The devotional - 1048 - Foot Steps in First Corinthians, 0ngoing

The Devotional – 1048 – Foot steps in First Corinthians, ongoing

If a person lives within the boundaries of the law then whatever they do is lawful. Yet the neighbor who observers what is done by that person may perceive things differently. I am sure that if you have lived in any neighborhood for very long you already know that perception is often a bit one sided if communication is left out of the statement of equality. I remember once that someone explained to me that they thought their neighbor was a spy for some foreign country, only to find out that their neighbors had a home in another country where their relatives lived and his work had sent him and his immediate family to live here in the U.S. What we do in life is mostly lawful, some things we do are not helpful and some things do not edify, but all things are critical to the eye that observes with judgment rather than love.

CHALLENGES & COMMENTS – 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1

The conversation of all of the Apostle Paul’s epistles are expressed to his readers with (agape) love. This thought alone should open the door of understanding his direction and exhortation to the Corinthian church. In fact, I am as guilty as the next when I insert my view over that which the apostle or the Holy Spirit says over what is intended. It is far too easy for us to default to personal opinion; in 1 John 4 the Apostle John denotes that the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error is revealed through (agape) love.

We often desire to skip over passages like these of Paul. Eating things offered to idols and head coverings in the congregation seem trivial or maybe cultural. In fact it is easier for us to search out the subject of some things with intense direction into the historicity of “hat on or hat off” throughout all of the cultural background of time (some of us do that). For me this seems to carry us away from the LORD’s Spiritual guidance, one way to see this is in the quote of the Apostle John…God is LOVE and in Him there is NO darkness at all. This then is the message; 1 John 1:5 as Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians speaks well of this same truth.

Now it is necessary for the one who diligently studies the Living Word of God to KNOW the history and cultural background of the most passages studied. If we fail to do this we are like my neighbor above and will make the mistake of assuming something that is untrue. With the Living Word of God this is the spirit of error.

Corinth’s location was good for commercial trading and ships came from everywhere possible to deliver goods. Also the colonies of Corinth became common resort areas and a universal marketing hub for the Greeks. Also Corinth was infested with many pagan religions. Some of which included prostitution as part of the worship of their god or goddesses. These pagan cults and religions also sacrificed animals on their sacrificial altars.

The Temple of Aphrodite which was built on the top of one of Corinth’s mountains of 1900 feet south of the city could be seen for miles. To give some perspective on the height, that is twice as tall as the highest point in Rhode Island located near U.S. Route 44 just west of Chepachet, RI. Now back to Corinth, the quantity of animals sacrificed were many; so many that the temple sported a restaurant and market place where these animals were served as food in the restaurant and sold for food to the general public in the market place. This information comes from the teaching of Pastor Jay many years ago and Dr. Constable’s Expository Bible Study Notes. 

Now with this information we can see why the apostle explains that in eating a steak bought from the temple market place would not be a idolatrous action, or even going to the restaurant for an evening meal would prove to be a reason to say that someone is an idol worshiper. It would still be better to live out one’s life before others with true (agape) love, then to allow a brother or sister to be offended by doing what is lawful rather than doing what truly edifies, if these things cause one to stumble and fall from faith in Christ.