Love

1 Corinthians 13-14

            1 Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, fits exactly in its context in the letter. Paul has been talking about the unity of the body of Christ, that is, the church. He has pulled down factions of Corinthians from heights that they had built themselves up to. “Don’t overestimate yourself,” you can hear him saying, “Your wisdom, your freedom, your vaunted knowledge—none of it reflects the real values of God’s kingdom.” Finally, he asserts that true ‘greatness’ is found in acts of love. In this way, 1 Corinthians is one long spelling-out of Jesus’ pithy statement, “Whoever would be first among you must make himself the last.”

            In this setting, it is very important to understand what love is, biblically speaking. Love is not the feeling of affection that we moderns think of. Greek knows several kinds of affectionate love, especially that between friends and family members and the passion of lovers. That’s not what the New Testament writers have in mind. Instead, love in the New Testament is a voluntary giving away of oneself. It is a decision, a choice of will, to set someone else’s needs above one’s own. And in this sense it is the crowning virtue of the Christian faith. It’s cousins are humility and generosity.

Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 11-12

1 Corinthians 11-12

            Talk about piling on! This reading has at least four major points to be made. The first one has to do with women, worship, and head coverings. I don’t think I’m qualified to get into that one! A quick glance over my shoulder at my bookshelf reminds me that I’ve read at least three books and one commentary on those verses, and I haven’t the time to review it all again today.

            The second major point has to do with the Lord’s Supper. I would ask you to note verse 29, “Whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.” The phrase ‘recognizing the body’ is what we call a double entendre, that is, it’s a word or phrase that intentionally has two meanings. The first meaning is what Lutherans call the Real Presence, that is, that Jesus is truly present with his body and blood. (10:16 makes abundantly clear that Paul thinks Jesus’ body and blood are really there.) The second meaning is a meaning Paul will expand in chapter 12, namely, that the church is the body of Christ. In this case, the divisions in the Corinthian congregation are threatening their ability to receive the blessings of the Lord’s Supper.

            Let’s skip to the fourth point in the second half of chapter 12 since it is so closely related to the section on the Lord’s Supper. We see how Paul argues for the unity of the body of Christ by arguing that each part has its place, that the whole is enriched by all the parts, and that, though different, each part is essential

            Finally, a word about spiritual gifts. It has been all the rage in the church for 40-50 years now to try and identify your spiritual gifts based on the perceived lists here and in Romans 12. The fly in that ointment is that Paul doesn’t say anything about spiritual gifts. What is he says is, “Now, concerning pneumatikoi,” or “spiritual things,” or “what it means to be spiritual.” I prefer the last one. Remember that there was a group in Corinth calling themselves the “Spirituals” and that there were causing all sorts of divisions because of their supposed wisdom and their greater freedom and their greater giftedness. What Paul is up to in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 is to say first that to be truly spiritual you acknowledge Jesus as Lord. There’s not two classes of Christians; there’s one—believers in Jesus Christ. More than that, a truly spiritual person will recognize the giftedness of those around him and will value it. That is, they will be guided by the greatest of all spiritual gifts, namely, love, which is the topic of chapter 13.

The Limits of Freedom

1 Corinthians 10

            We constrain our freedom in Christ for the sake of our brothers and sisters in the faith who might mistake our freedom for sin. That’s 1 Corinthians 8-9.

            In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul argues that sometimes we don’t just mistake freedom for sin—sometimes we actually sin!

            So, he is more than willing to allow that meat, originally sacrificed in the temple but now being sold in the market, is permissible for Christians. He just wants the ‘meat-eaters’ to respect those who can’t quite see it that way. But that’s a different thing than actually worshipping in the idol temple, and that appears to be what the ‘meat-eaters’ were saying, “A idol is nothing, so worshipping in an idol temple is nothing.” That’s a bridge too far for Paul, who cites the history of Israel (over and over and over again) as the prime case that says, “No, you can’t participate in an idol temple! Whether you ‘mean it’ or not, that’s idolatry!”

            This, then, is a second constraint Paul lays on freedom: we are not free to sin. That’s a point he made in Romans 6 and he will make again in Galatians 5. It should be apparent, but it’s not always. Sometimes we Christians are all, “Well, God forgives me so I guess it doesn’t matter what I do.” If we changed the cast of characters a little and said, “Well, my wife loves me, so I guess it doesn’t matter if I cheat on her a little,” well, then, we’d see how absurd that reasoning is! We don’t repay human love with betrayal. Why would we do it with divine love?

Freedom and Love

1 Corinthians 8-9

            In 1 Corinthians 8-9 Paul plays a very careful balancing game. In its simplest terms he is balancing freedom against love. In Christ we are truly free, yet freedom is always constrained by love—love for God and love for our neighbor.

            The issue at hand is eating meat that was purchased from an idol temple having first been part of the sacrifices of that temple. (This was perhaps the most common source of fresh meat in Gentile cities.) On the one hand, there are those who say, “There is only one God; a demon is nothing; eating the meat is fine.” And Paul agrees! On the other hand, are those who are really hung up that one shouldn’t have anything to do with idolatry. Here Paul tells the first party, “Curtail your freedom so you don’t hurt your brother, who isn’t as mature as you on this issue.”

            It’s a little like rock music. I’ve never been a big fan of contemporary Christian music, but I do love classic rock, blues rock, even some grunge. I know the message is wrong, but I’m mature enough to discern that. However, when someone comes into my office, I turn that stuff off. Why? Because I don’t want them to be offended. Love constrains freedom.

Marriage

1 Corinthians 7

            In a world in which Christians have been vocal proponents of family values, life-long monogamy, and traditional marriages, 1 Corinthians 7:1 might come as a bit of a shock. What does Paul mean that it’s good for a man not to marry?

            A couple of notes are in order. First, we note that Paul is addressing a question that the Corinthians asked him, and we don’t know what that question was. The English Standard Version seems to think that Paul is responding to a statement by the Corinthians to the effect, “It’s good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman,” in which case Paul is preventing them from going too far. “No sexual immorality, sure; but marriage is fine.” All of this means that a little care is necessary before we assume we know everything that Paul is talking about.

            Second, in other places, notably Ephesians 5, he strongly affirms marriage. And the tone of the 1 Corinthians 7 demonstrates that Paul knows the value of marriage. So, he notes that marriage serves a prophylactic function, that is, it offers a God-pleasing place for sexual expression and thereby guards against sexual immorality. As a matter of fact, we should be a little careful with our translation of 7:1 in the first place.  A little more literally it says, “It is good for a man not to take hold of a woman.” Interestingly, the verb that is rightly translated ‘take hold of/touch’ here can in other forms mean ‘to be set fire.’ It seems to me that we might translate Paul’s line here, “It is good for a man not to be set afire by a woman.” (There are reasons that mine is a weak translation, too.) The point is that we ought not take this as Paul condemning marriage.

            Third, many scholars believe that Paul’s directions here are not meant as universal prohibitions, but prohibitions in view of a crisis that is currently engulfing Corinth, most probably a famine. This comes more clearly to the surface in verse 26.

            Without getting into the nitty-gritty of the whole chapter, I summarize Paul’s position on marriage this way. On the one hand, it’s good because God instituted it, because it protects one against sexual sin, and because it is an excellent arena in which to learn truly Christ-like love. (Those three elements are from 1 Corinthians and Ephesians.) On the other hand, marriage as an institution is bound to this creation and will cease in the new creation. (He has Jesus on his side on that one.) And Paul worries that it can bind us too much to the concerns of this present fallen world (vv. 29-31). As he writes to the Corinthians he thinks that at that moment it’s better if they remain as they (the middle of a crisis is a terrible time for major life decisions!) and in general he wishes everyone had the gift he has (apparently the gift of celibacy)—but he knows not everyone does.

            Much more could be said, but let this stand as summary: Paul values marriage, but he adds some nuances that are good for us to think about a little bit, too.