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Daily Bible Study

November 30, 2024 Bible Study — I Have the Right to Do Anything, But Not Everything Is Beneficial

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 9-11.

Paul begins today’s passage by discussing the freedom he had as an apostle that he did not use.  Instead of taking advantage of the rights and freedoms he had, he made himself a slave to the desires and thoughts of others so as to bring as many as possible to the Lord.  In telling us this, Paul is offering himself up as an example of our need to discipline ourselves to do God’s will.  I think understanding what Paul is saying hear can be made more clear by remembering what he wrote in chapter three, where he told us that no foundation could be laid aside from Jesus, but that what we build on that foundation would be judged.  If we built with good materials, what we had built would survive that judgement, but even if what we built on that foundation was burned up in the fire of judgement we would still be saved as one “escaping through flames.”  Later in today’s passage he writes that while we are indeed free to do anything we like, we should bear in mind that not everything is beneficial.  So, when we choose how we act, let us choose those things which will provide us materials to build on our foundation that which will survive the fires of judgement.  And Paul gives us guidance to understand what types of things will allow us to build something which will last.  He tells us that we should avoid actions which might cause another to stumble.  He gives further instruction on knowing how to recognize that which will last; if instead of seeking our own good we seek the good of others, so that they may also come to know the Lord, then we are building a structure on the foundation which is Jesus which will shrine bright after passing through the fires of judgement.  Seek to do that which will lead others to a closer relationship with God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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November 30, 2023 Bible Study — Using Our Freedom in Christ for the Wellbeing of Others

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 9-11.

Paul continues to write about our freedom in Christ and our obligation to use our freedom in a responsible way.   He uses himself as an example by teaching that those who preach the Gospel have a right to receive financial support from those to whom they preach.  However, Paul chose not to exercise that right.  In fact, he chose not to exercise that right because, for him, his reward for preaching the Gospel was doing so free of charge (there is a fairly important but complex message in that which I am not going to go into today).  In fact, Paul tried, to the best of his ability, to put himself into the circumstances of those to whom he preached.  When Paul said that he became all things to all people, he does not mean that he pandered to them the way that some politicians do today (and probably always have).  I don’t believe that he means that he pretended to not be a Jew, or that he pretended to be a Corinthian when in Corinth.  Instead, I think it means that he made sure that he did not act in a way which would make those to whom he preached think that he thought he was better than they.

Which brings us to Paul writing about our freedom in Christ.  He started writing about this subject in yesterday’s passage, but has gone onto other subjects a few times.  He gets back on the subject by writing about the idea of taking part in the religious rituals dedicated to idols.  Paul points out that while the idols which idolaters worship are not real things, the people in these ceremonies and rituals are worshiping demons.  I believe Paul was addressing those who sought to take part in the idol worship which was a part of civic life in Corinth in an attempt to hide how being a Christian made them different from the people around them.  His discussion here serves as a counterpoint to his statement about being all things to all people.  Paul goes on to explain that while we have freedom in Christ to do anything, we should avoid those things which are not beneficial.  He makes clear that he does not mean that we should evaluate whether the things we do our beneficial for ourselves, although that should also play a role in our decisions about in what activities we will take part.  No,  we should decide based on what will be best for those around us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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November 30, 2022 Bible Study — Freed By Christ To Seek The Good Of Others

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 9-11.

Paul covers several different topics in today’s passage, but one theme runs through his advice on dealing with each of those topics.  Early in the passage, while he was writing about paying those who preach the Gospel, Paul says, “we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.”  Then later, he writes, “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”  Throughout today’s passage I see Paul referencing that idea repeatedly.  Paul applies this them of seeking the good of others to each of the issues he addresses in today’s passage.  Paul writes that we have been freed by Christ so that we could, theoretically, do anything, but we should do only that which is beneficial.  How do we know what is beneficial?  That which promotes the good of others.   Paul subtly makes the point that seeking the good of others is beneficial to us.  As we discipline ourselves to seek the good of others we learn the ways which God gives us to resist temptation.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 30, 2021 Bible Study — Self-Discipline And Being Wise As Serpents And Innocent As Doves

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 9-11.

Well, I know what parts of today’s passage I want to comment on.  I even have an idea about how those parts fit together.  Now I just need to see if I can put my thoughts down in writing.  Paul writes about his freedom and self-discipline.  He tells us that he has freedom to do as he pleases, but he uses that freedom to serve those who hopes to convince to follow Christ.  He continues by saying that he disciplines himself to serve Christ and others so as to not miss out on the eternal life which comes through faith in Christ.  Having given these examples from his own life, Paul goes on to write about how we should use our freedom.  The important part of his message is that while we have the freedom in Christ to do anything, we should only do those things which are beneficial and/or constructive.  Further, he writes that we should seek to do not what is in our best interests but what is in the best interests of others.

He applies this lesson to his message on our approach to the idol worship going on around us (and do not fool yourself, idol worship is just as much a part of modern society as it was in Paul’s day).  I like how he makes his point.  First, he makes the point that we cannot consciously take part in the ceremonies of idol worship, but we need not worry about doing so as an incidental part of our lives.  He tells the Corinthian Believers that while they may know full well that most of the food available in the market was offered to idols as part of its preparation, they need not worry about that.  Go ahead, buy the food and consume it without asking whether or not it had been sacrificed to idols.  For that matter, if your pagan neighbor invites you to share a meal with them, go ahead and join them.  Eat what they give you without inquiring whether or not it was part of a sacrifice to idols (which Paul points out would be a sacrifice to demons).  But, if they, or someone else, should inform you that eating it is part of their worship of other gods, then abstain.  Paul points out that the point of your abstinence is not your own well-being, but a service to the one who made you aware of the idol worship you were being asked to join.  I see Paul’s instructions here as a practical application of Jesus’ command to be “wise as serpents, but innocent as doves.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

November 30, 2020 Bible Study I Am Allowed To Do Anything, But Not Everything Is Beneficial

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 9-11

As I read today’s passage, none of it really “spoke” to me.  There are several things I am going to comment on that I am quite confident about what Paul was saying when he wrote them.  However,, I feel like Paul was also making a connection between these things which I am missing.  First Paul speaks about how, as an apostle, he had the right to ask those to whom he preached to provide for his needs, and for the needs of his family.  Paul chose however not to exercise that right because he felt compelled to preach.  Providing for his own needs as he traveled preaching the Gospel allowed Paul to feel that he was serving God above and beyond his calling. By refusing to take payment for his preaching, Paul was able to silence critics who tried to claim that his preaching served his own interests rather than the truth of God.

Paul goes on to speak about when we experience temptation to sin.  He tells us that we should not feel that the temptations which we experience are more difficult to resist than those which others experience.  He goes on to tell us that God will provide us with a means to resist the temptation.  We cannot excuse our sins by saying that the temptation was too powerful for us to resist.  So, when we find ourselves facing temptations which we have trouble resisting, we need to seek to identify the means which God is providing us to escape those temptations. From there Paul goes on to write about eating meat offered to idols in a way which he seems to be connecting to what I just wrote (and this following section is where I feel like I am missing something).  If we go to the market to buy meat we should not ask if it has been offered to an idol, nor should we ask that question if someone we know is an idol worshiper invites us to eat with them.  In both cases, we may be generically aware that it was offered to an idol, but as long as no one makes us specifically aware that such was the case we are free to consume the food in good conscience.  On the other hand, if someone goes out of their way, especially someone who is an idol worshiper, to inform us that the food was offered to an idol, we should refrain from eating it.    We should refrain so as to avoid reinforcing the idol worshiper’s belief in the power of their idol.

I was going to end there, but I realized that I had not gone over one of the most important thing Paul wrote in any of his letters.  As Christians who are saved not by our actions but by God’s grace we are free to do anything which we please.  Paul ardently agrees with that thought.  However, he points out that while we are free to do anything, not everything which we might do is beneficial.  When we consider doing something we should consider whether or not it is good for others around us. It should please us to do only those things which please God, and that which pleases God is that which is beneficial to others.  Anything which we choose to do should, at the very least, not be harmful to others, and ideally it will bring benefit to others.

Daily Bible Study

November 30, 2019 Bible Study — Living Among Non-Believers

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 9-11

Paul writes that when he preached to Jews, he lived as a Jew, but when he preached to Gentiles, he lived as a Gentile.  The first part is easy to understand.  When Paul preached to the Jews, he ate kosher and was careful to follow the other traditions which came from the law.    The part about living as a Gentile can be easily misinterpreted.  One could conclude that he took part in their debauchery and religious celebrations.  However, a little later in today’s passage he gives us a clearer picture of how he behaved.  As I noted, when Paul was preaching to Jews, he ate kosher.  However, when he was among the Gentiles he ate whatever was put in front of him.  But, if the person providing the food made a point that it had been sacrificed to idols, and thus made clear to Paul that by eating it he was taking part in a pagan worship practice, he declined to eat.  In the same manner, we should associate with non-believers on a non-judgemental basis.  If someone invites us to a party and we wish to attend, we are free to go and take part.  However, if they were to tell us that the party was so that people could discretely hook up sexually with someone other than their spouse, we should graciously decline. 

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November 30, 2018 Bible Study — Paying Our Pastors and Eating Food Sacrificed To Idols

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

9Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 9-11.

    What Paul writes in chapter nine can be a bit confusing. I believe that he is responding to people in Corinth who accused him of trying to take financial advantage of the Corinthian believers. His answer to that is twofold. First, he emphasizes that, as one who had preached the Gospel to them, he had the right to their financial support. The other part of his rebuttal of that accusation was to point out that he had never exercised that right. The case Paul makes here leads me to an important conclusion, also two part. Those who minister to their fellow believers and provide leadership for the Church are entitled to be paid. We should be prepared to provide for the financial needs of our pastors. However, some people are called by God to refuse that financial support. This latter can only be something that someone comes to on their own by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

    In chapter ten Paul goes into more in Depth on the issue of eating meat offered to idols. However, actively taking part in worship rituals to idols is idolatry. if for no other reason than it will cause some to believe that we worship those idols. Actively taking part in the worship rituals of pagans will encourage them in their false beliefs. It will bind them more deeply into their servitude to demons. Going on from there Paul lays out the guidelines we should follow, guidelines which can be easily applied in other areas. The most important point Paul makes is that since idols are of no real significance there is no harm if we eat meat that we were unaware had been offered to an idol. Therefore, we should make no effort to find out if the meat we are purchasing in the market had been offered to idols. This “willful ignorance” extends to the food served to us by a pagan who has invited us to dinner. Don’t ask, just eat what is offered. However, if someone makes the effort to inform us, either our host, another pagan, or a fellow believer, that the food put before us was offered to an idol, we should decline to eat it. This is not because our knowing it was offered to idols would change our relationship to the meat, the idol, or even to God. Rather, it is because, if we eat the food after being informed, we will encourage whoever informed us in worshiping idols.

Daily Bible Study

November 30, 2017 Bible Study — Eating Meat Offered To Idols

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 9-11.

    Paul makes the case that those who do the work of the Church, particularly pastors and preachers, should be paid by the Church. However, he also presents himself as a model of someone who refuses payment for doing the work of the Church. The Church should be prepared and willing to pay those who do her work, but there should be some (a relatively small number) who do so purely from the joy of doing so. I will also note that while Paul never accepted any financial support from the Corinthian Church, he does mention receiving such support from other Churches. It is also worth noting that it appears that the Corinthian Church provided financial support to some people who supported Paul’s ministry in other ways.

    Paul goes on to talk about eating food offered to idols, but he offers a guideline which can be useful in many areas. Paul accepts the premise of those who say that their freedom on Christ means that they are free to do anything. This reminds me of when I was preparing to make jalapeño mead. My friends told me, “Just because you can does not mean that you should.” Now, it turns out that jalapeño mead is delicious, but the advice they gave me is what Paul was saying here. Just because you are free to do something does not mean that it is not a bad idea to do it. Paul goes into a little more detail in his advice concerning meat offered to idols, and, as I said, this advice applies elsewhere as well. First he tells us that eating meat offered to idols as part of a service worshiping an idol is communing with the worshipers of that idol in the same manner as we commune with our fellow believers when we partake of the Lord’s Supper. You cannot be part of the body of idol worshipers and part of the Body of Christ.
    However, this prohibition does not extend to buying meat offered to idols. Many people believe that if you eat meat which was sanctified as part of worship you are taking part in that worship and acknowledging the power of that idol, even if you are unaware of doing so. Paul says that such thinking is nonsense and by that logic everyone who eats anything is acknowledging God’s authority over them since everything that is was created by God and belongs to Him. In this instruction on buying meat offered to idols Paul is telling us that we are not responsible for the actions of those with whom we purchase things (there is a caveat to this which is covered in Paul’s third category of eating meat offered to idols).
    Finally, Paul covers the circumstance of what to do if we are invited to eat with a nonbeliever, who in this context is assumed to be an idol worshiper. Paul tells us that if we wish to accept such an invitation we should do so and eat whatever is put before us. However, if someone, whether it be our host or someone else, points out that the food being proffered had been offered to an idol we should decline to eat of it. There are two parts to this. First, if the person who tells us is a believer, the fact that they are going to the effort of telling us it was improperly handled tells us that their faith is challenged by partaking and if we partake they may be tempted to do so as well, despite believing that by doing so they are doing wrong. The second part is if the person who tells us is our host. In this latter case they are essentially telling us that by eating we are taking part in their worship of their idol, we are telling them that their idol worship is “OK”. This same principle applies to buying something where someone tells us that it was produced in a manner which is immoral, or the profits from selling it will be used in an immoral manner. If we have reason to believe that what they are telling us is true, and that they are telling us because they oppose the immoral practice (as opposed to doing so because their reasons for wanting us not to do business with that vendor have nothing to do with the immoral behavior of that vendor) we should refrain from purchasing the product in question.