April 22, 2016 1 Corinthians 10:21-11:6
Download discussion questions: 1 Corinthians 10_21-11_6 imitators
Participation in a pagan meal and celebrating Christian Communion may have some superficial similarities, but Paul emphatically told the Corinthians that the two practices were incompatible. That emphasis from last week’s passage continues with some important clarifications.
One of the questions that came up in our previous discussion: Was Paul drawing a different conclusion in contrast with his statements in 1 Corinthians 8:1‑13? The current passage adds some clarity to the distinction. The issue is not the food. Paul made that clear in the earlier passage (1 Corinthians 8:8), and he reaffirms that conviction here: “Eat anything sold in the meat market” (1 Corinthians 10:25). The issue is the circumstances, specifically the participation in a pagan meal and idolatrous worship (v. 20). Away from the pagan temple, even at a meal with an unbeliever (v. 27) the issue is the conscience of others (v. 29; c.f. 1 Corinthians 8:13).
In the middle of his case for abstaining for the good of others, Paul suddenly questions his own argument: “Why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience? Why am I slandered?” (v. 29b-30). At first this seemed odd to some in our group. Was Paul having second thoughts? Was he changing his mind? Someone suggested that this was Paul anticipating the questions sure to be raised by his Corinthian readers: I have freedom in Christ. The food makes no difference to my standing with God (1 Corinthians 8:8). Why should the other, weaker conscience be such a limiting factor on my life? Then Paul answers his rhetorical question in verse 31: the glory of God is the motivating influence. In an earlier discussion we saw how Paul considered the privilege of preaching the gospel to be the greatest reward he could imagine (1 Corinthians 9:18-10:6). Here the glory of God (which would presumably include preaching the gospel) is offered as a sufficient answer to the possible objections to a lifestyle of self-sacrifice.
Earlier the concern Paul expressed was for the conscience of fellow Christians (“brothers”). In this passage he makes that concern essentially universal (v. 32), including Jews, Greeks (pagans), and the church (fellow believers). He was willing to sacrifice his own well-being (“profit” or “good” in NIV) “so that many may be saved” (v. 33). Preaching the Gospel, helping others discover the joy of salvation, bringing glory to God – those were the motives that energized Paul and that he wanted the Corinthian believers to adopt.
The meaning of “the glory of God” occupied a good bit of our discussion group. Like many “religious words” we tend to use familiar phrases without a clear idea of what they mean. The suggestions in our group included numerous specific, practical examples of what it means to bring glory to God: integrity, doing a good job at work, the quality of our interactions with others, a Bible verse on a desk. Many of these draw attention to God, or at least to the idea that we “are answerable to a higher authority” as one member put it. Another person suggested that the very idea of glory (in the case of Almighty God) is something beyond words, something inexpressible. Another suggestion was the idea of weight. In fact, the Hebrew word for glory is also the word for weight (kabod, כבד). J. I. Packer describes the “greatness and weight of spiritual issues.”[1] Perhaps the reason that we have trouble appreciating Paul’s excitement about the glory of God is that we have lost sight of that weight. The “liteness” of our culture (which even tends to change the spelling of the word from light to lite) infects us as Christians and we often feel odd taking anything too seriously, of giving issues too much weight.
But Paul urges the Corinthians (and us) to imitation: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). He seems to think that we should adopt the same attitude of self-sacrifice for the benefit of others to the glory of God. He bases that radical command on his own imitation of Christ. Christ was nothing if not centered on God’s glory (John 13:31, 17:1). We often think that Christlike character consists of avoiding certain behaviors and encouraging other behaviors. Paul has a more fundamental view. His passion for God’s glory was central to his own efforts at Christlikeness, and he saw that same passion as key for all followers of Jesus. In our culture (which one of our group members described as having “tissue paper skins”) the idea of sacrificing our own freedom to avoid offending others seems an impossible assignment. Perhaps we don’t have enough of the sense of the weight of God’s glory to understand the motivation that Paul had in mind. Seeing more of what God is like as we study Scripture is one way to increase our sense of “the greatness and weight of spiritual issues.” That will help us to see our own rights and our freedom in a more Christlike perspective.
At this point in the passage about not offending others and controversial issues, Paul seems to change direction. The direction he moves into is full of controversy and potential offense, at least in our culture (and probably in Paul’s as well). The instructions about head coverings and women and appropriate behavior in church meetings were included in the passage for this week to show the context of this complicated section. The passage for next week, and our discussion about the rest of the text, will explore these issues more fully.
[1] J.I. Packer, “Introduction: Why Preach?” in: The Preacher and Preaching, ed. by Samuel T. Logan Jr. (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1986), 7. Quoted by John Piper, “A Passion for Christ-Exalting Power,” http://www.desiringgod.org/biographies/a-passion-for-christ-exalting-power (accessed January 17, 2014).