A Guilt Free Thanksgiving
A Break from CCC to Celebrate Gratitude
(All scripture quotes are from the BSB translation unless otherwise noted.)
I realize I am a bit late with this one, but I woke up on this Thanksgiving Day with the following passage on my mind. I wanted to discuss, so hope you enjoy.
1 Corinthians 10:23-31 (ESV)
23-“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24-Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
25-Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26-For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
27-If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28-But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—
29-I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30-If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?
31-So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Licentiousness VS Legalism
The Corinthian church, as described by Paul in his two lengthy letters, fascinates me. Perhaps because they acted quite opposite of my own fleshly mindsets much of my life. My fleshly mindsets were more like the Galatians - legalistic and prone to an outward show of rule following in order to ostensibly “please God” - but it was mostly to please other people. And thus, any licentiousness was well hidden so they would not judge me.
The Corinthian church was the total opposite. Their fleshly mindset was along the lines of: “We don't care what anyone thinks, we are free to do the most offensive things possible since God has us covered by grace.” Of course, they confused mercy with grace as many do, but either way, their mindset was that their behavior did not matter. Since grace empowers life and love, their thinking was just as warped as mine was, only in the opposite direction.
Of course, both mindsets are not of faith, because neither is based in love. As usual with a false mindset, there is some truth to it. I mean, as new creations, we can do the most offensive things possible and God does have us covered. But, that is a profanely obtuse and stupid way of thinking and acting. You reap what you sow.
A Million $$$ Question
In 1 Corinthians 10:23 (and 6:12), Paul repeats the phrase “All things are lawful” four times. I want to point out that Paul never negates this statement. Meditate on that for a bit. Even in his response he never says that this is not a true statement or that they should be putting themselves under law.
In the original Greek, Paul is actually responding to a Corinthian question or comment which is why many translations have this phrase in quotations. The Corinthians had essentially written to him with the challenge of “because of the gospel, isn't all behavior now lawful?” They were trying to excuse their despicable behavior. Obviously, those who were true believers and had Christ in them were miserable because of this conduct, but too stubborn to admit or understand why.
Again, Paul does not negate this assertion because they were actually correct. For those who are in Christ, we are no longer under the Law. Romans 10:3 - “Christ is the end of the law for all who believe.” However, in answering their question, in all of the passages, Paul's answer is clear. Yes, all things are “lawful” in the sense of the Mosaic Law; BUT…not all things are helpful or work to build up yourself and others. In 1 Corinthians 6, he further clarifies that we should not allow anything to “control us”.
What is Sin?
I will do a CCC eventually on the concept of sin, but the definition of sin has changed under the new covenant. For purposes of this discussion, the old (Mosaic) and new (Christ/gospel) are contrasted. The definition of sin has actually gotten stricter. Of course, the ‘new’ covenant is not really new, it is simply the fulfilment of the only eternal covenant. The way of grace was always the way of God.
Under the Mosaic Law or old covenant, as long as you technically kept the Law, you were not “sinning”. The Pharisees turned “not sinning” into an art form. Christ destroyed them in the Sermon on the Mount (His point - for Law loving Jews, particularly the Scribes and Pharisees - you are not actually keeping the Law.) You think because you haven't literally stabbed your neighbor in the back you are not sinning. Well, hating them in your mind is still sin. And, thus, if you put yourself under the Law, you have no hope. You can never keep it.
In these Corinthian verses, Paul gets at the true meaning of sin: anything that is harmful to yourself and others; that which does not build up, but tears down; and anything that you allow to control you (addiction). As believers, we should seek to follow the Holy Spirit only. Walk by the Spirit. Don't get drunk with wine to excess, but be filled by the Spirit. The following passage is the penultimate description of this life:
Flesh VS Spirit
Galatians 6:16-18 - “16-So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17-For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18-But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
I have brought this up before. Paul says in Romans 8:14 that those who are the children of God are led by the Spirit. A hallmark of a believer is the constant leading of the Spirit. However, it is abundantly clear that we must learn to stop walking by the flesh in order to continue walking by the Spirit. It is only one or the other. There are only two ways to walk for a believer.
An unbeliever can only ever walk by the flesh since they abide in the flesh. They are led and controlled by the flesh - enslaved by the power of sin. This is never determined by the actions they take while they are in the flesh. They can lead a Bible study - flesh. They can rob a bank - flesh. Donate to charity - flesh. Visit a prostitute - flesh.
The hallmark of a believer is they are indwelled by, connected to, led by, and controlled by the Spirit. Unlike the unbeliever, however, who cannot switch back and forth from Spirit and flesh power, the believer can now choose. Once they have chosen to let Christ indwell them, they are now “in Christ” or “in the Spirit”, (in contrast to an unbeliever who is “in sin”, “in Adam”, or “in the flesh”).
Choosing to walk by the flesh doesn't change that. Yes, we can be fooled and tempted into a now foreign way to walk. No surprise - before Christ it was the only way we knew. Salvation is never indicated in scripture to involve a lobotomy. We do get a new spirit and heart, but not a new brain or body. Yet.
Spirit Focused Not Flesh Focused
One quick thing to point out in verse 17 is that a believer has been given a new heart that wants what the Spirit wants. Again, yes, this is often shadowed by unrenewed mindsets that offer us tempting choices that lead us off the Spirit path onto a fleshly one. However, do not be fooled by a legalistic interpretation of this verse: walking by the flesh is when you are NOT doing what you want. At our core, a believer wants the Spirit way.
Walking by the flesh, for a believer, is when you are NOT doing what you want.
But, Paul's point is a simple one. The idea is not that we “fight the flesh”. The gospel is never inherently negative, so a “fighting the flesh” mindset is not the best way to think of it. We should never be focused on “the flesh”. As humans, we often do the very thing we focus on! So, our focus should be on Christ, the gospel, and the leading of the Spirit. If we do that, we don't have to worry about the flesh. It will automatically be taken care of.
That is Paul's point! He follows with a list of attitudes and actions that he calls ‘obvious’ outward manifestations of the flesh. There is no ambiguity with this list. There should be no doubt of the source of these attitudes and actions. These are not things the Spirit will ever lead anyone to do. These things should be obviously harmful to yourself and others. Hatred and rage are on the list. Tell me when those have ever built anyone up? And both are capable of controlling you and causing you to take further destructive actions.
Subtle Fleshly Thinking
Yet, my concern is the even deeper levels of fleshly thinking that Paul is getting at in my main passage in 1 Corinthians. There was a big controversy in the Gentile churches over meat sacrificed to idols. There are many reasons for this, which I won't get into now. But, perhaps, consider this in the same vein as “alcoholic beverages” in the modern church. Many are divided over this topic to the point of even accusations of sinning if you imbibe at all. This is the same idea as the “idol meat” in the early church.
In Romans 14, Paul addresses a similar topic, but pertaining to other believers, not unbelievers. Of course, this was a different problem from the Corinthians, but the point was the same. Immature believer or derisive unbeliever, don't offend with your freedom. Grace through faith does not need to be flaunted.
In Christ, you are free to eat or drink whatever you want.
It is not the partaking of anything that is a sin. Paul calls those believers who have rules and withhold themselves from food and drink “weaker” in Romans 14. Yet, his point was that the mature believer would not deliberately taunt the weaker by flaunting their freedom. You don't correct fleshly thinking by more fleshly thinking. Both the flaunting of rules and the flaunting of freedom come from fleshly thinking.
The Unbeliever Dinner
In this passage in Corinthians, Paul has a different focus than in Romans. Instead of being focused on a weaker believer who is offended by your freedom, this is an unbeliever. What is astonishing is that the unbeliever would even have this as a concern! Why would they care about the meat that they have freely eaten all their lives? It is not explicit in the passage, but they have clearly gotten this idea from somewhere. Obviously there were some in the church making a big deal out of this, to the point where even pagans in the town began to focus on it.
How sad and fleshly this is. Yet, it still happens today. How often is the silly, stupid, fleshly disputes in the church front page news. This always comes from taking our eyes off Christ and the gospel and focusing on foolish doctrinal disputes or even worse, church culture disputes. If only we followed this advice from Paul in these passages. Or even better, followed the leading of the Spirit.
This over emphasis on idol meat could have been negative or positive. Given the tendency of the Corinthians, maybe they were bragging on their freedom. Maybe they were making a big deal in the public market about how those ‘other’ believers would avoid the meat, but they were free to do anything. But, this church was also known for their dissension and factions, so most likely they had a non-idol-meat faction and their clashes had impacted the society around them.
Either way, it had become a ‘situation’. Yet again, Paul does not set an “idol meat” law. He makes it clear that all is the Lord's and you can eat or drink anything and be grateful for it. But, one fleshly idea often leads to another. Because stupidly the issue had become known to the society around the church, then sometimes unbelievers made it an issue.
You got invited to dinner and they gleefully set a plate of “idol meat” in front of you and proclaimed how the Christian was about to give credence to their idols and false religion. Because the church had made a big deal about it, now the world around them were doing the same. And the name of Christ was potentially being defamed.
In that case, Paul says the Spirit will lead you to abstain. Not because it is actually an issue, but the person you are with has made it one. Thus, if you partake, in their mind and conscience you will be marring the face of Christ. This could lead them to minimize Christ and your faith. So, it is best to abstain. However, if nothing is said, then chow down!
Notice the new covenant faith based approach here. The law says to not eat meat sacrificed to idols; yet, unless it is harming someone else, faith shows that you are free to eat. However, in many varying situations, doing something that is perfectly fine normally may become sin because it hurts someone else. And in this case, it is hurting them only because they have some stupid idea that it is wrong for you - most likely given to them by the Corinthian church!
But, this is the law of Christ or the law of love. It is walking by the Spirit. It is freedom to eat or not eat, with a focus on that which is loving and lifts up yourself and others. There is no set of laws that can ever allow us to do this well. Only by dependence on Christ in us can we walk in this way.
Liberty
“Why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience?”
Paul is not shy about proclaiming his liberty. Those with strong faith eat or drink freely without issue - unless, of course, it harms themselves or others. Consistent gluttony and any drunkenness are harmful - this should be clear. But the issue is not the eating or drinking. We should be grateful to eat and drink whatever we want.
As many of us have partaken in the traditional Thanksgiving feast today, keep this in mind and enjoy without guilt. Or perhaps the eggnog with a bit of something, something in it. Don't let someone else's hangup give you heartburn. Yet, keep in mind the law of love - don't use your freedom as fuel for the flesh. This is quite simple, be considerate of others. There is no such thing as freedom or grace in your face to others. That is not of faith.
At the same time, don't let other folk’s conscience give you a second thought about you own freedom in Christ. Unless you are hurting someone or causing them to stumble in their own hang-ups, enjoy everything to the uttermost. I believe the Apostle Paul would approve. But, of course, do it in full gratitude for God's gifts. Nothing like passionate partaking to show gratitude! We glorify God by accepting all of His gifts with gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers, but all are welcome to be grateful every single day of course. But, as you enjoy the abundance of food, I will leave you with another Pauline reminder:
Colossians 2:16a, 20-23 - “16-Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink… 20-If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: 21-“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?
22-These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23-Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
I will let Paul speak for himself. He is making my point from earlier. You can never fight flesh with flesh. You cannot fight licentious flesh with legalistic flesh. The enemy is happy with all fleshly thinking.
The way of the gospel and the way of faith is to accept all of God's gift and show our gratitude by enjoying them. And clearly this is not restricted to only the spiritual gifts!
Much like a parent loves to see their child play with their new toys at Christmas or those who spend time cooking a delicious meal enjoy those who eat it with relish, so God is glorified when we enjoy His gifts. As you go through this holiday season, remember to enjoy all of God's gift with abandon. There is no better way to express gratitude!