Review:

• We began in 7:1 with consideration of the issues that the Corinthian church wrote to Paul about.
• Chapter 7 dealt with the collection of issues surrounding marriage
• Chapters 8–10 with issues surrounding food sacrificed to idols and related analogous concerns
• Chapters 11–14 are a series of issues bound up directly with the gathered community in Corinth for Christian worship.[1] (public worship)
• We left off with Matt talking about head coverings and submission.
• During the age of Augustus Caesar, there was a group increasingly called “the new Roman woman.”
• Much more so in Latin or Roman contexts than in a Greek context, but recall that Corinth was a Roman colony, despite being in Greece, where women were given greater freedom, given greater public privilege, and especially those of some substantial means.
• Apparently, some of these women are having the opportunity to pray and prophesy but without what Paul believes is the appropriate head covering.[2]
• There has always been (and always will be… until all things have been made new) a competition between men and women.
• Genesis 3:16 - He said to the woman:

I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children with painful effort.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.[3]

• As for the head covering (the Greek translates it as “comes down” – which could even mean the length of hair).
• I personally believe it is a cultural practice of both men and women showing fidelity to their relationship with Jesus.
• Signifying identification is different for both men and women.
• Gender identity and competition has always been an issue.

 
THE LORD’S SUPPER
1 CORINTHIANS 11

• Paul turns to a second issue concerning public worship (Chapters 11-14)
• Since the beginning of the church, it was customary for the believers to eat together (Acts 2:42, 46).
• It was an opportunity for fellowship and for sharing with those who were less privileged.
• No doubt they climaxed this meal by observing the Lord’s Supper.[4]

17 Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21 For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk!

• Paul is not saying, “Stop having these ‘love feasts’”.
• He is literally telling them what to do and what not to do.
• Sometimes you have to state the obvious.
• Don’t get drunk when we come together.

22 Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

• The divide between the handful of wealthy and the vast majority of poor in the Corinthian congregation (as in the community) created a disproportionate percentage of the problems that Paul has to address.[5]
• Symposium was more of a “love feast” rather than a gathering to talk about a certain subject like it is today.
• They called this meal “the love feast” since its main emphasis was showing love for the saints by sharing with one another.
• It would be more like a pot-luck dinner today.
• Tables were placed in a u-shaped partial square and were served from the middle.
• Very typical to today’s hibachi set up.
• Each family brought food and drink to share among each other
• The rich would bring food and drink enough for them and leave the “leftovers” for the poor.
• Today, we gather on “cyber weekend” but you have still generously filled 175 stockings for those in need this month.
• There is a balance in taking care of the poor and taking care of yourself.
• That balance is dependent upon the Spirit inside of you.

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

• And Paul’s wording is strikingly similar to the wording in Luke 22 about Jesus’ Last Supper.
• All three of the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—have similar accounts of this last night.
• Paul’s is closest to Luke, not because Luke was his travel companion and he got it from Luke;
• Luke’s Gospel would not be written until, at the earliest, the early 60s, and we’re still here in the mid-50s.
• No, it’s Paul and Luke who both know the oral tradition—faithfully passed on—of the words, the sayings, the teachings of Jesus.[6]
• Jesus Christ took the cup and the loaf—the ingredients of a common meal in that day—and transformed them into a meaningful spiritual experience for believers.
• However, the value of the experience depends on the condition of the hearts of those who participate; and this was the problem at Corinth.[7]
• No one would have imagined that somehow that bread supernaturally became molecular extensions of His hand and fingers.
• It’s profoundly symbolic: “This bread represents, in a deep and meaningful and religiously poignant way, my body about to be given for you in death on the cross.”
• Jesus wants us to remember how He died. Why? Because everything we have as Christians centers in that death.
• We must remember that He died, because this is a part of the Gospel message: “Christ died … and was buried” (1 Cor. 15:3–4).[8]
• He rose from the dead so as to conquer death.
• We have the ability to really live here on earth and after for eternity.
• In the midst of the pandemic, let’s practice/remember this by symbolization of eating. Simply by placing your hand to your mouth.
• “In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
• No, the cup and its contents have not suddenly become blood in some physical molecular fashion, but they stand for, memorialize, represent, symbolize, in a profound way, Jesus’ giving of His life blood in death on the cross. “Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
• His blood was shed as a sacrifice for our sins.
• Total for forgiveness was available to all.
• Total forgiveness for all believers.
• All sins: past, present and future.
• Drink from the cup with both hands.
• Jesus may not be literally present in the bread and in the cup, but He is present. He is present spiritually.[9]

 
SELF-EXAMINATION
27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.

• Examine to see if they are worthy?
• We have participated in the Lord’s Supper where condemnation was expressed and we either had to deal with it immediately for refrain from participating in the Lord’s Supper.
• No, examine to see if they are behaving unworthily, in an unworthy manner.[10]

29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. 31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world.
33 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment. I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.[11]

• The Communion is not supposed to be a time of “spiritual autopsy” and grief.
• It should be a time of thanksgiving and joyful anticipation of seeing the Lord!
• Jesus gave thanks, even though He was about to suffer and die.
• Let us give thanks also.[12]​
• When we figure out what Jesus truly did for us… and what we have inside… it changes everything.
• Sometimes we lose focus and need to be reminded by stating the obvious.
• Remember what it was like when you stepped out of “religion” into a “relationship”?
• It is the difference of just being alive versus living.

You can really live right now

[1] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ge 3:16). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 604). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 605). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 605). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[10] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 11:17–34). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 607). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Review:

• We left off with 1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.[1]
• I explained the distortion of God will not give you more than you can bear.
• The evil one is responsible for evil things that happen in a fallen world.
• What I did not say was that in this life… you will have more than you can bear.
• It is then… when God comes in because you have to become dependent upon Him to get you through the crisis.

 
WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY
1 CORINTHIANS 10
14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread.

• Paul goes back to the argument of are the Christians able to eat the meat that was sacrificed to the idols/gods.
• Paul is saying, “Idolatry is the distraction.”
• Zoom out… think about it. What is true in this world?
• There is only one truth… why are we even arguing about what is true and what is fake?
• That stuff doesn’t even matter in your own spiritual world.
• Don’t forget that we are all about Jesus.
• We are in this together because of our faith in Jesus.
• We eat from the same loaf of bread and drink from the same cup (except during a pandemic) and that is Jesus Christ.
• We can see Paul’s main point: There is a union that occurs.
• We are united with Christ in a special, even if undefined, way through the sacrament or the ordinance, and we are unified as participants in the ritual with all those who commune with us, as symbolized by what, in the earliest stages of church history, was a single loaf and a common cup from which people ate and drank.[2]

18 Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!

• Can you not separate the eating of meat and drink from the worshipping of demons?
• Run from what is evil.
• Run from the appearance of evil.
• Stay focused on what you know is true.
• If you are hungry and need food… eat! But don’t worship the demons.

21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

• Paul is encouraging them to recognize the spiritual side of things.
• You can justify doing evil things because you make light of the spiritual world.
• Paul is saying, it doesn’t matter what you do. It matters that you recognize the two opposing sides: good vs evil… God vs the evil one.
• Spiritual warfare is raging.

 
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
23 “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up.

• The Corinthian slogan quoted back 1 Corinthians 6:12-13.

24 No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.

• It’s not straightforward how we are to behave in every setting, especially when we are in a group, and we are being scrutinized, and what may give us an advantage for the sake of the gospel with one person is viewed as a drawback by someone else.[3]
• Discernment… if you have to think about it… pause… seek wisdom.

25 Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience, 26 since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it.,

• Quoting Psalm 24:1
• Nothing spiritual happens to food itself just because a pagan priest prayed and said, “Isis,” “Osiris,” Apollo”—whoever the individual was—“may you be pleased with this offering.”[4]

27 If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience.

• Don’t create more legalism
• Freedom is the keyword Paul is trying communicate.
• What would expect from an unbeliever? For them to act the same way you do?

28 But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. 29 I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks?

• Paul is asking them to consider, why is the person telling you about the tainted food? Because they may have a conscience about it.
• Then don’t do it as not to confuse them.
• Measure the room. Use your wisdom.
• Sometimes you will blow it.

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

• Paul summarizes chapters 8-10 with 3 statements:
• 1) God’s glory is your #1 priority… Not your opinion or anyone else’s opinion.
• 2) Be conscious of the non-believers and even the believers who are weak so as not to lead them to sin.

 
1 CORINTHIANS 11
1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.[5]

• 3) As I follow Jesus, use me as an example.

 
The Lord’s supper – this is what they did when they ate together… so we shall today.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 10:13). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[4] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 10:14–11:1). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Review:

• We left off last week with Paul talking about the food offered to idols being consumed by some.
• Paul and his ministry as an example of the things he has done.
• There will be people with differing opinions and don’t be a stumbling block to them.

 
1 CORINTHIANS 9
19 Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people.

• But his goal is not to please himself but to please God by exercising his call and commission to evangelize, to spread the Word, to preach the good news as widely throughout the known world of his day as he possibly can.[1]

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law.

• 1 Corinthians 11:24 - Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews.[2]
• Five times he put up with flogging on his back (and perhaps on the back of his legs or arms as well) of this intensity, when all he would’ve needed to do was announce that, in Jewish eyes, he was committing apostasy;
• he was rejecting his Jewish upbringing;
• that serving Jesus was a new religion, like all of the other options in the Graeco-Roman world.
• The synagogue would have had no jurisdiction over him.[3]

21 To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law.

• What is the law of Christ?
• To love others
• To serve others
• Walk by the Spirit rather than a list of rules.
• 10 Commandments were for the Jews.

22 To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

• It is unfortunate that the phrase “all things to all men” has been used and abused by the world and made to mean what Paul did not intend for it to mean.
• Paul was not a chameleon who changed his message and methods with each new situation.
• Nor was Paul a compromiser who adjusted his message to please his audience.
• He was an ambassador, not a politician!
• He did not parade his liberty before the Jews,
• nor did he impose the Law on the Gentiles.[4]

23 Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.

• It takes tact to have contact.[5]
• Imagine if David would have put on Saul’s armor to protect himself?
• He would have lost his freedom to defeat Goliath.
  ​
  
• What does it look like in today’s world to “be all things to all people”?
• Many times it means to “shut your mouth” or “put your device down”.
• Once you fly your colors… you have lost part of your audience.
• Yah, but there are stands that need to be made.
• Any stand greater than someone coming to know Jesus and letting the Spirit lead them?

24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.

• It’s far easier to be legalistic about everything, to set up a long list of dos and don’ts far beyond anything Scripture explicitly sanctions,
• or to be completely hedonistic about everything—anything goes, do what seems good to you in the moment, go with the flow.[6]
• Zoom out and see the bigger picture.
• It’s not about being the sole winner.
• Live your life as though you have trained well for the race.

25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything.

• Self-control = Free will
• You always have a choice between your flesh and the Spirit that resides in you.

They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.

• In Greco-Roman times the winner received a wreath to place on their head like a crown.
• The wreaths were typically made of pine (like pine needles), olive branches or celery.
• How long did it take for the celery to wilt?

26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.

• Shadow boxing is used as a cardio exercise today.
• I’m sure that Paul had many sparring partners and took many body blows for his beliefs.
• But he learned from them on how to defend himself and to also win.

27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

• Control? Who has control of my body?
• Sometimes my flesh does…
• But I am learning more and more every day to let the Spirit that resides in me to have control.
• Put my device down, my remote…
• Quit dwelling on the things that are temporary but the things that are eternal.
• If I am focused on the eternal… the temporary will take care of itself.
• Zoom out… see the bigger picture.

 
WARNINGS FROM ISRAEL’S PAST
1 CORINTHIANS 10
1 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

• In reference to their ancestors escaping from Egypt under Moses leadership and passed through the Red Sea.
• Baptized = Immersion – But also means to identify with.
• When we baptize at Leavener… we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit so as everyone knows who you are identifying with.

3 They all ate the same spiritual food, (manna from heaven) 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. (water poured out from an actual rock when struck from Moses rod – Numbers 20:11) 5 Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

•  One generation of Jews died in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.,

• Paul urges the Corinthians not to follow the Israelites’ example of complaining about provisions given by the rock (Christ).[7]

7 Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; (Exodus 32 – worshipping the golden calf) as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.,, 8 Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, (Moabite women seduced both men and women in the wilderness near the end of the 40 years – Numbers 25) and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died. 9 Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. (They were tempting God and He sent judgment in Numbers 21) 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, (Numbers 14 & 16) and were killed by the destroyer. (angel)

• Why choose this array of examples of Old Testament sin and rebellion?
• What does that have to do with the Corinthians they thought?

11 These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages, have come.

• They all have something to do with idolatry, of not putting the God, Yahweh of Israel, first in the lives of the children of Israel.
• And strikingly, they all have something to do with aspects of Graeco-Roman pagan worship in the pagan temples in Corinth and the other major cities of the empire.[8]

12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. [9]

• This passage has always been misconstrued to say that “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”
• That is not what it is saying at all.
• First, it says, “There is nothing new in satan’s game”
• Whatever temptation you are currently dealing with… nothing new… that is why he went back to the age of Moses and listed things.
• As believers in Jesus and with the Spirit of God now residing in you… there is no temptation that can’t be overcome.
• You will always have a way out by choosing to walk by the Spirit… rather than your flesh.
• The sin is not the action… but the choice to follow your flesh.
• The temptation, the test, the trial—all of which come from the same Greek roots—may not go away.
• That is never promised in the Scripture as a generalization for all situations.
• But what is promised is, if we turn to God, we will be able to endure it;
• we do not have to fail the test, give in to the temptation, or be overcome by the trial.[10]

 
Hebrews 3:7-11 - Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me, tried me,
and saw my works 10 for forty years.
Therefore, I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.”
11 So I swore in my anger,
“They will not enter my rest.” [11]

• The difference between the Old Covenant believers and the New Covenant believers is that God has given us the ability to rest from our own works.
• We can continue to do things in our own strength as they did in the wilderness… or we can learn the lesson and surrender to the Spirit in each of us.
• Give it a try this week… rest… trust… put down the device… put down the remote.

Set your eyes on things above… listen for the Spirit… you are in for an adventure!!!

[1] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (2 Co 11:24). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 601). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 601). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Co 10:4). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[8] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 9:19–10:13). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Heb 3:7–11). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Review:

• We have moved on from marriage, sex and circumcision to a new topic today!
• Paul turns to issues of food sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8.
• It looks, in chapter 9, as if he has moved on to yet another topic (money for ministry) but comes full circle in chapter 10 back to the issue of food sacrificed to idols in a way that makes it clear that chapters 8–10 are meant to be taken as a unit.
• What ties them all together is the theme of not allowing Christian freedom to become a license to sin, or to potentially lead another fellow believer into sin or even to acting against his or her conscience.[1]
  
  

FOOD OFFERED TO IDOLS
1 CORINTHIANS 8
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

• “We all have knowledge” is another Corinthian slogan of that time period.
• Similar to “All things are permissible but not all things are profitable.”
• Secular slogans that Paul uses as logic in Christian lifestyle.
• Difference between “knowledge” and “wisdom”.
• What are we hearing during election week?
• Knowledge (facts)… and proving that they don’t mean anything.
• “We just need a little more love… that leads to grace.”
• Paul is saying… BREATHE!
• Proverbs 21:1 - A king’s heart is like channeled water in the Lord’s hand:

He directs it wherever he chooses.[2]

• The king has authority… but God has ultimate authority.

2 If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

• Know it all… hard to listen to.
• They may know it all but have no wisdom in sharing their knowledge.
• Rusty, you do this every week…
• But, I will listen to you as well.

3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

• God takes the initiative in human interactions.
• For God so loved the world…

4 About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”--6 yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.

• Why take meat sacrificed to idols and make it such an issue?
• Probably because some of the poorest believers only ate meat on any regular basis on the two or three or four days every month that were Roman or Greek holidays and festivals in which the temple to Aphrodite in Corinth offered free food to the populace as long as it lasted; and poor and rich alike could come, but always in the context of some religious devotion or worship.
• Was the meat somehow inherently tainted?
• Paul is going to argue not and that Christians have full freedom to participate, but he recognizes the disagreements among them and so he will also stress that “If I have a clean conscience, a clear conscience to eat, but my Christian brother or sister doesn’t, then I should refrain.”[3]

7 However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

• Some have wondered if Paul is contradicting the apostolic decree of Acts 15 here, where, with Peter and James, they agreed that for the sake of Jewish ministry, as Paul traveled, believers would—even Jewish believers—would refrain from sexual immorality, blood, the meat of strangled animals, and food sacrificed to idols.
• I don’t think it’s a contradiction, because that was a decree sent off to a group of churches, much closer to Jerusalem in contemporary Southeastern Turkey and Syria, and it was a voluntary approach for the sake of Jewish evangelism not to put unnecessary stumbling blocks in front of the gospel.
• Here, the context is entirely different.
• Is it okay for poor Christians who don’t get to eat meat very often to eat meat at these special holidays, even though it has been dedicated to a pagan idol? And Paul says, “Yes, it is.”[4]

 
9 But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? 11 So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined, by your knowledge. 12 Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.

• Brother or sister… you know them well.
• One of the biggest issues in our society and in this community is the consumption of alcohol.
• We are free to drink… I will have a drink on occasion.
• I do not have a problem with people drinking alcohol.
• Jesus did turn water into wine.
• But I have to measure the room/situation.
• I have an impact on the room… as do you.
• Alcoholism is typically a private issue because it causes others to see you as weak.
• Just as identity issues or any other sin does.
• You don’t know all the alcohol issues in this room… neither do I… But I know a lot of them.
• Some of them have sought help, some have discussed and some are just obvious.
• But believe it or not… what I do impacts those around me.
• I rarely get invited to alcohol socials. Why?
• Because some people are considerate enough to not put me in awkward situation.
• Other just want the freedom to drink without the freedom from a “suspected” judgment.
• Others don’t want me around because they might just go beyond what they can handle.
• I rarely drink because I am sensitive to the many people that I deal with that have this issue.
• This is all Paul is saying here… They are free to eat the meat… and so are you… but if it bothers you or you think your actions may lead to others stumbling… then don’t partake!
• Paul is still saying it is about “others”.
• Are you really participating “socially” if you are putting your own selfish desires first?

 
PAUL’S EXAMPLE AS AN APOSTLE
1 CORINTHIANS 9
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

• What do I have to do to prove to you that I am a true apostle?
• The criteria for apostles to be selected was to be both an eyewitness of Jesus’ resurrection, but also one who then can witness, in the sense of proclaiming the gospel message to others.[5]
• Give Paul credit for starting the Gentile churches.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas? 6 Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working?

• Paul now goes on to prove his personal ministry by asking a series of rhetorical questions.
• Shouldn’t Barnabas and I be taken care of?
• If we had wives with us, shouldn’t they be taken care of as well?
• Who does what we do for free?
• Can I not participate like other Greco/Roman teachers and leaders… to eat from their generosity?
• When it comes to benevolence… I cannot receive from Leavener funds without it being taxed as income.
• I am given a designated salary just like everyone else.
• Money given to Leavener goes into the Leavener account and can be dispersed to help others… but not my family.
• Trust me… we are well taken care of by God… through many of you.
• We receive gift cards or items… or car surprises… as I am sure that Paul and Barnabas did as well.
• But at Leavener… we still have not asked for a dime.

7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock? 8 Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain., Is God really concerned about oxen? 10 Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop.

• Don’t over burden the oxen so that it cannot do its work.
• There are provisions made for those who are laboring.
• This is not my personal issue… this is Paul’s at the time.
• It seems as if he is still having to establish his credibility and trust.
• He might have to because he is not actually present with them and doesn’t know how they are interpreting his teachings on difficult personal topics.

11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12 If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right;

• Paul has earned the right for such benefits but refused to take them (at least from Corinthians) for the sake of the Gospel being considered cheap or a business.
• He continued to make tents and earn his living.

instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ.

• Asking for money, demanding money for ministry, can lead to all kinds of abuses.
• Paul wants to avoid every hint of these scandals.
• He wants to avoid every chance, in a culture rife with the practice of patronage, of anybody giving money to him thinking that that entitled them to give it with strings attached and dictate where Paul had to go, what he had to do, what he could preach about, what he could not say.[6]

13 Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.

• Paul once again declares the right for those who share the Gospel with others can also earn their living this way.
• Although Paul refused to do this from the Corinthians.

15 For my part I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case. For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast! 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach—and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel.[7]

• Paul will interestingly accept money and be grateful for it when he writes the letter to the Philippians, who have sent him a generous gift while he is in prison, probably a Roman prison in around the year 60–62.
• So it’s clear that what he is saying here to the Corinthians is not an absolute relinquishing of a willingness to receive financial and material support, but it is his consistent policy thus far with respect to the Corinthians.[8]
• “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.”
• I can’t imagine a world where I would not talk about the Good News of Jesus Christ… whether I got paid/supported or not.

To speak of grace, love and mercy in a world and time that so definitely needs it.

[1] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Pr 21). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[4] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 8:1–9:18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[8] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.