Having spoken about the need to grow in the Spirit and to
be built up in the Kingdom and having identified in chapter
3 the difference between what is precious in the building
and what is worthless and only fit for burning, and who
owns what, Paul now seeks to correct some potential
misunderstandings about the Christian life. If we are to
aim for perfection, finding maturity in love and having our
minds renewed so that we have the mind of Christ, we must
begin to apply Kingdom thinking in every area of our lives.
In chapter 5, Paul addresses the problem of immorality in
the church, taking a strong disciplinary line. Many have
sought to criticise those who seek to teach and operate in
the love of God as being too soft where discipline is
involved. According to chapter 5 verse 12, we are to judge
the church but not the world. Later in chapter 11, when
Paul speaks about the Lord’s Supper, he expects that we
will judge ourselves with the mind of Christ. Our failure to
do so has caused some to become ill and some to die and
because of this we profane the body of Christ and bring
ourselves under the judgement of God. In our churches
today, we debate at length whether or not the unbeliever or
the unbaptised should even be present when we share the
Lord’s Supper, but in reality we ought to examine
ourselves, who, by faith and the new birth profess to be
partakers of the body and blood of Jesus and yet act in such
a contrary manner.
“Are you ignorant?” Paul asks. “Do you not know?” This
phrase appears six times in chapter 6. He expects that the
mature (‘perfect’) Christian will have a knowledge of God
which will be worked out in a changed lifestyle and
especially with regard to the way we judge ourselves and
the Church. He reminds us that one day we will be the
ones who will judge angels. This understanding of
judgement and discipline in the context of the cross and the
forgiveness of Jesus is vital to our life, growth and ministry
within the body of Christ.
Lifestyle continues to be Paul’s theme in chapter 7, but
now in the context of marriage. Marriage and divorce is a
serious issue in the Church and improper conduct is a
robber of spirituality. In verse 35, Paul shows that he
wants nothing to come in the way of our devotion to God:
“I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict
you, but that you may live in a right way in
undivided devotion to the Lord.”
Paul does not give us harsh rules to bind us up, but rather
instructions that, if followed, will release us into a place of
freedom where we can devote ourselves to the Lord with
undivided attention, not distracted by the consequences of
our sinful actions.
However, as we move towards maturity, we are not to
damage others with our freedom. In chapter 8, Paul speaks
to the Corinthians about eating food sacrificed to idols,
saying that he would rather never eat meat again if eating it
would cause his brother to sin. Paul knows that idols are
nothing in the world, and therefore eating food that has
been sacrificed to them makes us no nearer or farther away
from God. It is interesting that while this knowledge is not
sin but rather a gift knowledge which frees us in Christ
from the bondage of religion and of other people’s
weaknesses, Paul nevertheless in chapter 8 verses 9 and 10
tells us that by such knowledge it is possible to destroy a
brother.
There is a need to move to the place where our knowledge
is grounded in a love which is beyond knowledge, which
Paul speaks about in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 18 and 19:
“love that surpasses knowledge.” Knowledge which is
rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, has a fuller
breadth and length and height and depth. It is better able to
judge and discern in the Church. Knowledge alone can
puff us up so it is better to love God and be known by God
and then we can really know just as we are known. Those
who are mature can hold back their counsel, their
knowledge, their revelation and their tongue, so that
someone may be helped and not destroyed.
Restraint in gift ministry is an important factor of our
worship so that decency and order might prevail. In 1
Corinthians 14 verses 19 and 20, we have already seen that
Paul says that he would rather speak five intelligible words
than ten thousand in tongues, and that in our thinking we
should be mature, perfect. Paul tells the Corinthians to
exercise the mind of Christ in their thinking and speak in a
way that builds the Church or be silent and hold their
tongues. Although he has the rights of an apostle, Paul
does not exercise his rights if they would do damage to
others.
We partake together with one another of the same Jesus.
We must be builders and not destroyers; this has always
been God’s purpose in the church. In chapter 10, Paul
begins to look at the history of the Israelites. They all
passed under the same cloud, ate the same spiritual food,
and drank the same spiritual drink from the rock, which
was Christ. Paul is also speaking of the body into which
we are all baptised. Just as Israel sinned and God was not
pleased, we too at one time were led astray by dumb idols,
but now God, who reveals by his Spirit, speaks a different
wisdom. In chapter 10 verse 17, we are now asked to be
partakers with one another in the body and blood of Jesus.
At the end of chapter 10, Paul leads us to the point of what
he has been saying. In verse 32 we read,
“Do not cause anyone to stumble, even as I try to
please everyone in every way. For I am trying to
please everyone in every way so that many might
be saved.”
Paul’s continuing theme is the building and growth of the
Church in love. He is prepared to give up everything
except the Lord’s honour, but including his own honour,
(chapter 4 verse 10), for the sake of seeing the Church
grow in Christ. He is aware of the work of the Holy Spirit
as being the only possible means of growth, but recognises
man’s involvement. Along the way, he points to the
various landmarks of unity: revelation, kindness, patience,
knowledge and wisdom. He saves the word “love” for a
very special place in chapter 8 verse 1, where he says,
“knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”. Paul isn’t
speaking against knowledge, but pointing out how it is to
be manifest in the Church. If we are aiming to grow
towards maturity then our knowledge must spoken in the
love of God, constantly making that love our aim. Chapter
14 verse 1 says that we should make love our aim and
objective, and that we should also desire spiritual gifts. At
the end of chapter 12 we are told to eagerly desire the
greater gifts, and there is a more excellent way. Literally,
this is the way which cannot be measured, uperbole, the
way of love. Love, which itself bears all the marks of
patience and kindness, never fails. It is the bond of
perfection, teleiotetos, which, in Colossians 3 verses 14 and
15, makes the body to be one. It is the answer to Jesus’
final prayer where in John chapter 17 verses 20 to 26,
Jesus, praying for the Church, asks His Father for their love
and that they be “made perfect, teleioo, in unity”.
Lord, teach us the way of love.