0519 AND YOU ARE PROUD!

AND YOU ARE PROUD

“And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning…?

What has caused such a moment that a church would be proud of something that should have caused them to go into mourning?

What’s that you say? A man in the congregation sleeping with his father’s wife? How could that be? What would cause a church to actually take pride in such an immoral thing? Is it not clear from both Old and New Testaments that any case of incest is sinful and forbidden?

We have to read between the lines to pick up on this upside-down response, but I think it is pretty clear. The church in Corinth was largely Gentile, and they had not grown up with the law of Moses being recited and memorized since childhood. In fact, in several of the idol temples around the city, there were official temple prostitutes. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess how these people “worshiped” their god. They would eat and drink, vomit so they could eat and drink more, and then go and worship the goddess of love and fertility, and all that such worship implies. 

Since coming to Christ, these Gentiles were new to learning what “worship” really means. But both Jews and Gentiles in the church were very aware of the natural tension between Jews and Gentiles. Jews judged Gentiles, largely because Gentiles were idolaters who lacked any morals. Gentiles generally hated Jews, so Jewish people were pretty regularly slaughtered or enslaved every several years. It has been estimated that perhaps 20% of the Roman Empire was Jewish, so most Gentiles at least knew some Jews, enough to have those opinions, but not enough to call upon their God.

So imagine the eldership of such a church! We’ll estimate them as evenly split between Jews and Gentiles, perhaps a dozen men who are spiritually qualified for their position, but who are still trying to overcome the natural mistrust of the other group. They hear the challenge to love one another unconditionally, not to judge one another, and to find their unity in Christ. The Jews have largely memorized the Old Testament, and could chant any of the psalms by heart. The Gentiles, on the other hand, did not grow up knowing the Scriptures or the nuances of the laws of Moses. As these godly men seek to be of one heart and mind, they lay aside cultural differences and find common ground at the foot of the cross. And these dozen men learn to love one another and to accept one another in spite of their very different cultures. 

They focus every day on love and acceptance, in spite of very different cultures. And they pursue the challenge of hearing from the Holy Spirit to bring them guidance and to bring them to unity in Christ.

Now imagine that into this setting there is a man who comes to Christ. He accepts Jesus into his life, and he is accepted with open arms. All is well, so far.

But before long, some of the man’s lifestyle habits begin to become known. He regularly eats meat that had been sacrificed to idols, he doesn’t do any ceremonial washings that the Jews are accustomed to, and he doesn’t know the prayers. All of that bothers some of the elders, but he is new to the faith and none of those determine a person’s salvation. He drinks, he hangs out with some of his old friends, and sometimes he curses. Some of the elders are uncomfortable with each of these matters, but together they do not all agree on which are truly sins.

Then comes this unfamiliar practice that slowly surfaces: the man shares in a sexual relationship with his mother. The Jewish elders know this to be forbidden and clearly lined out in the Scriptures. But to some of the Gentile shepherds, this practice is not unheard of. It is seen as a sign of love between a father and his son. So maybe this is one of those cultural differences between Jews and Gentiles, and they should live in peace together. They write a letter to Paul, using this as an example of how they have overcome their natural cultural differences and are fully accepting one another. “See how we love? We are open and accepting. We are affirming and non-judgmental. We have come a long way in the last year, wouldn’t you agree, Paul?

All this provides the possible backstory for this church and Paul’s written response to them.

 

He writes, “And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?”

 

Surprise! Didn’t Paul tell them to bear with one another, for the weak and the strong to accept one another and stop judging? Didn’t Paul write “Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things?” Isn’t this thing, a “thing” and a part of “all things?” 

There is a difference between accepting someone’s cultural practice and ignoring their moral conduct. Amen.