freedom to engage in the books and movies should be careful to not flaunt their freedom so that it makes the Christian with the stricter conscience struggle, nor should they encourage the stricter Christian to ‘loosen up’ and try it anyway. They might come to that conclusion on their own but it shouldn’t be forced. At the same time, the Christian with the stricter conscience should seek to not bind the freer Christians to their belief or get up in arms and accuse their brothers and sisters of sin for cracking open the new Harry Potter book. Above all, love, unity, and concern for others should trump our own individual beliefs in disputable matters that don’t involve clear-cut biblical mandates or doctrines.
Paul’s final exhortation on this specific topic is for them to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ. This should not be taken out of context, as has sometimes been done. Paul’s call for imitation is limited to his example of living the life of Christ. Ultimately, the real imitation taking place is the act of imitating Christ. It is both the privilege and the obligation of each Christian to realize that they no longer live in the realm of sin but have taken up the life of Christ.
Devotional Thought
The primary principle that Paul wishes for the Corinthians to grasp is the need to glorify God in everything that they do. How have you been doing in living up to this standard? Is it your main aim to glorify God in every possible area of your life? If it hasn’t been, why not?
25Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
27If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake— 29the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? 30If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 11
1Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Dig Deeper
There are two types of good preachers. One is the preacher who is able to grasp and communicate the large, sweeping principles and themes from the Bible. This type of preaching helps to inspire and enliven listeners but can often leave them searching for what to do when it comes to specific situations in their lives. The other type of good preacher is one who is able to concretely and understandably preach the small details of the Scriptures. These preachers are great at giving practical advice, but often miss the great themes of Scripture that tie all of the little things together. The great preachers are the ones who can communicate both the big-picture themes and the practical details. This is exactly what Paul does in this passage in finally bringing to a close his long discussion on eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols. In fact Paul deals with the big-picture view in verses 23-24. In verses 25-30, he narrows his focus into more practical, real-to-life, situations. Finally, he finishes the remainder of his thought by widening back out to an even broader view than in verses 23-24, one which gives a full perspective to the balancing act of freedom and concern for others.
Paul returns to his format that he began in 6:12 of quoting the Corinthian’s slogans and then answering them. He picks up the slogan, everything is permissible, with a double response that magnifies the importance of this principle. In one sense, Paul might agree that everything is permissible, but that would be missing the larger picture. Even if it is true that the types of things being discussed are permissible, they must meet the more important criterion of being beneficial and constructive. Paul now sums this up with a slogan of his own: Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. Real freedom is the realization that it doesn’t need to be exercised all of the time, otherwise one would be in the ironic position of being a slave to their freedom. The only one to whom the Christian should be enslaved is Christ because each Christian has entered into the life of Christ and has an obligation to live as He did. As Paul pointed out in chapter 6, our lives and bodies belong to Christ and he has reserved them for resurrection so what we do with them matters. How we live in community with other Christians and treat our brothers and sisters in Christ matters. Thus Paul is teaching a very Christlike attitude of “not my good, but yours be done.”
Paul now turns his attention to the particular situations in which the Corinthians find themselves. He quotes Psalm 24:1 in verifying that everything belongs to the Lord, and so, they should have no problem eating meat sold in the market place. This may seem confusing, because in v. 14-22, Paul has made it clear that they should not, under any circumstances, go into pagan temples and take part in the pagan rituals. A closer look, however, will show us, that this is not at all a contradiction, but rather a distinction between venue and menu. The temples are off-limits to the discerning Christian, but the food is not. The pagans may be sacrificing that meat to idols, but if a Christian eats and is not bothered by that history, knowing that they are not honoring the pagan god in any way then they should feel free to do so.
Beginning in verse 27, Paul narrows his focus even more, as he offers a specific example that could happen to any Corinthian Christian. In the first century, dinner parties were held in a much more open, less private manner than they are now, so anyone might walk by and see what was going on or make comment on the happenings. Paul would like for all Christians to get to the point where they did realize the full extent of their freedoms, but he realizes that the conscience is a tricky thing. It cannot be rushed or forced, but it can do great damage if it is violated. So, if another Christian were to walk by and take offense at the situation, then they should put the good of that person ahead of their own freedom and refuse the food. They do not have to refrain from eating any food for their own sake, so this is not a restriction on their freedom. When the good of a third party comes into play, Christians have a different set of responsibilities that trump their freedoms.
Verses 29b and 30 should be understood as Paul providing an imaginary dialogue between himself and any objectors in Corinth who might not agree with him. He asks two questions in this dialogue before answering them: Why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscience and why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? The answer to these questions is the overriding principle of the entire section. Whatever a Christian does should be done for the glory of God. Because of this, Christians should be careful not to cause anyone to stumble. These two principles mirror the two great commandments given by Christ, himself: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Luke 10:27). Paul’s underlying goal in all of this is to accomplish the the same goal for which Christ came, to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). For Paul, then this is what it looks like when the Christian truly clothes themselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27) and walks about in the ‘real world’. It is not, we should carefully note, that the practice of eating meat or anything similar becomes a sin because it violates another’s conscience. The action is still perfectly acceptable, but should be passed on for the benefit of the one who is genuinely bothered by it.
Let’s take this principle and put a modern face on it. One Christian is deeply bothered by Harry Potter movies and books, believing sincerely that they are dangerous and can pull someone into the occult, and at the very least, support and celebrate the dark arts. Another Christian believes that the books are simple fantasy and know that they in no way plan to participate in magic, talking to the dead, the occult, or anything else involved in the Harry Potter story. Applying Paul’s principles to this situation would mean that it is probably fine for a Christian to read a Harry Potter book so long as their conscience is not pricked by the Holy Spirit. Yet, for the Christian who is sincerely bothered by these things, it would be wrong, a sin in fact. The Christian who feels the freedom to engage in the books and movies should be careful to not flaunt their freedom so that it makes the Christian with the stricter conscience struggle, nor should they encourage the stricter Christian to ‘loosen up’ and try it anyway. They might come to that conclusion on their own but it shouldn’t be forced. At the same time, the Christian with the stricter conscience should seek to not bind the freer Christians to their belief or get up in arms and accuse their brothers and sisters of sin for cracking open the new Harry Potter book. Above all, love, unity, and concern for others should trump our own individual beliefs in disputable matters that don’t involve clear-cut biblical mandates or doctrines.
Paul’s final exhortation on this specific topic is for them to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ. This should not be taken out of context, as has sometimes been done. Paul’s call for imitation is limited to his example of living the life of Christ. Ultimately, the real imitation taking place is the act of imitating Christ. It is both the privilege and the obligation of each Christian to realize that they no longer live in the realm of sin but have taken up the life of Christ.
Devotional Thought
The primary principle that Paul wishes for the Corinthians to grasp is the need to glorify God in everything that they do. How have you been doing in living up to this standard? Is it your main aim to glorify God in every possible area of your life? If it hasn’t been, why not?
Monday, June 08, 2009
1 Corinthians 10:14-22
Idol Feasts and the Lord's Supper
14Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
18Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. 22Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Dig Deeper
My first two years in college turned out to be a disaster of sorts. I discovered that I no longer had to attend classes. I had the freedom to come or not come and no one held me accountable. So, I decided to not go to class much more often than I should have. In exercising my new-found freedom, I actually led myself into deep trouble as my grades began to plummet. I discovered that the lure of freedom actually led me right into the clutches of my own laziness and irresponsibility. In a similar vein, Paul is concerned that the freedoms that some in Corinth are wishing to exercise will actually be used as bait to lead them right back into the clutches of evil forces. Paul has already conceded, in principle, the right of a Christian to eat meat of any sort, but his concern is that some of the Corinthians were taking that one step further and actually taking part in pagan cultic rituals while eating that meat. It is from this that Paul wants them to run and run fast.
As he usually does, Paul does not give them a strict rule or command, but he offers them urgent advice. He lays out his case in strong terms, but still desires for them to judge for themselves and make a wise Christian decision. They were thinking that because they were Christians, and Christianity was about the things of the Spirit, that what they did with their bodies didn’t matter. Paul wants them to come to the understanding that this is not the case and is not a wise line of thinking.
First, he will use a couple of examples, one from the Christian experience and one from the Jewish experience, to make a connection between those realities and what happens when one consorts with pagan rituals and worship. Paul asks two rhetorical questions with the assumption that the obvious answers are ‘yes’. He is reminding them of the basic understanding of the communion meal. When they partake of the blood and the bread, they are doing two very real things. First, they are uniting themselves as individuals into the life of Christ. They are renewing and reaffirming the fact that they have died to their old life and entered into the life of Christ. Second, they are uniting themselves together as a community in Christ. As he will go on to say in 12:12, they are, in a very real sense, the Messiah. They have as individuals and as a community become the representatives of the Messiah in the world.
Paul then makes a similar point from Israel’s history. When the priests of Israel partook from the sacrifices on the altar, they engaged, in a very real sense, with the presence of God.
Paul realizes that some may have trouble following his logic as he asks “What, then, do I mean?” (The NIV words it slightly differently.) He has already stated that idols, and food sacrificed to them, are nothing. Idols are powerless pieces of wood and stone. He is not contradicting that thought. The deep concern that Paul has it what the idols and the pagan rituals can lead to, and that is the very real evil world of the demonic. Paul’s point is that, just as taking part in the rituals of Christianity and Old Testament Judaism connected the participant with God, so does taking part in these pagan practices lead one into a very real connection with the forces behind them. Idols are nothing, in and of themselves, but they have been used as a gateway by demonic forces. Paul’s advice, then, is to not mess around with something so dangerous, but to flee immediately.
Why though, we should ask, does Paul connect pagan idols to demons. Aren’t false gods merely figments of the imagination? The biblical answer is “no.” Although the idols themselves are nothing, they are gateways to the evil forces that lie beyond normal human perception. According to Genesis 6, angels (sons of God) co-habitated and had children with human women. These offspring were known as the Nephilim; they were extremely violent and apparently gigantic. Jude 1:6-7 tells us that these angels committed sins of a sexual nature, as did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude says that these angels are kept in dungeons until the time of the final judgment; Peter informs us that the place they are being kept is called Tartarus (2 Peter. 2:4). According to the ancient Jewish book of Enoch, (a book that was accepted as accurate by the early church fathers and quoted by Jude) the Nephilim were destined to walk upon the earth as bodiless unclean spirits until the final judgment. These are the unclean spirits, or demons (which is from a Greek word that means “the knowers”) which are described in the Bible as teaching men all manner of evil (1 Timothy 4:1) as well as posing as pagan gods, using idols as a means to lead people into the clutches of evil (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:36-37).
Paul instructs the Corinthians to be extremely careful because they cannot take part in the body of evil and the body of Christ. Considering their status as being those in Christ, Paul does not want them to try to unite the body and life of Christ with evil in any form, whether it be sexual union or pagan ritual and practice. In doing so, they would be testing Christ, something he warned them about in verse 9, for that is a test that they will always fail.
So there is a balance that they must understand. Yes, they are the people of the resurrection that need to understand that life and not live by the confines of the present world, but at the same time they need to be careful to not think that they are untouchable and cannot be pulled back into the world of evil. It’s certainly not that anything could forcibly separate them from the life of Christ but they must be careful to not take their freedom in the wrong way and begin to use it is a license to lull them right back into the enslavement of sin from which they had been freed.
Devotional Thought
Think about Paul’s theology that teaches that Christians have given up their very lives and entered into the life of Christ. Do you have that view of your Christian life. Into what compromising situations have you put the life of Christ that is in you?
14Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
18Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. 22Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Dig Deeper
My first two years in college turned out to be a disaster of sorts. I discovered that I no longer had to attend classes. I had the freedom to come or not come and no one held me accountable. So, I decided to not go to class much more often than I should have. In exercising my new-found freedom, I actually led myself into deep trouble as my grades began to plummet. I discovered that the lure of freedom actually led me right into the clutches of my own laziness and irresponsibility. In a similar vein, Paul is concerned that the freedoms that some in Corinth are wishing to exercise will actually be used as bait to lead them right back into the clutches of evil forces. Paul has already conceded, in principle, the right of a Christian to eat meat of any sort, but his concern is that some of the Corinthians were taking that one step further and actually taking part in pagan cultic rituals while eating that meat. It is from this that Paul wants them to run and run fast.
As he usually does, Paul does not give them a strict rule or command, but he offers them urgent advice. He lays out his case in strong terms, but still desires for them to judge for themselves and make a wise Christian decision. They were thinking that because they were Christians, and Christianity was about the things of the Spirit, that what they did with their bodies didn’t matter. Paul wants them to come to the understanding that this is not the case and is not a wise line of thinking.
First, he will use a couple of examples, one from the Christian experience and one from the Jewish experience, to make a connection between those realities and what happens when one consorts with pagan rituals and worship. Paul asks two rhetorical questions with the assumption that the obvious answers are ‘yes’. He is reminding them of the basic understanding of the communion meal. When they partake of the blood and the bread, they are doing two very real things. First, they are uniting themselves as individuals into the life of Christ. They are renewing and reaffirming the fact that they have died to their old life and entered into the life of Christ. Second, they are uniting themselves together as a community in Christ. As he will go on to say in 12:12, they are, in a very real sense, the Messiah. They have as individuals and as a community become the representatives of the Messiah in the world.
Paul then makes a similar point from Israel’s history. When the priests of Israel partook from the sacrifices on the altar, they engaged, in a very real sense, with the presence of God.
Paul realizes that some may have trouble following his logic as he asks “What, then, do I mean?” (The NIV words it slightly differently.) He has already stated that idols, and food sacrificed to them, are nothing. Idols are powerless pieces of wood and stone. He is not contradicting that thought. The deep concern that Paul has it what the idols and the pagan rituals can lead to, and that is the very real evil world of the demonic. Paul’s point is that, just as taking part in the rituals of Christianity and Old Testament Judaism connected the participant with God, so does taking part in these pagan practices lead one into a very real connection with the forces behind them. Idols are nothing, in and of themselves, but they have been used as a gateway by demonic forces. Paul’s advice, then, is to not mess around with something so dangerous, but to flee immediately.
Why though, we should ask, does Paul connect pagan idols to demons. Aren’t false gods merely figments of the imagination? The biblical answer is “no.” Although the idols themselves are nothing, they are gateways to the evil forces that lie beyond normal human perception. According to Genesis 6, angels (sons of God) co-habitated and had children with human women. These offspring were known as the Nephilim; they were extremely violent and apparently gigantic. Jude 1:6-7 tells us that these angels committed sins of a sexual nature, as did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude says that these angels are kept in dungeons until the time of the final judgment; Peter informs us that the place they are being kept is called Tartarus (2 Peter. 2:4). According to the ancient Jewish book of Enoch, (a book that was accepted as accurate by the early church fathers and quoted by Jude) the Nephilim were destined to walk upon the earth as bodiless unclean spirits until the final judgment. These are the unclean spirits, or demons (which is from a Greek word that means “the knowers”) which are described in the Bible as teaching men all manner of evil (1 Timothy 4:1) as well as posing as pagan gods, using idols as a means to lead people into the clutches of evil (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:36-37).
Paul instructs the Corinthians to be extremely careful because they cannot take part in the body of evil and the body of Christ. Considering their status as being those in Christ, Paul does not want them to try to unite the body and life of Christ with evil in any form, whether it be sexual union or pagan ritual and practice. In doing so, they would be testing Christ, something he warned them about in verse 9, for that is a test that they will always fail.
So there is a balance that they must understand. Yes, they are the people of the resurrection that need to understand that life and not live by the confines of the present world, but at the same time they need to be careful to not think that they are untouchable and cannot be pulled back into the world of evil. It’s certainly not that anything could forcibly separate them from the life of Christ but they must be careful to not take their freedom in the wrong way and begin to use it is a license to lull them right back into the enslavement of sin from which they had been freed.
Devotional Thought
Think about Paul’s theology that teaches that Christians have given up their very lives and entered into the life of Christ. Do you have that view of your Christian life. Into what compromising situations have you put the life of Christ that is in you?
Friday, June 05, 2009
1 Corinthians 10:6-13
6Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." 8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Dig Deeper
As the high school basketball team I coached prepared for the Conference Championship Game, I was worried that they were overconfident. In order to combat that I gave them a history lesson. I told them tales about teams in the past, in our conference, that had gone into games with the same attitude that they were demonstrating, and had suffered defeat. As I told the stories, I picked out certain details from each case that corresponded with where they were at, to drive the point home even more. The point of all this was for them to learn the lesson from the things of the past in order to avoid similar mistakes. I’m glad to report that they learned those lessons and won the game.
Paul says that he is engaging in this current discussion for that precise reason. He saw some clear parallels between the actions and hearts of the Israelites of the past and the Corinthians in the present. Of course Paul saw the accounts of the Israelites in the Old Testament as true to history stories. He didn’t think they were mere moral tales. Yet, in those accounts, he saw echoes that were resonating in the Church in Corinth. He wanted them to study what the Israelites did and what happened to them so they could avoid the same terrible fate.
In making his overall point about eating certain kinds of foods, and how the Church should be responding to this situation, Paul finally begins to return back to the familiar territory of idolatry. He will continue on this topic throughout the rest of the chapter, but it is clear here that Paul sees any sin as idolatry at its core because it is the act of exalting our own will over that of God’s. Everything else that Paul discusses here is based on his mention of idolatry. Paul has dealt with issue of individual rights involved with the topic of eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols, and he has, with some qualifications, agreed that they have the right to do that, at least in principle. One of his very serious concerns, that he will now address, is that in their pride of thinking they can overcome anything, they will find themselves slowly pulled back into paganism themselves.
What is especially important for us to grasp is that Paul’s issue was not that of nitpicking over a violation of a few rules. The true issue was their desires. The Israelites had let their hearts and minds wander so that what did not have to be a temptation became the very source of their downfall. The Corinthians had better heed this example and pay attention. It was, as Paul quotes from Exodus 32:6, the Israelites who indulged in pagan revelry; a polite way of talking about sexual immorality and orgies associated with pagan worship. Making a practice of exercising their freedom, and so, being around the practices of the pagan temples was dangerous. It would be like someone arguing that they have the right to go on the internet, while someone else remains worried about it because all of the pornography available. There is surely freedom for the Christian to go on the internet, especially if they don’t feel tempted by pornography, but Paul would say, make no mistake, many have gone there and fallen. If you want to exercise your freedom (within the limitations he has already described) then fine, but the pornography is off limits. This is Paul’s point: eat the meat if you want to, but don’t be deceived about what goes on all around, and remember that idolatry in all of its many forms are strictly off limits for the Christian. There was and is no level of Christian maturity that we can get to where we get an ‘anything goes’ license of freedom.
Throughout this argue Paul is still dealing with the backdrop of the reality of resurrection. Those in Christ certainly do have freedom from sin and the ability to escape the enslavement of pagan idolatry. Yet, that freedom must always be balanced with the realization that the body that has been baptized into Christ has been reserved for the resurrection. This means that how we treat our bodies and what we do with them is important and that our lives should anticipate and begin to realize the reality of that resurrection age.
Paul describes a progression the Israelites went through, one that is pretty common when it comes to idolatry. First, they set their hearts on something other than God; second, they relaxed their standards on sexual morality; third, they began to test the power and benefits of God versus the pagan lifestyle (and thus, pagan gods); and finally, they began to openly grumble against God. (Don’t forget that Paul had charged them with grumbling against him, and apparently feels that in grumbling against his leadership, they were grumbling against God, in a sense.) None of these situations worked out well for the Israelites so why abuse their freedom of being in Christ to turn around and slip right back into the slavery from which they had just escaped.
The situation for them was particularly vital because they (as we still do) lived at the crossroads of the age when sin is still dangerous and can reign in one’s life, and the time when the age to come is available to those in Christ. At any moment, despite the power of their conversion and their status in Christ, great heroes in the faith can fall. Freedom abused can be the very thing to cause one’s downfall This should cause them to be on their guard. This may have seemed rather daunting, so Paul finishes his thought with an encouragement. Although they are always vulnerable to slipping back into idolatry, they will not face anything that they can’t stand up to. Whenever they are tempted, they must remember that God is faithful and will always provide a way of avoiding the temptation. The real question for them was would they make use of that way out when they needed it? We must also ask ourselves, will we?
Devotional Thought
Are there any areas in your life, where you have become so confident in your freedom from sin, that you are actually playing with fire? One minute we have our heart set a freedom and the next thing we know, it has subtly shifted to having our heart set on evil things. The frightening thing is, this often happens without us being very aware of it. Take some time today to take stock as to your true motivations for doing what you do. Are you truly motivated by enjoying your freedom in Christ or has your heart become set on evil things?
11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Dig Deeper
As the high school basketball team I coached prepared for the Conference Championship Game, I was worried that they were overconfident. In order to combat that I gave them a history lesson. I told them tales about teams in the past, in our conference, that had gone into games with the same attitude that they were demonstrating, and had suffered defeat. As I told the stories, I picked out certain details from each case that corresponded with where they were at, to drive the point home even more. The point of all this was for them to learn the lesson from the things of the past in order to avoid similar mistakes. I’m glad to report that they learned those lessons and won the game.
Paul says that he is engaging in this current discussion for that precise reason. He saw some clear parallels between the actions and hearts of the Israelites of the past and the Corinthians in the present. Of course Paul saw the accounts of the Israelites in the Old Testament as true to history stories. He didn’t think they were mere moral tales. Yet, in those accounts, he saw echoes that were resonating in the Church in Corinth. He wanted them to study what the Israelites did and what happened to them so they could avoid the same terrible fate.
In making his overall point about eating certain kinds of foods, and how the Church should be responding to this situation, Paul finally begins to return back to the familiar territory of idolatry. He will continue on this topic throughout the rest of the chapter, but it is clear here that Paul sees any sin as idolatry at its core because it is the act of exalting our own will over that of God’s. Everything else that Paul discusses here is based on his mention of idolatry. Paul has dealt with issue of individual rights involved with the topic of eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols, and he has, with some qualifications, agreed that they have the right to do that, at least in principle. One of his very serious concerns, that he will now address, is that in their pride of thinking they can overcome anything, they will find themselves slowly pulled back into paganism themselves.
What is especially important for us to grasp is that Paul’s issue was not that of nitpicking over a violation of a few rules. The true issue was their desires. The Israelites had let their hearts and minds wander so that what did not have to be a temptation became the very source of their downfall. The Corinthians had better heed this example and pay attention. It was, as Paul quotes from Exodus 32:6, the Israelites who indulged in pagan revelry; a polite way of talking about sexual immorality and orgies associated with pagan worship. Making a practice of exercising their freedom, and so, being around the practices of the pagan temples was dangerous. It would be like someone arguing that they have the right to go on the internet, while someone else remains worried about it because all of the pornography available. There is surely freedom for the Christian to go on the internet, especially if they don’t feel tempted by pornography, but Paul would say, make no mistake, many have gone there and fallen. If you want to exercise your freedom (within the limitations he has already described) then fine, but the pornography is off limits. This is Paul’s point: eat the meat if you want to, but don’t be deceived about what goes on all around, and remember that idolatry in all of its many forms are strictly off limits for the Christian. There was and is no level of Christian maturity that we can get to where we get an ‘anything goes’ license of freedom.
Throughout this argue Paul is still dealing with the backdrop of the reality of resurrection. Those in Christ certainly do have freedom from sin and the ability to escape the enslavement of pagan idolatry. Yet, that freedom must always be balanced with the realization that the body that has been baptized into Christ has been reserved for the resurrection. This means that how we treat our bodies and what we do with them is important and that our lives should anticipate and begin to realize the reality of that resurrection age.
Paul describes a progression the Israelites went through, one that is pretty common when it comes to idolatry. First, they set their hearts on something other than God; second, they relaxed their standards on sexual morality; third, they began to test the power and benefits of God versus the pagan lifestyle (and thus, pagan gods); and finally, they began to openly grumble against God. (Don’t forget that Paul had charged them with grumbling against him, and apparently feels that in grumbling against his leadership, they were grumbling against God, in a sense.) None of these situations worked out well for the Israelites so why abuse their freedom of being in Christ to turn around and slip right back into the slavery from which they had just escaped.
The situation for them was particularly vital because they (as we still do) lived at the crossroads of the age when sin is still dangerous and can reign in one’s life, and the time when the age to come is available to those in Christ. At any moment, despite the power of their conversion and their status in Christ, great heroes in the faith can fall. Freedom abused can be the very thing to cause one’s downfall This should cause them to be on their guard. This may have seemed rather daunting, so Paul finishes his thought with an encouragement. Although they are always vulnerable to slipping back into idolatry, they will not face anything that they can’t stand up to. Whenever they are tempted, they must remember that God is faithful and will always provide a way of avoiding the temptation. The real question for them was would they make use of that way out when they needed it? We must also ask ourselves, will we?
Devotional Thought
Are there any areas in your life, where you have become so confident in your freedom from sin, that you are actually playing with fire? One minute we have our heart set a freedom and the next thing we know, it has subtly shifted to having our heart set on evil things. The frightening thing is, this often happens without us being very aware of it. Take some time today to take stock as to your true motivations for doing what you do. Are you truly motivated by enjoying your freedom in Christ or has your heart become set on evil things?
Thursday, June 04, 2009
1 Corinthians 10:1-5
Warnings From Israel's History
1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
Dig Deeper
One of my favorite memories as a child was sitting around on some nights listening to albums of Bill Cosby comedy routines with my parents. One routine in particular stands out in my memory in which Cosby tells a long story about a character of his named Fat Albert. He proceeds to tell a fairly long and extremely funny story and then, just when he gets to the end, he says “now I told you that story so I can tell you this one.” Evidently, some in the Church in Corinth were teaching that the sacraments like baptism and communion were almost like magical talismans that gave them an immunity in the world, so they could do whatever they wanted. Paul, obviously disagrees with that point of view, and so he is going to tell them a story about the first people of God and the mistakes that they made in order to help them avoid the same mistakes. His ultimate point is still about their rights and freedoms, this time as it relates to communion, but for now, he is going to tell us this story so he can tell us about that one.
Paul begins in verse 1 with two interesting statements. The first is that he does not want them to be ignorant of the fact. He implies that he has something he wants them to learn, but he is also implying that whether by choice or lack of education, they are ignorant of a few things. The other fascinating thing that we don’t want to miss is that, in speaking of the Israelites, he refers to them as our forefathers. We must remember that the vast majority of the Corinthian Church was Gentile. Paul wants them to understand that as the people of God, the Israelites were their true ancestors. Distinctions made on race and biological ancestry were unimportant when it comes to being the people of God. The Israelites were their ancestors and they share a part in the ongoing story of God working through his people for the benefit of the world.
This was a particularly important point of heritage and covenant that the Church of the first century made, and one that Paul stressed in Romans 9-11. If God had promised that the Covenant would always pass through Israel then how could God be considered faithful to His promises if the Jews were no longer the Covenant people of God. The answer was that the people of the Covenant were always in that status as a result of God’s choice and His mercy. It was also true that there was a history of that Covenant passing through some descendants of Abraham and not others. God had promised that the Covenant would be given to Abraham’s descendants, but not all of them. Thus, the Covenant immediately went to Isaac but not Ishmael. Then it went through Jacob but not Esau. Now, Paul makes clear in Romans 9-11, that Jesus is the true Israel and that the status of the people of God and the blessings of the Covenant would come through him and through those who belong to him by entering into his life. This is how Paul can consider the Israelites to be the forefathers of those in Christ.
Paul really wants to stress, in this passage, is the continuity and parallels between the Israelites and people of God in Corinth. He will draw on at least five similarities to make his point. The first is not directly stated, but lies just beneath the surface. One of the issues Paul is still dealing with is the desire of some to eat meat. In Numbers 11:4, 13, we are told that one of the issues the Israelites had was their desire to eat meat. Paul also uses two other items to show continuity. They well knew that they were people born of spirit and water (John 3:5), and in fact, twice in this letter, Paul draws together the concepts of baptism and the Spirit (6:11; 12:13). Paul shows that the Israelites were also people of God with whom these concepts were present. They were led by the glory cloud, in which in some strange way, the presence of God was made manifest. He also sees the passing through of the Red Sea as a baptism of sorts (this is an idea original to Paul and shows that he is making a specific point here). In leaving their life in Egypt behind, they crossed the Red Sea and were baptized as Moses’ people. He wants them to see that the Spirit of God and the crossing of the Red Sea for the Israelites are like the Holy Spirit and baptism for them.
In verses 3 and 4, Paul hits the final two parallels that he wants the Church to see. All the Israelites ate from the same spiritually provided food and drink. He makes three points here. The first is that the food and drink were provided by God. The second is the emphasis on ‘all’, demonstrating that this unified them as God’s people. The third point is that they had the same provider then, Christ, that the Corinthians have now. The parallels, then, become obvious. Paul is clearly pointing to the bread and wine of the New Covenant communion, and this brings him precisely to his point that he will now begin to develop.
The Israelites had the provisions of God; they had the presence, the saving water, the bread, and the drink. Yet, they became rebellious. They had presumed upon God’s kindness, and He had become displeased with most of them. In fact, of the adults alive at the time, only Joshua and Caleb would actually see the promised land. The rest died in the desert. God’s provisions for His people, and even His presence did not guarantee their salvation. These things were all undeserved gifts given out of God’s mercy and grace to His people, but it didn’t mean that they couldn’t walk away from God. He had given them His presence, had brought them out of slavery through a baptism, and had sustained them with food and drink, but none of that got them to the promised land by themselves. And this is precisely what Paul wants them to grasp. They should not assume that just because they have been baptized into the life of Christ, shared in the community and presence of God, and have been eating and drinking the Communion, that they have automatically reached a status that requires no further effort, discipline, or moral restraint. Baptism really does bring one into the life of Christ and His community, and the communion does allow one to continue to share in that life but they aren’t magic. They are huge privileges that carry with them the huge responsibility of living the life of Christ. Most of the Israelites didn’t make it to the promised land. Paul does not want to say that same sad result in the Church that he has helped to build.
Devotional Thought
Do you see the gifts of God such as his presence, baptism, and the communion as a right given to the people of God or as an undeserved privilege that carry a great deal of responsibility? Have you taken these things for granted? In what ways have you been treating your baptism as a ‘get out of hell free’ card rather than a doorway to the life of Christ?
1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
Dig Deeper
One of my favorite memories as a child was sitting around on some nights listening to albums of Bill Cosby comedy routines with my parents. One routine in particular stands out in my memory in which Cosby tells a long story about a character of his named Fat Albert. He proceeds to tell a fairly long and extremely funny story and then, just when he gets to the end, he says “now I told you that story so I can tell you this one.” Evidently, some in the Church in Corinth were teaching that the sacraments like baptism and communion were almost like magical talismans that gave them an immunity in the world, so they could do whatever they wanted. Paul, obviously disagrees with that point of view, and so he is going to tell them a story about the first people of God and the mistakes that they made in order to help them avoid the same mistakes. His ultimate point is still about their rights and freedoms, this time as it relates to communion, but for now, he is going to tell us this story so he can tell us about that one.
Paul begins in verse 1 with two interesting statements. The first is that he does not want them to be ignorant of the fact. He implies that he has something he wants them to learn, but he is also implying that whether by choice or lack of education, they are ignorant of a few things. The other fascinating thing that we don’t want to miss is that, in speaking of the Israelites, he refers to them as our forefathers. We must remember that the vast majority of the Corinthian Church was Gentile. Paul wants them to understand that as the people of God, the Israelites were their true ancestors. Distinctions made on race and biological ancestry were unimportant when it comes to being the people of God. The Israelites were their ancestors and they share a part in the ongoing story of God working through his people for the benefit of the world.
This was a particularly important point of heritage and covenant that the Church of the first century made, and one that Paul stressed in Romans 9-11. If God had promised that the Covenant would always pass through Israel then how could God be considered faithful to His promises if the Jews were no longer the Covenant people of God. The answer was that the people of the Covenant were always in that status as a result of God’s choice and His mercy. It was also true that there was a history of that Covenant passing through some descendants of Abraham and not others. God had promised that the Covenant would be given to Abraham’s descendants, but not all of them. Thus, the Covenant immediately went to Isaac but not Ishmael. Then it went through Jacob but not Esau. Now, Paul makes clear in Romans 9-11, that Jesus is the true Israel and that the status of the people of God and the blessings of the Covenant would come through him and through those who belong to him by entering into his life. This is how Paul can consider the Israelites to be the forefathers of those in Christ.
Paul really wants to stress, in this passage, is the continuity and parallels between the Israelites and people of God in Corinth. He will draw on at least five similarities to make his point. The first is not directly stated, but lies just beneath the surface. One of the issues Paul is still dealing with is the desire of some to eat meat. In Numbers 11:4, 13, we are told that one of the issues the Israelites had was their desire to eat meat. Paul also uses two other items to show continuity. They well knew that they were people born of spirit and water (John 3:5), and in fact, twice in this letter, Paul draws together the concepts of baptism and the Spirit (6:11; 12:13). Paul shows that the Israelites were also people of God with whom these concepts were present. They were led by the glory cloud, in which in some strange way, the presence of God was made manifest. He also sees the passing through of the Red Sea as a baptism of sorts (this is an idea original to Paul and shows that he is making a specific point here). In leaving their life in Egypt behind, they crossed the Red Sea and were baptized as Moses’ people. He wants them to see that the Spirit of God and the crossing of the Red Sea for the Israelites are like the Holy Spirit and baptism for them.
In verses 3 and 4, Paul hits the final two parallels that he wants the Church to see. All the Israelites ate from the same spiritually provided food and drink. He makes three points here. The first is that the food and drink were provided by God. The second is the emphasis on ‘all’, demonstrating that this unified them as God’s people. The third point is that they had the same provider then, Christ, that the Corinthians have now. The parallels, then, become obvious. Paul is clearly pointing to the bread and wine of the New Covenant communion, and this brings him precisely to his point that he will now begin to develop.
The Israelites had the provisions of God; they had the presence, the saving water, the bread, and the drink. Yet, they became rebellious. They had presumed upon God’s kindness, and He had become displeased with most of them. In fact, of the adults alive at the time, only Joshua and Caleb would actually see the promised land. The rest died in the desert. God’s provisions for His people, and even His presence did not guarantee their salvation. These things were all undeserved gifts given out of God’s mercy and grace to His people, but it didn’t mean that they couldn’t walk away from God. He had given them His presence, had brought them out of slavery through a baptism, and had sustained them with food and drink, but none of that got them to the promised land by themselves. And this is precisely what Paul wants them to grasp. They should not assume that just because they have been baptized into the life of Christ, shared in the community and presence of God, and have been eating and drinking the Communion, that they have automatically reached a status that requires no further effort, discipline, or moral restraint. Baptism really does bring one into the life of Christ and His community, and the communion does allow one to continue to share in that life but they aren’t magic. They are huge privileges that carry with them the huge responsibility of living the life of Christ. Most of the Israelites didn’t make it to the promised land. Paul does not want to say that same sad result in the Church that he has helped to build.
Devotional Thought
Do you see the gifts of God such as his presence, baptism, and the communion as a right given to the people of God or as an undeserved privilege that carry a great deal of responsibility? Have you taken these things for granted? In what ways have you been treating your baptism as a ‘get out of hell free’ card rather than a doorway to the life of Christ?
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Dig Deeper
On October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali faced the young and fearsome George Foreman in the May 20 Stadium of Kinshasa, Zaire. The match became known as the “Rumble in the Jungle,” and has become one of the most famous boxing matches in recent history. The younger, faster, and stronger Foreman was befuddled by Ali’s strategy known as the rope-a-dope, in which Ali used the loose ring ropes to lean back and bounce off. Foreman wound up swinging wildly for several rounds without doing any real damage to Ali, who then recovered to knock Foreman out. The wild swinging had completely drained Foreman’s energy and left him defenseless against the cagey Ali.
Paul uses similar imagery to a people who were extremely familiar with athletics. Corinth was host to the important Isthmian games which were held there every other year. In those games, athletes would compete for a wreath made from celery. Because of these games they would have been rather familiar with runners as well as high-level fighters, but there was also a great deal of low-level fighting for entertainment. It was at these lower-level matches that they could see wild, untrained fighters wailing away aimlessly, wasting their energy.
Paul uses these two familiar forums to create metaphors for the Christian life, and more specifically the aspect of the Christian life which involves giving up one’s rights in the Christian economy of love. He says that the runners in most races compete for literally a ‘corruptible’ wreath, and only one winner gets it. On the other hand, Christians compete for a wreath that is ‘incorruptible’. (The word translated as ‘crown’ here in the NIV, really means wreath and should not be understood as some have incorrectly claimed, that Paul is teaching about literal crowns being passed out in heaven.)
Paul is making three primary points in this passage. The first is about Christian discipline. Athletes, he says, go into strict training so that they don’t run around aimlessly or start a race that they can’t finish, or swing wildly, wasting all of their energy like an amateur boxer. His point is clear: Christians need to have definite direction and focus in their lives. The true Christian life takes a great deal of forethought. Whether it be general Christian living, evangelism, raising godly children, etc., it takes planning and discipline. A life in Christ will demand the surrendering of certain rights and freedoms, which will sometimes feel like hard, athletic training. In fact, self-sacrifice is entry-level Christianity. This was not any more of a popular message in Paul’s day than it is in ours where any hint of discipline or self-denial will often be shouted down with accusations of legalism, and abusive or cultic behavior. No, the Christian life isn’t all about comfort and self-indulgence. Instead Paul compares the Christian life to that of an athlete who sacrifices aspects of normal life for a competitive edge. Time or energy shouldn’t be wasted like a poor boxer would or even a sophist that is wise by the world’s standards.
The second thing Paul is doing here is focusing Christians on the motivation for all of this discipline and self-denial. The incorruptible wreath that the Christian strives for, as compared to the corruptible one of the athlete, is no doubt a metaphor for resurrection. Paul is looking ahead to the time when all of creation is restored as a part of the ‘age to come’, God’s new reality. The hope of the Christian, the reason that we continue to press on and do what Christians do is the hope of resurrection. Paul will complete this thought in chapter 15, where he argues that because Christ was resurrected, we will be too. The hope of this resurrection says Paul is how we know that our labor is not in vain (15:58). What we do now here matters because God will somehow weave our good works in this age into the fabric of the age to come. The point of the Christian life is not to discard the body when we die, but to honor God with our bodies now (6:20) and to prepare them for what they were truly made, resurrection and union with God eternally in the ‘age to come’.
In verse 27, Paul reveals something almost shocking. The opponent that he has been referring to in his boxing analogy is himself. He is directly addressing the attitude of many in Corinth who were engaging in an easy self-indulgent Christianity that valued freedom over love, rights over self-denial, and comfort over discipline. I should point out that Paul clearly thinks that it is possible to lose the prized hope of Christianity if this sort of self-indulgence is engaged in without restraint. This must have all been a shocking but necessary warning to the Corinthians who were trying to operate in the ‘age to come’ reality of the Christian life on the atmosphere of self-rights, self-value, and self-esteem rather than love. It would be like trying to breathe on a planet that doesn’t have oxygen. Paul is clear throughout this letter that the point of the life in Christ is to model true humanity to a fallen world. This is not an easy process. It requires discipline, self-sacrifice, and most of all, as he will soon show, love.
Devotional Thought
What is your approach to your life in Christ? Is it a haphazard take-things-as-they-come approach? Or are you disciplined in your Christian life? Do you have a plan for how you are going to increase your biblical knowledge, improve your prayer life, help your kids become Christians, avoid temptations, etc. The life in Christ during this present age takes forethought and discipline, are you ready for that kind of serious training and self-denial?
25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Dig Deeper
On October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali faced the young and fearsome George Foreman in the May 20 Stadium of Kinshasa, Zaire. The match became known as the “Rumble in the Jungle,” and has become one of the most famous boxing matches in recent history. The younger, faster, and stronger Foreman was befuddled by Ali’s strategy known as the rope-a-dope, in which Ali used the loose ring ropes to lean back and bounce off. Foreman wound up swinging wildly for several rounds without doing any real damage to Ali, who then recovered to knock Foreman out. The wild swinging had completely drained Foreman’s energy and left him defenseless against the cagey Ali.
Paul uses similar imagery to a people who were extremely familiar with athletics. Corinth was host to the important Isthmian games which were held there every other year. In those games, athletes would compete for a wreath made from celery. Because of these games they would have been rather familiar with runners as well as high-level fighters, but there was also a great deal of low-level fighting for entertainment. It was at these lower-level matches that they could see wild, untrained fighters wailing away aimlessly, wasting their energy.
Paul uses these two familiar forums to create metaphors for the Christian life, and more specifically the aspect of the Christian life which involves giving up one’s rights in the Christian economy of love. He says that the runners in most races compete for literally a ‘corruptible’ wreath, and only one winner gets it. On the other hand, Christians compete for a wreath that is ‘incorruptible’. (The word translated as ‘crown’ here in the NIV, really means wreath and should not be understood as some have incorrectly claimed, that Paul is teaching about literal crowns being passed out in heaven.)
Paul is making three primary points in this passage. The first is about Christian discipline. Athletes, he says, go into strict training so that they don’t run around aimlessly or start a race that they can’t finish, or swing wildly, wasting all of their energy like an amateur boxer. His point is clear: Christians need to have definite direction and focus in their lives. The true Christian life takes a great deal of forethought. Whether it be general Christian living, evangelism, raising godly children, etc., it takes planning and discipline. A life in Christ will demand the surrendering of certain rights and freedoms, which will sometimes feel like hard, athletic training. In fact, self-sacrifice is entry-level Christianity. This was not any more of a popular message in Paul’s day than it is in ours where any hint of discipline or self-denial will often be shouted down with accusations of legalism, and abusive or cultic behavior. No, the Christian life isn’t all about comfort and self-indulgence. Instead Paul compares the Christian life to that of an athlete who sacrifices aspects of normal life for a competitive edge. Time or energy shouldn’t be wasted like a poor boxer would or even a sophist that is wise by the world’s standards.
The second thing Paul is doing here is focusing Christians on the motivation for all of this discipline and self-denial. The incorruptible wreath that the Christian strives for, as compared to the corruptible one of the athlete, is no doubt a metaphor for resurrection. Paul is looking ahead to the time when all of creation is restored as a part of the ‘age to come’, God’s new reality. The hope of the Christian, the reason that we continue to press on and do what Christians do is the hope of resurrection. Paul will complete this thought in chapter 15, where he argues that because Christ was resurrected, we will be too. The hope of this resurrection says Paul is how we know that our labor is not in vain (15:58). What we do now here matters because God will somehow weave our good works in this age into the fabric of the age to come. The point of the Christian life is not to discard the body when we die, but to honor God with our bodies now (6:20) and to prepare them for what they were truly made, resurrection and union with God eternally in the ‘age to come’.
In verse 27, Paul reveals something almost shocking. The opponent that he has been referring to in his boxing analogy is himself. He is directly addressing the attitude of many in Corinth who were engaging in an easy self-indulgent Christianity that valued freedom over love, rights over self-denial, and comfort over discipline. I should point out that Paul clearly thinks that it is possible to lose the prized hope of Christianity if this sort of self-indulgence is engaged in without restraint. This must have all been a shocking but necessary warning to the Corinthians who were trying to operate in the ‘age to come’ reality of the Christian life on the atmosphere of self-rights, self-value, and self-esteem rather than love. It would be like trying to breathe on a planet that doesn’t have oxygen. Paul is clear throughout this letter that the point of the life in Christ is to model true humanity to a fallen world. This is not an easy process. It requires discipline, self-sacrifice, and most of all, as he will soon show, love.
Devotional Thought
What is your approach to your life in Christ? Is it a haphazard take-things-as-they-come approach? Or are you disciplined in your Christian life? Do you have a plan for how you are going to increase your biblical knowledge, improve your prayer life, help your kids become Christians, avoid temptations, etc. The life in Christ during this present age takes forethought and discipline, are you ready for that kind of serious training and self-denial?
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Dig Deeper
I love all kinds of meat and cheese. I enjoy the ability to go to the grocery store and pick from a variety of meats and cheeses, prepare them in many different ways, and to enjoy eating them. Even though I have every right to eat meat and cheese we recently had a family over to our house that was vegan. That means that they eat no animal meat or by-products. Not wanting to unnecessarily offend this family and desiring to keep their minds open to the message of the gospel, we chose to serve an entirely vegan meal, complete with a meat-free main dish and soy cheese. We didn’t do this in order to manipulate them or because we were bound to do it. In fact, we surrendered our freedom to eat what we want in order to remove any obstacles to the spread of the gospel. We sacrificed a much-enjoyed freedom in order to love and serve other human beings.
The Corinthian teachers prized their freedom. They believed and taught that they were free because they were Roman citizens, they were free because they had true knowledge and wisdom which opened them up to true human freedom, and now they were free because, as Christians, they were free from the corruption and enslavement of the world. The problem was that they were viewing their freedom as the be-all-end-all of Christian existence. Paul continues to teach them that this is not true. There are, in fact, things that are far more important than any perceived freedoms. As Paul continues in this section, we should note, that this passage is really an argument within an argument. He is continuing to teach them about the importance of valuing their brothers and sisters in Christ over their own freedoms by making the case that he has done just that with them all along. Throughout all of chapter 9, he is showing the Corinthians that he has chosen to not take monetary support from them for their own benefit, not his. This passage fits right into that argument as Paul demonstrates how his whole ministry of spreading the Gospel involves putting the interests of others ahead of his own freedoms.
Paul began this chapter pointing out that he was free, and he now returns to this point. He is free in all of the important senses of the word, but he chooses to make himself a slave for the sake of the gospel. Freedom is one thing. Understanding that you have freedom to the point that you are willing to sacrifice it at times for a greater goal is the ultimate freedom. Paul is still making his point that just because one has a freedom, does not mean it is always the best choice to exercise said freedom. It is possible to become so enamored with freedom that one actually becomes enslaved to it. Paul, conversely, is enslaved to Christ. His commitment to the gospel will always trump any freedoms that he has.
As a result of his commitment to his life in Christ (because this behavior seems crazy unless you realize that you have given up your own life to enter into Christ’s), Paul will become like the Jews when he is around them. By this he means that he has continued to go to the synagogues and take part in their official liturgy. In doing so, he subjected himself to many beatings for the sake of the opportunities presented by going (2 Corinthians 11:24). If he didn’t go, there would be no beatings because they had no authority outside of the synagogue. He did not have to go, because Paul no longer considers himself bound to his Judaism, yet he chose to go for the sake of the gospel. In a similar manner, if Paul was around those to whom law observances such as the Sabbath and food laws were important, then he would observe those same laws. He is quick to point out that his actions in no way imply that this law observance is not a proof or a path to salvation or spiritual maturity. When around Gentiles, Paul did not hold to the law because it would have been no advantage. Even when not observing the law, however, Paul is quick to point out that he is not lawless because he is under Christ’s law. He does not state explicitly what he feels this law to be, but it is safe to assume from his discussion in chapter 13 that he is talking about the love of Christ and being in Christ.
In verse 22, we can assume that Paul gets more directly to his point as he brings his conversation back around to the ‘weak’. He has stressed that he has all the freedoms that anyone else does, but he gladly forfeits those freedoms for those who are struck by a more legalistic conscience than he. If people had weak consciences of the sort discussed in 8:7-13, then he will gladly forgo his rights for the sake of the Gospel. This is no problem for Paul because of his understanding of being in Christ. Paul knows that, at his baptism, he died to himself and willingly took up the life of Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Thus, although he technically has freedoms and rights, he feels no compulsion to claim them because his life is now the life of Christ. He realizes that in Christ, freedom is not a freedom from, rather it is a freedom for: for Christ; for the Kingdom of God; for the lost around the world who desperately need the message of the gospel.
Paul’s message here has often been misunderstood and perverted, particularly in our post-modern times. Paul is not being a hypocrite. He is not saying that the message of the Gospel needs to be tailored or repackaged in order to appeal to people. Quite the contrary; the Gospel message will always remain the same. It is the messenger that needs to swallow his pride, put himself on the back shelf, give up his rights, and willingly exchange his freedom for slavery for the sake of the Gospel and the life of Christ. That is true freedom. Paul, no doubt, would offer a harsh rebuke for those who would transform and soften the Gospel so that they did not have to undergo the more painful and sacrificial process of transforming themselves.
Devotional Thought
Have you been willing to sacrifice your freedoms and rights for the sake of the gospel? As Americans we feel that we have many rights such as the right to a certain amount of rest, the right to privacy, the rights of comfort and leisure. How differently would your life look if you were to embrace the sort of attitude that Paul espouses here? By what justification would you not embrace that sort of life?
Dig Deeper
I love all kinds of meat and cheese. I enjoy the ability to go to the grocery store and pick from a variety of meats and cheeses, prepare them in many different ways, and to enjoy eating them. Even though I have every right to eat meat and cheese we recently had a family over to our house that was vegan. That means that they eat no animal meat or by-products. Not wanting to unnecessarily offend this family and desiring to keep their minds open to the message of the gospel, we chose to serve an entirely vegan meal, complete with a meat-free main dish and soy cheese. We didn’t do this in order to manipulate them or because we were bound to do it. In fact, we surrendered our freedom to eat what we want in order to remove any obstacles to the spread of the gospel. We sacrificed a much-enjoyed freedom in order to love and serve other human beings.
The Corinthian teachers prized their freedom. They believed and taught that they were free because they were Roman citizens, they were free because they had true knowledge and wisdom which opened them up to true human freedom, and now they were free because, as Christians, they were free from the corruption and enslavement of the world. The problem was that they were viewing their freedom as the be-all-end-all of Christian existence. Paul continues to teach them that this is not true. There are, in fact, things that are far more important than any perceived freedoms. As Paul continues in this section, we should note, that this passage is really an argument within an argument. He is continuing to teach them about the importance of valuing their brothers and sisters in Christ over their own freedoms by making the case that he has done just that with them all along. Throughout all of chapter 9, he is showing the Corinthians that he has chosen to not take monetary support from them for their own benefit, not his. This passage fits right into that argument as Paul demonstrates how his whole ministry of spreading the Gospel involves putting the interests of others ahead of his own freedoms.
Paul began this chapter pointing out that he was free, and he now returns to this point. He is free in all of the important senses of the word, but he chooses to make himself a slave for the sake of the gospel. Freedom is one thing. Understanding that you have freedom to the point that you are willing to sacrifice it at times for a greater goal is the ultimate freedom. Paul is still making his point that just because one has a freedom, does not mean it is always the best choice to exercise said freedom. It is possible to become so enamored with freedom that one actually becomes enslaved to it. Paul, conversely, is enslaved to Christ. His commitment to the gospel will always trump any freedoms that he has.
As a result of his commitment to his life in Christ (because this behavior seems crazy unless you realize that you have given up your own life to enter into Christ’s), Paul will become like the Jews when he is around them. By this he means that he has continued to go to the synagogues and take part in their official liturgy. In doing so, he subjected himself to many beatings for the sake of the opportunities presented by going (2 Corinthians 11:24). If he didn’t go, there would be no beatings because they had no authority outside of the synagogue. He did not have to go, because Paul no longer considers himself bound to his Judaism, yet he chose to go for the sake of the gospel. In a similar manner, if Paul was around those to whom law observances such as the Sabbath and food laws were important, then he would observe those same laws. He is quick to point out that his actions in no way imply that this law observance is not a proof or a path to salvation or spiritual maturity. When around Gentiles, Paul did not hold to the law because it would have been no advantage. Even when not observing the law, however, Paul is quick to point out that he is not lawless because he is under Christ’s law. He does not state explicitly what he feels this law to be, but it is safe to assume from his discussion in chapter 13 that he is talking about the love of Christ and being in Christ.
In verse 22, we can assume that Paul gets more directly to his point as he brings his conversation back around to the ‘weak’. He has stressed that he has all the freedoms that anyone else does, but he gladly forfeits those freedoms for those who are struck by a more legalistic conscience than he. If people had weak consciences of the sort discussed in 8:7-13, then he will gladly forgo his rights for the sake of the Gospel. This is no problem for Paul because of his understanding of being in Christ. Paul knows that, at his baptism, he died to himself and willingly took up the life of Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Thus, although he technically has freedoms and rights, he feels no compulsion to claim them because his life is now the life of Christ. He realizes that in Christ, freedom is not a freedom from, rather it is a freedom for: for Christ; for the Kingdom of God; for the lost around the world who desperately need the message of the gospel.
Paul’s message here has often been misunderstood and perverted, particularly in our post-modern times. Paul is not being a hypocrite. He is not saying that the message of the Gospel needs to be tailored or repackaged in order to appeal to people. Quite the contrary; the Gospel message will always remain the same. It is the messenger that needs to swallow his pride, put himself on the back shelf, give up his rights, and willingly exchange his freedom for slavery for the sake of the Gospel and the life of Christ. That is true freedom. Paul, no doubt, would offer a harsh rebuke for those who would transform and soften the Gospel so that they did not have to undergo the more painful and sacrificial process of transforming themselves.
Devotional Thought
Have you been willing to sacrifice your freedoms and rights for the sake of the gospel? As Americans we feel that we have many rights such as the right to a certain amount of rest, the right to privacy, the rights of comfort and leisure. How differently would your life look if you were to embrace the sort of attitude that Paul espouses here? By what justification would you not embrace that sort of life?
Monday, June 01, 2009
1 Corinthians 9:12b-18
But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. 13Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast. 16Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.
Dig Deeper
Throughout my lifetime, the salaries of professional athletes has gone higher and higher. Currently, there are 30 players in the NBA that make over $12.5 million, while golfer Tiger Woods made over $80 million in one year. It’s very difficult to believe that players making that much money really play for the love of the game, although many would say that they do. In fact, many people enjoy watching small college and high school games, because it is there that you will find players who are not being paid. They truly play because they love to play. Although I’m not arguing that players don’t have the right to earn money, but those who play for no pay make the game seem more pure and decent.
Paul was preaching and spreading the gospel without taking any pay from the churches in which he was ministering. He cherished his ability to do so, and even says that he would rather die than take payment for what he is offering to Lord. Why did Paul feel that strongly? He hints at his reasons in verse 12. He doesn’t want his situation or his past to, in any way, hinder the gospel of Christ. Yet, before he more fully explains his reasons, he will add two more pieces of evidence to bolster his case that those who preach the gospel have every right to earn a living from it. In making his case for why he denies his right to be paid, he wants to make extra sure that no one turns his argument around and accuse as abusers, those who do earn a living from it. They have every right to earn a living and it should not be at all shaded by his refusal to do so.
In verse 13, Paul uses an example from the temple. It is not really clear, though, whether he is referring to pagan temples or the Temple in Jerusalem. His use of the singular, probably indicates that he is referring primarily to the Temple in Jerusalem. If he is, the argument is doubly powerful. Not only does he make the point that those who work in the Temple receive support for doing so, Paul has already made the point that the Church is the Temple of God (3:16). Thus, he makes the extra point that ministers of God’s new Temple have the same right to support that the priests at the Old Covenant Temple have.
His reference, in verse 14, to the Lord’s command appears to be talking about Matthew 10:10 and Luke 10:7, where Jesus says that those preaching the gospel deserve their wages. To this point, Paul has made a convincing argument that ministers of the gospel have every right to receive financial support for doing so. Now, he turns to his reasons for not taking advantage of that right.
As he begins his explanation, Paul wants to make it clear that this is not some backdoor hint trying to get them to start paying him. No, this is no indirect argument and, just to make that clear, he says straight out that he would rather die than take money. In fact the sentence is so strong and raw that he actually interrupts his thought, so the actual wording looks more like this: “It would be better for me to die than. . . . Nobody’s going to take away my boast.”
Paul has already made clear the difference between a preacher of the gospel and the sophists who spoke for money (the more personal and deeper the teaching you wanted from the sophists, the more money it would cost). The gospel is available to everyone, not just those who can afford it. Paul doesn’t preach for money. He preaches because he feels absolutely indebted to Jesus the Messiah. When Jesus called him to preach, He also rescued Paul from his bitter and angry life. He wanted to obey because of what Christ had done for him personally. Paul felt that because of his past as a persecutor of the Church, he was different than the rest of the apostles (see 15:7 where he calls himself one who is “abnormally born”). He was the only one that needed to be stopped dead to rights as a persecutor of God’s people and turned the other way. Preaching the gospel was a privilege for Paul that he could never earn. No matter how difficult it would become, it was still far better than his previous life. His reward for preaching the gospel was that he got to do it for free. Paul believes that he gave up his own rights for the unending privilege of being able to give to others the invaluable gospel, and to give his service to God. These were both things that he would not have been able to offer had he not entered into the life of Christ. He has given up his own rights as an offering to God.
Because of this indebtedness that he feels and his spotty past, Paul wants to avoid any charges of impure motives or misuse of funds. Paul feels that because of his special circumstances, if he takes some sort of pay for preaching the gospel that he is actually robbing himself of his reward. Paul did occasionally take gifts from those to whom he wasn’t currently ministering (Philippians 4;10-19), but he never asked for it and he would never take reward from those to whom he was ministering, especially the Corinthians for reasons he will allude to later in his letter. His pay was the reward of serving Christ completely free from all human impositions on his ministry.
Devotional Thought
Paul felt that the ability to share the gospel was his true reward (no doubt the other ministers and apostles did as well, whether they were paid or not). Do you feel that same way? Do you feel such a gratitude towards God that you can’t help but sharing your faith, reaching out to the lost, and telling others about God and what He has done for you? If you don’t feel that way, why don’t you?
15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast. 16Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.
Dig Deeper
Throughout my lifetime, the salaries of professional athletes has gone higher and higher. Currently, there are 30 players in the NBA that make over $12.5 million, while golfer Tiger Woods made over $80 million in one year. It’s very difficult to believe that players making that much money really play for the love of the game, although many would say that they do. In fact, many people enjoy watching small college and high school games, because it is there that you will find players who are not being paid. They truly play because they love to play. Although I’m not arguing that players don’t have the right to earn money, but those who play for no pay make the game seem more pure and decent.
Paul was preaching and spreading the gospel without taking any pay from the churches in which he was ministering. He cherished his ability to do so, and even says that he would rather die than take payment for what he is offering to Lord. Why did Paul feel that strongly? He hints at his reasons in verse 12. He doesn’t want his situation or his past to, in any way, hinder the gospel of Christ. Yet, before he more fully explains his reasons, he will add two more pieces of evidence to bolster his case that those who preach the gospel have every right to earn a living from it. In making his case for why he denies his right to be paid, he wants to make extra sure that no one turns his argument around and accuse as abusers, those who do earn a living from it. They have every right to earn a living and it should not be at all shaded by his refusal to do so.
In verse 13, Paul uses an example from the temple. It is not really clear, though, whether he is referring to pagan temples or the Temple in Jerusalem. His use of the singular, probably indicates that he is referring primarily to the Temple in Jerusalem. If he is, the argument is doubly powerful. Not only does he make the point that those who work in the Temple receive support for doing so, Paul has already made the point that the Church is the Temple of God (3:16). Thus, he makes the extra point that ministers of God’s new Temple have the same right to support that the priests at the Old Covenant Temple have.
His reference, in verse 14, to the Lord’s command appears to be talking about Matthew 10:10 and Luke 10:7, where Jesus says that those preaching the gospel deserve their wages. To this point, Paul has made a convincing argument that ministers of the gospel have every right to receive financial support for doing so. Now, he turns to his reasons for not taking advantage of that right.
As he begins his explanation, Paul wants to make it clear that this is not some backdoor hint trying to get them to start paying him. No, this is no indirect argument and, just to make that clear, he says straight out that he would rather die than take money. In fact the sentence is so strong and raw that he actually interrupts his thought, so the actual wording looks more like this: “It would be better for me to die than. . . . Nobody’s going to take away my boast.”
Paul has already made clear the difference between a preacher of the gospel and the sophists who spoke for money (the more personal and deeper the teaching you wanted from the sophists, the more money it would cost). The gospel is available to everyone, not just those who can afford it. Paul doesn’t preach for money. He preaches because he feels absolutely indebted to Jesus the Messiah. When Jesus called him to preach, He also rescued Paul from his bitter and angry life. He wanted to obey because of what Christ had done for him personally. Paul felt that because of his past as a persecutor of the Church, he was different than the rest of the apostles (see 15:7 where he calls himself one who is “abnormally born”). He was the only one that needed to be stopped dead to rights as a persecutor of God’s people and turned the other way. Preaching the gospel was a privilege for Paul that he could never earn. No matter how difficult it would become, it was still far better than his previous life. His reward for preaching the gospel was that he got to do it for free. Paul believes that he gave up his own rights for the unending privilege of being able to give to others the invaluable gospel, and to give his service to God. These were both things that he would not have been able to offer had he not entered into the life of Christ. He has given up his own rights as an offering to God.
Because of this indebtedness that he feels and his spotty past, Paul wants to avoid any charges of impure motives or misuse of funds. Paul feels that because of his special circumstances, if he takes some sort of pay for preaching the gospel that he is actually robbing himself of his reward. Paul did occasionally take gifts from those to whom he wasn’t currently ministering (Philippians 4;10-19), but he never asked for it and he would never take reward from those to whom he was ministering, especially the Corinthians for reasons he will allude to later in his letter. His pay was the reward of serving Christ completely free from all human impositions on his ministry.
Devotional Thought
Paul felt that the ability to share the gospel was his true reward (no doubt the other ministers and apostles did as well, whether they were paid or not). Do you feel that same way? Do you feel such a gratitude towards God that you can’t help but sharing your faith, reaching out to the lost, and telling others about God and what He has done for you? If you don’t feel that way, why don’t you?
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