The book "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart is teaching me to take a different approaching in reading Paul's letters to the churches. This book has made me aware that most often people read the ENTIRE letter when received, especially a hand written letter that took a long time to send with urgent matters, rather than read it sentence by sentence over weeks or months like some (including myself) often have done in reading the Bible. This time around, I've tried to read 1st Corinthians as a whole, and not only focus on just parts of it, or pick out verses out of context. In his letters, Paul often responds to issues or questions that were brought up. It's good to try to understand the big picture before you zoom into the details. I'm also hoping not only will this way of reading help you and I understand the Bible more, but that it will help us better remember where things are found in specific areas of the Bible.
So, here's my simple list to see 1st Corinthians as a whole.
1st Corinthians has 16 chapters and this is how I summarize each one.
- Division
- Wisdom of God
- Co-Workers with God
- Power of God
- Incest
- Sexual Immorality
- Marriage
- Food idols
- Run for the prize
- Don't grumble
- Traditions of head covering
- Gifts
- Love
- Tongues. Orderly worship
- Resurrection
- Final Greetings
I'm still trying to discover how much of this letter is to the Corinthian church and how much of it is to the church as a whole, meaning, to us. How much of this is descriptive and how much of it is prescriptive? I'm discovering not everything in the Bible is prescriptive, meaning, not everything applies to us to do today. For obvious examples, should we worry ourselves in doing the following of what Paul wrote? "Greet Rufus", "Greet one another with a holy kiss" or "When you come, bring the cloak that I left". We know clearly
we will not be greeting any Rufus. We don't know him. Frank Turek hilariously explained it like this: when you go into a public place, is it your duty to call out into the crowd asking if there is a Rufus so that you can make sure you greet him? No. Are we to do everything Paul commands the church of Corinth to do, or are some things written only to that church at that time given their specific people and their specific issues they were facing? I believe some text was not written to us to follow, but it was written for us to learn from.
More challenging verses are about women covering their head. Did Paul write this to us or just to that church? Let's take a look.
If we read these verses on their own we may see them as commands for us today. Is it not obvious women should cover their head at church? Not really. Here's why:
If we read the entire chapter here is what it says:
This is just a tradition Paul is happy to pass on. Then he goes on to say to "Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?" Oh, so we can judge for ourselves? Thank you! Then he writes, "Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering." No, the nature of things does not teach me long hair is a disgrace to man and glory to a women. Sure, I do think long hair is nice for a woman, but if it's worn well it's nice on a man too. Notice Paul is not making a command here, he's actually just asking the question, and just before that he said to judge for yourself. Context is key. I have judged for myself and the traditions of that time do not tell me that this is the nature of things today.
I know this may upset some people who like to hold on to this tradition, and who would naturally not agree with my judgement. I am sorry and I respect your tradition. If the nature of things tells you women ought to cover their heads during prayer and prophesying, and men should never have long hair, then you're free to make that judgment call. Good thing small disagreements like this have nothing to do with the grace and forgiveness available to all who put their trust in Christ.
If we take a look at the greater context of Paul's entire 1st letter to the Corinthians, Paul has a long discussion about love and about not upsetting people by eating food sacrificed to idols. That was a major issue in that church. Though Paul explained that idols are not gods, so eating food sacrificed to them means nothing and since God owns everything you're free to eat it, but if others are more sensitive and their conscience is bothered by your freedom and cause them to violate their conscious, then out of LOVE don't let your freedom cause others to fall.
Further if we read the Bible as a whole in context we can make sure to keep in with the Spirit of God and with the contextual meaning of God's Word.
This whole topic makes me think about circumcision and freedom from human rules as it is mentioned in Romans 2, Romans 4, and Colossians 2. It points out that new non Jewish believers should not be physically circumcised according to the traditions. Paul gives us an answer that the "circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code". This is relevant since it, too, addresses traditions and how to deal with it in light of the freedom we have in Christ.
In other areas of the Bible we learn that God hates tradition without a contrite heart. God really cares about where exactly your heart is at, more than the traditions you keep, or your outward appearance. He doesn't delight in your sacrifice, but in a humble heart.
I will conclude for now. I did not expect to write this much, but that is what goes through my mind when I read the Bible.
The Bible Project has also done a good job providing an overview of 1st Corinthians.
It is very important to read the Bible in context. I've seen too many times believers and non-believers quoting the Bible out of context, where the entire meaning often is not what it is on its own. More on that later. There are many topics to cover and discuss. If you have any thoughts or comments on this let me know by contacting me.
