1 Corinthians 6:19-20: You Are Not Your Own

Introduction

Earlier in vv.9-18 the apostle Paul warned the saints in Corinth of the distinct danger posed by sexual sin. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, the apostle says, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. This suggests there is a Christian understanding of anthropology. We do not merely adopt the framework of unregenerate sociologists, biologists, and metaphysicians. We must think more carefully and critically about such matters. As it turns out, it makes a difference whether you think that man is a verbal monkey with no higher purpose than survival and reproduction or that man is made in the image of God and exists for him. These two views lead to different conclusions about what it means to be a person.

The final two verses of chapter six are significant in their theological content and its import. Here is a definitive theology of Christian persons: we are embodied souls, bought by the blood of Christ, inhabited by the Holy Spirit, designed and redeemed to glorify God with both our body and our spirit which belong to him. We see here that the thinking of so many believers, sincere though it may be, is wrong. We are not our souls, per se; we are embodied souls. A person is both body and soul, not one without the other. This is part of what makes death so terrible as the separation of body and spirit and why it must be repaired by the resurrection. We cannot remain in that disembodied state. Human beings are not pure spirits; we are both spiritual and material, and both the spiritual and the material aspects of our person are to be employed in the service of God.

Your Body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit (19)

The Lord directed Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, a sanctuary in which the divine glory would reside among the Israelites. Solomon later built the Temple with the Lord’s blessing and instruction, and after that Temple was burned by the Babylonians and the nation taken into exile, a remnant of the captives returned to the land and rebuilt the Temple which still stood in Jerusalem when Paul wrote our passage between AD 53-55. But those physical structures were only signs and types of the true Temple in which God would dwell. As Paul himself said when he preached in Athens: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24). The Tabernacle and Temple were built to teach Israel about the concept of holy spaces, but the Scriptures are clear that God sanctifies his people as the holy place in whom and with whom he is pleased to dwell.

The Bible does not say your mind is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I grew up in churches where some, not all, denied that the Holy Spirit actually inhabited the bodies of believers. They believed the indwelling spoken of here (and elsewhere) was only representative and figurative. One proponent of that view told me many years ago: “The Holy Spirit is in me the same way my dead mother is with me. She is still with me as I remember what she said.” That’s an interesting thought, not remotely biblical, probably close to downright heretical, but interesting nonetheless.

The Bible says your body (τὸ σῶμα ὑμῶν) is the Spirit’s temple which he inhabits. If that were not sufficiently clear, the apostle goes on to say: who is in you, whom you have from God. So God the Holy Spirit dwells in you, in your physical body. That means several things. Your body is part of you. You’re not just in your body; you are your body (not solely but inclusively). But it also means the Spirit is with you all the time. You’ve never been alone as a believer. When you viewed a pornographic video, he was there. When you got unjustly angry, he was there. When you were unkind to your wife, he was there. He saw it all. How might you act differently knowing that?

You Were Bought at a Price (20a)

You have been bought and paid for, body and soul, your whole person, your whole life. Paul does not say here what that price was that was paid for us, but we learn what it is elsewhere in Scripture. Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1Pet. 1:17-19). You were redeemed—liberated by payment of a ransom—with the blood of Christ. That blood is precious. The lifeblood of the Son of God was spilled so that you and I would be delivered from sin and judgment, set free to worship and serve God.

So long as we are thinking about personhood, do you have any idea what you are worth? We are accustomed to resisting pride and our natural tendency to exalt ourselves, and it is good and necessary that we do so. But do you understand what God did to save you, what it cost him? Do you know how vastly more precious and valuable Jesus’ blood is than any currency or commodity in this world? Don’t minimize that payment by imagining that it is somehow insignificant because he rose from the dead on the third day. It’s not as though Jesus got his money back. He bought you and me. He bought the Church. It cost him dearly; it demonstrates his great love and faithfulness.

So many people today, especially young people, are depressed, discouraged, hopeless, and lazy because they imagine they are worthless. The life you may be choosing for yourself right now may be! If you are constantly on social media, looking to the world to tell you what you are worth, allowing unbelievers to define beauty and value, living on Tic-Tac and to play video games, then yes, your manner of life may be worthless. But you are not. You were bought with a price. You are made for more. You are precious in God’s sight, lovely because he loved you. The Bride’s beauty is the love of the Bridegroom. Don’t waste what Jesus bled and died to save. Be captivated and delighted by the love of God, and then live with the security and aloofness such love supplies.

Therefore, Glorify God in Your Body and Spirit Which Belong to Him (20b)

You and I are not to denigrate what Christ bled and died to redeem, and that means you. Of course, it includes more than you, personally. It speaks of the Church as a whole, Christ’s Bride. We are not supposed to denigrate the visible Church either. In chapter 3 Paul made a point of the corporate indwelling of the Spirit—Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are (3:16-7). But here, although the pronouns are plural because he is speaking to the whole congregation, the temple to which he refers has an individual aspect. Your body, your spirit. This is not the body of the congregation or the spirit of the local church; it is a reference to the body and spirit of each member of the congregation there. Every one of them were bought by Christ and so were indwelt by the Spirit and consecrated to his service.

You are not only a temple, you are an instrument of priestly service to the Lord. Your body, as well as your spirit or mind, is to be employed in God’s work: worship, meditation on heavenly things, service to others, and a moral life. Worship and service is not merely done on Sunday. It is everything, every part of our existence. It is an aspect of everything we do. This is who we are and what we are made for, so whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (10:31). You are not only a steward of your Sundays and of your money. You are a steward of your body, of your whole life. Many Christians think about spiritual obligation as a matter of doing devotions, giving time to God in the morning so that you are free to do whatever else you need or want to do. But serving God is not an item on our to-do list. It is the paper the list is written on.

You are not your own. You were bought with a price. The Spirit of God inhabits your body and your body and spirit have been redeemed and consecrated for something more. Live like it. Live as an instrument of worship. Do everything—eating, drinking, studying, working, training, resting, loving, and dying—to the glory of God by doing it all by faith in Christ, with gratitude in your heart, in obedience to his Word, for his glory and not your own.

Application: Glorifying God with Your Body & Biblical Sexuality

One of the challenges in preaching is determining what applications to focus upon in each given text, week after week. It’s not as if there are an unlimited number of options. We are to preach the Word, not merely the gospel, not merely what is true, but the Word, i.e. the Scriptures. That is a mandate for exegetical and expository preaching, and that is what we are committed to providing as the mainstay of the church’s teaching here at ROPC. But in any given passage, there are multiple ways in which the text might be faithfully applied. What do we focus upon? We cannot be exhaustive, because that would be exhausting. Today would be only the first sermon in a ten year series on these two verses, and even then, we would not be able to exhaust their truth. So how do we decide what aspect and implications of a text the church needs to hear on Sunday?

Some preachers avoid this by subscribing to a sort of hyper-redemptive-historical model of preaching. We believe preaching should unpack Scripture passages in the context of redemptive history, but there is a school of thought that goes by this name that can be reluctant to make—one might even say aggressively opposed—specific and extensive moral applications in the preaching. The thinking goes that it is the Holy Spirit’s job to apply the truth to the hearts of believers, and we don’t want preaching to become moralizing. Fair enough, so far as that goes, but this view of preaching simply cannot be reconciled with either the examples of faithful preaching or commands about it in Scripture. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles all made specific, extensive, and highly personal application of God’s word to the Church, and we don’t get to dodge the responsibility by pointing out that they were inspired and we were not. The command is to preach the Word, and that involves not only telling people what the text says but also what it means.

Fortunately, we have a long and rich history of application of the present passage so that very little work has to be done today. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is why you should not smoke, drink, or chew, or hang out with girls who do. I was assured as a teenager that this passage forbids tattooing—evidently we are not called to decorate the temple of God—and by that same logic and principle we might go ahead and forbid our ladies to wear make-up, our daughters to paint their toenails, and our sons to wear their baseball caps backwards. (It won’t keep the sun out of your eyes if it is turned around that way, so we have to assume you all do it because you think it looks cool to not know how to wear a hat.) So long as we are listing things we ought not to do as temples of the Spirit, we might mention your intake of trans and saturated fats which is really out of control, your appalling lack of exercise, and the silly phenomenon of selfies.

With applications like these, it’s not surprising that some Reformed preachers have decided we ought not to bother. I hope you see what is wrong with this use—we ought to say misuse—of the passage. But the fact some people have mishandled these verses rather badly does not mean they do not mean anything. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, and you are to make use of your body in a way that brings glory and honor to God, to make an holy use of it, not desecrate it by foolish and faithless behavior.

This text has a lot to teach us, and I think we would profit from reflecting on what it means for some of the issues that are hitting very close to home, issues that are tearing western civilization apart right now, dividing and destroying social unity and norms, and contaminating the Church in profound and profoundly troubling ways. I want you to think about what it means to say that the Holy Spirit inhabits your body, not just your soul, but your body. What does it mean to glorify God with/in your body, not just in your life but in your body? Human bodies have certain features which are designed by God. Some want to disregard these features or change them, but what God’s Word says here suggests a different path. This text speaks to the embodied service of God, the physical aspect of glorifying our Maker. So what do these verses teach us about gender and sexuality?

The Created Order, Beauty, and Goodness of Gender Distinctions

Human beings are beautiful creatures. If you accept the world’s definition of beauty, then that statement is not actually true. Some human beings would then be beautiful, and many would not be. It is true, even in a biblical model, that many people have uglified themselves, and that trend is becoming more common, not less so. But strictly in terms of creation, human beings are beautiful. They are one part of the work God performed and then described as very good.

I want to be respectful and tactful, but I also want to be clear. Human beings come in two types: male and female, and these two models come from the factory with different hardware and software. I ought to be cautious in my remarks. After all, I am not a biologist. But that kind of gives away the game, doesn’t it? Women are not men, men are not women, and they differ in more ways than just their relative strength or sex organs. We are not denying there are differences in individual men and women. Not every personality fits a rigid stereotype. But there are certain characteristics associated with men and others associated with women, and despite the fury of Christian feminists on unsocial media, we learn this from both natural law and the Bible.

God made men and women very good as men and women. The Fall did not change that. The curse did not make maleness and femaleness inherently evil. Men are not naturally oppressors; they are protectors. Women are not naturally gossips and nags; they are interpersonal, emotional communicators. The Fall may have twisted these tendencies in various ways, but maleness and femaleness are still good and part of God’s created design.

What is beauty? Let me give you one (of many) examples of how Scripture speaks to this. Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God (1Pet. 3:3-4). Ladies, did you hear that? A gentle and quiet spirit is beautiful and precious in God’s sight. There are masculine virtues that are pleasing to God as well, such as being responsible, providing for your family, and working hard. Some of these virtues are for both men and women in the Body of Christ. Paul was gentle like a nursing mother in caring for the Thessalonian saints, and the sisters in Christ in Corinth were commanded to “play the man” (ἀνδρίζομαι, i.e. be brave, 16:14). But don’t let this confuse you—and don’t let goats and wolves use this point to deceive you. God’s vision for the Church is not an androgynous one. It is creationally, ontologically, and eschatologically gendered.

The Implications for Gendered Piety

Reformed churches are wrestling with evangelical feminism. The ideology made inroads long ago, but more lately it has become mainstream and is being platformed and promoted by elders and pastors who are eager to prove how sensitive they are to their sisters in Christ. This kind of feminism is being accepted in churches that stand against female ordination, for now, but that insist “a woman can do anything an unordained man in the church may do.” This argument is widely accepted within our own denomination, the OPC—which I consider unfortunate since I think it is demonstrably untrue. We should value our wives and daughters more than that and not denigrate their contribution to the Body of Christ by comparing their competencies and opportunities to an unordained man. Adequately addressing that issue would take us far beyond our text today. But our passage does speak about embodied, and therefore gendered, piety.

There certainly have been men who abused power, acted tyrannically, and interpreted submission in ways that are broader and more restrictive than Scripture allows. We should be willing to acknowledge these errors and correct them. But the fact that there may be some truth mixed with the error does not change the fact that evangelical feminism is an error that will prove deadly to churches that embrace it.

There are many ways in which what Christ commands men and women to do is the same. We are both image-bearers of God. We are called to faith, repentance, and obedience. We are to exercise dominion in our respective spheres of activity and influence. But when we start trying to identify what those spheres of activity and influence are, we are immediately confronted with a simple fact that many are trying to evade or deny: the Bible teaches a form of gendered piety. What do we mean by that? We mean there are important differences in what Christ commands men and women to do and to be. He tells a woman to cultivate a gentle and quiet spirit and to submit to her husband. He also tells women not to put on clothing that pertains to a man (Deut. 22:5), a reference to armor and the implements of warfare, which should settle the question of women in combat and that business about unordained men. Men are to be godly men, not just androgynous Christians. Women are to be godly women, not just unisex disciples. There is a beauty in that, a propriety to it. It is part of God’s design and command.

What does that have to do with our text? Obviously Pastor Joel has left the reservation and introduced an application to this passage that is in no way related to it. I hope not. Look closer. Paul says to glorify God in your body. My wife’s body is not like mine. My body is not like hers. We not only think differently, we have different physical organs. Maleness is part of my created structure; femaleness is part of hers. That maleness and femaleness have been redeemed, bought by Christ’s blood, and are consecrated for divine service. I am to use my male body in service to Christ; my wife is to use her female body. We serve him with more than just our bodies, but Paul identifies the body here in particular. That means created hardware is part of the new creation. I am regenerate, and regeneration does not mean losing my physicality or sexuality. It means having it crucified, resurrected, and glorified. Our bodies are not what they one day will be, but what they are today belongs to Christ and is to be used, just as they are, for his glory.

The Implications for Same Sex Attraction

How does this help us think about homosexuality and same sex attraction? Men and women are sexually complementary; they are made for each other. Homosexuality is rebellion against nature as well as against revealed law. Every part of your body was made for a purpose. Homosexuality denies and defies that purpose. It is not only disobedience; it is embodied stupidity.

Just as Reformed churches are wrestling with evangelical feminism, so too are they battling Side-B Christianity. Side-B Christians, who also refer to themselves as gay Christians, affirm that homosexual behavior is unlawful, but they affirm that homosexual desires, while disordered in some ways, are morally neutral. God gave them these desires, and so these desires are not sinful; they simply must be suppressed. How long do you think that will last? Understand the logic: “God made me this way, and the desires that I feel are morally neutral and not wrong in themselves, but I must never act upon them because to do so would be wrong.” What other God-given desires do we view like this?

What does this have to do with our passage? Again, look at what Paul says. Your body is redeemed and consecrated by Christ, an instrument of divine glory. But homosexual desire views that body in a way contrary to creation and biblical law. Both your body and your spirit are to be used for God’s glory. Do homosexual desires in man’s spirit glorify his Creator? Does the desire to use the body contrary to nature glorify the One who designed that body and governs its existence?

You are not your own. This is the fundamental principle. You say, “But this is how I feel, it is how I’ve always felt!” Maybe so. All of us have sinful desires that we battle every day. But what should we do in those cases? Is a desire to cheat on my wife with another woman morally neutral? What about a desire to kill someone unjustly? Is it only the behavior I must suppress, or should I also repent of the desire? Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The Implications for Transgender Madness

Our government is funding, approving, and promoting the practice of vivisection on our children. What used to be an element of science fiction and a reason for abhorring Nazi Germany is now charcterized as the moral choice for children who identify as something other than their biological sex. The incidence of gender dysphoria has skyrocketed in the last decade, and some courageous social scientists have noted this is because of social pressure and a desire to conform, which young women are especially prone to.

God made us, including our bodies, according to his purpose, for his glory. We need to tell our children: it is good to be who and what God made you. Young men, it is good to be a man, so be strong, brave, hard working, godly men. Young ladies, it is good to be a woman, so be godly women. That will take strength and courage, because it will mean rejecting social pressure in order to pursue a life of obedience to God. Do not conform and cave into the madness of this moment in human history. Your body is beautiful, because God made it. Young ladies, don’t let social media influencers make you think otherwise. You don’t need to conform to their image of a beautiful body. Young men, there may be helpful role models of masculinity in society, but be sure you are pursuing a godly image and not a worldly version of manhood that fails to take into account the law of God, the Lordship of Christ, and your responsibility to cherish, provide for, protect, and die for your family, just as Christ has done for his Church.

Conclusion

You are not your own. Your life may not have turned out the way you hoped it would. Your body and your health may not be what you wished for them to be. But you are not your own. Your life was bought by Christ. Your body is inhabited by the Holy Spirit. You belong to Jesus, body and soul, and you exist to worship, obey, and enjoy him. Every other definition of personhood or personal worth fails. Let Scripture be our teacher. Let us learn to think clearly and courageously about ourselves, even if it means standing against the whole world and segments of the Church. Let God be true and every man a liar. Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. –JME

Lord's Days in Rivendell

Every Lord’s Day is a homecoming of sorts. We are pilgrims and strangers in the present age, heirs of the world to be sure, but sojourning in the midst of zombies and orcs. We long to be in the Shire, but Sharkey and his men have made it an unpleasant place at the moment. There are battles to be fought, and we have to sleep on the hard ground or take turns setting a watch rather than residing in the comfort of our own home. But on the Lord’s Day, we get to rest in an eschatological oasis. Rivendell and Lothlorien are not our final destination, but they are a foretaste of it, a place to rest and heal, to feast and sing, to regroup and re-arm, before we resume our journey. One the first day of every week we arrive at the house of the Interpreter and are welcomed by his daughters. It is a pleasant house, even if not our own, and we regain strength and receive new understanding and courage while we are there. God speaks peace and comfort to us so that we can continue the long journey which will finally bring us to the Celestial City and our true home. --JME

1 Corinthians 6:12-14: All Things are Lawful, But Not All are Helpful

Introduction

After discussing lawsuits (vv.1-8) and issues of licentiousness (9-11), Paul now turns to matters of Christian liberty (12-14) in transitioning to a discussion of sexual immorality (15-20). There are a number of principles to unpack in the second half of this chapter: Christian liberty and its abuse, how eschatology informs our daily life and behavior, the way in which sexuality is to be understood and expressed in relation to union with Christ, and how Christ’s Lordship directs our view of the body and its use in the present world. Each of these topics are rich opportunities for contemplation. The second half of chapter six is densely theological and abundantly practical.

Paul uses almost exactly the same expression twice in this letter: All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (cf. 10:23). Many modern commentators assume Paul is quoting a saying common among the Corinthians and responding to it. Perhaps it was from Greek philosophy. Perhaps it was a rationalization offered by the more licentious Christians in the church. Some Bible versions will even bracket the first line in each phrase with quotation marks to indicate that Paul is quoting (cf. ESV). But there are no quotation marks in the actual text of 1 Corinthians. This is simply a choice by the editors; it is an interpretation, perhaps a valid one, but certainly not a feature that should be regarded as very important in deciding how the passage is to be understood. Maybe Paul is quoting a saying the Corinthians knew and used, or maybe he is quoting himself. Preachers sometimes use specific phrases and will repeat them periodically in their teaching. The source of the phrase isn’t really important. What’s important is how Paul discusses and applies it.

Even though vv.12-14 are closely connected to the verses that follow, we will spend one lesson looking at the principles found here. This will lay a foundation for the rest of the passage.

All Things are Lawful, Except What Is Not

Paul is speaking of things that are lawful in themselves. Clearly some things are not. He just listed the kinds of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God, so obviously fornication, idolatry, sodomy, and drunkeness are not among those things the apostle describes as lawful. But that isn’t what Paul is saying. He’s not justifying the behavior he just denounced. He is speaking within a different category. He is saying: “Among those things that are lawful….”

The fact that we are forgiven of all things by which we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory does not mean all these things are, therefore, lawful. Forgivable and lawful are not synonyms. I can be forgiven for murdering my neighbor, but it would not be lawful for me to do so. Similarly, there are many ways in which we may (and do) fall short on a regular basis and be forgiven, but the fact that we are not cut off from divine communion for these things does not mean they are good, right, or lawful pursuits.

There has always been a strain of antinomianism in the Church against which we must be on guard. That does not mean legalism is not also a problem. Of course, it is. But Protestant and Reformed Christians are so aware of the dangers of legalism that we may be less sensitive to and perceptive of the equal, opposite danger of antinomianism. The term means against the law and it refers to a sort of “Christian lawlessness,” the notion that Christ has delivered us from the binding, moral authority of God’s law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ delivered us from the condemnation of the law, from our guilt and misery and judgment. He delivered us from the vain attempt to be justified by our works, from trying to be accepted on the basis of our obedience. That is what Christ saved us from. He did not save us from the law’s authority to obligate us.

Some Christians will say, “All things are lawful!” Kind of, sort of, not exactly. Yes, within the category of lawful things, we have tremendous freedom. But that does not mean nothing is outside of the law or God’s permission. We were set free to obey God’s law, not to disregard it.

Some Things are Lawful But Not Helpful

Within the realm of lawful behavior, there is always a danger of making good things into ultimate things or being preoccupied with what is acceptable rather than pursuing what is excellent. A thing may be lawful in itself and yet not helpful. It may be morally permissible but mostly a waste of time. That is the principle at work in these verses.

The question is not merely, “What is wrong with this or that?” The question ought to be, “What is right?” There may not be a prohibition against something, but are we merely seeking what is minimally acceptable or what is spiritual and exceptional? There is nothing unlawful about watching or reading the news, so it should be fine for me to spend all of my time doing that to the neglect of Scripture reading, prayer, and productive labor, right? Many Christians justify wasting time or cherishing heart idols by insisting the Bible does not forbid whatever they are doing.

Scripture commands us to redeem the time, making the most of every opportunity (Eph. 5:16). Legalists will twist and abuse this, condemning and scorning the way other believers spend their time. But the fact the principle can be abused does not mean it does not appear in the Bible. We are to be concerned not only with what is lawful but what is helpful, what edifies (10:23b). That does not mean every moment must be spent in Bible reading or prayer. It does not mean you should feel ashamed to read a novel or watch sports. It does mean that whatever you do, you are to do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 3:17) and to the glory of God (10:31).

So what is helpful? The word is a Greek compound whose parts mean to bear with. That is what a helper is, someone or something that comes alongside and helps you carry a burden. Many lawful things can help us bear the burdens of this present life, but they need to be helping us lift and travel in the direction we want to go. Something that helps us travel to hell is not helpful.

Lawful Servants But Unlawful Masters

Lawful things may be wonderful servants in a life which honors God, but they are terrible masters. Good things must not be made ultimate things. Yet we see this all the time. It is treated as an honorable or commendable thing, especially in sports. You can buy a t-shirt that says Train, Eat, Sleep, Repeat for every imaginable sport or discipline. By itself there is nothing wrong with this. But many of us have seen people who have made their career or hobby into their religion.

You see this many times in pastimes like running and jiu-jitsu. “Running saved my life,” and they are telling the truth. People who were addicted, abused, obese, suicidal, and spiraling out of control find new focus, purpose, discipline, and health (mentally, emotionally, and physically) in running or rolling or lifting weights or participating in some kind of community. These things can be amazing tools for personal development, but they are a lousy substitute for Christ. Working up a sweat with friends can be excellent for your state of mind and body, but it cannot save your soul.

Good things must be only goods, not gods. The day we imagine we cannot live without X or that X completes us as a person or that X is how we find contentment and fulfillment is the day we must repent of idolatry. That may or may not mean removing that activity from our life. It most definitely means removing the idol associated with it from our heart.

Christians are to live as free men, not be enslaved to people or things. We are servants of God, and a man can only truly serve one master. Even Christians who were slaves in the first century are commanded in Scripture to do their work like freedmen. Lawful pursuits cease to be lawful when they become controlling. If you cannot live without it, you’d be better off doing so.

If you live for pleasure, it will ultimately elude you. If you live for Christ, you will find the greatest pleasure and fulfillment possible. But you cannot aim at happiness, not because happiness is the wrong goal, but because our sinful hearts will always tend to define it in carnal and selfish ways. Fix your eyes and life on Christ, and you will discover what true happiness entails.

An Eschatological Perspective on Utility

It seems that some of the brethren in Corinth were seeking to draw an analogy between food and sexual promiscuity. The body is made to eat and enjoy food. God did not have to make food taste good. He did not have to bless us with taste buds. Give whatever evolutionary rationale you want. I’ve read them. They don’t work. The fact that fresh fruit tastes sweet and amazing is proof there is a God. God made food for fuel, but he also made it to be enjoyed. It is not unspiritual to do so. You are not more holy if you choose oatmeal on Sundays and not to dip Oreos in coffee.

Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for foods, and neither of them are eschatological in their present configuration. The stomach will be transformed by the resurrection, and so too, presumably, will be the foods made for it. Jesus ate after his resurrection, and we will too. If you think food tastes good here, just wait until you discover what it tastes like in the new heavens and earth! But food serves a utilitarian function, as well as an aesthetic one, in the present age. You can probably see why some wanted to make a comparison to sex, but the analogy fails because it fails to take into account the teleological and covenantal aspects.

Food is not a covenantal category, but interpersonal intimacy is. Food serves to keep our bodies alive and strong so that we might better serve God, but interpersonal union is ultimately aimed at covenantal and eternal union with God in Christ. When evaluating what is lawful and helpful in the present age, we are to think in terms of covenant (our relationship with God under his authority), telos (the purpose a thing serves and how it relates to or furthers our life’s purpose), and eschatology (the final state in which all things will be transformed and renewed by the power of Christ’s resurrection). To simplify this, think about three questions. Is this consistent with a relationship with Christ, i.e. can I do this as a Christian to the glory of God? Does this serve a useful purpose which aids or enhances my life and growth as God’s child? How will the final judgment and the renewal of all things transform this thing or alter my perspective on it?

Pastoral Application: Two Ditches on Lawful Activity

Christian liberty has always been an issue among the people of God, even before those people began to be called Christians. The Israelites were set free from the tyranny of the Egyptians only to fall back into bondage by imitating Egyptian worship at the foot of Mt. Sinai just a few months later. They were free to worship Yahweh at his Tabernacle, but not to burn incense when, where, and however they pleased. They were free to enjoy their wives, but not to take another man’s wife, free to cultivate grapes and drink wine, but not to become drunk on it. In the NT we find Jesus’ most scathing rebukes were directed at the Pharisees who taught the commandments of men as if they were the doctrine of God. Paul is emphatic that it is weak brethren who wish to bind others based upon their own conscience rather than the commandments of Christ.

The whole history of Christian liberty has been a story of tension between legalism and licentiousness, between antinomianism (against law) and neonomianism (the introduction of a new law). Both are wrong. Both are sinful. These are two ditches, and it isn’t any better to crash your car into the one on the right side of the road than it is to end up in the ditch on the left. You’re not better off being a legalistic Pharisee than a licentious playboy. One may be less likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease, but both of them are going to Hell.

Legalists need to hear the first part of Paul’s motto loud and clear: All things are lawful. So stop judging your brethren for things God has not chosen to judge them for. They want to drink wine and beer in moderation, and you don’t want to drink something that tastes like cough medicine. That’s fine. Why are you judging your brother? They want to smoke a pipe or cigar to the glory of God, and you’d rather not put something into your mouth and set it on fire. Let each be convinced in his own mind. If God hasn’t forbidden your brother to enjoy it, then you shouldn’t either. He can thank God as he partakes, and you can thank God that you don’t have to. You are not commanded to indulge in whatever your brother may enjoy, and there is no shame or wrong in establishing your own guidelines for holiness. If you know you can’t handle alcohol in moderation, then don’t try. If you know that certain hobbies quickly become a form of idolatry, be content to live your life without it. But don’t mistake your rules for God’s rules. They apply to you alone.

On the other hand, the licentious person takes every opportunity to use Christian liberty as a justification and cloak for vice. He needs to hear the second half of Paul’s instruction: not all things are helpful, and I won’t be brought under the power of any. Did the Reformed world really have a social media war just a few months ago about the lawfulness of bikinis on the beach? This is the liberty Christ died for: so that our wives and daughters can walk around in public in nothing but their underwear? When I was a child there were still conversations about whether Christians could watch movies or play games that used “spot cards.” Did we settle those debates only so that Christians can now justify watching movies that are basically soft porn? You have the right to drink alcohol; that doesn’t mean it is okay to get drunk and carouse like a pagan. You have the right to play sports and enjoy vacations; that doesn’t mean it is okay to make those activities your religion or disregard the Lord’s Day.

When it comes to Christian liberty, we need to keep it between the ditches. We should not create laws for each other that God did not make, and we should not be foolish about our freedom as if whatever is not forbidden is necessarily good for us. God has commanded the ultimate things that ought to occupy our hearts and lives. He allows us also to enjoy many good things, but these things are not ultimate, only utilitarian. Insofar as they are pleasant and useful, enjoy them and give God thanks. But when they become burdensome rather than a blessing, when they begin to take over rather than support your pursuit of what is good, right, and true, do what is necessary to harness them, or be content to say good-bye to them.

Conclusion

Ultimately things are lawful insofar as they are in harmony with the law of God revealed in Christ. They are helpful insofar as they align with the values and goals of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they are enjoyable insofar as they are consistent with our liberty as Christians and not instruments of evil working to bring us back into bondage.

Christians are both free and capable of enjoying this life and all of its good things in a way that unbelievers never can. Our souls have been delivered from guilt, shame, condemnation, and tyranny by the sacrifice and resurrection of our Savior. We are accepted fully and forever on the basis of his righteousness, not our own. We have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness where we once were bound, and we have been made citizens of the kingdom of life and adopted as sons of God and made heirs of the new heavens and earth.

Everything we do, everything we enjoy, is to be done in light of these realities. We live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we live in obedience to God’s holy law, and we do whatever we do to his honor and glory by giving thanks for all things in Christ’s Name. We have not been called to sadness, but to gladness. We have not been called to dourness but delight. We have not been called to fearfulness or fretting, but to faith and feasting, now and forevermore.

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. My soul has been bought with the blood of God’s Son. I am his, and he is mine. You are called to joy, Christian. Do not sacrifice it for lesser things. Amen.

2022 Reading Q1 Review

I did not post my 2022 reading plan as I did last year, but as in previous years I am logging the books I finish (not just read part or most of) with specific goals in terms of total volumes and distribution in specific categories. Since I posted quarterly reviews of my reading last year (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) in hope of encouraging others to think more carefully about what and how they read, I decided to do the same this year. I will not be posting a full list of the volumes read, but I will give an overall sense of the reading and highlight a few titles.

I completed 37 books in the first quarter of 2022. This included five works of theology, six works of philosophy, four books of history, three classics, six biographies, and seven re-reads. My goals for these categories for the year are: 24 works of theology; 12 works each of philosophy, history, classics, and biography; and 18 re-reads. This means I am slightly behind (by one) on works of theology, significantly ahead in philosophy and biography, ahead by one in history, and slightly ahead in re-reads. As I mentioned last year, one of the challenges of this method of recording is distinguishing theology from philosophy, philosophy from history, and history from biography as these so often overlap that the same volume could be put in more than one category. I simply pick the best fit and record it once.

Here are three highlights from the first quarter that deserve special mention.

First, The Light Behind the Sun by Doug Wilson. This is a collection of essays on C. S. Lewis, several of which were previously published, by a man who clearly loves Lewis and has read and thought carefully about him for many years. I had read some of the essays before, but they were still enjoyable the second time, and the work as a whole was enlightening and a very pleasant read. I gave it away as soon as I finished it, but I plan to order another copy.

Second, Aristotle for Everybody by Mortimer Adler. This was originally written for children, but it is a solid introduction to Aristotle’s thought for adult laymen hoping to profit from the Philosopher. One must be careful of these kinds of introductions as they too often misrepresent or slant the presentation of a thinker whose work would be better understood simply by reading the original source. But Aristotle can be difficult, and Adler is careful and respectful in his presentation. If you have not read much of Aristotle’s work but would like to do so, this can be helpful in getting oriented to his thought.

Third, Endurance by Alfred Lansing. This is a classic piece of history about an expedition to Antarctica at the beginning of the 20th century. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It is well-written, historically detailed, and highly engaging. What Shackleton and his crew endured is remarkable, both for its hardships and for the endurance they exercised in the midst of it. Many fans of 20th century history and expeditionary adventures will have already read this, but I never did until January. I am glad I did and am happy to recommend it to those who are interested in the genre.

 --JME

What Happened to Your Face?

I get a lot of questions in my line of work.

 

“Pastor Joel, what must I do to be saved?”

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).

Repent and be baptized in Jesus’ Name (Acts 2:38-39).

 

“Pastor Joel, did animals really talk before the Fall?”

Some of them did, yes.

 

“Pastor Joel, if God wants me to come to church on Sunday mornings, why did he make my bed so comfortable?”

Soft beds are a reward for hard labor and a curse upon the indolent and negligent.

 

“Pastor Joel, what happened to your face?”

 

I’ve heard this one quite a few times in the last ten days, but I’m used to it. I’ve been hearing it most of my life. I became familiar with it when I was teenager with acne and people would randomly ask me the question, including one time while sitting beside me in a church service. It all started--the question, not the acne--forty-three years ago when my mother had trouble delivering me. From what I’ve been told--I was there, but I don’t remember it clearly--the doctor grabbed my head and the side of my face with a pair of forceps and pulled me out. When I finally emerged, I arrived with a face only a mother could love.

Occasionally I show up for worship on Sundays with a black eye or other scrapes, scratches, and bruises visible on my head and neck. This should not be taken as an indication that I had to wrestle especially hard with the sermon for that week, though sometimes that is also true. Nor should you assume there are problems in my marriage or that we recently had an elders’ meeting that didn’t go well. Instead you may safely conclude that I have been practicing the infamous Rocky Balboa face block. After almost 30 years of martial arts training, my face blocking skills are legendary. Far more rare is the black eye that results from a forceful slip of the hand while tying a bow tie. That may be less common, but it is one of the occupational hazards pastors from the South must accept. --JME

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 and Kinds of Communion Bread

It is quite common to hear 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 cited in discussions about communion bread. Many sincere Christians think eucharistic bread must be unleavened, and they will sometimes use these verses to prove it. But this is a mistake, both because the position is wrong--Scripture does not require the bread used for the holy Supper to be unleavened--and because the prooftext is invalid. A person may prefer that unleavened bread be used in communion, but this passage has nothing to say about it.

There is no doubt Jesus used unleavened bread when instituting the Lord’s Supper since he did so during the Passover feast and all leavened bread would have been removed from the house. But the Greek language distinguishes common (leavened) bread (ἄρτος) from unleavened [bread] (ἄζυμος), and all of the passages describing or directing observance of the Supper use the word for ordinary (leavened) bread. The Church used leavened bread throughout her early history, but after a Roman bishop introduced the use of unleavened bread, the question of which kind of bread to use became a point of controversy which continues to divide the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communions to this day.

The Reformed have traditionally treated the kind of bread as a matter of indifference:

“ … whether the bread is to be leavened or unleavened, and the wine to be red or white, is of no consequence. These things are indifferent, and left free to the Church….” --Calvin, Institutes IV.17.43 

“As the Lord’s Supper was originally instituted in connection with the Passover, there is no doubt that unleavened bread was used on that occasion. It is evident, however, from the apostolic history, that the Apostles used whatever kind of bread was at hand. There is no significancy either in the kind of bread or in the form of the loaf. It is enough that it is bread. This makes it the proper emblem of Him who declared Himself to be the true bread which came down from heaven.” --Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology III.615

If anything, Reformed Christians seem to have generally preferred the use of leavened bread in communion which would be broken and distributed to the congregation as a symbol of the unity of the Body of Christ.

“We do not deny that the use of fermented bread seems to us the more suitable, both because it is more in accordance with the design of Christ (which was to use common and ordinary bread, which is everywhere to be found); and because it is more appropriate to sustain the sacramental analogy (which consists in signifying our communion with Christ by the similitude of bodily nourishment); and because the necessity of unleavened bread belongs to Jewish ceremonies (which are abrogated and cannot be retained without a certain affectation [kakozelia] of Judaism); and because in the whole ancient church no traces appear of the common use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist before the ninth or tenth century…. The example of Christ neither can nor ought to be made an objection here, because as we have said there was a peculiar reason which impelled him to the use of unleavened bread (which no longer exists). Therefore, his example binds us as to the essence of the thing itself, that we should do whatever he did (take, bless, and break the bread and other acts of this kind mentioned by the sacred writers); but not forthwith as to the particular circumstances, which do not belong to the thing.” --Turretin, Institutes III.430

The historic practice of the Church and the specific language of the NT favor the use of leavened bread. So too does the symbolism explained in 1 Corinthians 10:17: For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.[1] But unleavened bread is acceptable since nothing requires the presence of leaven in communion.[2] There are many symbolic rationales that can be given for one or the other type of bread, but neither can be required from the text of Scripture. So if you are tempted to use 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 to prove why churches must use unleavened communion bread… don’t. --JME

[1] It is theoretically possible for a congregation to partake of one unleavened piece of bread, but in most cases it will be impracticable.

[2] A comparison between modes of baptism is appropriate. A symbolic rationale can be offered for sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, but Scripture does not require any particular one of these three.