One of the things that makes the first letter to the Corinthians so difficult to read and interpret is the ambiguity and complexity of what was actually going on at the church in Corinth.
Paul is obviously responding to some very specific problems throughout his letter. Some of them are straightforward: the tolerance of sexual immorality in the church (ch. 5), lawsuits between believers (ch. 6). Others are less so clear: Paul’s rather cryptic instructions on marriage (ch. 7), the discussion of “idol food” (ch. 8), instructions about head coverings for women (ch. 11, etc.). I decided to use today’s blog post to try to illuminate the situation behind the text.
Here’s what I think was going on in Corinth (standing on the study of scholars like Gordon Fee):
Corinth was a church that made a big deal out of spiritual gifts. One spiritual gift in particular, the gift of tongues, involved miraculously speaking in a language previously unknown to the speaker. Paul refers to this as the “language of angels” (13.1), and he is probably using their phrasing. Whether it actually was an angelic language is not the point here - at the very least, Paul grants it for the sake of discussion.
The point is that this spiritual ability gave many of the Corinthians a sense of inflated spirituality - they felt that they had somehow become like angels - and thus had a new sense of elitism and superiority.
This sense of hyper-spirituality led to dualism: the belief that the body is not really that important and it is only the spirit that really matters. So the Corinthians focused on spiritual “wisdom” and “knowledge” on the one hand (chs. 1-4), and did whatever they wanted to do with their bodies on the other hand (chs. 5-7).
Apparently, some of the women began to reject their marriages, to argue that they should be divorced, and that engaged young women should break off their engagements. They felt, after all, that they were now experiencing a sort of angelic life, and Jesus said that angels do not marry (Luke 20.35-36).
Some of the men, in response to this, had begun to use this as an excuse to solicit prostitutes to satisfy their sexual desires (ch. 6).
Some were saying, we can eat at feasts in idol temples, because we know that there’s really no such thing as idols (ch. 8, 10).
Some were saying that there would be no future resurrection since they already had achieved spiritual, angelic perfection (ch. 15).
Sounds like a mess, doesn’t it? And it all began with a deadly disconnect between looking spiritual and actually walking with God. If we aren’t careful, we can give into this as well.
Do we think, if I give my heart to God at church on Sunday, I can do whatever I want with my body during the week?
Do we think, if I understand the Bible, I don’t really have to obey it?
Passionate worship, speaking in angelic languages, looking spiritual, knowing a lot of spiritual things - none of it really matters if these things don’t actually make a difference in the way you live your life.
“Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. but the person who loves God is the one God recognizes.” (8.2-3)
Amen.
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