The Bible Recap - Day 335 (1 Corinthians 9-11) - Year 3

Episode Date: December 1, 2021

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Paul opens today in his letter to the church at Corinth with the reminder of his role in their lives. Apparently, some people discredit him or refuse to view him as an apostle. Some are saying he's not an apostle because he doesn't receive money from them, but he says, the same authority that allows me the right to receive money from you is the authority that allows me to deny money from you. You're writing me a paycheck is not what makes me an apostle. I'm an apostle because God appointed me, not you. He goes on to list the other things

apostles have the right to do, including have their physical needs taken care of, get married, and make their soul living an income through ministry. He argues that he has every right to do, including have their physical needs taken care of, get married, and make their soul living an income through ministry. He argues that he has every right to receive support from them, but that he is chosen to deny that right so that they can't second guess his motives, but it seems to backfire on him. They're second-guessing him because he's denying their money. How ridiculous is it that he has to defend his right to not get paid? But essentially he says, you didn't hire me so you can't fire me. I'm going to preach the gospel regardless.

When we get to second Corinthians, we'll find out more of what's happening behind the scenes here. But in the meantime, he's restricting his own rights in order to preach the gospel to more people without putting any kind of stumbling block in their way. He becomes all things to all people, denying himself freedoms in order to meet them where they are. This idea of becoming all things to all people has been wildly taken out of context. It isn't a path to abuse God's grace. Paul is restricting his freedoms, not taking

ungodly liberties with them. He's intentional about all these things, living a life of discipline and purpose, because while all those things are temporary, the rewards of sharing the gospel are eternal. In chapter 10, Paul talks about the Church's struggle with idolatry, something the Jews have been familiar with throughout their history. He says their ancestors witnessed God and his character in a variety of ways for the years. They experienced his presence in the pillar of the cloud that guided them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.

They experienced his protection when he parted the seas for them to cross, helping them escape the oppression of their enemies, and they experienced his provision in the way he gave them food and water, even water from a rock, and Paul compares that water giving desert rock to Christ himself. Despite God's presence, protection, and provision, the hearts of their ancestors still wandered off into idolatry. Some of that idolatry led them into sexual sin. Paul references a scenario that happened in Numbers 25, where God brought divine judgment on the people who were belting against him in that way. Paul urges them to

turn away from sexual sin, but also from things like grumbling and testing God. It seems crazy to see grumbling in a list alongside sexual sin, but Paul's words point out that all those things are in a front to God's sovereignty and goodness. All of those things are our way of saying that we know better than God and have a better plan than Him. Whether our sins are subtle or drastic, they represent idolatry of self. They attempt to de-throne God and position ourselves in His place. Paul says, we're all capable of these sins, so we have to stay humble and stay on guard against them. If someone thinks they're above this type of sin, they're demonstrating the same kind of arrogance that is at the very heart of these sins,

an elevated view of self. Temptation will come to everyone, but when temptation shows up in our mailbox, it will always have a free bonus gift from God, the God-given power to resist temptation. Then Paul addresses food offered to idols again. He first addressed this back in chapter 8. He's expounding on those ideas a little more here since it corresponds to his current

theme of idolatry. At the time, the Corinthians were going to pagan temples, hanging around after the sacrifice as an eating the food there. He realizes this is a potential snare for them, and it's an easy first step into idolatry in a way from Yahweh. He says, look, when people are sacrificing food to idols, they think they're making offerings to powerful gods, but the reality is they're offering food to demons. False religions aren't just made up ideas,

the pagan gods are demons, and since you take part in the Lord's supper, his body and his blood, then participating in all of this is idolatry. Then he switches scenarios. What if their eating food sacrificed to idols in someone's home and not in a pagan temple? Paul says, hey, if no one mentions that's where it came from, eat up. But if they tell you and you still eat it, they are going to think you're on board with it. So you should refuse to eat it because it gets in the way of your opportunity to share the gospel. In the temple scenario,

the problem is idolatry, and in the house scenario, the problem is the other person's mindset. The problem is never the food itself. It's how the food is used and viewed. These are some very specific scenarios the Corinthian Church is dealing with, but they potentially have broader application. In general, as far as Paul is concerned, anyone can eat whatever they want, as long as their thanks is directed toward God. In chapter 11, Paul changes gears a bit and starts talking about different practices within the Church, and he hits on some things that are touchy topics when we read these passages today. They weren't as touchy-backed then most likely because of how the culture operated. Today, there are many ways these passages are unpacked and explained, but I'll address the primary

view of Orthodox Christianity through the years. Paul starts out by painting a picture of marriage, which he connects not only to our relationship with God, but to our relationship with the Church as well. Before we jump into this, it's helpful for us to remember that all this is being written by a man who continually lays down his freedoms and doesn't argue for his own rights, so that he can let his humility lay the groundwork for him to share the gospel. In recent years, these verses have been used to craft arguments against Paul and God and Scripture. But if we remember what Paul's character is like, and what we've seen of God's character

throughout Scripture and through the ministry of Jesus, we'll have a proper lens for viewing these verses, because Scripture interprets Scripture. First, Paul impacts the authority structure and marriage. This idea isn't new to us since we've seen the authority structure in the Trinity demonstrated repeatedly. They're one, united in purpose and in vision, but with different roles and responsibilities, and the Father is the head. In the same way, the husband is the head of the marriage and Christ is the head of the church.

Anything without a head is dead. By the way, the word glory means to give the right opinion of something, and Paul says this is what's happening with men as the head. While Paul doesn't deny Genesis 127, which says women are made in the image of God and gives us equal value to men, he leans into the fact that men are revealing the headship of the Father. Rolls don't indicate value, they indicate assignment. In this culture, which is Roman culture or not Jewish culture, men who prayed in pagan temples would cover their head.

Paul says he doesn't want them to bring their pagan culture into the church. He flips the script on them and tells them to uncover their heads. And women typically wore veils to cover their heads if they were married, kind of like an ancient version of the wedding ring, while unmarried women just wore their regular hair. But apparently in the church, some of the married women were taking their veils off. And this is an especially problematic scenario because the church in Corinth had so much sexual sin going on. Paul was like, this is not honoring to your husband, it looks like you've rejected him, put your wedding ring on, help people have the right understanding

of your marriage. As an unmarried woman, none of this applies to me, but it's also not offensive to me. Paul isn't discrediting or diminishing women, men and women are mutually dependent. And also, he's talking about a cultural context that has fallen to most of us. So, if you want a 21st century summary, it might look something like this. Do you need to wear a hat to church if you're married woman? Not unless it's super cute and you're having a bad hair day or you just want to. But do you need to wear your wedding ring since that's how our culture signifies marriage? Probably, it's not a law that it's helpful and honoring.

And as a single woman, our that finger veil anyway, it keeps the creeps away. Paul wraps up with a few corrections about factions in the church and how they've been mishandling the Lord's supper. The churches often meet in the homes of rich people because they're big enough to hold everybody. But the poor people have to work long days then because they don't have their own cars, they have to take public transportation to the wealthy neighborhoods

and by the time they get there, the food is all gone. Jesus said to eat the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Him, but it seems they're just eating and drinking that have forgotten Him. They've forgotten His command to love others. Paul says they should examine themselves before taking communion. Do they really understand that it's about the unity of His body who partakes in His body? My God shot was in 10, 12 through 13, where Paul talks about temptation.

He says, God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what he will empower us to say no to. This is probably the verse that gets twisted and misinterpreted into the mantra, God won't give you more than you can handle, which isn't in scripture. But when we read this verse in context, we can see that what Paul is really saying is more like,

when Satan gives you temptation, God will give you the strength to resist it, so lean into his strength. This is not about having the strength in ourselves. This is about trusting him to provide us with what we need to obey him. Paul says, God provides the way out. He is the one who will help us handle what comes our way. He is our escape hatch in every temptation, and he's where the joy is.

One of the themes we see in scripture from Genesis to Revelation is the theme of idolatry and how it distracts our heart from engaging with God at a deeper level. Idolatry doesn't just refer to statues, Ezekiel 14 tells us we can take idols into our hearts. So we've built out a PDF with more info on how to identify idolatry in your own heart and we'd love to share that with you. The Bible Recap is brought to you by D-group. The Cypher Ship and Bible Study Groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week. The Cypher Ship and Bible Study Groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week.

The Cypher Ship and Bible Study Groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week. The Cypher Ship and Bible Study Groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week. The Cypher Ship and Bible Study Groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week. The Cypher Ship and Bible Study Groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week. The Cypher Ship and Bib and Bible study groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week.