Refusing to Use Your Freedom in Messiah
9: 15-27

Refusing to use your freedom in Messiah DIG: What are some of the reasons Paul provides for why he preaches the Good News? What are his rewards for doing this? Why did Paul give up some of his rights to preach the Good News? What does it mean to become “a slave to all?” What kind of language would you use today to get the same point across? Why is it so difficult for believers to give up their rights? What are some of these rights? What point is Paul making by comparing the life of a believer to a race?

REFLECT: Paul was not as concerned with his method of evangelism as with the message he was proclaiming. How can you apply his thinking to the way you share the Good News about Yeshua today? Think about the times you tried to witness to people. What have you learned in those experiences that you can share with others? What behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs hinder a believer’s witness? When was the last time someone sacrificed his or her own needs to help you? What are you willing to give up to win more people to Messiah?

With all kinds of people, both Jews and Gentiles, I have become all kinds of things,
so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them.

Paul now picks up where he left off in 9:12b, “we put up with all kinds of things so as not to impede in any way the Good News about the Messiah.” He has not made use of any of the rights that he had just been talking about (see Bo – Laying Aside Rights). That is, he does not want to accept money from those to whom he preaches, nor is he giving all these arguments about financial support in order to convince the Corinthians that at this stage they should start supporting him. Rather, it is a matter of personal pride for him, as well as a matter of missionary principle, not to receive such money.²⁴⁰

Paul’s restraint (9:15-18): Although Paul has the right to live from preaching the Good News, he does not; rather, he supports himself through his trade, tentmaking (Acts 18:3). He regards his keeping himself independent as its own reward, because it means that he can make the Good News available free of charge and not expose himself to the slightest risk of abusing his right to be supported by fellow believers.

But I have not made use of any of these rights (to see link click Bo – Laying Aside Rights). Paul deals with the pride issue first. Nor am I writing now to secure them for myself, for I would rather die than be deprived of my ground for boasting! Then what motivates him? For I can’t boast merely because I proclaim the Good News – this I do from inner compulsion: woe is me if I don’t proclaim the Good News! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it unwillingly, I still do it, simply because I’ve been entrusted with a job. So then, what is my reward? Just this: that in proclaiming the Good News I can make it available free of charge, without making use of the rights to which it entitles me (9:15-18). Some people might not believe the Good News if they felt it might lead to financial obligations.

Paul’s freedom (9:19-23): For although I am a free man (9:1), not bound to do anyone’s bidding (7:22), I have voluntarily made myself a slave to all. In the following verses, Paul illustrates this principle. He says, in effect, that although he could behave in a selfish way that would make him feel natural and comfortable; he goes out of his way to empathize with, and serve others and their needs. He did this in order to win as many people as possible to trust in Messiah – Paul’s central goal in life (9:19).

Dear Heavenly Father, How awesome You are! What great mercy and grace You give those who love You by forgiving their sins. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:11-12). Yet, You are also Holy so You cannot allow anyone into Your holy home of heaven who does not love You and trust in Your Son whom You sent as the atoning sacrifice to pay the price for our sins. He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36).

Eternity – a great thought for those who love God and will spend forever in heaven – but a horrifying thought for those who love themselves and will not be allowed into heaven, but will be separated from God forever! At the revelation of the Lord Yeshua from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, He will command judgment on those who do not know God and do not heed the Good News of our Lord Yeshua.  They will pay the price of eternal ruin, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power (Second Thessalonians 1:7c-9).

Let us do everything that we can to pray for and to lovingly and humbly persuade all peoples that You, God, are the only way to heaven. Let us lay aside pride and be busy to do the most important of work – to pray for unsaved friends and family that they may choose to follow You and so be saved for all eternity (Romans 10:9-10). Praise and thank You for always being with us to help us to be bold in witnessing for You. You are wonderful! In your holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

That is, with Jews, what I did was put myself in the position of a non-Messianic Jew (9:20a). No matter to whom Paul was speaking, He never compromised his message. He presented the Good News truthfully and forcefully. But by the same token, he never unnecessarily offended those to whom he spoke by behaving in an insensitive manner (10:32). Unfortunately, today, this phrase suggests being a deceiver or a chameleon who changes his behavior to suit his audience. We know that Paul rebuked Peter for behaving in this way (see the commentary on Galatians Bb – The Antioch Incident: How Can You Force Jews to Live Like Gentiles). Paul would later write: We refuse to make use of shameful underhanded methods, employing deception or distorting God’s message (Second Corinthians 4:2a), and then used three chapters of that letter to defend himself against such charges (Second Corinthians Chapters 10-12). He could hardly expect them to believe him there if in the present passage they were to understand him as teaching that the end justifies the means.

Nevertheless, modern critics of this passage continue to claim that Paul was Torah observant when he was with Jews, but ignored it when he was with Gentiles. But their misunderstanding of these verses forces them into a cul-de-sac from which their only escape is to view Paul as putting on an act for the sake of the Kingdom. For they give his circumcising Timothy (Acts 16:1-3) as an example of “becoming as a Jew to the Jews” and “as under the law to those under the law” and they cite his eating with Gentiles, whose food, presumably, was non-kosher (Galatians 2:11-14), to illustrate his “becoming as apart from law to those apart from the law.” By doing so, they reveal three misinterpretations. First, they think that “becoming as” means “behaving like;” secondly, they think that “under the law” means “expected to obey the Torah” and as a consequence equate “the Jews” with “those under the law;” and thirdly, they seem unaware of the fact that being Jewish is not something one can turn-on or turn-off at will like a water faucet.

With regard to this third point, Paul never considered himself an ex-Jew. Since he remained a Jew all his life, we can eliminate another misinterpretation of “becoming as” or “becoming something that one formerly was not.” Paul did not become a chameleon, “becoming as” the people around him. What he did was empathize with them. He put himself in their position. He entered into their needs and aspirations, their strengths and weaknesses, their opportunities and constraints, their ideas, feelings and values – in short, using the current way of saying it, he tried to understand “where they were coming from.”

Having established common ground with those he was trying to reach, Paul could then communicate the Good News in ways familiar to them, using rabbinical teaching methods with Jews, and philosophical reasoning with Greeks. With the weak, he would bear with them because he understood the origin of their weakness (8:7-12). He did everything possible to overcome all barriers to the gospel – psychological, social, and especially cultural; for he knew the task of communicating the gospel had been entrusted to him (9:15-18 and 23). He knew he could not expect others to meet him half-way. But he was never a hypocrite.

In order to win Jews (9:20b). Earlier, Paul announced that his goal was to win as many people as possible to trust in Messiah, that is, as many of all kinds of people as he could. By “winning” them, of course, he means getting them to realize that they are sinners who need ADONAI’s forgiveness, and can obtain it only by accepting Yeshua’s atoning death on their behalf. It is critical to understand that Jews are not excluded from needing God’s forgiveness through Yeshua; if they were, Paul would not be making efforts to win Jews. Those who ignore this mandate, or purposely ignore it because of replacement theology (see the commentary on Romans Ai – The Righteous Shall Live by Faith), violate this teaching.

Paul just mentioned the Jews, no need to repeat that. Now he talks about three groups of Gentiles. The first have been Judaized and subjected themselves to a legalistic perversion of the Torah; the second, pagans with no involvement with Torah at all; and the third, are the “weak” who subject themselves to their own overly strict conscience as if it were Torah.

First, with [Judaized Gentiles] in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah (Greek: upo nomon, meaning under something that is not the Torah but a perversion of it, specifically, a perversion that tries to turn Torah into a set of rules that one can supposedly go through the motions, with neither faith nor love for either God, yet earn a right standing with God). That is why David Stern in his translation of the Complete Jewish Bible translates this verse: With those people (Greek: ho) in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah (9:20c). Furthermore, people are not “under the law” in the sense of “having to obey” it, but “under” it in an oppressive sense, in subjection to it as to a slavemaster, a metaphor that Paul uses whenever the Greek phrase upo nomon appears in both Galatians (see the commentary on Galatians Bm – The Torah Became our Guardian to Lead Us to Messiah), and Romans (see the commentary on Romans Bv – The New Master in Messiah).²⁴¹

With [Judaized Gentiles] in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah (see the commentary on Galatians Ag – Who were the Judaizers), I put myself in the position to empathize with someone under such legalism, in order to win those [Gentiles] under this legalism (9:20d). The legalistic perversion of the Torah that [Judaized Gentiles] became enslaved to was not always non-Messianic Judaism. In fact, more often than not it was a watered-down form of it, perhaps binding them to observe certain Jewish holidays (Colossians 2:16-17; Galatians 4:10), or binding the men to get circumcised by not obeying the rest of the Jewish mitzvot (Galatians 5:3 and 6:13). Unsaved Gentiles who subjected themselves to some, but not all, of the Jewish practice were called God-fearers (see the commentary on Acts Bb – An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah 53), but not all God-fearers became legalistic about their observance of Jewish customs, Paul applied the principles of the Jerusalem Council (see the commentary on Acts Bt – The Council’s Letter to the Gentile Believers).

Even though I myself am not in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah (9:20e). If the Greek phrase upo nomon meant “required to obey the Torah,” Paul could not have written this. Paul was a Jew (Acts 13:9), and Jews are required to obey the Torah . . . the true Torah. The psalmist said it this way: How blessed are those who reject the advice of the wicked, don’t stand in the way of sinners or sit where scoffers sit! Their delight is in ADONAI’s Torah; in His Torah they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams – they bear their fruit in season, their leaves never wither, everything they do succeeds (Psalm 1:1-3). The next verse reveals what Paul understood about himself in relation to the one and only Torah . . . the Torah of Moshe; this present verse only talks about his relationship to the legalistic perversion of it.²⁴²

Second, when I am with [pagan Gentiles] who live outside the framework of Torah (9:21a). Those who live outside (The Greek: tois anomois can mean to the lawless, in the sense of “wicked,” or, as here, those who do not relate to the Torah at all). In Romans 2:12-16 this would be synonymous with the Gentiles; but here, as indicated in 9:20c, it means a particular group of Gentiles – those who have neither subjected themselves to a legalistic perversion of the Torah, nor “weak” who have made their overly strict consciences into a Torah of their own. This pagan Gentile tends toward lawlessness and lack of discipline (see the commentary on Romans An – The Depraved Mind of the Gentile Pagan). Some of the people to whom Paul was writing were once in this category (6:9-11). Indeed, the whole tone of 8:1 to 11:1, and indeed the whole letter, suggests that this was the mindset Paul was dealing with among many of the leaders of the Corinthian church.

I put myself in the position to empathize with [the pagan Gentile] in order to win him to the Lord – although I myself am not a pagan, but live within the framework of the Torah of Moshe,  as upheld and modified in accordance with what Messiah has said and done to establish the B’rit Chadashah (9:21b). The Torah of Messiah is not something that does away with or replaces the Torah of Moshe; rather, as Yeshua said: Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete (Matthew 5:17). As a result, even though the Pharisees and the Torah-teachers, and the rabbis after them, teach many things about the Torah that are true, they miss the mark to the extent that non-Messianic Judaism makes the Torah a legalistic system that perverts its true intention, which is to receive the grace of ADONAI through faith (see the commentary on Romans Ct – Praying for the Jewish Community).

Paul does not say that he is in subjection to (Greek: upo, meaning under) a perverted Torah of Moshe which leads to legalism, because there is no oppressiveness, no subjection, in being within the framework of the Torah of Messiah. Yeshua Himself said: My yoke is easy, My burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30; Acts 15:10). When Paul wants to emphasize oppressiveness or compulsion in relation to something abstract, such as the Torah, he uses upo, meaning under; if that is not his intention, he uses en, meaning in, within, or in the framework of. Thus, for example, Romans 3:19 reads: We know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah. The last seven words translate the Greek en to nomo, or in the law. A number of English translations fail to bring out this important distinction.²⁴³

Third, when I am with the “weak” [Gentiles], I put myself in the position to empathize with the “weak,” in order to win the “weak” (9:22a). In relation to its context (see Bj – Concerning Our Freedom in Messiah), this is the main point of 9:20-22. Paul had voluntarily made himself a slave to all (9:19). Examples of this included non-Messianic Jews (9:20a-b) and Judaized Gentiles (9:20c-d-e). But now he speaks of a group the others above were willing to ignore and ride roughshod over – the weak, those with misguided consciences (see Bm – The Weaker Brother or Sister). Their scruples were not to be despised, but understood, so that they may be won to faith (in the immediate context), or their life in the Lord strengthened (in the larger context). A deeper understanding of God’s truth will free the weak from bondage: You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32).²⁴⁴

With all kinds of people, both Jews and Gentiles, I have become all kinds of things, so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them (9:22b). He did not compromise the gospel. He would not change anything to satisfy anyone. But he would condescend in any way for anyone if that would, in any way, help bring them to Messiah. He would never set the truth of the gospel, but he would gladly restrict his liberty in the gospel. He would not offend a Jew, Gentile, or those who were weak in understanding.

If a person is offended by God’s Word, that’s their problem. It they are offended by biblical doctrine, standards, or church discipline that’s their problem. That person is offended by God. But if someone is offended by our unnecessary behavior or practices – no matter how good and acceptable those may be in themselves – their problem becomes our problem. It is not a problem of Torah but a problem of love (Matthew 5:39-41). Paul’s life centered in living out the gospel and in preaching and teaching the gospel. Nothing else was of any concern for him. But I do it all for the sake of the Good News, so that I may be a joint sharer in it (9:23).²⁴⁵ This continues to elaborate the earlier principle: Paul made himself a slave to all in order to win as many people as possible to trust in Messiah (9:19).

Paul’s example (9:24-27): The Greeks had two great athletic festivals, the Olympic games and the Isthmian games. The latter was held in Corinth, and therefore intimately familiar to those to whom Paul was writing. Contestants in the games had to prove rigorous training for ten months. The last month was spent in Corinth, with supervised daily workouts in the gymnasium and athletic fields. The race was always a major attraction at the games, and this is the figure Paul uses to illustrate the faithful life of a believer. Don’t you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one wins the prize? No one would train so hard for so long without intending to win. Yet, out of such a large number of runners, only one would win.

So then, Paul concludes: run to win (9:24)!

A great difference between the Isthmian races, and the race that believers run is that every believer who is willing to pay the price of careful training can win. We do not compete against each other, but against obstacles – practical, physical, and spiritual – that would hinder us. In a sense, every believer runs his or her own race, enabling each one of us to be a winner in winning souls for Messiah. Paul, therefore, advises us to run to win, by setting aside anything that might hinder the Good News (see Bo – Laying Aside Rights).

Holding tightly to your freedom in Messiah to do anything you want is a sure way to lose the race of soul-winning. Many of the Corinthian believers seriously limited their testimony because they refused to give up their rights, and in doing so won few and offended many.

Now every athlete in training submits himself to strict discipline, and he does it just to win a laurel wreath that will soon wither away. But we do it to win a crown that will last forever (see the commentary on Revelation Cc – For We Must All Appear Before the Bema Seat of Christ). But for that to happen, discipline and self-control are needed (9:25). No believer will be successful in witnessing, or anything else worthwhile, without discipline. Every good thing that we accomplish – whether in learning, business, artistic skill, marriage, witnessing, or whatever – is accomplished through discipline and self-control.

If an athlete expects to excel, he voluntarily restricts his freedom. His sleep, his diet, and his exercise, are not determined by his freedom to eat, sleep or exercise any time he wants, but by his training. And thus, the illustration of the athlete’s disciplined self-control is a rebuke to the half-hearted, out-of-shape believer who does almost nothing to prepare themselves to witness to the lost – and consequently never do.

Paul had a purpose in running. Accordingly, I don’t run aimlessly but straight for the finish line. Changing metaphors, he said: I don’t shadow-box but try to make every punch count (9:26). He was always fighting the real fight, the good fight (First Timothy 1:18). I treat my body hard (Greek: hupopiazo, literally to give his body a black eye) and make it my slave so that, after proclaiming the Good News to others, I myself will not be disqualified from rewards due to faithful workers (9:27). Here is another metaphor from the Isthmian games. A contestant who failed to meet the training requirements was disqualified. He could not even run, much less win. Paul didn’t want to spend his life preaching the requirements to others, and then be disqualified for not meeting the requirements himself.

Many believers start their walk with the Lord with enthusiasm and devotion. They train carefully for a while but soon tire of the effort and begin to “break training.” They begin to exercise their freedom in Messiah to do other things. Not necessarily bad things, but other things nonetheless. Before long they are disqualified from being effective witnesses. They do not have what it takes, because they are unwilling to pay the price. The flesh, the world, everyday life, personal interests, and often simple laziness hinder their spiritual growth and preparation for service. Even good things can interfere with the best. Indulging our freedoms can interfere with fulfillment of love. Following our own ways can keep others from knowing the Way. Souls are won by those who are prepared to be used when the Spirit chooses to use them.²⁴⁶

Laying Aside Rights
9: 1-14

Laying aside rights DIG: Why does Paul make such a big deal about being an apostle? What is the implied answer to each of the questions in verse 1? Who was apparently contending that Paul wasn’t a proper apostle? What rights did Paul have as an apostle? How did he illustrate his right to financial support? How did he lay aside his rights?

REFLECT: What “rights” do you have that God may want you to give up? Do you practice what you preach? In other words, do you walk the walk, or merely talk the talk? When was the last time you gave up your freedom in Messiah so as not to stumble a fellow believer? Have you stumbled a fellow believer and it cost you a friendship? How can you help others now?

The Lord said that those who proclaim the gospel should earn their living from the gospel.

Paul used one of the most basic of all principles of leadership: he himself practiced in his own life what he preached to others. The secret of the power and influence of the leaders of the first-century church wasn’t just in the things they said, but the fact that they were themselves a living example of their own message.²²⁶

In Chapter 8, Paul set out the limits of our freedom in Messiah, freedom that is to be determined by brotherly and sisterly love, by concern for the welfare of other believers. He summarized the principle as: Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble (8:9). Our rights end when another person is offended. In Chapter 9, the apostle illustrates how he followed that principle in his own life. In the first section of this chapter, Paul gives six reasons why he had the right to be supported by the churches in whom he had ministered.

An analogy from Paul’s own life (9:1-6): What unexpected vigor, Paul suddenly unleashes a torrent of rhetorical questions, each beginning with the Greek article ou (is it not so?), thus expecting a positive answer: Of course I am; of course I have; of course you are. Verse one is composed of four questions, all falling into their natural order in terms of the argument.

Am I not a free man? This touches immediately back to 8:13, where Paul had indicated his freedom to eat whatever he wanted, but his voluntary decision never to eat meat again if by doing so he would cause a fellow believer to stumble. Am I not a free man? Of course I am! I can eat anything I want.”²²⁷ The Corinthians believed that they had the freedom to do anything they wanted, believing themselves to be spiritually mature enough to handle the pressures and stains of going into a pagan temple. They did not understand Paul’s theology of serving the Lord as an apostle, why he did certain things, and most of all, why he did not do certain other things.²²⁸ Therefore, he set out to defend his own actions.

Closely related to the first question, Paul asks: Am I not an apostle of the Messiah? Of course I am! Most naturally, Paul includes the matter of his apostleship, since everything that follows hinged on that fact. This is the first direct statement in the letter indicating that his apostleship itself was at stake in Corinth; but such has been hinted at several times before this (1:1 and 12, 4:1-5, 8-13 and 14-21, 5:1-2).²²⁹

Paul’s significant response to any of his Corinthian detractors, who did not think he was a proper apostle, was the question: Haven’t I seen Yeshua our Lord? Of course I have! An apostle had to be an eyewitness of Messiah and of His resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). Paul was not among the original apostles who were with Yeshua during His earthly ministry, but had seen the resurrected Messiah on at least three occasions. The Lord appeared to Paul at his conversion (Acts 9:4-5), and in two visions that we know of (Acts 18:9-10 and 22:17-18). Paul could witness having personally met the risen Messiah.²³⁰

The next proof of Paul’s apostleship was the Corinthian believers themselves. And aren’t you yourselves the result of my work for the Lord (9:1)? The church at Corinth was one of the fruits of Paul’s apostolic labors. Their saving faith and their knowledge of God’s Word came from Paul’s evangelism and discipling (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Cc – Many Respond to the Good News in Corinth). Paul already alluded to Corinth as God’s field (3:9) where he had been assigned as the servant of ADONAI at work. He planted, but God gave the growth (3:6). Paul is careful to distinguish that they were not his work, about which he might have reason to boast, but his work in the Lord, so that his boasting would be in the Lord (First Corinthians 1:30-31; Second Corinthians 10:17).²³¹

Even if to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the living proof that I am the Lord’s apostle (9:2). Who are these other people questioning his apostleship? A short time later, Paul will go into an extended tirade against some imposters in Corinth, whom he labels false apostles . . . masquerading as apostles of Messiah (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Af – The Problem of the False Apostles), and since one of their main criticisms of Paul was that he apparently didn’t feel free to accept support for his ministry from them (Second Corinthians 11:1-21), it seems as though that hints of this issue are starting to surface here. Such information may have gotten to Paul verbally from Chloe’s household (1:11). He, therefore took the opportunity to work that issue into his letter at this point, hoping that he could stop it before it spread much further.

Paul goes on to acknowledge that what he is about to write is a defense against those who were judging him. That is my defense when people put me under examination (9:3). We must be clear about one thing. What Paul is defending is the same issue that he defends so vigorously in his next letter, that he has a right to accept monetary support from the believers in Corinth, but out of his own free will he has chosen not to do so.

Dear Loving Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your awesome love that was willing to leave heaven and come to earth (Philippians 2:6-8) to ransom us from sin’s punishment and to give us your righteousness (Second Corinthians 5:21). You have the right to send all to hell as a just punishment for all have sinned (Romans 3:23), but You gave up Your rights to punish, and in unspeakable great love, You took our punishment! Your example of unselfish love is our goal to follow. To love and follow you is not just rules to obey, but a heart that shows love by our actions to our brothers and sisters in Messiah.  It is clear who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil by this – anyone who does not act righteously or love his brother is not of God (First John 3:10). We love to please You by loving our brothers and sisters. You have done so much for us in love. Thank you for the joy that we can show You our love by loving others. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Paul now asks another series of rhetorical questions, all of which once again expect a positive answer. These questions begin with (Greek: me, which means they assume a negative answer, but by virtue of a Greek double negative, in essence, these questions turn out to expect a positive answer). First year Greek students are usually told that there is no such thing as a double negative in Greek – that Greek writers pile up negatives in order to emphasize the negative nuance. However, there is a little-known Greek grammatical rule that when a second negative in a series of negatives is a simple negative (ou) rather than a compound negative (oude or oudeis), that second negative does in fact function in the same way as a double negative in English. A literal translation of 9:4 would be: It is not the case, is it, that we do not have the right to eat and drink?” The assumed answer is, “Of course not!” Put positively, therefore, we can translate this question, “We have just as much right to eat and drink as anyone else, right?” And the assumed answer is, “Of course I do!”²³²

Don’t we [apostles] have the right to be given food and drink (9:4)? That is, “As a minister of God, not to mention an apostle, don’t I have the right to expect that at least food and drink will be provided to me (First Timothy 5:17-18; Galatians 6:6)? Of course I do!”

Don’t we have the right to take along with us a believing wife, as do the other apostles, also the Lord’s brothers (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3) and Kefa (9:5)? “Don’t I have the right to marry a believing woman (Mark 1:29-31), as were Yeshua’s brothers – the sons born naturally to Joseph and Mary after Yeshua. Eusebius’ History of the Christian Church (written around 320 AD) quotes Papias (early second century) as authority that the apostle Philip was married (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Cy – These are the Names of the Twelve Apostles). We know Peter (Kefa) was married from the fact that he had a mother-in-law (Mt 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38); perhaps Paul singles him out here from the other apostles because he had been in Corinth with his wife or because he was the hero of one of the Corinthian “fan clubs” (1:12). It is ironic that the Roman Catholics regard Peter as the first pope, yet he was married,²³³ and was never in Rome (see the commentary on Romans Do – People God Uses). In any case, Paul was probably a widower. In any case, though he chose to be single, he had every right to remarry. He also had the right, as did the other apostles, to take his believing wife with him as he ministered and to have her supported along with him.

Then, with a touch of sarcasm, Paul asks: Or are Barnabas and I the only ones required to go on working for our living (9:6)? Paul and Barnabas have as much right as the others to get their livelihood from the ministry, without having to work on the side. They did not pay their own way because they were obligated to do so. They did it voluntarily.²³⁴

An analogy from everyday occupations (9:7): Paul had the right to receive support from the churches that he founded for his ongoing ministry. He makes his point through three rhetorical questions; the expected answer to each one being “No!” Soldiers who go to war on behalf of their country are paid a salary; no soldier is expected to be self-supporting. Have you ever heard of a soldier paying his own expenses? No! A person who plants a vineyard has the right to eat the fruit of his labor. Have you ever seen a farmer planting a vineyard without eating its grapes? No! A person who tends a flock has the right to drink the milk of his flock. Who shepherds a flock without drinking some of the milk (9:7)? No one!²³⁵ All three types of workers are paid for their work. It is the customary, rightful, and expected thing.

Why should it not be true for God’s workers as well? It should!

An analogy from Deuteronomy (9:8-11): What I am saying is not based merely on human authority, because the Torah says the same thing – for in the Torah of Moshe it is written, “You are not to put a muzzle on an ox when it is treading out the grain” (Deuteronomy 25:4). Since God is concerned about cattle, all the more he says this for our sakes. Paul interprets this text in a typical rabbinic-type argument called “light and heavy” (Hebrew: qal wahomer). If something is true on a lower scale, it is certainly true on a more important, higher scale. In other words, if mere animals are given the right to eat as they are working in the fields, certainly human beings made in the image of God have the same right. In fact, God is more concerned about getting across a principle for human beings in this text than He is about getting across a principle for animals.²³⁶ Yes, it was written for us, meaning that he who plows and he who threshes should work expecting to get a share of the crop (9:8-10)?

An analogy from ministry (9:11-12): Paul follows up the previous argument with a second qal wahomer argument. If something is true on a human physical scale (for farmers, for example), then it must certainly be true on a spiritual scale. If farmers can expect to gain their food and support from working in the fields and at harvest, certainly missionaries should expect the same as they gain a spiritual harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you If others are sharing in this right to be supported by you, don’t we have a greater claim to it (9:11). Since farmers have every right to expect material support from working in the fields and at harvest, certainly missionaries should expect the same as they gain a spiritual harvest (Romans 15:26-27).²³⁷

But, we don’t make use of this right. Rather, we put up with all kinds of things so as not to impede in any way the Good News about the Messiah (9:12). How would receiving money have hampered the gospel? To whom would it have been a stumbling block? Potential converts may have shied away from receiving Messiah as their Lord and Savior if they suspected that it came with strings attached: acceptance would cause them to be financially committed to Paul on a continuing basis. Therefore, Paul sought to avoid any impression that he was preaching only for money. Yet, some of the Corinthians were actually ashamed of Paul. They did not interpret his voluntary act as conforming to the pattern of Messiah’s sacrifice: Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you, through His poverty, might become rich (Second Corinthians 8:9b). Instead, they interpreted his poverty as demeaning to himself and embarrassing to them.

Paul expanded this concept of limiting his freedom in Messiah a bit when he wrote to the church in Thessalonica: We were so devoted to you that we were glad to share with you not only God’s Good News but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship, how we worked night and day not to put a burden on any of you while we were proclaiming God’s Good News to you (First Thessalonians 2:8-9). While it would have been perfectly appropriate for Paul to receive regular financial support from both of these churches – in Corinth and Thessalonica – he voluntarily laid aside his rights and limited his freedom in Messiah in order to increase the effectiveness of his ministry. It was as if Paul were saying to the believers in Corinth, “If I can lay aside my right to receive money from you, surely, you can limit your freedom in Messiah and choose not to eat meat sacrificed to idols if doing so would cause your weaker brother or sister to violate his or her own conscience and sin.”²³⁸

An analogy from the Temple priesthood (9:13): Paul added additional weight to his argument with one more analogy, but this time it’s from the Torah. Don’t you know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple, and those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrifices offered there (9:13)? The priests, who performed sacred services, were supported by the tithes of crops and animals as well as sacrifices from the people to whom they ministered in the Temple (Numbers 18:8-24). Hundreds of years before the Aaronic priesthood, in fact, Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, a priest of God Most High (Genesis 14:18-20). Since they worked in the Temple, they needed to be supported.

A teaching from Yeshua Himself (9:14): Paul raised the level of authority for his argument another notch from the Torah to the command of Yeshua. Both God’s Torah and God’s Son taught that His prophets, teachers and ministers were to be paid for their work in the Lord. Thus, the teaching in the B’rit Chadashah echoes that of the Torah. In the same way, the Lord directed that those who proclaim the Good News should get their living from the Good News (9:14). Yeshua taught this principle when He said: Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Gv – Jesus Sends Out the Seventy). The Lord commands His people to offer support to those who minister to them, but He does not command those who minister to accept the support. Paul did not. He had the right, as much as any, and more than most. But for the sake of the Good News, for the sake of his brothers and sisters in the Lord, and for the sake of love, he gladly and willingly laid aside all his rights.²³⁹

Paul’s Own Example
9: 1-27

Having entered himself into the discussion in 8:13, Paul now goes on to illustrate the basic principle he was teaching at the end of Chapter 8 – namely, that even though we may have certain freedoms in Messiah, we are not obligated to exercise those freedoms at every possible opportunity; in fact, there will be times when we specifically need to refrain from doing so in order that a fellow believer might not stumble, and that the cause of Messiah may be advanced. As Paul does so, he uses as an example an issue that will soon blossom into a severe crisis in his relationship with the Corinthians.²²⁴

If eating a piece of meat sacrificed to an idol was a big deal to the believers at Corinth, Paul completely raised the steaks (pun intended) by talking about his right to receive money in comparison to their right to receive meat. Paul had a right to be paid by the churches he started and for the ministry he rendered on their behalf. But Paul willingly chose to limit that freedom in order to maximize the effectiveness of his ministry. As he developed this illustration, we gained some significant insight into the scriptural responsibility of a church to pay its pastors.²²⁵

The Weaker Brother or Sister
8: 7-13

The weaker brother or sister DIG: What did Paul mean by “the knowledge-driven believer,” and “the weak brother?” For what purpose should “the knowledge-driven believer,” defer to “the weak brother?” Who should take responsibility for conflicts between the two?

REFLECT: What freedoms do you feel you have as a believer that might be considered controversial to others? What freedoms do you not have that other believers believe that they do have? How does this principle work in your world, where life and the Bible meet?

It is never right to cause another believer to violate his or her own conscience,
just so we can exercise our freedom in Messiah.

From general principles regarding God and idols, Paul moves to the specific issue at hand, namely, whether it is permissible for a believer to sit in a pagan temple and eat meat sacrificed to idols. His goal at this stage is to illustrate how love rather than knowledge builds up the body of believers in Corinth (to see link click Bl – Let Love Control Knowledge). But we must always keep in mind that by the time Paul reaches the end of these three chapters (see Bj – Concerning Our Liberty in Messiah), he flat-out says that it is wrong for any believer to eat a meal in the temple of an idol (10:20-21).²¹⁹

Paul reminds the knowledge-driven believer of an additional truth. One which they must have known but they didn’t take into consideration when exercising their freedom in Messiah.

Dear Wonderful Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your great love, even in times of judgment. In Your holiness You could immediately slap down all who sin, but you don’t. After people die, they will have an eternal terrible punishment for ignoring Your love and choosing to love themselves more than You (John 3:36). But while people are alive, You patiently call them to Your gracious love. You know we are weak. For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust (Psalms 103:14). You, O God, are mighty in power- yet You are also gracious and kind. ADONAI is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy. He will not always accuse, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not treated us according to our sins, or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him (Psalms 103:8-11).

You are always loving and full of mercy. Not just on good days are You kind and thoughtful- but always, forever You are watching over Your children to care for and to bless them. But the mercy of Adonai is from everlasting to everlasting on those who revere Him, His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant, who remember to observe His instructions (Psalms 103:17-18).

You have a special spot in Your heart for those who are all alone and weak. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:27). We desire to love You by following Your example of gracious kindness to those who are weak – whether widows, orphans or brothers and sisters in Messiah who are weak in their understanding of spiritual principles. Thank You for living in us (John 14:23, Romans 8:9-11) to help us to be loving and full of mercy – just like you! We bow in worship of such a loving and awesome father! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Against his insistence that, “We all have knowledge” (8:1b), Paul now asserts that “not everyone has this knowledge.” Moreover, some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat food which has been sacrificed to them, they think of it as really affected by the idol (8:7a). Not all believers were mature in their knowledge and understanding of spiritual truths. Some were new believers, freshly out of paganism and its many temptations and corruptions. They still imagined that idols, though evil, were real and the gods represented were real. They may tell their heads that the god is only an idol, but their hearts tell them differently. They knew that there was only one true God, but perhaps they had not yet fully grasped the truth that there was only one real God.

If such people, following the example of the knowledge-driven believer, goes ahead and eats what their conscience tells them not to eat, their conscience, being weak, is thus defiled (8:7b). Even though the eating in itself was not morally or spiritually wrong, it becomes wrong when it is committed against one’s own conscience. A person who violates his conscience willingly does what he thinks is wrong. In his own mind, he has committed a sin; and until he fully understands that the act is not a sin in God’s eyes, he should stay away from it. He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Defiled conscience is defiled faith. As the weak one cannot reconcile the difference between his head and his heart, eating meat sacrificed to idols brought on feelings of guilt, despair, and loss of joy and peace. It might also lead to sinful thoughts connected with his former pagan practices and have him lapse back into some of them. He would not lose his salvation (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer), but he would lose rewards in heaven, exchanging gold, silver and precious stones for wood, hay and straw (3:12).

You have your weaknesses and I have mine (chocolate). In that sense, each one of us is the weaker brother or sister. Paul’s primary point here is that anyone who causes such a weaker brother or sister to defile their conscience and faith helps to lead them into sin. Knowledge may well tell us that something is perfectly acceptable, but love will tell us that, because it is not acceptable to a fellow believer’s conscience, we should not take advantage of our freedom.²²⁰

“Oh, come on, Paul,” says this knowledge-driven believer, “food is morally and spiritually neutral. Food doesn’t drive us away from God or draw us closer to Him.” In a sense, of course, Paul would agree, saying: Now food will not improve our relationship with God – we will be neither poorer if we abstain nor richer if we eat (8:8). For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, shalom and you in the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (Romans 14:17). What enables one to grow spiritually is the condition of one’s heart.²²¹

But this is precisely the point. If the weak brother eats some of the food sacrificed to idols in the temple, in his heart he will be expressing devotion to that idol. That, Paul tells the knowledge-driven believer, is unacceptable: Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble (8:9). Obviously, some Corinthian believers could not handle such freedom; it would pull them down into the pit from which they had been delivered. If an immature believer sees us doing something that troubles his conscience, his spiritual growth is harmed. We should never influence a fellow believer to do anything that the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, through that person’s conscience, is protecting him from.

In fact, Paul goes on to say: You have this “knowledge”; but suppose someone with a weak conscience sees you sitting, eating a meal in the temple of an idol. Won’t he be built up wrongly to eat this food which has been sacrificed to idols? Then the weak person, the brother for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge (8:10-11). It would bring spiritual disaster. In that case, a knowledge-driven believer causes the weak brother into sin by leading him into a situation he cannot handle. It is never right to cause another believer to violate his or her own conscience just so we can exercise our freedom in Messiah.

The voice of a believer’s conscience is the instrument of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. If a believer’s conscience is weak it is because he is spiritually weak and immature. The conscience is God’s guardian to keep us from doing things where we could be harmed. As we mature, our conscience allows us to go more places and to do more things because we will have more spiritual strength and better spiritual judgment. And so, when you sin against the brothers by wounding their conscience when it is weak, you are sinning against the Messiah (8:12)! Causing a brother to stumble is more than an offense against him, it is an offense against our Lord. That is a strong warning. Surely, no believer would desire to do that.²²²

Paul concludes this section with his own personal testimony: To sum up, if food will be a snare for my brother, I will never eat meat again, lest I cause my brother to stumble (8:13). Paul leaves his readers to think about this for a chapter-and-a-half; however, this is not his final word on this question, which he takes up again at 10:23. But by inserting himself into the discussion at this point, Paul leads us directly into the next chapter, which is filled with his own personal example (see Bn – Paul’s Own Example).

In deciding about whether or not to participate in any behavior that is doubtful, the following principles make a good checklist to follow:

Excess: Is the activity or habit necessary, or is it merely an extra that is not really important? Is it perhaps only an encumbrance that you should willingly give up. So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment – that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement – and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us (Hebrews 12:1).

Expediency: Is what I want to do helpful or useful, or only desirable? You say, “For me, everything is permitted.” Maybe, but not everything is helpful (First Corinthians 6:12).

Emulation: If we are doing what Messiah would do, our action is not only permissible, but good and right. Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Yeshua did (First John 2:6).

Example: Are we setting the right example for others, especially for weaker brothers and sisters? If we emulate Messiah, others will be able to emulate us, to follow our example. Set the believers as an example in your speech, behavior, love, trust and purity (First Timothy 4:12).

Evangelism: Is my testimony going to be helped or hindered? Will unbelievers be drawn to Messiah or turned away from Him by what I am doing? Will it help me conduct myself with wisdom towards outsiders, making the most of the opportunity (Colossians 4:5 NASB).

Edification: Will I be built up and matured in Messiah; will I become spiritually stronger? You say, “Everything is permitted.” Maybe, but not everything is edifying (First Corinthians 10:23).

Exaltation: Will the Lord be lifted up and glorified in what I do? God’s glory and exaltation should be the supreme purpose behind everything we do. Whatever you do, whether it’s eating or drinking or anything else, do it all so as to bring glory to God (First Corinthians 10:31).²²³

Let Love Control Knowledge
8: 1-6

Let love control knowledge DIG: Why did some of the Corinthians need to let love control their knowledge? What “knowledge” did the Corinthians think they had? What was the result of the “knowledge?” Although Paul did not dispute that “knowledge,” what does he mean by contrasting it with love? What caused Paul to be so intolerant of idols?

REFLECT: Have you ever been accused by a nonbeliever of doing something that a “believer is not supposed to do?” If so, how did you handle the situation? What did you learn from it? What parallels can you draw between the “eating meat offered to idols” controversy in Corinth and your own life? Are there any ethical issues that might be considered gray areas?

Love and knowledge must go together.

Smoking or eating big macs were not matters of concern in the Corinthian church. They faced other pressing issues. Namely, as they asked Paul “Are we free to eat meat sacrificed to idols?” This would be no big deal to us. After all, I can’t remember the last time I was tempted to eat an Idol Burger. But make no mistake about it – this issue not only threatened to divide the church in Corinth even further (if that were possible), but it placed at risk the fragile faith of many in that city who were saved out of a background steeped in idol worship. So, they asked Paul about it. His answer, while being rather lengthy (to see link click Bj – Concerning Our Liberty in Messiah), lays out for us a number of practical principles that will help us to navigate our lives around the gray areas that we face each and every day.

While this dispute might seem silly to us, it was anything but silly to a young, struggling church trying to survive in a culture of paganism and polytheism. We get a glimpse of what life was like in downtown Corinth by Luke’s cryptic description of Athens as a city full of idols (Acts 17:16). As Athens was . . . so was Corinth. Statues of false gods lined the streets. Temples to those idols filled the back alleys. Many, if not most, of the members of the church at Corinth were saved out of a background of idol worship. They were troubled by vivid memories of times spent in those temples, worshiping at the feet of pagan gods.²¹⁴

We know that we all have knowledge (8:1-3): Now about food sacrificed to idols. Paul begins this section with “Now about,” a phrase that was part of Paul’s typical response to the letter that the Corinthians had sent him asking for his advice on certain issues. Now about food sacrificed to idols (8:1a). The word sacrificed to idols (Greek: eidolothytos) appears to have been a Greek word coined by believers in the first century precisely because of the concern over the issue of how to handle food that had been sacrificed to idols. In a society filled with idols and pagan temples, what should a believer do?

We know that, as you say, “We all have knowledge” (8:1b). As with his, “Now about” comment above, so here also he appears to begin with a quotation from the letter written to him. It seems that some in Corinth were justifying their behavior by claiming certain knowledge, presumably the knowledge that idols, in fact, were only made with human hands and did not really represent any true reality.²¹⁵ While Paul concedes that point, he also points out that such knowledge can easily lead to pride and arrogance. Yes, that is so, but “knowledge” puffs a person up with pride; whereas love builds up (8:1c). What is far more important than knowledge is love, especially the issue of whether this love is being used to build other believers up. In other words, our love must control our knowledge.

A know-it-all attitude is only evidence of arrogance. The person who really knows the truth is only too conscious of how much he does not know. Furthermore, it is one thing to know doctrine, and quite another to know God. It is possible to grow in Bible knowledge but not grow in grace or in one’s personal relationship with God. The test is love. Love and knowledge must go together: speaking the truth in love (Eph 4:15). It has been well said, “Knowledge without love is brutality, and love without knowledge is hypocrisy.”²¹⁶

Without actually saying so, Paul raises doubts about their possession of knowledge. Because the acquisition of knowledge about spiritual things should ultimately lead to the benefit of other believers, Paul questioned whether the Corinthians really did have the knowledge they claimed. The person who thinks he “knows” something doesn’t yet know in the way he ought to know (8:2). True knowledge is not merely Bible trivia, but in living in a way that pleases ADONAI. If our knowledge doesn’t affect the way we live it is useless to us.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your great love. Praise You that Your love is not mere words, but You have shown Your great love by actions – by Your willingness to offer Yourself as the sin offering of the world (Second Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 2:8) suffering pain and shame (Hebrews 12:2). It is wonderful that You made the requirement to enter heaven to not be money or knowledge – but our faith (Romans 5:2) which comes from love.

You are so wise in making love to be the greatest commandment and love for others as the second greatest commandment. And He said to him: You shall love ADONAI your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Mt 22:37-40). It is easy to love You dear Father, for You are so wonderful, but sometimes it is hard to love others. May You help us remember that showing love to you includes showing love for others, not in mere words, but in actions (1 John 3:10 and 18). Thank You for Your wonderful example of love! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

However, if someone loves God, God knows him (8:3). Paul stresses that if anyone truly loves God, which inevitably also involves loving others (Matthew 22:37-40; First John 4:11 and 19-21), then that person is known by God. Such divine knowledge is a euphemism for God’s election and salvation of that person: The Lord knows His own (Second Timothy 2:19b). What an incredible privilege to be known and loved by ADONAI.²¹⁷ After these introductory remarks, Paul brings up the specific subject at hand.

We know that an idol is nothing (8:4-6): So then, Paul begins a new topic and follows this introductory phrase with we “know,” which once again suggests that the next phrase is a quotation from the Corinthian letter to him. As for eating food sacrificed to idols, we “know” that, as you say, “An idol has no real existence in the world, and there is only one God” (8:4). This phrase seems to be the basis on which some of the Corinthians were eating food sacrificed to idols, namely, that so-called “gods” simply do not exist because there is only one God.

Paul agrees with them up to a point. For even if there are so-called “gods,” either in heaven or on earth – as in fact there are “gods” and “lords” galore – (8:5). Paul knows that the world is full of “gods” and “lords” that are real rivals to the one true God and he will not dismiss them so lightly. Yes, an idol itself is only a man-made object. But behind it lies a spiritual being who rivals YHVH . . . a demon. What the Corinthians have not taken seriously is that pagan temples are the home of demonic activity and fellowshipping where they live is to fellowship with them! Later in his letter Paul will declare: So, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols has any significance in itself? No, what I am saying is that the things which pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice not to God but to demons (10:19-20a).

And I don’t want to become sharers with demons (10:20b). Paul didn’t have much tolerance for idols. His attitude came from his Jewish background, for after the exile in Babylon (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule), God’s people lost all attraction to idols. The message of prophets like Isaiah regarding the dangers of spiritual idolatry had finally sunk in (see the commentary on Isaiah Hy – Worship the LORD, Not Idols). Paul was deeply disturbed by all the idols he saw in Athens (see the commentary on Acts Cb – An Unknown God in Athens). He praised the Thessalonian believers for turning to God from idols (1 Thess 1:9). And notice how often Paul includes idolatry in a list of serious sins (1 Cor 5:11 and 5:9; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5). Paul had no intention of letting those arrogant Corinthians, with their “sophisticated knowledge,” engage in anything that he considered sinful, dangerous, or demonic.

Before Paul gets into “the meat” of his argument (see Bm – The Weaker Brother or Sister), he cites an expanded version of what might be called the Believers Sh’ma: Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist. And one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom were created all things and through whom we have our being (8:6). Paul uses this confession as the foundation of his argument against the Corinthians’ behavior. Associating with the many other false “gods” and “lords,” ruptures the relationship with the one true God and Lord (see Bt – Run From Idolatry). It bars any participation in idolatry, even if it appears harmless on the surface of things, like friends gathering for a pleasant meal in an idol’s temple.²¹⁸

The Limits of our Freedom in Messiah
8: 1-13

One of the questions that the Corinthian believers asked Paul in their letter to him centered around eating food that had been offered to idols. That specific problem still exists in parts of the world for believers saved out of idolatrous religions. Even for the rest of us, however, the basic problem that confronted the Corinthians faces all of us. How far does our freedom in Messiah go in regard to behavior not specifically forbidden in Scripture? They are neither black nor white, but gray. Such issues in one age or area may not be the same as those in other times or places; but believers in every age and every place have had to deal with the gray areas of our faith.

The first major council of the early Messianic community (see the commentary on Acts, to see link click Bs – The Council at Jerusalem) was called primarily to deal with such issues. Some Jewish believers insisted that all male Gentile converts be circumcised, while others were afraid to socialize with believing Gentiles, especially over a meal, for fear they would break Jewish kosher mitzvot. Gray areas. The council decided that Gentiles didn’t need to be circumcised, but that they should abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, and from what is strangled from blood (Acts 15:20).

Our liberty in Messiah is a central truth of the B’rit Chadashah. If you obey what I say, Yeshua said, then you are really my disciples, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32). Now ADONAI is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of ADONAI is, there is freedom (Second Corinthians 3:17). It is for freedom that Messiah has set us free (Galatians 5:1 NIV). But our freedom doesn’t mean that we can do anything we want. We are never free to sin. When exercising our freedom, we need to avoid things that in themselves are not sinful, but might lead others to sin. Peter reminds us: Act as free people, but do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond-slaves for God (First Peter 2:16).

Two common extremes are often followed in regard to these gray areas. One is legalism, and the other is license. Legalism believes that every act, every habit, every type of behavior is either black or white. Legalists live by the rules (like the Pharisees), rather than the Spirit. They classify everything as either good or bad, whether the Bible mentions it or not. They develop exhaustive lists of do’s and don’ts (like the Oral Law). Doing things on their good list and avoiding things on their bad list is their idea of spirituality, no matter what the inner person looks like (like whitewashed tombs). Their lives are controlled by their lists of do’s and don’ts, not Spirit controlled. Legalism stifles freedom in Messiah, stifles the conscience, stifles the Word of God, and stifles the Ruach Ha’Kodesh.

License is the opposite extreme. It is like legalism in that it too has no gray areas – but neither does it have much black. Almost everything is white. Everything is acceptable as long as it is not strictly forbidden in Scripture. They believe that our freedom in Messiah is virtually absolute and unqualified. As long as your own conscience is free . . . you can do as you please. This seems to have been the philosophy of the group Paul addresses here. They probably agreed with him that believers should always maintain a blameless conscience before both God and men (Acts 24:16 NASB). But beyond that, they wanted no restrictions.

But Paul teaches that it can also be wrong to offend the consciences of fellow believers when they are less mature (weak), and when what we are doing is not necessarily in our service to the Lord. In answer to the specific question about eating food offered to idols, Paul gives a general and universal principle in Chapter 8, he illustrates it in 9:1 to 10:13, and then he applies it in 10:14 to 11:1. The principle is: Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble (8:9). Before we exercise our freedom in Messiah in a given area not forbidden by Scripture, we need to think about how it will affect others, especially fellow believers.²¹³

Concerning Our Freedom in Messiah
8:1 to 11:1

Ordinarily the Greeks and Romans burned the less desirable portions of an animal in the course of their sacrifices and retained the choice parts for personal consumption at pagan temple banquets celebrating the sacrifices. If a sacrifice were made in connection with a state function, the meat which remained was frequently sold in the marketplace. The Corinthians’ questions apparently concerned (1) the acceptability of buying and eating meat from one of those sacrificial animals; (2) the acceptability of eating this meat as an invited guest in a friend’s home; and (3) the acceptability of attending one of these pagan temple sacrifices and enjoying the meal of celebration which followed in the temple precincts. Paul spoke to each of these issues.²¹² As with going to prostitutes in the pagan temples (6:12-20), the Corinthians argued that they had the “right” to continue those practices. Therefore, as we shall see, although the details relate to another era of history, the underlying principles are very relevant for life in today’s world.

Reasons for Remaining Single
7: 25-40

Reasons for remaining single DIG: What is Paul’s guiding principle in verses 17, 20 and 24? How does he apply this general rule specifically to those who are single? What advice does he give on how to live in view of the “present stress?” How does his advice in this context relate to his teaching in Ephesians 5:21-32? He suggests that singleness is an opportunity they ought to consider? What reasons does he give for that?

REFLECT: Are you living by Paul’s guiding principle? How? Whatever the Corinthians crisis was, what relevance does this passage possibly have for us today? What kind of advice would Paul give us today? How has singleness or marriage helped you serve Messiah more effectively? Whether you have never been married, are currently married, divorced, or widowed, what is one way you can show your undivided devotion to the Lord this week?

A single person can serve the Lord with a single-minded devotion.

The principle of contentment is one of the most vital dynamics of joyful living in Messiah. An attitude of contentment acknowledges that ADONAI has provided me with everything I need for my present fulfillment. Contentment is the result of focusing on everything that we have with gratitude, rather than dwelling upon what we don’t have with resentment. Contented people are thankful people; discontented people tend to be embittered and angry.

The present stress (7:25-27): Paul acknowledged that he was about to embark upon a subject that Yeshua never addressed. Now the question about the unmarried: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I offer some godly advice as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy to be trusted (7:25). At the end of his teaching on this matter, however, Paul informs the Corinthians that he too has the Spirit of God (7:40). Thus, it becomes clear he is God’s mouthpiece. The problem in this case is that he cannot lay down a fixed, universal rule. What should be done depends on individual circumstances.²⁰⁴

I suppose that in a time of stress like the present it is good for a person to stay as he is (7:26). What was this present stress (Greek: ananke)? What is this trouble (Greek: thlipsis) in his life? Paul never uses ananke to describe an end-time phenomenon, even though there is plenty of eschatology in his letters. He uses this word either to describe a compulsion a person is under for a certain type of behavior (for example Romans 13:5; First Corinthians 9:16; Second Corinthians 9:7; Philemon 14), or to denounce some persecution or hardship connected with his ministry (for example Second Corinthians 6:4, 12:10 and First Thessalonians 3:7). Moreover, in general, Paul uses thlipsis for personal suffering and persecution (for example Romans 5:3; Second Corinthians 1:4, 6:4; First Thessalonians 1:6, 3:3 and 7). Finally, the word Paul uses for present here generally points to that which is present in contrast to what is yet to come (for example Romans 8:38; First Corinthians 3:22 and Second Thessalonians 2:2). Again, what was this time of stress?

We know from the book of Acts that Paul experienced many troubles in his ministry. Furthermore, some of his churches suffered at the hands of enemies as well (notably the church in Thessalonica in Acts 17:1-9; First Thessalonians 1:6-10 and 3:1-5). Paul knew that such pressures could easily move south to Corinth, and he was fearful that they might. And he also knew that during such times, those who were married would have a much more difficult time emotionally because of family concerns, than those who were single. Consequently, Paul recommended that people remain single. He is speaking here with the heart of a pastor, addressing the well-being of his flock (Second Corinthians 11:28-29). That means that if a man has a wife, he should not seek to be free of her; and if he is unmarried, he should not look for a wife (7:27).²⁰⁵

The problems of married life (7:28): Paul recognized that there would be married couples in Corinth reading his letter, and even though he demonstrates a strong preference for celibate singleness, he does not look down on the institution of marriage. But if you marry you do not sin, and if a girl marries, she does not sin. It is just that those who get married will have the normal problems of married life, and I would rather spare you (7:28). Of course, it is not sinful to marry. But the sea of matrimony is rough, even under the most favorable conditions.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for being such a wonderful Husband! For your Maker is your husband – Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name – the Holy One of Isra’el is your Redeemer. He will be called God of all the earth (Is 54:5). Marriage relationships are important, but the most loving relationship of all is having You as our husband (2 Cor 11:2). When we live our lives to please You as number one in our lives, it brings such great peace and comfort. Though the world may be swirling out of control and other circumstances and relationships are crashing around us – yet with You as our husband to whom we are united (Rom 6:5), we can rest in Your loving arms and put our problems and trials into Your hands. It is so comforting to trust You, our Father and the one we love as our husband, for You are always there to help and to guide us. Since You are my rock and my fortress, You lead me and guide me for Your Name’s sake (Ps 31:4). You are the perfect husband. In holy Yeshua’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Our crises today are not exactly the same as the one faced by the Corinthians. Ours is a time of moral uncertainty, and that fact is undermining the efforts of many to build godly marriages. The failure of so many marriages, even within the church, is causing many young people to have doubts about ever getting married. With this in mind, I can imagine Paul writing to your Messianic synagogue or church and saying, “Because of the present stress and problems of the flesh, I have several bits of advice. First, don’t marry so young but take time to grow up. Second, make sure you marry the right person, someone with common interests, common goals, common values, and a common faith in God. Third, before you marry, be sure you know what marriage is, instead of using the pagan concept of ‘romantic love,’ discover all the richness of God’s ideals for marriage. Fourth, understand that it takes work to make a good marriage. The present pagan world will keep on trying to undermine your relationship. Finally, draw from all the resources of your immediate family, and your synagogue or church family for strengthening your marriage.”²⁰⁶

The passing of the world (7:29-31): What I am saying, brothers, is that there is not much time left (7:29a). When Paul uses the word time here, it is not the Greek word for chronological time (chronos), but for qualitative time or opportunity (kairos). It is not so much that Paul senses the imminent return of Messiah from heaven; rather, he knows that in the total time scheme of God’s history of salvation there is only one event left to occur, and we should live in readiness for that event.²⁰⁷

Believers are to have a totally new perspective to their relationship to the world. This perspective is given in the form of several illustrations. Taken literally, these illustrations become absurdities, not to mention contradictory, to what Paul has clearly said about marriage (7:2-6), and what he will elsewhere say about rejoicing and mourning (Romans 12:15). Therefore, these illustrations are not to be taken literally; this is hyperbole, pure and simple. The question is, “What is the point of such hyperbole?”

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them (7:29-31a). These clauses show some similarities with both Stoicism and Jewish apocalyptic. But Paul is advocating neither the Stoic’s “aloofness” from the world, nor the apocalyptist’s “escape” from the world. What he is calling for is a radical new stance toward the world. Messiah’s death, and resurrection have changed things for us. Just as in Messiah, the slave is a free person, and the free person is a slave, we do not live “detached” from the world, but we are totally free from its control. We live our lives like everyone else – marrying, mourning, rejoicing, buying, and making use of it – but none of these determines our lives.²⁰⁸

What point is Paul making? Using hyperbole, Paul is saying that being married or single is not the crucial question. Buying things and using them is not the most important thing in life. He is saying don’t get caught up in, or distracted by, the cares and emotions of this world; for this world in its present form is passing away (7:31b). In Messiah’s death and resurrection YHVH has already determined the course of things, and this world, in its present form, has already been brought under God’s judgment. As a result, as far as your life goes, there is not much time left (7:29a). So, get busy doing the Lord’s work.

The preoccupations of marriage (7:32-35): This section is the heart and soul of Paul’s reasoning. A single person can serve the Lord with a single-minded devotion. Without a spouse and children to care for, one who is single enjoys a mobility that a married person cannot have. Those who are single should enjoy to the full the freedom that comes from not having to meet the needs of an immediate family, and should use their freedom to serve the Lord without the distraction of a family.²⁰⁹

What I want is for you to be free of concern. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord’s affairs, with how to please the Lord; but the married man concerns himself with the world’s affairs, with how to please his wife; and he finds himself split. Likewise, the woman who is no longer married or the girl who has never been married concerns herself with the Lord’s affairs, with how to be holy both physically and spiritually; but the married woman concerns herself with the world’s affairs, with how to please her husband. Married believers should not feel guilty about being married and single believers should not feel guilty about being single. Marriage does not prevent great devotion to the Lord, and singleness does not guarantee it. But singleness has fewer hindrances and more advantages. Lest there be any confusion about why he was explaining these things to the Corinthians, he said: I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to put restrictions on you – I am simply concerned that you live in a proper manner and serve the Lord with undivided devotion (7:32-35).

The promises of the fathers (7:36-38): Apparently some of the believers in Corinth were asking, “Should fathers arrange marriages for their daughters, or let them choose who to marry?” During biblical times, marriages were arranged, usually by the father of the bride. It seems that there were some dads in the congregation who, out of devotion to ADONAI, dedicated their daughters to the Lord’s work as single servants. Their intentions were commendable. If their daughters agreed, so much the better! However, what if the daughter, as she grew up, did not agree to remain single for her entire life? She wanted a family, a husband and children. What was a father to do? Having dedicated her to the Lord’s work, should he refuse her desire and keep her single? Or should he violate his commitment and give her away in marriage?²¹⁰

If anyone (her father) thinks he is not treating his (unmarried virgin) daughter properly, and if she is past the flower of her youth (if she is now of marriageable age), or if her passions are too strong (and she really wants to get married), and he feels she ought to marry because she didn’t possess the gift of singleness (7:7), he should not feel obligated to his previous commitment. He is not sinning. He should let her get married (7:36). But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, that is, does not change his mind about the promise, who is under no compulsion by the daughter to change his mind; but has control over his own will (and has a good and pure motive), and is deeply committed (who has made up his mind to keep his virgin daughter unmarried) – this man also does the right thing. So then, he who gives his virgin daughter in marriage does right, but he who does not give her in marriage does better (7:37-38 NIV). Once again, Paul is saying that being married or single is not the crucial question. The main thing is serving the Lord.

The permanency of marriage (7:39-40): Marriage is one of the few choices that we make in life for which there is no exit strategy except the death of a spouse, over which we have no control; or a divorce, which causes enormous heartache for everyone involved. Given that reality, singleness should be, for some, a viable option. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, provided he is a believer in the Lord (7:39). There is no doubt that a believer is to marry a believer (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Bi – Do Not be Unequally Yoked with Unbelievers). But must a Jew marry a Jew (Deuteronomy 7:3; Judges 3:6)? Only if she wishes. May a Jewish believer marry a Gentile believer (Ephesians 2:14)? Only if she wishes. She is free to marry anyone she wishes. A marriage between Jewish and Gentile believers demonstrates to all the unity of Jew and Gentile in the Body of Messiah. But if she chooses to restrict her marriage pool to other Jewish believers, she testifies to the Jewish community that she wants to preserve the Jewish people, and that Messianic Judaism does not imply assimilation (see the commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah Bo – Ezra’s Prayer about Intermarriage).²¹¹

Just like Paul’s own celibate singleness, and the value it had for dedicating service to the Lord, Paul expresses the same for the widow contemplating remarriage. However, my advice would be that she will be happier if she remains unmarried, and in saying this I think I have God’s Spirit (7:40). All this was sound advice, but only advice. Ultimately, when it comes to matters of singleness and marriage, each believer is free before God to make up his or her own mind as God leads them.

Grow Where You’re Planted
7: 17-24

Grow where you’re planted DIG: What does the principle mean? Why is it restated three times? What two conditions does Paul address? What historical factors have made it all but impossible for a Jewish believer to obey Paul’s instruction here? Why did Paul tell Gentile believers not to convert to Judaism? How were slaves treated during Paul’s day?

REFLECT: How does the principle “grow where you’re planted” have to do with you? Where have you been planted? How are you growing? How are you affecting others by your growth? Does being circumcised mean nothing to the Jews? In what sense does Paul say that it means nothing? In what sense are you a slave to Messiah? In what sense does Messiah free you?

Let each person live the life the Lord has assigned them.

The Corinthian church was made up of both Jews and Gentiles, an improbable fellowship. Paul uses it and applies it to two “conditions” – being Jewish or Gentile, and being enslaved or free, repeating at the end and in the middle of each of these encouragements not to seek unnecessary change in one’s religious or social or economic status when the time can be better spent serving the Lord.¹⁹⁴

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for being such a wonderful and gracious Heavenly Father – always caring and always there with Your children to help and to guide us. For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Thank You for allowing Your children the blessing of serving You and being able to serve You in the place that You have put us in. Our heart and love is new for it is now focused on pleasing You rather than on ourselves, but our life work may, or may not, change. What is important is the heart change of love putting God first. Now You work in circumstances to give us a new way to live out our love for You. Thank You for giving us Your Ruach Ha’Kodesh to live within those who love You and to help and to guide us how to live. You call us to walk as children of love (Ephesians 5:1), children of light (Ephesians 5:8) and as wise children (Ephesians 5:15).

As we spend time in Your Word and meditate on what it says, we will have the knowledge how to walk in ways of service that please You. How wonderful that we can live a life of thankfulness to you (Ephesians 5:20; Philippians 4:6; First Thessalonians 5:18) no matter how hard the situation is. Though earthly trials seem long and hard, they are really only momentary. For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). Eternal joy and peace (Revelation 21:1-4) awaits Your children. You are a wonderful father and it is a delight to serve You always! In Your holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The principle established (7:17): Only let each person live the life the Lord has assigned him, whether single or married, and let him live it in the condition he was in when God called (Greek: kekleken, in the perfect tense hints at the continuing effects of that call) him (7:17a). Paul repeats this principle in 7:20: Each person should remain in the condition he was in when he was called, and like bookends, he repeated it for a third time in 7:24: Brothers, let each one remain with God in the condition in which he was called. I think Paul was trying to tell us something! Then, to make sure that the Corinthians realized he was not treating them any differently from what he expected from any of the other churches he had started, Paul went on to say: This is the rule I lay down in all the congregations (7:17b). One gets the feeling that some in Corinth may have been charging Paul with treating them differently from, or perhaps more harshly than, his other churches.¹⁹⁵

To be, or not to be Jewish (7:18-20): Those in the church at Corinth who were Jewish when they received Messiah wondered if they needed to stop being Jewish in order to follow Yeshua. Paul assured his Jewish readers that that wasn’t the case, saying: Was someone already circumcised when he was called, that is, a Jewish believer? Then he should not try to remove the marks of his circumcision (7:18a). This had both a symbolic and a literal meaning.

First, literally, this had a very specific application. Circumcision was an embarrassment in the Roman world. According to the Maccabees, some Jewish men “made themselves uncircumcised.” Josephus tells us that during the Greek rule of the eastern Mediterranean several centuries before Messiah, some Jewish men who wanted to be accepted into Greek society had surgery performed to make themselves appear uncircumcised when they bathed or exercised in the gymnasiums. They literally became uncircumcised surgically. The Roman encyclopedist Celsus, in the first century AD, wrote a detailed description of the surgical procedure for decircumcision (De Medicina VII. 25).¹⁹⁶

Secondly, symbolically, we can reasonably infer that Paul meant that Jews should not try to assimilate into Gentile, or so-called “Christian” culture, but should remain strictly Messianic. Paul drew the principle that he opposed Jewish believers removing the mark of circumcision, most likely using an example from the Maccabean crisis of the Second Century AD (First Maccabees 1:11-15; and allusions to the phenomenon in the Assumption of Moses 8:3 and in Avot 3:11), and how it would it would lead to Jewish apostasy away from ADONAI. Why some Jewish believers may have thought circumcision was unnecessary is because Paul opposed Gentile circumcision (Galatians 5:11).

Curiously, when a Jew come to believe that a fellow Jew, Yeshua, is the Jewish Messiah promised in the Jewish Scriptures, today’s Jewish community considers it the very essence of assimilation into the Gentile world. Yet here is a verse from one of the books of the B’rit Chadashah that strongly discourages a Messianic Jew from assimilating. These conflicting views result from five historical factors which have made it all but impossible for a Jewish believer to obey Paul’s instruction.

First, since B’rit Chadashah times, a Jew who acknowledges Yeshua as the Messiah has usually been excommunicated by his own Jewish people, or at best regarded with suspicion; so that even if he wants to follow Jewish customs, participate in the Jewish festivals, and remain loyal to his Jewish roots, it isn’t easy for him to do so in isolation.

Second, no longer welcomed in the Jewish community, he goes to a church. But there, even though Jews and Gentiles are equal in God’s sight, Gentiles are the vast majority. He finds himself a lone Jew in a sea of Gentiles, vastly outnumbered, with few or no other Jewish believers to support him in his efforts to preserve his Jewishness. Most Gentile believers are generally oblivious to this challenge and wonder why Jews aren’t just happy in church, asking such questions as, “Why would you want to go back under the Law!”

Third, the Church has usually maintained a mistaken view of conversion. Instead of understanding that a Jewish believer converts from sin to righteousness (the same as a Gentile believer), it is thought he converts from Judaism to Christianity. By the fourth century AD the Roman Catholic Church was requiring Jewish believers to sign documents in which they had to agree to stop following Jewish customs or associating with unsaved Jews. Further, since the Roman Church decreed this view, it was not surprising that the Jewish community used it as evidence that a Jewish believer was no longer Jewish. If this was true (which it was, and is not), then it would be appropriate to urge Jewish believers to eliminate all of their Jewish practices. But this was, and is not true, showing that the first Jewish believers remained fully Jewish, and encouraging today’s Jewish believers to do the same.

Fourth, the Church has misunderstood the B’rit Chadashah’s teaching about the unity of Jews and Gentiles in the Messianic Community (12:13) and therefore misused it to force Messianic Jews to assimilate. Members of every other ethnic group are encouraged to maintain their culture and express their faith within it. But when a Messianic Jew does so, he may be accused of “legalizing” (Romans 6:14), “Judaizing” (Galatians 2:14), and “raising the middle wall of partition” (Ephesians 2:11-16).

Fifth and last, it cannot be denied that some Jewish believers have had a measure of self-hate (although this unfortunate phenomenon is also found among non-Messianic Jews). In their desire to be accepted by their new Gentile friends in the Church they may have said or done things that depreciate Judaism or Jewishness. On the one hand, Judaism’s failure to recognize Yeshua as the Messiah is a sin of grievous dimension. On the other hand, no Messianic Jew should ingratiate himself with Gentile Christians by appealing to antisemitic impulses. Jewish self-hate is simply not a concomitant of the gospel.

The challenge for today’s Messianic Jews is to establish, despite these factors, a Messianic synagogues in which they can express fully their ties with both Messianic Jews and believing Gentiles in the Lord since the dividing wall of hostility which divided us has been broken down (Ephesians 2:14).¹⁹⁷

Was someone uncircumcised when he was called, that is, a Gentile believer? He shouldn’t undergo circumcision (7:18b). That is, a Gentile believer shouldn’t convert to Judaism and be circumcised. This does not speak of a Gentile believer who wants to give up his faith in Yeshua and convert to non-Messianic Judaism – of course, Paul would never approve of that. Rather, he says that Gentile believers should not undergo conversion to Judaism while retaining their faith in Yeshua because at the time of Paul’s writing there was a strong Judaizing movement (see the commentary on Galatians, to see link click Ag – Who Were the Judaizers), but he does not deal with that corrupt teaching here. He is basically saying that for believing Gentiles to convert to Judaism was unnecessary. There were more important things to do, namely, serving the Lord.

Being circumcised means nothing, and being uncircumcised means nothing. By themselves, out of context, these words are a slap in the face of Judaism, in which circumcision confirms a man’s and a woman’s membership in God’s people under the covenant with Abraham (see the commentary on Genesis En – For Generations to Come Every Male Who is Eight Days Old Must be Circumcised). This verse does not teach that Jews should give up their Jewishness. Many Jewish believers of the past have assimilated their way into the Gentile church and stopped circumcising their sons, remembered the Sabbath or appointed times, or ate kosher. It is absolutely appropriate for Jewish believers to oppose this sort of assimilation. Also, it is quite clear that God has a special, national, calling for Isra’el, “For all Isra’el will be saved” (Romans 11:29).¹⁹⁸

But in the Corinthian context, Paul is talking about an individual calling to salvation. And in that regard, Jews and Gentiles have an equal standing before ADONAI (Romans 3:22-23 and 29-30; First Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 2:13, 3:28, 5:6 and 6:15; Colossians 3:11). Ethnic ties, cultural expressions, customs and social or religious status have no bearing in individual salvation; in this regard, being Jewish or Gentile means nothing. However, what does mean something is keeping God’s commandments (7:19b). The entire Torah is summed up in a single command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14).¹⁹⁹

And repeating for the third time: Each person should remain in the condition he was in when he was called (7:20). It is important to remember that Paul didn’t suggest that we should never change our status. He said that we should remain as we are, in relationships and service, until ADONAI assigns us new tasks.²⁰⁰

To be, or not to be a slave (17:21-24): Paul now moves to his second example, this time concerning slaves. His point is not to approve of slavery or to suggest that it is as good a condition to live under as freedom. His point is that, if a person is a slave, he is still able to serve the Lord. No circumstance, no matter how terrible, painful, or unjust, can keep us from being salt and light in the world (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Df – You are the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World). A slave can, in fact, serve Messiah through his slavery (Ephesians 6:5-8). Paul consistently taught that principle. Slaves were to serve their masters honestly and sincerely: Whatever work you do, put yourself into it, as those who are serving not merely other people, but the Lord (Colossians 3:23). Slaves had a unique opportunity to testify for the Lord. They were to show their human masters that they worked hard and honestly, not because they were forced to, but because they wanted to, out of love for and their obedience to their true Master and Lord. They could demonstrate true contentment and peace in the midst of slavery, thus showing the inner provision of salvation.

The book of Philemon centers around the runaway slave Onesimus, whom Paul had led to Messiah while in prison (Philemon 10). As it happens, Onesimus’s owner was a believer. He was Paul’s beloved brother and fellow worker and the church in Colossae met in his home (Philemon 1-2). The apostle makes a strong personal and spiritual appeal for Philemon to forgive Onesimus and to take him back, not just as a slave, but as a brother in Messiah (Philemon 16). Yet, as sticky as it is for some social activists today, Paul did not condemn slavery or question Philemon’s legal rights over his slave. He did not ask for social justice for Onesimus. In fact, he even used slavery as an analogy for the believer’s walk with God.

In the Roman empire of Paul’s time, around fifty percent of the population were slaves. But unlike most slaves throughout history, the slave of that day often was better educated, more skilled, and more literate and cultured than the average free person. A large percentage of the doctors, teachers, accountants, and other professionals were slaves. Many of them lived in relative ease and were treated with respect. Others, of course, lived in constant poverty and humiliation under cruel and merciless masters.

Paul made no distinction. Were you a slave when you were called? Any slave, in any circumstance, was to be willing to remain as he or she was. Only sin can keep us from obeying and serving the Lord . . . circumstance cannot. Therefore, if we are in a difficult, uncomfortable, and restricting situation, don’t let it bother you, but be determined to be faithful as long as the Lord leaves you there (7:21a). However, even having affirmed that principle, Paul makes it clear that he did not consider slavery to be the most desirable condition: Although if you can gain your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity (7:21b). Freedom is immeasurably better than slavery, and believers are not more spiritual for staying in slavery. If a believer had the opportunity to become free, as did many slaves in B’rit Chadashah times, a believer should take advantage of it. Paul was content to be in jail and to serve the Lord as long as he was jailed. He carried on much of his ministry from a jail cell. But when he was freed, he left jail. If a slave who was a believer had the opportunity to become free, he should take advantage of the opportunity.²⁰¹

Now Paul uses a “reverse thinking” that is similar to Ephesians 6:5-9 and Colossians 3:22 to 4:1, where he likewise deals with slavery. Slaves should indeed be obedient to their masters, but they should also realize that in the Lord, they have an inner freedom that no one can take away. For a person who was a slave when he was called is the Lord’s freedman. Similarly, a slave owner should realize that, even though he may be able to command other people, in the eyes of the Lord, he himself is a slave. Likewise, someone who was a free man when he was called is a slave of the Messiah (7:22). We belong to another, Messiah, who is Lord.

It is perhaps for this reason that Paul reiterates here what he said in 6:20. You were bought at a price, so do not become slaves of other people (7:23). That is, we are owned by Someone who has with His blood paid the purchase price for us, namely, Yeshua Messiah. The statement, do not become slaves of other people, perhaps reflects the situation brewing in Galatia, where Paul considers that those who, after becoming believers, were being tempted into submitting themselves to all the 613 commandments of the Torah, were, in fact, submitting themselves to a new form of slavery. Therefore, he wrote to those Galatian churches: It is for freedom that Messiah has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).²⁰²

For the third time Paul gives the principle: Brothers, let each one remain with God in the condition in which he was called (7:24). However, it is that we have been called (saved), and in whatever condition we are now in, we should be willing to remain. ADONAI allows us to be where we are and to stay where we are for a purpose. Conversion is not the signal for us to leave our social condition, our marriage, or singleness, our boss, or other circumstances. We are to leave sin and anything that encourages sin; but otherwise, we are to grow where you’re planted until God moves us.

There is the story of the pastor who was out eating dinner at a restaurant, when a woman recognized him and came over to his table. She said, “I feel like I should go into the ministry.” He asked her, “Are you married?” She said that she was. “How many children do you have?” She answered that she had five children. He said, “That’s wonderful. God has indeed called you into the ministry, and He has already given you your congregation!”²⁰³

A Biblical View of Divorce
7: 10-16

A biblical view of divorce DIG: What does the Bible say were biblical grounds for divorce? Some rabbis allowed divorce for nearly any reason a husband wanted it? What was their casual attitude towards divorce promoting? How were they misusing Moses’ allowance for divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1)? What inner quality is Yeshua seeking instead? What are the legitimate grounds for divorce? Is divorce the unforgivable sin? Does divorce cause a person to lose their salvation? What are the consequences of divorce in this life and the next? What are the two choices for an illegitimate divorce among believers?

REFLECT: In today’s contemporary society (even Jewish culture), how easy is it to get a divorce? How can you apply the principles of marriage stressed here? Do you think the Lord would give the same response to someone in a troubled marriage that asked sincerely, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” Why or why not? What do you need to work on to have the marriage God desires? When divorce does occur, what hope does Yeshua offer someone? What steps can you take to give yourself the best chance possible of never being divorced?

Apparently some of the believers in Corinth were asking, “If I am divorced, can I get remarried?”
And, “What should I do if I am married to an unbeliever?”

Guidelines for believers married to other believers (7:10-11): To those who are married I have a command, and it is not from me but from the Lord (7:10a): In case there be any doubt as to the source of the teaching here, the apostle adds: It is not from me but from the Lord. Yeshua taught the truth during His earthly ministry. Quoting from Genesis 2:24, Yeshua said: This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh, and then He added: Thus, they are no longer two, but one. So then, no one should split apart what God has joined together (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ij – Is It Lawful for a Man to Divorce His Wife?). In answer to the apostles’ question, Yeshua explained that God allowed Moshe to permit divorce only because of His peoples’ hardness of heart, and that it was permissible only in the case of adultery (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Dj – It Has Been Said: Do Not Divorce).

Paul first stated the general policy to be followed: A woman is not to separate herself from her husband. But if she does separate herself. This is the second best advice – “Don’t do this! But if you do, then proceed as follows . . . “ she is to remain single or be reconciled with her husband. He followed this with similar instructions to men: A husband is not to leave his wife (7:10b-11). The terms separate and divorce were not distinguished in Paul’s day as they are in many churches today. To separate was to divorce. If a believer does divorce another believer, except for adultery, neither partner is free to marry again. For cases of illegitimate divorces, the inspired apostle offered two choices: They need to stay single or reconcile with their former spouse. In God’s eyes the union had never been broken.¹⁸⁸

These are not a counselor’s suggestions, but the Lord’s commands.

In a culture in which divorce has become something of a norm, this text has understandably become a bone of considerable contention. Some find Paul and Yeshua too harsh and try to find ways around the plain sense of the text. Others turn the text into law and make divorce the worst of all sins under heaven. Neither of these seems an appropriate response. On the one hand, there is little question that both Paul and Yeshua disallowed divorce between two believers, especially when it served as grounds for remarriage.

One the other hand, Paul does not raise this norm to a law. Divorce may happen, and such a person is not to be ostracized from the church. But what was not allowed was remarriage, both because for him that presupposes the teaching of Yeshua that such is adultery and because in the church reconciliation is the norm. If the believing husband and wife cannot be reconciled to each other, how then can they expect to become models of reconciliation before a fractured and broken world.¹⁸⁹

I hate divorce, God declared through His prophet (Malachi 2:16). You don’t need a PhD in clinical psychology to understand why. No one comes through a divorce unscarred – not the husband, not the wife, nor the children. The collateral damage from every divorce is incalculable. Divorce not only destroys families; divorce tears at the very fabric of society. When God designed marriage and created the family, He did so with the intention that marriages would last a lifetime.

That being said, divorces do happen. When they do, it is incumbent upon a church to become a hospital for wounded souls, who lavish upon a repentant divorcee the love and support they need in order to rebuild their life. Divorce is not the scarlet sin (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Em – Whoever Blasphemes Against the Holy Spirit Will Never Be Forgiven). Divorced individuals should not be ostracized, degraded, or made to feel as though they are second class believers. God forgives divorce. So should we.¹⁹⁰

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise Your love that is so deep that when there is a repentant heart – no sin is unforgivable. The unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, means the heart is not repentant for it is not sorry but is full of pride and not listening to the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. How wonderful that when the heart grieves in a godly way, there is repentance that leads to salvation and desires to be done with sin. For the grief that God wills brings a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret. But the world’s grief brings death.  For see what this very thing- this grieving that God wills – has brought you! What diligence, what defense, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what rendering of justice! In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter (Second Corinthians 7:10-11).

When someone in holiness fears to offend You, Lord, then their repentance opens the door for You to forgive them- no matter what has been done. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so Adonai has compassion on those who fear Him (Ps 103 11-13). Thank You for being such a compassionate, loving and forgiving Heavenly Father. In Yeshua’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Guidelines for believers married to unbelievers who want to stay married (7:12-14): Yeshua, in the course of His ministry, had never addressed this issue. But Paul, with no less authority did. With two sets of perfectly balanced sentences, he says that believers are not to initiate divorce proceedings: To the rest I say – I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her. Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him (7:12-13). While Paul does not reflect on this here, it certainly must have been difficult for a woman in Corinth to stand out alone in a marriage and to accept Yeshua Messiah as her Lord and Savior. In most cases in Greco-Roman society, the religion of the father in the family was the religion of the whole household (Acts 16:33-34). Undoubtedly, then, for a wife to go against the religion of the household and become a believer must have, in some cases at least, led to intense friction in the home.¹⁹¹

Believers married to unbelievers were not to worry that they, themselves, their marriage, or their children would be defiled by the unbelieving spouse. On the contrary, just the opposite is true. Divorce was to be avoided because the believing spouse was, and is, a channel of God’s grace in the marriage. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Being unequally yoked (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Bi – Do Not Be Unequally Yoked with Unbelievers), one flesh with an unbeliever, can be frustrating, discouraging, and even costly. But it need not be defiling because one believer can sanctify a home. Sanctified here refers to being set apart. Sanctification in this context is matrimonial and familial, not personal or spiritual.

Furthermore, God looks on the family as a unit. Even if it is divided spiritually, and most of its members are unbelieving and immoral, the entire family is sanctified by the believer among them. Therefore, if an unbelieving spouse is willing to stay, the believer is not to seek a divorce. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy (7:14 NIV). Just the presence of one believer will protect the children. It is not that their salvation is assured, but that they are protected from undue spiritual harm and that they will receive spiritual blessing because they share the spiritual benefits of the believing parent. Often the testimony of the believing parent in this situation is especially effective, because the children see a clear contrast to the unbelieving parent’s life, and that leads them to salvation.¹⁹²

Guidelines for believers married to unbelievers who want to leave (7:15-16): Paul now moves to the next step; there is an exception to the rule of no divorce. But if the unbelieving spouse leaves (Greek: chorizo, meaning separate), let him leave. In keeping with the whole argument, Paul once more qualifies the ideal with an exception. The believer may not pursue divorce, but if the pagan wants to leave, let them do so. This verse does not say, “If the pagan begins divorce proceedings.” Words mean something, and chorizo simply means to separate, or to leave. If a wife had to rely on a vindictive fleeing pagan husband to begin divorce proceeding, she would be left in a state of slavery. Her only crime was faith in Messiah. However, in circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved, and is able to divorce and remarry. God has called you to a life of peace, not slavery (7:15).

Marriage was not designed for an evangelistic tool. Missionary dating is a bad idea; and missionary marriages are bad if the unbelieving spouse leaves. Far too many young brides or grooms have been led away from Messiah as a result of the influence of the unbelieving spouse. For the wife has no assurance that she will save her husband, and the husband has no assurance that he will save his wife (7:16)? To cling to a marriage in which the pagan is determined to end would inevitably lead to frustration and tension. The certain strain is not justified by the uncertain result. The guiding principle must be peace.¹⁹³

To Marry or Not to Marry
7: 1-9

To marry or not to marry DIG: What were the circumstances in Corinth at the time Paul wrote? Why are those circumstances so important to understanding almost everything that he wrote in this chapter? What did Paul advise for unmarried believers? Why should married couples maintain a sexual relationship? What does the issue of celibacy especially impact the contemporary Messianic community? What are the advantages of remaining single?

REFLECT: Have you seen baby believers (perhaps yourself at one time) make crazy changes in their lives based on their new-found “freedom” in Messiah? What problems can that cause, which could have been avoided by applying Paul’s principles here? When is pursuing a change in circumstances appropriate? How do you view single people? With compassion? With sympathy? With disappointment? With awe? What gift has ADONAI given to you?

Apparently believers in Corinth asked if celibacy within marriage was appropriate.

As with their many other problems, much of their marital trouble in the church at Corinth reflected the pagan and morally corrupt society in which they lived. As has been said many times, the problem wasn’t that the church was in Corinth, the problem was that Corinth was in the church. Their society tolerated sex outside of marriage, adultery, homosexuality and polygamy. Nevertheless, ADONAI saved a number of Corinthians out of that lifestyle of sexual impurity. Sadly, some had dragged their past sins into the church.

Celibacy is good (7:1): Now to deal with the questions you wrote about: “Is it good for a man not to touch a woman (7:1 NASB)?” To touch a woman was a common Jewish euphemism for sexual intercourse. The phrase is used in that sense in passages such as Genesis 20:6; Ruth 2:9 and Proverbs 6:28-29. In other words, Paul was saying, “It is a good thing for believers to be single and not married.” He does not say, however, that singleness is the only good condition, or that marriage is in any way wrong or inferior to singleness. He says only that singleness, as long as it is celibate, can be good.

ADONAI Himself declared at creation that it isn’t good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him (Genesis 2:18). Everyone needs companionship and God ordained marriage to be, among other things, the most fulfilling and common means of companionship. YHVH allowed for singleness and did not require marriage for everyone in the Dispensation of Torah; however, Jewish tradition not only looked on marriage as the ideal state, but looked on singleness as disobedience of the LORD’s command to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28 NASB).

It is possible that, as a result of this, some of the Jewish believers in Corinth were pressuring single Gentile believers to become married. Some of the Gentiles, on the other hand, perhaps because of past experiences they had had, were inclined to remain single. As the Jews had done with marriage, those Gentiles, reacting to the sexual nature of their past, come to look on celibacy not only as the ideal state but the only truly godly state as well. Paul acknowledges that singleness is good and honorable. But he does not support the claim that it is a more spiritual state, or that it is more acceptable to God than marriage.¹⁷⁹

Celibacy is tempting (7:2): Well, because of the danger of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband (7:2). This did not mean that every Corinthian believer was immoral, although many of them were. Paul was speaking of the danger of sexual immorality for those who were single. Sexual temptation goes beyond physical desire; there is a spiritual component to it. Satan understands how powerful the urge to impurity can be, and he exploits it as a human weakness.¹⁸⁰ Because of the immoral society in which they lived, where sexual liberty was feely practiced and glorified, it would be a great temptation for single believers, as it is today.

However, marriage cannot simply be reduced as God’s escape valve for sex drive. Paul does not suggest that believers should go out and find another believer to marry only to keep from getting into moral sin. He had a much higher view of marriage than that (Ephesians 5:22-23). His purpose here was to stress the reality of the sexual temptations of singleness and to acknowledge that they had a legitimate outlet in marriage. Although celibacy is good, it’s not superior to marriage, and it has dangers and temptations that marriage doesn’t have.¹⁸¹

Dear Heavenly Father, Marriage is often thought of as The place to find love, but Your love for Your children is the best. See how glorious a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children – and so we are (First John 3:1)! How awesome that Your perfect love is always with Your children. For God Himself has said: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). It is so wonderful to know that when we run to You for help – You know all about the situation before we say a word about it, and You are mighty to work it all out. You are familiar with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, ADONAI, You know all about it (Psalms 139:3b-4). Praise You for Your great love that surpasses knowledge. May You have strength to grasp with all the kedoshim what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:18-19).

Everyone longs for deep love and often looks to marriage to find love, but it is Your love that is so deep and long-lasting. For your Maker is your husband – ADONAI-Tzva’ot is His Name -the Holy One of Isra’el is your Redeemer. He will be called God of all the earth (Isaiah 54:5). How wonderful that Your love is not a long distance away, but You live within all who love You. Yeshua answered and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him (John 14:23). No matter how good the earthly marriage is – Your love is so much better and deeper and richer than any human marriage ever could be. Thank You for Your wonderful eternal love! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Celibacy is wrong for people who are married (7:3-5): Evidently, some of the Corinthians were practicing celibacy within their marriage and had asked if it was appropriate, to which Paul responded with an emphatic, “No! Celibacy is not more spiritual than marriage.” Extremes spawn extremes, so where extreme excess flourishes, one often finds extreme self-denial as a reaction. Paul warned his readers that the husband should give his wife what she is entitled to in the marriage relationship, and the wife should do the same for her husband (7:3). Paul made it clear that physical relations within marriage are not simply a privilege and a pleasure, but a responsibility. Husbands and wives have a duty to give sexual satisfaction to each other, lest the Adversary take advantage of their human weakness. There is no distinction between men and women. The husband has no more rights in this regard than the wife.

Then Paul reinforces the mutuality of the obligation. The wife is not in charge of her own body, but her husband is; likewise, the husband is not in charge of his own body, but his wife is. One aspect of selfless love that makes for a good marriage involves one marriage partner giving more of himself or herself sexually to his or her mate in recognition of, and with a desire to meet, those needs. When a husband or wife willingly deprives his or her spouse of having that need met, he or she opens the other up to satanic temptation. Thus: Do not deprive each other, except for a limited time, by mutual agreement, and then only so as to have extra time for prayer; but afterwards, come together again. Otherwise, because of your lack of self-control, you may succumb to the Adversary’s temptation (7:4-5).¹⁸² The length of time for physical separation and the specific need and purpose of the prayer should be agreed on in advance.

Celibacy is a gift (7:6-7): Commenting on what he had just said, Paul continues: I am giving you this as a suggestion (Greek: sungnome, meaning to think the same as someone, to have a joint opinion, a common mind or understanding), not as a command (7:6). This refers back to what he had been saying up to this point. Paul was aware of the goodness of being single and celibate, yet also aware of the privileges and responsibilities of marriage. His comments were not meant as a command for every believer to be married. Marriage was instituted by God and is the norm for man-woman relationships, and it is a great blessing to mankind. But it is not required for believers or for anyone else. His point was, and is: If you are single that is good, and if you are married or get married, stay married and retain normal marital relations, for that is for God. Spirituality is not determined by marital status.¹⁸³

Actually, I wish everyone were like me (7:7a). It’s as if Paul was saying, “I wish that everyone were as little distracted by wayward sexual impulses as I am. Then they would have self-control and would be able to devote themselves fully to the Lord’s work with undivided attention. However, I realize that such a tendency cannot be willed into being, but is a gift from God, which is not given to everyone.¹⁸⁴

This chapter makes it clear that Paul was not married at the time he wrote this letter, but we know that he had been married at some point (8:7). Jewish men were required to be married and bear children (Mishnah, Yevamot 6:6). Within the Jewish theological tradition, it can be easily seen how celibacy was greatly frowned upon. Rabbi Eleazar said, “Any man who has no wife is not a proper man” (Talmud, Yevamot 63a), while Raba Ishmael taught that God watches a man to see when he will marry; then “As soon as one attains twenty and has not married, He exclaims, “Blasted be his bones” (Talmud, Kiddushin 29b).

But those who have not received the gift of singleness should not try to remain unmarried. Each has his own gift from God, one this, another that (7:7b). Our purpose should be to discover the gifts that ADONAI has given us and to use those gifts faithfully and joyfully in His service, without either envying or finding fault with the gifts we do not have. Celibacy, just as much as marriage, is a gift from God.¹⁸⁵

Celibacy among contemporary Messianic congregations: On the whole, today’s Messianic people – with various roots in both Judaism and evangelical Protestant Christianity – do not know what to do with the large number of young men and women in their twenties, thirties, and forties, who are unmarried, often for legitimate reasons beyond their control. Many, for whatever reason, will either subconsciously or even consciously, mix spiritual maturity and marital status in their minds – meaning that the ideal spiritual setting for someone is being married with several children. When a young man or woman approaches his or her late twenties unmarried, then it is often thought that such an individual is probably spiritually deficient, and likely also selfish and self-serving.

In a relatively new and small faith community such as the Messianic movement, we should recognize that with our size being what it is, that it will be difficult for many young men and women to find a suitable spouse – at least for an extended season. Rather than shunning such people as being spiritually immature or unfit for service within the Kingdom of God, a review of the legitimate and blessed biblical option of celibacy, should be in order.¹⁸⁶

Celibacy is not for everyone (7:8-9): Apparently, some of the Corinthians who had been married and divorced before being saved were asking if they could remarry. No doubt this was a key question in the Corinthian church. Paul’s response here is uniquely crafted for those who wanted to know their options. Now to the single people (Greek: agamos, meaning married with a negative prefix a) and the widows (Greek: chera) I say that it is fine if they remain unmarried like me (7:8). By that statement Paul affirms that he had formerly been married because marriage was required for membership in the Great Sanhedrin (Acts 26:10). He was probably a widower. The point is that those who were single when saved should know that it was good for them to stay that way. There was no need to rush into marriage.

One of the most beautiful stories associated with Yeshua’s birth and infancy is that of Anna (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Au – Jesus Presented in the Temple). When Joseph and Mary brought the baby Yeshua to the Temple to present Him to ADONAI and to offer a sacrifice, the prophetess Anna recognized Yeshua as the Messiah. Much as Simeon had done a short while before. Her husband had lived only seven years after their marriage, and she had remained a widow ever since. At the age of 84 she was still faithfully serving Ha’Shem night and day in His Temple. She did not look on her lot in life as inferior and certainly not as meaningless. She had the gift of singleness and used it joyfully for YHVH.

But if they can’t exercise self-control, they should get married (Greek: gamesatosan, in the aorist imperative, indicating a strong command). A person cannot live a happy life, much less serve the Lord, if he or she is continually burning with sexual desire – even if it never results in actual immorality. And in a society such as Corinth’s, or ours, in which immorality is so prevalent and accepted, it is especially difficult not to fall into temptation. I believe that once a couple decides to get married, they should do it fairly soon. In the day of lowered standards, free expression, and constant suggestiveness, it’s extremely difficult to stay sexually pure. So, it is better to get married than to keep burning with sexual desire (7:9). The practical problems of arranging for an early marriage are not nearly as serious as the danger of starting a marriage with immorality.

Deciding about marriage is obviously more difficult for the person who had strong sexual desires, but who has no immediate prospect for a husband or wife. It is never, I repeat, NEVER, God’s will for believers to marry unbelievers (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Bi – Do Not be Unequally Yoked with Unbelievers), but neither is it right to just marry the first believer who will say yes. Although we very much want to be married, we should be careful. Strong feelings of any sort tend to dull judgment and make one vulnerable and careless.

There are several things the believers in this dilemma should do:

First, they should not simply seek to be married, but should seek a person they can love, trust, and respect, letting marriage come as a response to that commitment of love. People who simply want to get married for the sake of getting married run a great risk of marrying the wrong person. If possible, marry your best friend. Believe me, you will need that friendship, trust and commitment when the hard times come. And they will.

Secondly, it’s fine and normal to be on the lookout for the “right person,” but the best way to find the right person is to be the right person. If believers are right with God and it is His will for them to be married, He will send the right person – and never to late. One caution, the Adversary will oftentimes send his “best” before the Lord sends His “best.” You must rely on the Ruach Ha’Kodesh for wisdom and discernment because the Adversary himself masquerades as an angel of light (Second Corinthians 11:14).

Thirdly, until the right person is found, our energy should be directed in ways that will be the most helpful in keeping our minds off temptation. Two of the best ways are using your spiritual gifts to serve the Lord, and physical exercise. We should avoid listening to, looking at, or being touched by anything that is tempting. Program your mind to focus only on what is good and helpful. We should take special care to follow Paul’s instruction to the Philippians, “In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8).

Fourthly, we should recognize that, until God gives us the right person, He will provide the strength to resist temptation. No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation He will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure (10:13).¹⁸⁷

Fifthly, and most importantly, pray you would be filled with the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, and ask for wisdom and guidance every day.

Concerning Marriage
7: 1-40

As we study this chapter, it is important to keep in mind that Paul is replying to a series of definite questions. He is not spelling out a complete “theology of marriage” in one chapter. It is necessary to consider as well what the rest of the Bible has to say about this important subject. Paul, under the inspiration of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, had to answer questions that Yeshua never discussed; but when a question arose that the Lord had dealt with, Paul referred to His words (Matthew 5:31-32, 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12; Luke 16:18).¹⁷⁵

The church in Corinth had unmarried couples living together. It also had those who had multiple marriages and divorces. Not only that, but some believers had gotten the idea that being single and celibate was more spiritual than being married, and they rejected marriage entirely. Perhaps some were teaching that sex was “unspiritual” and should be forsaken altogether. The situation was difficult and perplexing even for mature believers. However, for the baby believers, it was especially confusing. The great question was, “What do we do now that we are believers but not married? Get married? Have one move out? Should we become, or remain, single? What should one do if married to an unbeliever? Get a divorce? Or stay married? The chaos of marital possibilities posed many questions.¹⁷⁶

In evaluating Paul’s teaching here, one must keep in mind the circumstances in which he wrote, especially these three points. First, the Corinthian church had emerged from a wildly pagan background and even at the time of this letter was not fully able to control its impulses toward sexual license. Second, Paul tailored his remarks to his audience, who were still spiritual babies (3:1). That meant that he had to provide clear-cut guidelines since he could not count on their spiritual discernment to know what to do in each individual case. It’s risky to entrust babies with decisions beyond their capacity. Third, and most importantly, the whole tone of the letter has an underlying sense of urgency: What I am saying, brothers, is that there is not much time left (7:29a). The situation in Corinth was deteriorating rapidly as a result of the teaching of the false apostles (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Af – The Problem of the False Teachers).¹⁷⁷

Something had to be done . . . and quickly.

So, it is important to understand that Paul was writing a letter, not a handbook on how to have a happy marriage. As a result, his letter sounds much more conversational in tone than a tightly outlined book manuscript. In some places Paul seems to go off on tangents. In others, he begins a topic, sets it aside while addressing another, and then returns to the earlier one. In other words, he wrote it as he might speak if we were meeting him for coffee at Starbucks. We’ll discuss each section of this chapter in chronological order, keeping in mind that we might find ourselves dancing to the drumbeat to which Paul wrote.¹⁷⁸

Difficulties in the Church at Corinth
7:1 to 14:40

In Chapter 6, Paul addressed the dangers of porneia outside of marriage. Then he turned to the duty of sexuality within marriage. But he does so only after having discussed the problems that the Corinthians had not asked but which, Paul, inspired by the Ruach, were nevertheless more important than the difficulties in the Corinthian church.¹⁷³ They had compromised so much, in so many areas, that you could hardly tell the difference between the believers and the pagan culture around them. So, at this point, you might be thinking that there was little hope for the church at Corinth. Granted, the challenges faced by the members of that congregation might have seemed insurmountable. But all was not lost. They had some good things going for them. First, they had access to their founding apostle and all of the apostolic wisdom that Paul brought to the table. And second, they were teachable. To their credit, they sought Paul’s advice about a wide-range of subjects.

So, here, Paul begins answering a series of questions put to him via a letter they had written to him, most likely delivered to him in Ephesus by Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (16:17). Their questions generally dealt with three different topics: Concerning Marriage – 7:1-40 (Be), Concerning Our Liberty in Messiah – 8:1 to 11:1 (Bi), and Concerning Worship – 11:2 to 14:40 (Bu). Paul did not repeat the questions back in his letter; however, we can deduce the nature of each question from the answers that he gave. Their questions and Paul’s response, shows us how much confusion existed among the believers in Corinth, and their desire to receive the apostle’s instructions.¹⁷⁴

Failure to Exercise Sexual Purity
6: 12-20

Failure to exercise sexual purity DIG: In one word how would you describe the moral climate in ancient Corinth, in one sentence? What was the Corinthians’ rationale for sexual freedom? How does this rationalization compare to modern-day attitudes towards sexuality? Why does God draw a line in the sand regarding sexual purity? What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility? What might be said to believers who think they are free to do as they please? Why is sexual immorality an offense to ADONAI?

REFLECT: Why is sexual intercourse outside of marriage so devastating? Why might some people bristle at the thought of accountability with another person? How does being held accountable by others help a person use his or her freedom for good? How should being united with Messiah impact how you view what you do with your body? How would you define sexual immorality? Why do you suppose Paul advocated fleeing sexual immorality instead of simply resisting it? Have you dealt with this issue in your life?

While demanding their freedom in Messiah,
the Corinthian believers had become controlled by their own fleshly desires.

One of the major problems in the church at Corinth was that the baby believers were dragging their worldly behaviors into the church. As has been said many times, the problem was not that the church was in Corinth, the problem was that Corinth was in the church! Hiring prostitutes was merely one of several examples.

Two Greek words dominate the present argument: porneia or sexual immorality, which in this context refers to sex for hire, and soma or body. The problem involves both words together: the body is not meant for sexual immorality (6:13), and whoever engages in sexual immorality sins against his own body (6:18). Porneia in the Greek culture at the time simply meant prostitution. The Greeks were generally ambivalent on that matter, depending in part, whether one went openly to the brothels or was more discreet and simply had an escort. The word, however, had been picked up in Hellenistic Judaism, always disapprovingly, to cover every kind of extramarital sexual sin, including incest (5:1-2a) and homosexuality. It could refer to any of these sins, as it does here with prostitution.

Paul argues that one may not take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute. Apparently some men within the Corinthian church were going to prostitutes and arguing for the right to do so. This was accepted in Greek culture, but not in the church. Being people of the Spirit, they imply, had moved them to a higher plane, the realm of the spirit, where they are unaffected by behavior that had merely to do with the body. What a mess! Therefore, Paul proceeds from his prior concluding encouragement: Some of you used to do these things. But you have cleansed yourselves, you have been set apart for God, you have come to be counted righteous through the power of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and the Spirit of our God (6:11), to a full frontal attack on that theological justification of theirs. The gospel was at stake, not simply the resolution of an ethical question.¹⁶¹

Sexual Sin Harms (6:12): As with failing to discipline an immoral brother (5:1-13) and failing to resolve personal disputes (6:1-11), Paul comes out swinging for the Corinthians failure to exercise sexual purity. You say, “For me, everything is permitted” (6:12a). This was a popular proverb of the day. It probably had its source in Gnosticism, a Greek philosophy that espoused the idea of a “dualism” between the body and the soul. The soul was recognized as good and of God, but the body was considered bad and not from God. In fact, the body was viewed as the jail that imprisoned the spirit. This notion affected behavior in two ways. Some people decided the body needed to be punished, so they denied practically all of its appetites. This was called asceticism and was behind many of the monastic movements. But the more popular reaction was not to neglect the body, but to indulge its every appetite with the feeling that what one did with one’s body had nothing to do with the soul or one’s religion. Today, there are people who never heard of the Gnostics, but who treat sex as an appetite to be satisfied just as casually as the need for food is met by having a snack.¹⁶²

Maybe, but not everything is helpful (6:12b). Every sin that a believer commits is forgiven by Yeshua Messiah. But no sin is ever right or good, and no sin ever produces anything right or good. Sin can never be worthwhile, or helpful (Greek: sumphero, meaning profitable). In the sense that believers have freedom in Messiah (see the commentary on Romans Bu – The New Freedom in Messiah), and are no longer under the penalty of spiritual death, yes, everything is permitted. But the price for doing some things is terribly high, terribly unprofitable. Sin always takes you further than you want to go, costs you more than you want to pay, and makes you stay longer than you wanted to stay.

The specific type of sin Paul is talking about here is sexual sin. There is hardly a sin that a person commits that has more built-in pitfalls, problems, and destructiveness than sexual sin. It has broken more marriages (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Br – Do Not Commit Adultery), shattered more homes, caused more heartache and disease, and destroyed more lives than alcohol and drugs combined. It causes lying, stealing, cheating, and killing, as well as bitterness, hatred, slander, gossip, and unforgiveness. For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil (Proverbs 5:3).¹⁶³

Sexual sin controls (6:12c): “For me, everything is permitted”? Maybe, but as far as I am concerned, I am not going to let anything gain control over me (6:12c). Paul had the freedom in Messiah to do as he pleased but he refused to allow himself to be controlled by anything or anyone other than Yeshua: For no sin will have authority over you; because you are not under legalism, but under grace (see the commentary on Romans Bv – The New Master in Messiah). He would not be enslaved to any habit and certainly not to any sin.

Practically no sin is more enslaving than sexual sin. The more it is indulged, the more it controls the indulger. It often begins with small indiscretions, which lead to greater ones and finally to flagrant immorality. James gives us some good advice when he says: God tempts no one. Rather, each person is being tempted whenever he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire. Then, having conceived, the desire gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers (James 1:14-15). When we willingly snuggle up close to sin, we will soon come to tolerate it, and then to practice it. Like all other sins that are not resisted, sexual sins will grow, and eventually it will corrupt and destroy not only the persons directly involved, but many innocent people as well. The Corinthian believers were no strangers to porneia, and unfortunately, many of them had slipped back into it. While demanding their freedom in Messiah, they had become controlled by their own fleshly desires.

It is not as easy to be in control of ourselves as we sometimes think. Many people are deceived into thinking they are perfectly in control of their thoughts and actions, simply because they always do what they want. However, the fact is that their desires and passions are telling them what to do, and they are going along with it. They are not masters of their own desires, but are willing slaves! Their flesh is controlling their minds.¹⁶⁴

Sexual sin perverts (6:13-14): Sexual sin not only harms and controls, but it also perverts. It especially perverts God’s plan and purpose for the bodies of His people. A believer’s body was created for the Lord; it is a member of Messiah, and it is the temple of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. But the Corinthians would argue that all bodily functions are basically equal and irrelevant for the life of the future, “So what’s the problem?” Why not “sex for the body and the body for sex,” since both sex and the body are unrelated to the life of the future. In the end, they would argue, God will destroy both.¹⁶⁵

The prevailing attitude in the Corinthian church was, “It’s my body. It’s my right to choose to do with my body whatever I want (does that sound familiar?).” Using that flawed logic, the Corinthians were only too happy to quote a second local proverb: “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” (6:13a).They reasoned the food was both pleasurable and necessary. When their stomachs signaled hunger, food was taken to satisfy them. So too, they argued sex was both pleasurable and necessary. When their bodies signaled sexual desire, they needed to be satisfied. Food was for the stomach, and sex was for sex. But Paul drew a sharp distinction between the stomach and the body. The body, in this context, meant more than just the physical frame; it referred to the whole person, composed of flesh and spirit.¹⁶⁶

Paul responded by saying: You are right in one sense; God will put an end to both of them. But more than that, the bodies of believers are destined by ADONAI for much more than biological functions. Paul had a much better proverb in mind with that statement. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. The body is to be the instrument of the Lord, for His use and glory. God raised up the Lord, and He will raise us up too by his power (6:13-14). Our bodies are designed not only to serve in this life but in the life to come. They will be changed bodies (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Ba – A New Creation) – but they will still be our own bodies.¹⁶⁷

So, while sexual immorality, like every other sin, is certainly forgivable, becoming a slave to our sexual impulses is certainly not beneficial, not for the Corinthians, and certainly not for us. Yet, that’s exactly what happened in Corinth. Just as the city of Corinth had degenerated into a sex-crazed mess, so had the church. The time had come for the spiritual father of the church (see Ay – Marks of a Spiritual Father) to have “the talk” with his sons and daughters in the faith.¹⁶⁸

The body is a member of Messiah (6:15-18): Don’t you know that your bodies are parts of the Messiah? So, am I to take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute? Heaven forbid (Hebrew: chalilah, meaning that’s a contradiction, it makes no sense)! Sexual relations involve a union; the man and the woman become one flesh. The most essential meaning of the phrase one flesh, is sexual union (Matthew 19:4-6a). Don’t you know that a man who joins himself to a prostitute becomes physically one with her? For the TaNaKh says, “The two will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), but the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (6:15-17). The believer who commits porneia ends up getting the Lord involved in the act because he and Messiah are one (John 14:18-23, 15:4 and 7, 17:20-23). Since the believer is one with Him, and he is one with the prostitute, our Lord is placed in an unthinkable position in Paul’s reasoning. Messiah is not personally tainted with the sin, any more than the sunbeam that shines on a garbage dump is polluted. But His reputation is dirtied because of the association. Not good.¹⁶⁹

Paul then draws a conclusion from everything he had said up to this point. Run away from porneia (6:18a)The Corinthians, when faced with sexual immorality, should respond as Joseph did – they should run (see the commentary on Genesis Ji – Potiphar’s Wife said: Come to Bed with Me! But Joseph Ran Out of the House). This is still good advice today. God’s Word says not just to avoid sexual temptations, but to run away from them. Each of us, no matter how cautious we live our lives, will face many temptations. But we ought not to underestimate their power to attract, nor should we overestimate our ability to resist. But where should we flee? Can we run away from ourselves? No! But we can relate everything in our lives to Messiah and find, in that relationship, a perspective from which to deal with every situation.¹⁷⁰

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your gracious living in the body of those who love You. Yeshua answered and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him (John 14:23). Praise You that You live within both Jews and Gentiles. In Him [Messiah Yeshua] the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple for the Lord.  In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place in the Ruach (Ephesians 2:21-22).

Thank You for always being with Your children. For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5). It is such a comfort to know that when problems and trials come, You are right there with Your children to comfort and to guide us. Being alone in hard times makes the trial seem harder, but we are never alone for You are right there with us which brings us such comfort and peace. What a wonderful privilege Your indwelling presence is! We love You and desire to care for our body, Your temple. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The body is a temple of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (6:18-20): But banning something is never Paul’s final word. So, he offers further theological reasons, closely related to what has already been said. The body . . . is for the Lord (6:13), he had reasoned; now he argues that porneia in particular is a sin against one’s own body, because it is also the temple of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but whoever engages in sexual immorality sins against his own body (6:18b). Commentators, have long asked how drunkenness, gluttony, suicide, and self-mutilation do not also qualify as sins against the body. But Paul is not referring to what might physically injure the body. He was talking about what would injure the whole person, mind, body, and spirit. The body is capable of becoming an instrument of wickedness or an instrument of righteousness; a slave of impurity or a slave of righteousness (Romans 6:19); something that brings glory to God (Philippians 1:20), or something that brings shame.¹⁷¹

As with all the biblical holy days, there are spiritual lessons to be learned from Hanukkah – light, courage, and faith, to name a few. Perhaps the most vital one is seen in its name. This festival commemorates a time when the true temple worship of God was restored in Yerushalayim. The Temple no longer stands today; it is the heart of each follower of Yeshua Messiah that is the temple where the Ruach Ha’Kodesh dwells. But too often, believers endanger the purity of this temple by allowing idolatry into their lives, just as Antiochus did in the Temple of old. Hence, the timeless encouragement from Paul:¹⁷²

Or don’t you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach Ha’Kodesh who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves (6:19). As believers our bodies are not our own. Paul calls for sexual purity not only because of the way sexual sin affects the body, but because the body it affects is not even the believer’s own. For we are the temple of the living God (Second Corinthians 6:16). And the fact that believers are the dwelling place of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is clear in passages such as John 7:38-39 and 20:22; Acts 1:8 and Romans 8:9.

For you were bought at a price (literally, bought and paid for). The verb is in the aorist tense, which points to a single decisive action in the past. You should be aware that the ransom paid to free you from the worthless way of life which your fathers passed on to you did not consist of anything perishable like silver or gold; on the contrary, it was the costly bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah, as of a lamb without defect or spot (First Peter 1:18-19). Our bodies are God’s temple, and a temple is for worship. Our bodies, therefore, had one supreme purpose: to glorify God (6:20).

Failure to Resolve Personal Disputes
6: 1-11

Failure to resolve personal disputes DIG: Why did Paul object to the Corinthian believers taking each other to court? What was wrong with their attitude? Why do lawsuits cast a shadow over the church? How do you think verse 11 fits in with the rest of the passage?

REFLECT: What attitudes underlying this situation do you see in yourself: An insistence on “my rights?” A desire for revenge? A desire to make things right? A willingness to “bend the rules?” Preferring my old way of life rather than following what the Bible says?

Disputes among believers should be settled by believers.

One of the major problems in the church at Corinth was that the baby believers were dragging their worldly behaviors into the church. They were so taken with human philosophy, and so intent of believing and doing what they wanted that they were divided, bickering and exceptionally immoral. In fact, it would have been difficult to distinguish them from their pagan neighbors. As has been said many times, the problem was not that the church was Corinth, the problem was that Corinth was in the church! Lawsuits were merely one of several examples.

For centuries Jews had settled all their disputes either privately or in a synagogue court. They refused to take their problems before a pagan court, believing that to do so would imply that God, through His own people using His own scriptural principles, was not competent to solve every problem. In fact, it was considered a form of blasphemy to go to court before Gentiles. Both Greek and Roman rulers had allowed the Jews to continue that practice, even outside of the Land. Under Roman law Jews could try virtually every offense and give almost any sentence, except that of death.

In confronting the evil in the Corinthian church, Paul mentions three areas of misunderstanding that those believers had. They misunderstood the true rank they had in relation to the world, the true attitude they should have in relation to one another, and the true character they should have in relation to God’s standards of righteousness.¹⁵⁴ The whole scene fills Paul with indignation, so much so that there is scarcely any argument at all. Indeed, the whole passage is punctuated by a series of “Don’t you know?” questions that indicate his high level of frustration with them that he was experiencing over this matter.¹⁵⁵

The true rank of believers (6:1-6): How dare one of you with a complaint against another go to court before pagan judges and not before God’s people (6:1)? Because he already knew the answer, his question was rhetorical. He was saying, “How can this be? Is it really true that some of you are actually suing each other, and that you are even doing it in public, pagan courts? How can you think of taking your problems outside the family of believers to be settled?” All the resources of truth, wisdom, equity, justice, love, kindness, generosity, and understanding reside with God’s people.

Believers are not to take other believers to worldly courts. When we put ourselves under the authority of the world in this way, we confess that we do not have right actions and right attitudes. Believers who go to court with believers are more concerned with revenge or gain than with the unity of the Body and the glory of Yeshua. Disputes among believers should be settled by believers. If we, as believers, with our wonderful gifts and resources in Messiah, cannot settle a dispute, how can we expect unbelievers to do it?

Don’t you know that God’s people are going to judge the universe? If you are going to judge the universe, are you incompetent to judge these minor, every day matters that come up among you now (6:2)? When Yeshua Messiah returns to set up His Messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Kg – The Return of Jesus Christ to Bozrah), believers from throughout all of history will reign, sitting with Him on His throne (Dani’el 7:22 and Revelation 3:21). Part of our responsibility as rulers with Messiah will be to judge the world. The apostles will have special authority, ruling from twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Isra’el (Matthew 19:28). But every believer will participate in some way. He who wins the victory and does what I want until the goal is reached, I will give him authority over the nations; he will rule them with a staff of iron and dash them to pieces like pottery (Revelation 2:26-27).

Believers will also judge the angels. Don’t you know that we will judge angels, not to mention affairs of everyday life (6:3)? Holy angels have no sin for which to be condemned. Therefore, we conclude that believers will help judge the fallen angels and exercise some rule over the holy angels. Since Messiah is exalted above all the angles (Ephesians 1:20-23), since we are in Him and like Him apart from His deity, we will somehow share in His authority. Whatever the sphere and extent of that heavenly judgment or ruling, Paul’s point here is the same: If we are to judge and rule over the world and over the angels in the Messianic Kingdom, then we are surely able, under the guidance of Scripture and the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, to settle any matters of disagreement among ourselves today.

So, if you require judgments about matters of everyday life, why do you put them in front of men who have no standing in the Messianic Community (6:4)? If two believers cannot agree between themselves, they should ask fellow believers to settle the matter for them, and be willing to abide by that decision. The poorest equipped believer, who seeks the counsel of God’s Word and Spirit, is much more competent to settle disagreements between fellow believers than is the most highly trained unbelieving judge who is devoid of divine truth.

Paul was ashamed of the behavior of those whom he had taught and among those he had ministered. They knew better. I say, shame on you! He continues with a note of sarcasm: Can it be that there isn’t one person among you wise enough to be able to settle a dispute between brothers (see Cq – The Distinguishing of Spirits)? Instead, a brother brings a lawsuit against another brother, and that before unbelievers (6:5-6)! The mark that should most characterize believers is love. John makes it absolutely clear: Here is how one can distinguish clearly between God’s children and those of the Adversary: everyone who does not continue doing what is right is not from God. Likewise, anyone who fails to keep loving his brother is not from God. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning: that we should love each other (First John 3:10-11). Love, however, did not characterize the Corinthian believers. They acted like pagans, and, as Paul would remind them a few chapters later, a believer without love is merely a blaring brass or a cymbal clanging, in fact . . . nothing (13:1-2).¹⁵⁶

The true attitude of believers (6:7-8): Actually, if you are bringing lawsuits against each other, it is already a defeat for you. Believers who take fellow believers to court lose spiritually before the case is heard. The case is lost in God’s sight, already suffering a spiritual defeat. The accuser is selfish, and he discredits the power, wisdom, and work of ADONAI, when he tries to get what he wants through the judgment of unbelievers.

Paul asks sharply: Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves wrong and cheat; and you do it to your own brothers (6:8)! It is far better to lose financially than to lose spiritually. Even when we are clearly in the legal right, we do not have the moral and spiritual right to insist on our legal right in public court. If the brother has wronged us in any way, our response should be to forgive him and to leave the outcome of the matter in God’s hands. The Lord may give or take away. He is sovereign and has His will and purpose both in what we gain and in what we lose. We should gracefully accept that. When you take a brother to court, nobody really wins . . . except the devil.

If we are wronged or cheated we should be forgiving, not bitter. If we cannot convince the brother to make things right, and if he will not listen to fellow believers, we are better off to suffer the loss of injustice than to bring a lawsuit against him. Do not resist him who is evil, Yeshua commanded, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat also (Matthew 5:39-40). Contrary to the world’s standard, it is better to be sued and lose than to sue and win. In fact, spiritually, it is impossible for a believer to sue and win. When we are cheated wrongfully, we are to cast ourselves on the care of the Lord, who is able to work that for our good and His glory.¹⁵⁷

The true character of believers (6:9-11): Don’t you know that unrighteous people will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t deceive yourselves – people who engage in sex before marriage, who worship idols, who engage in sex after marriage with someone other than their spouse, who are effeminate (Greek: malakoi, meaning soft to the touch) or engage in homosexuality (Greek: arsenokoitai, meaning men who lie with a male, using the language as Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13), who steal, who are greedy, who get drunk, who assail people with contemptuous language, who rob – none of them will share in the Kingdom of God (6:9-10). Paul’s purpose here is not to give a laundry list of sins that will indicate one has lost his salvation. There are no such sins. Since we can do no work to gain our salvation, we can do no work to lose our salvation. The only unforgivable sin is the rejection of the Ruach (Matthew 12:31). Rather, he is giving a list of unbelievers who are typical of the unsaved, unrighteous, unjustified. If they had not accepted Messiah as their Lord and Savior, none of them will share in the Kingdom of God.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You that You are perfectly Holy! In Isaiah’s vision of the heavenly Temple, he saw Seraphim calling out: Holy, holy, holy, is Adonai-Tzva’ot (Isaiah 6:3)! I bow in humble worship of You for Yeshua’s great mercy and love to take our punishment of death and then to give us His righteousness. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21).

Let us never take sin lightly, for it cost great pain, sorrow and suffering for Your only Son, Yeshua. May we live with a righteous determination to serve You with all our heart and mind and body in every situation. May we see all sin as ugly and awful and may we keep Yeshua’s example before us as we run the race of this life so we may finish strong. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1c-3). We love You and long to be with You, but until that time comes, we will press on with joy in our hearts – knowing that Your Kingdom will last forever! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Effeminate or engage in homosexuality, both refer to those who exchange and corrupt the normal male-female sexual roles and relations. Homosexuality is condemned throughout Scripture. It was so characteristic of Sodom that the word sodomy is a synonym for that sin (see the commentary on Genesis Ey – Two Angels Arrived at Sodom in the Evening). Transvestism, sex change, homosexuality, and other gender perversions are included. God’s unique creation, those created in His image, were created male and female (Genesis 1:27), and the Lord strictly forbids the two roles to be blurred, much less changed. The Bible is very clear on this: You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman (Leviticus 18:22). If a man goes to bed with a man as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they must be put to death; their blood is on them (Leviticus 20:13). A woman is not to put on men’s clothing, and a man is not to put on women’s clothing for whoever does these things is detestable to ADONAI your God (Deuteronomy 22:5).

God has given them up to degrading passions; so that their women exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural; and likewise the men, giving up natural shameful acts with other men and receiving in their own persons the penalty appropriate to their perversion (Romans 1:26-27).

The Torah is for those who are heedless of it and rebellious, ungodly and sinful, wicked and worldly, for people who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexual immoral (Greek: pornos, from where we get pornography) – both heterosexual and homosexual (First Timothy 1:9b-10a).

And Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities followed a pattern like theirs, committing sexual sins and perversions (Greek: ekporneuo, meaning indulged in gross immorality), lie exposed as a warning of the everlasting fire awaiting those who must undergo punishment (Jude 7).

These scriptures from both the TaNaKh and B’rit Chadashah are quite sobering. There are no examples in Scripture of homosexual relationships being commended.

Finally, on this issue, it is important to understand that homosexuality is not the unforgivable sin (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Em – Whoever Blasphemes Against the Holy Spirit Will Never Be Forgiven). Escaping that lifestyle is very, very difficult. For many, it is a lifelong struggle. A person can be saved and still struggle with homosexuality. Therefore, whatever one thinks about the immorality of homosexual behavior, or about the abhorrent of elements within the homosexual lobby, homosexual impulses are just like all other sinful impulses of the flesh (Romans 7:14-25). A homosexual impulse cannot give birth to sin unless one gives in to it (James 1:13-15). The person with homosexual temptation, or practice, should evoke our concern, sympathy, help, and understanding, not our scorn or hatred. We should love the sinner, but hate the sin because the church should be a hospital for hurting people. For more extensive reading on this subject, see my commentary on Leviticus Ae – The Bible and Homosexual Practice.

We must remember that homosexuality in the Bible is always used as a verb and not a noun. Because of our fallen nature, we all have thoughts in our minds that we shouldn’t have, be it money, sex, or power. Therefore, someone who has homosexual thoughts, but does not act on them, is not a homosexual. Hopefully, as we are conformned into the likeness of Messiah (Romans 8:29), the lifelong process of sanctification will aide us in taking every thought captive (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Bt – Winning the Spiritual War).

Paul can hardly bring himself to conclude on the preceding note of warning, especially since it might leave the impression that the Corinthians were actually among the wicked. He brings the whole matter to a close by reaffirming:¹⁵⁸ Some of you used to do these things. But (Greek: alla) you have cleansed yourselves, but (alla) you have been set apart for God, but (alla) you have come to be counted righteous through the power of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and the Spirit of our God (6:11). This does not mean that people do not continue to struggle with their sin issues once they are saved. Yes, some people who are saved immediately stop drinking, adultery, stealing or homosexuality activity. But most people continue their process of sanctification throughout their lifetime.¹⁵⁹

Now, because of all that God had done for them (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does for us at the Moment of Faith), they had an obligation to God to use their bodies for His service and His glory. The Corinthian church, as churches today, had ex-fornicators, ex-adulterers, ex-homosexuals, ex-thieves, ex-alcoholics, and so on. Though many believers have never been guilty of these specific sins, every believer was sinful before he or she was saved. Every believer is an ex-sinner, so to speak. And Messiah came for the purpose of saving sinners (Matthew 9:13). The great strength of the gospel is that no person has sinned too deeply or too long to be saved.¹⁶⁰

Failure to Discipline an Immoral Brother
5: 1-13

Failure to discipline the immoral brother DIG: If you were a Corinthian church member, how would you explain to your pagan neighbor why this man had been disfellowshipped? In what ways is church discipline similar to discipling children? In what ways is it different? What harm is there in not dealing with known sin? Why was it important for the Corinthians to mourn over this sin? Why is disfellowshipping important in restoring unrepentant sinning believers? What would happen if the church continued to ignore it?

REFLECT: When faced with a potential conflict with someone, are you more likely to fight? Or flee? Or ignore the problem and hope it goes away? In matters of discipline, are you overly judgmental? Too permissive? Inconsistent? Helpful? Explain. Does your church “celebrate the Seder?” If not, why not? Why do you think the Ruach inspired Paul to instruct believers in the B’rit Chadashah to “celebrate the Seder?” Why do Christian churches today fail to do so? How do you think God views their disobedience?

Church discipline. Not a pleasant topic. But a necessary one.

The situation in the church at Corinth had deteriorated to the point where extreme church discipline needed to be exercised. But as we will soon see, the leadership refused to fulfill their God-given, Messiah-commanded duty to remove the unrepentant sinning member. Paul’s response to their unwillingness increased the seriousness of this unpleasant responsibility. The leaders of every church must exercise vigilance in protecting their flock from ongoing, unrepentant, willfully defiant sin among its members.¹³⁶

The need for discipline (5:1-2b): It is actually being reported that there is sexual immorality (Greek: porneia) among you. Porneia in the Greek culture at the time simply meant prostitution. The Greeks were generally ambivalent on that matter, depending in part, whether one went openly to the brothels or was more discreet and simply had an escort. The word, however, had been picked up in Hellenistic Judaism, always disapprovingly, to cover every kind of extramarital sexual sin, including incest and homosexuality. It could refer to any of these sins, as it does here with incest. And it is sexual immorality of a kind that is condemned even by pagans – a man is sleeping with his stepmother (5:1)! The testimony of the church in Corinth was thereby severely damaged.

Sin always takes you further than you wanted to go, costs you more than you wanted to pay, and makes you stay longer than you wanted to stay. Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob, committed incest with his father’s concubine Bilhah (Genesis 35:22); Therefore, although he had some good characteristics, was deprived of significant blessing in Jacob’s final prophecies (see the commentary on Genesis, to see link click Le – Reuben, You are My Firstborn, Turbulent as the Waters, You Will No Longer Excel).¹³⁷

Three things about that particular sin seem obvious. First, the present tense: there is sexual immorality, indicates that the incest had been going on for some time and was still going on. It was not a one-time or short-term affair, but was continuous and open. They may have been living together as husband and wife. Second, since adultery is not charged, the relationship between the son and his stepmother probably caused her to be divorced from the father. At the time, neither of them were legally married. Third, because Paul calls for no discipline of the woman, it seems likely that she was not a believer. Thus, the man, being a believer, was not only immoral, but unequally yoked as well (Second Corinthians 6:14).¹³⁸

One of the major problems in the church at Corinth was that the baby believers were dragging their worldly behaviors into the church. As has been said many times, the problem was not that the church was Corinth, the problem was that Corinth was in the church! Sexual immorality was merely one of several examples.

More shocking to Paul than the sin itself was the church’s toleration of it. The scandal rested squarely on the shoulders of the false apostles (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Af – The Problem of the False Apostles) who regarded the situation with an appalling indifference. Worse than that, the church was proud that they were so progressive in their thinking.¹³⁹ Paul was really quite incensed over what he had heard. And you are proud (5:2a)! It was as if he was saying, “And in spite of this incest in your midst, you continue to hold your heads high toward me as you have been doing? What right do you have to be proud with this kind of thing going on and no one doing anything about it?¹⁴⁰

Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning (5:2b NIV)? A church that does not mourn over sin, especially sin within its own fellowship, is on the edge of spiritual disaster because whenever sin is not repented of and cleansed, it spreads through the body like an infection. When Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Af – A Chronology of Paul’s Relationship with the Believers of Corinth), he was still deeply concerned about its spiritual and moral condition, saying: I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me in your presence, and that I will be grieved over many of those who sinned in the past and have not repented of the impurity, fornication and debauchery that they have engaged in (Second Corinthians 12:21). She arrogantly followed her own feelings and rationalizations rather than God’s Word, and found herself ignoring, and perhaps even justifying, flagrant sin in her own midst.¹⁴¹

The method of discipline (5:2c-5): That would have led you to remove from your company the man who has done this thing (5:2b)? There are always some who see disfellowshipping as harsh and unloving; but such criticism comes from those who do not appreciate the biblical view of God’s holiness, and a deep hatred of sin that holiness demands. When Isaiah saw ADONAI sitting on a high and lofty throne, he heard the seraphim cry out, “Holy, holy, holy, is ADONAI-Tzva’ot” (Isaiah 6:1-3), he bowed in deep personal and national repentance. In such moments, the removal of sin is the natural consequence.¹⁴²

Paul makes clear the action that should have been taken to discipline the man who refused to repent of his blatant immorality. He should have been disfellowshipped. If a brazen, unrepentant sinner does not meet some consequences for his actions, he has no need to change his ways. Previous figures in biblical history had mourned over the sinful conduct of others, knowing that it would have consequences for the whole community (see the commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah Bo – Ezra’s Prayer about Intermarriage). Individual sins can lead to corporate problems. Achan’s sin caused defeat for Isra’el (Josh 7), sexual offenders had to be cut off (disfellowshipped) from Ancient Isra’el (Lev 18:24-30 and 22:22-24), and one can also consider the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28. Not removing unrepentant sinners from the congregation of God can be seen by others as accepting the act and condoning such behavior. Apparently, the incest was not something that had happened secretly, and was apparently well known among the Corinthian believers.¹⁴³

In view of the Corinthian indifference to the matter, Paul himself was compelled to act. Discipline is not inconsistent with love. It is lack of discipline, in fact, that is inconsistent with love. ADONAI corrects the people He loves and disciplines those He calls His own (see the commentary on Hebrews Cz – God Disciplines His Children). God disciplines His children because He loves us, and we should discipline our brothers and sisters in the Lord if we truly love them.

For I myself, even though I am absent physically, am with you spiritually; and I have already judged the man who has done this as if I were present. Paul called on the Corinthian church to acknowledge, with him, the seriousness of the offense, to recognize the need for discipline, and to take appropriate action – as Paul would have done if he were actually there. He was saying that, in his inner spirit, he had already passed judgment on the sinning man, and had declared the mandatory consequence of disfellowshipping him. So when you are assembled, and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Yeshua among us (5:3-4). When a local congregation acts in Yeshua’s name, that is, according to His Word, they can be sure they are acting in His power.¹⁴⁴

Hand this man over (5:5a). This has to be a believer because the issue here is church discipline and the church doesn’t discipline unbelievers. Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be preserved (Greek: from sos, meaning safe, preserved, or well) on the Day of the Lord (5:5 BSB). Satan is the ruler of this world, and handing over a believer to Satan, therefore, thrusts him back into the world on his own, apart from any support of the church. He would have forfeited his right to participate in the church of Yeshua Messiah, which He intends to keep pure at all costs. To hand over (Greek: paradidomi) is a strong term indicating the judiciary act of sentencing, or handing over for punishment. The sentence would be to be handed over to Satan (First Timothy 1:20).

The result of such discipline is the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit may be preserved. Physical weakness, sickness and even death can result from persistent sinning. In fact, death is frequently used in connection with divine judgment on sin. If you trace the Scriptures through the various Dispensations, divine punishment has to be more severe at the beginning of a new Dispensation, and First Corinthians was one of the earliest books written (see the commentary on Galatians Ae – The Dates of the Books in the B’rit Chadashah). This was a crucial time for the early Church, and such impurity, sin, scandal and satanic infiltration could have corrupted the entire church at its root.¹⁴⁵

Take, for example, Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron in Leviticus 10:1-2 at the beginning of the Dispensation of Torah (see the commentary on Exodus Da – The Dispensation of Torah). They burned the incense in an improper manner and God killed them right in the holy place. Later, worse sins were done in the Temple (Ezeki’el 8-10), but the punishment was not as severe because Ha’Shem is always harsher at the beginning of a new Dispensation.¹⁴⁶ It is certainly true that the account of Ananias and Sapphira introduces us to a different world of thought from that of today. It is a world in which sin was taken seriously.¹⁴⁷

The destruction of the flesh indicates that the immoral brother, who had dragged the Lord’s name through the mud, would eventually die unless he repented of his sin. We are not told of the specific affliction, disease, or circumstances, but his body was on the way to destruction in a special disciplinary way. If he kept sinning, his life would end before he otherwise would have died. He would go to heaven; but he would lose rewards (1 Corinthians 10b-15). To protect His Church, ADONAI would have to take him early. We must remember that a disciplined brother is still a brother, and is never to be despised, even when unrepentant: If anyone does not obey what we are saying . . . take note of him and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed. But don’t consider him an enemy; on the contrary, confront him as a brother and try to help him change (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15). And if he repents, he is to be forgiven and restored in love (Gal 6:1-2).¹⁴⁸

That day (Second Timothy 4:6-8), or the Day of the Lord (5:5c), is when this brother will stand before the bema seat of Messiah (see Au – God is the Master Builder), and his life will be tested. All the wood, hay and straw will be burned up, and only the gold, silver and precious stones will remain. Believers are never judged for there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah (Rom 8:1).

The reason for discipline (5:6-7): Discipline must sometimes be severe because the consequences of not disciplining are much worse. Sin is a spiritual cancer that will not stay isolated. Unless removed, it will spread until the whole church will suffer its ravaging effects. Your boasting is not good. It’s as if Paul is saying, “Look where your arrogance and your boasting has gotten you. Because you love human “wisdom” and human recognition, you are completely blinded to the brazen sin that will destroy your church if you don’t remove it.” Don’t you know the saying, “It takes only a little hametz (sin) to leaven a whole batch of dough (the church)?” Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened (sinless). For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed (5:6-7). As pictured in the Passover in Egypt, the sacrifice of Yeshua Messiah, ADONAI’s perfect Pesach lamb, and the placing of His blood over us, completely separates us from the power of sin and penalty of judgment.¹⁴⁹

So let us celebrate the Seder (which included the Festival of Unleavened Bread) not with leftover hametz, the hametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth (5:8). This is undeniably one of the most important verses for today’s Messianic movement. The key verb is heortazo, which means to celebrate the Seder. When today’s Messianic believers see First Corinthians 5:8, they read it as a clear mandate from Paul that the Corinthians were to keep the Passover, which is an important observance for all believers, remembering both the Exodus and the sacrifice of Isra’el’s Messiah.¹⁵⁰

This does not point back to practices in the Dispensation of Torah, but is a present tense, active verb. Although primarily Gentile, the Corinthian congregation nevertheless observed the Passover without supposing that, as many of today’s Christians might think, they were “going back under the Law.”¹⁵¹ So, I ask, how can Gentile Christians and churches say that they do not need to celebrate the Passover when Paul instructs a primarily Gentile church to do so? This passage also proves that even in Gentile communities such as Corinth, it was common practice to observe the feasts of ADONAI. If this were not so, Paul’s imagery here would have been meaningless to his readers. This is not merely a metaphor. Since the context in these verses is holy living, and moral purity in general, would there not be something lost if the reference to Pesach was entirely metaphorical?¹⁵² Without the practice, actual practice, there would be no metaphor!

The sphere of discipline (5:9-13): The Corinthians had misunderstood what Paul wrote on this subject in his earlier letter (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Af – A Chronology of Paul’s Relationship with the Believers of Corinth). They thought Paul was talking only about those outside the church. When he said not to associate with people who engage in sexual immorality, he didn’t mean the sexually immoral people outside the church, or the greedy, or the thieves or the idol-worshippers – for then you would have to leave the world altogether!

No, what he wrote you was not to associate with anyone inside the church, members, who do not act like a believer, but who also engage in unrepentant sexual immorality, is greedy, worships idols, is abusive, gets drunk or steals continually. If they repent, of course, try to help them. But if they don’t, with such a person you shouldn’t even eat! Their sin has to cost them something. Still correcting their misunderstanding, Paul asked: For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Isn’t it those who are part of the church that you should be disciplining? God will judge those who are outside. But it was his business to discipline those within the church if the Corinthians would not. They had a responsibility to keep their own house in order. Just expel the unrepentant, sinning, evildoer from among yourselves (First Corinthians 5:9-13; Deuteronomy 13:5 17:7 and 12, 19:19, 21:21, 22:21 and 24; 24:7).

This passage presents more than its share of difficulties for believers in the twenty-first century: How does one reconcile these last words with the teaching of Yeshua (Matthew 7:1-5)? or with Paul earlier in this letter (4:3)? And how does one reconcile it with what follows immediately (6:2)? Yes, the application of all this to the modern scene is not easy. Our different circumstances must be taken into account. But Paul’s main point, that the church must not tolerate the presence of evil in its midst, is clearly permanently relevant.¹⁵³