Study in 1 Corinthians - Session 13
Study in 1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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What we have been learning
What we have been learning
We must study the scripture in context or we will misunderstand the meaning.
Paul is exhorting the believers that in their freedom always consider love.
Idol worship is a theme throughout the entire Bible.
Let’s Rejoin the Community of Believers in Corinth
Let’s Rejoin the Community of Believers in Corinth
Do you recall where we left last week? They had just been reminded of how the Israelites had wandered in the desert and grumbled and complained.
There was also a focus on idolatry.
1 Corinthians 10:11–12 (NASB95)
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
We see the verse above applied to so many things, and rightly so, but look at the context. In the context of what is being talked about, it is about idolatry.
1 Corinthians 10:14–19 (NASB95)
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say.
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.
18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?
Remember when they left Egypt, was it more than just Israelites who left?
19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
So there is altar sacrifice in the Israelite culture here and it is considered appropriate and even the meat is eaten. This is a constant juxtaposition between the evil and the good.
20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
What are the gods of the Greeks and Romans according to Paul here?
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.
Yes we are free in Christ, but not free to the costs of other humans.
24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.
25 Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience’ sake;
26 for the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.
Notice the practical nature of Paul’s advice being broken down here. Don’t just look out for yourself and what you can gain from something. Think about your neighbor and the impact it will have on them as well.
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
12 “If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
I want you to think about how we pray each day. How we pray for food. How does this make you think about how food is prayed for?
Now consider how you make decisions. When you really want to do something, can you convince yourself? Can you sear a decision into your mind in such a way that your objectivity often becomes compromised.
27 If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake.
28 But if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience’ sake;
29 I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?
30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?
In other words his two questions above are meant to make you realize it is not what you think about you, but it is about the testimony of Christ to others.
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.
1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.
3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
We see an order here. An order of responsibility. Of course this verse has been used by some to relegate others to less important roles.
3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.
5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.
6 For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.
7 For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;
9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.
10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
11 However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
12 For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.
13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him,
15 but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering.
16 But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.
17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.
19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
We are seeing a hint into the past as to how people gathered to remember the Christ. These love feast are referred to in the Scriptures as Agape, but biblically only in two portions of the text. Other ancient writings do document these to a mild level, but these were meals participated in on a regular basis. Consider how society functioned and the feeding of the poor or widowed as you think through this.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
Imagine people coming into these new meetings and simply wanting to experience a new religion or appease another god and creating a disruptive environment and causing the freedom in Christ to be once again nullified socially.
20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper,
21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.
Paul is admonishing them to really look at who is a part of their gathering and what is being taught. Can you imagine a group of followers being divided based on different people, teaching, leaders, and rituals being brought into their midst.
Before we look at these verses, lets look at what cups mean and the seder dinner.
https://youtu.be/Hc5SxQ-qTwY?si=dtzvhE-Y1XQjpfMq
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “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.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.