Recap

So far in 1 Corinthians we've read the section where Paul addresses the reports he's heard about the Corinthians. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians likely as his second letter to the church in Corinth. It was written in response to reports of bad behaviour in the church, and addressing issues that came up in the previous letter.

One key issue in Corinth was the influence of Greek thinking, which led them to believe the spirit was more important than the body. As a result, they either neglected their physical actions or justified sinful behaviours, thinking the body didn’t matter. This affected their views on sexuality, food, and resurrection.

Paul greeted the Corinthians, reminding them they had been made holy by Jesus. He pointed out that their spiritual gifts were from God, not their own achievements. Then, he addressed their divisions. They were chasing after wisdom and eloquence from different teachers. But Paul countered this, stressing that Jesus, not the teachers, was the source of their freedom and unity.

He emphasised that God's wisdom differs from the world’s. The idea of a crucified Messiah subverts any human wisdom. He reminded them their influence and gifts came from Jesus, not worldly wisdom. He used the metaphor of a building, explaining that he laid the foundation (Jesus) and others built on it. Their different teachers served different roles. But God would ultimately test the work of the builders, so the Corinthians shouldn’t boast in their leaders but focus on God.

Paul also mocked their arrogance, contrasting their self-sufficiency with the sacrifices made by him and their other leaders. True leadership, he explained, involved humility and service. He then reassured them that he wasn't saying all this to shame them, but to correct them like a father. He cared about what happens to them. 

Next up, Paul addressed reports of immorality in the Corinthian church. Amongst them was a man sleeping with his father’s wife. Paul condemned this, urging the church to expel the man, "handing him over to Satan,". The hope was that he would repent after experiencing life outside God’s protection. He used the metaphor of yeast, explaining that sin, like yeast, spreads and must be addressed to keep the church pure. Jesus' sacrifice calls for a sin-free church.

Paul clarified that, while believers should avoid tolerating sin within the church, they must still engage with those outside without judgment. He then rebuked the Corinthians for suing each other in public courts. They brought shame to the church with their infighting. He reminded them that believers are capable of judging themselves, as they are destined to judge even angels.

Paul also challenged the idea they were free to do what they wanted. While all things are allowed because they are freed from the law, not all things are beneficial. He stressed that the body is sacred, belonging to the Lord. It should not be defiled through sexual immorality, as believers' bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 7-8

Paul now moves on to start addressing the issues that were raised by the Corinthians in their last letter. The first is the claim from them that “It is well for a man not to touch a woman” (1 Corinthians 7:1).

Along with their understanding that the body is not important, many of the Corinthians believed that sex was dirty. It was a natural urge of the body, but when it came to marriage and devotion to God and it was better not to have sex to make yourself more spiritual.

What made this idea more bizarre was that many would continue to have sex with prostitutes to fulfil their sexual needs, so they could be ‘pure’ with their wives.

Paul makes himself very clear. When it comes to sex, each man should keep himself to just his wife, and each woman to her husband. More than that, that both husbands and wives have an obligation to meet one another’s sexual needs. Their bodies belong to one another.

Unfortunately, there has been much abuse that has been supported and justified by this verse over the years. Individuals, typically women, who have been pressured and bullied into behaving a particular way to please their partners. This has led to marriages more defined by coercion and control than by mutual love and care.

Because of this, the idea of your body belonging to your spouse seems wrong to a lot of people and understandably so. This verse should not be used to justify manipulation, control, and abuse.

Paul here is talking about mutual submission. Each member of a marriage should be concerned primarily with how they can please and satisfy the others, offering them their bodies entirely.

He specifically encourages couples to not withhold sex from one another, unless in specific scenarios, so that they don’t get overcome with desire and go outside their marriage.

This moves Paul onto a new topic that, where possible, it is better to be single. It’s worth noting that at the point of writing, Paul and others are still expecting Jesus to return in their lifetime. It then makes little sense to go through the trouble of getting married when, before long, Jesus will be back anyway.

This isn’t a command, just a recommendation from Paul, and he acknowledges that, for some, staying single is too hard. They would not be able to maintain self control and would inevitably give into their sexual desires. In that case, it is better to marry.

Paul is also not saying that married couples should separate so they could be single. In fact, even in the case where someone is married to an unbeliever, they should stay in that marriage because the hope is the Spirit in side of them will be working on their partner.

If the unbelieving partner wants to leave, then they shouldn’t be bound to that marriage, but otherwise stick in it and seek to see the partner saved.

On that note, Paul encourages the Corinthians to stay in whatever state you got saved in. Again, this is coming from an understanding that Jesus was coming back anytime soon, so why waste time trying to change your status.

Paul particularly connects this to slaves. As Jesus is coming soon, a slave should waste their time before then trying to get free. The reality is that even if physically they are slaves, they are free in Jesus. Instead, the slave should seek to find God and contentment in their slavery.

The unspoken suggestion would be that, as with marriage, the hope would be that the believing slave impacted their unbelieving master for Jesus.

Again, unfortunately, this passage was used by slave owners to justify their owning slaves, and that’s not what the passage is about. It’s about allowing Jesus to work through your current situation.

This brings Paul back to the topic of marriage. As far as Paul is concerned, where possible stay as you are. If you are single, stay single. If you are married, stay married. It’s not a sin if people choose to get married, but Paul asserts “the appointed time has grown short” (1 Corinthians 7:29). This life will soon be done away with.

Better, then, to stay single so you can give all your focus to Jesus, rather than having to divide your energy between Jesus and your spouse. The idea being it’s much easier to sell all your possessions, and go out wherever Jesus calls you when you don’t have a spouse or family to take care of.

As 21st Century Christians, we have to wrestle with these ideas in the reality that Jesus has not yet come. If like Paul recommended, no future Christians got married, then Christianity would have died out pretty quickly with no marriage and no future generation of Christians to carry it out. Slavery would have never been abolished because no one would have sought to free slaves.

Paul was providing wisdom to his context from his context. So we must wrestle to seek the wisdom of this passage that does continue to be relevant to us today,

Next up, Paul addresses the issue of food sacrificed to idols. Much of this follows the same ideas that he discussed with the Roman church in Romans 14. In their previous letter, presumably the Corinthians has explained that “all of us possess knowledge” (1 Corinthians 8:1).

In saying that they were saying that they know that there are no idols or gods outside of God and therefore there’s nothing wrong with eating food sacrificed to idols because it means nothing.

Paul’s first point is that knowledge is great, but love is greater, which he will continue to unpack more in a second. He then makes his second point. Addressing the idea there are no other gods. They’re not entirely wrong, but he wants to nuance it.

There are “so-called gods”, real spiritual beings that exist in heaven and earth, but none of them compare to Jesus who is the source of all things. So in this they are correct the food originally finds its source in Jesus and any idols it is offered to mean nothing compared to him.

But back to his original point, not everyone has fully understood this. Some still see significance, even if it is a negative one, to food being offered to idols. To eat it would be sinning for them.

So the Corinthians might be right that to say “Food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” (1 Corinthians 8:8). But in taking that stance, they may be causing others to stumble when they see them eating food offered to idols.

In that scenario, then eating food offered to idols is sin. Not because the idols are important, but because in doing so they’ve caused other believers to view them negatively.

Psalm 142

This psalm is attributed to king David and falls into the category of lament psalm.

Psalm 142:1-2 - I cry to the Lord

Psalm 142:3-4 - I am faint and no one cares

Psalm 142:5-7 - Rescue me O Lord

The psalmist starts with their cry to the Lord. They are bringing their complaints and struggles to the Lord. Their spirit is faint, and people have laid traps for the psalmist. When the psalmist looks around to the right and left, they see no one on their side. No one notices, no one protects them, and no one cares.

Because of this, the psalmist cries to the Lord, for the Lord is their refuge. They ask the Lord to hear their cry and rescue them from the persecutors. They long to be brought out of this prison so that they will live to give thanks to the Lord and may be surrounded by others who are righteous and follow the Lord.

This is a psalm of a someone who feels alone in their pursuit of God and longs to be rescued and set in a community of others who will pursue God.