Lessons #357 and 358
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Believer’s freedom in Christ (1 Cor 10:23-11.1)
. .. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. 11 1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
In our last study, we introduced the third responsibility you have regarding the message of this passage we are considering which is that You should follow Apostle Paul’s example of use of freedom that he patterned after that of Jesus Christ. This responsibility, as we previously stated, implies that a believer should be concerned with the spiritual welfare of others rather than one’s freedom in Christ. However, before Apostle Paul issues the command on which this third responsibility is based, he issued a command that requires being concerned about the spiritual welfare of others as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God. We indicated the phrase the church of God refers to the global community of believers or the whole body of those who have believed in Christ regardless of where they are located. We also indicated that since the instruction of verse 32 is concerned with not giving offense or causing someone to stumble that we should concern ourselves with the individual believers in a local church of God regardless of where they are located on this planet. Thus, we ended our last study with the question of how a believer should obey the instruction not to give offense or cause a fellow believer to stumble as part of the instruction not to cause the church of God to stumble. It is with this issue that we begin our study today.
Our concern, not doubt, will be centered on the individual believer as part of the church of God but we will also consider how not to give offense or cause stumbling in the church of Christ. We begin with things we should avoid so we do not give offense or cause stumbling of a fellow believer. A first thing that a believer should not do in order not to give offense or cause stumbling of another believer is not judging a fellow believer wrongly or condemning such a person based on issues that the Scripture gives freedom for believers to act in whichever way their conscience allows. It is avoidance of such condemnation or judging wrongly that the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul stated in Romans 14:13:
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
In the context of this verse, the apostle was concerned with dietary laws and days of worship. The believers in Rome were cautioned against condemning their fellow believers based on their relationship to these two matters. A believer who is condemned in this area may become offended since the believer does not see anything wrong based on the Scripture and probably would then become bitter which is not healthy spiritually. The situation the apostle was concerned about is similar to the use of alcohol in our time. A believer may, based on the Scripture, see nothing wrong with drinking wine so long the person is not drunk. If another believer judges wrongly or condemns the individual it is possible that the believer who is judged may become resentful and so would be involved in a sin of hatred. Such a situation could be avoided if the one who condemns the believer did not do it in the first place. The point is that we should be careful in condemning another believer for an activity that we could not clearly establish to be sinful from Scripture. Even if we know of a sinful conduct, we still should carefully and in humility approach the believer we believe is involved in sinful conduct or activity.
A second thing a believer should do to ensure another believer is not offended or stumbles is to refrain in the use of one’s freedom when that would cause another believer to have problem. It is this kind of action that Apostle Paul meant in stating a believer should not eat anything that would cause problem for a fellow believer as we read in Romans 14:15:
If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
This second thing that a believer should do is related to the first one in that a more mature believer would not do anything that would cause spiritual problem for a less mature believer. Staying with the example of use of alcohol, this second action requires that if a believer knows that the use of alcohol would cause problem for another believer, the person refrains from it not because it is sinful but to ensure not to offend the weaker believer. This second action is what Apostle Paul says he would take in this 1 Corinthians that we are considering, specifically in 1 Corinthians 8:13:
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
A third thing a believer should do to ensure another believer is not offended or stumbles is to avoid anything that would humiliate a fellow believer or puts that person in a position of feeling inadequate in the person’s relationship with Christ. Two examples of these are provided in the Scripture. Apostle Paul later in this epistle to the Corinthians presents such a situation where those who are better off materially cause those who are poor to feel inadequate because the richer believers fail to share their meals with them during the love feast and before the Lord’s Supper in the church in Corinth as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:22:
Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
Another example of this third action to avoid is favoritism that would make a believer to feel unwelcomed in the fellowship of believers as we read in James 2:2–4:
2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Here James used the matter of wealth and poverty to illustrate that it is not spiritually good for one believer to humiliate another believer so that the one humiliated may feel unwanted or wonder regarding the individual’s faith in Christ. However, today in some of our local churches what the Holy Spirit forbids shows itself in how some local churches treat those who visit their local congregations. There is the tendency to treat certain visitors in a warm manner while giving cold shoulder to others in such a way that those not well received may become humiliated. Those who are not welcomed may be filled with bitterness or even doubt about their faith if those who claim to have the same belief in Christ as them do not welcome them into their fellowship. I suppose that some believers do not recognize or do not even care that such treatment of others could lead the recipients of such treatment to sin against the Lord. Thus, if a believer is concerned not to cause a fellow believer to stumble or give offense to another believer that such believer would strive to avoid anything that resembles favoritism.
We have given three actions that a believer should take to ensure that another believer is not offended or caused to stumble. However, we should mention one action that every believer should be cautious to avoid in order not to cause a local church to stumble or cause offense to it. It is doing everything one can to avoid anything that brings division in a local church. It is for this reason that Apostle Paul appealed to the Corinthians to avoid division in 1 Corinthians 1:10:
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
The point is that a believer should be careful to avoid anything that has the potential of causing division in a local church because of its impact on the local church. With these actions that a believer should avoid, we remind you of the third responsibility that we are considering which is that You should follow Apostle Paul’s example of use of freedom that he patterned after that of Jesus Christ.
We indicated that before Apostle Paul issued the command that is the basis of the third responsibility we are considering, he issued a command in verse 32 that is tantamount to being concerned about the spiritual welfare of others in that the believer should be careful not to give offense or cause someone to stumble in matters that are spiritual in nature. But that is not all that the apostle did before he issued the command that is the basis of the third responsibility we are considering. He conveyed that he, in effect, was doing that sort of thing although he stated in a manner that is opposite to what he gave in verse 32 by beginning verse 33 with a Greek phrase translated in the NIV as even as I. A more literal translation is just as I also. This is because the word “as” of the NIV is translated from a Greek adverb (kathōs) that is used as a marker of similarity in events and states, with the possible implication of something being in accordance with something else and so may mean “just as, in comparison to.” Here the apostle used it to make comparison between what he was about to state in verse 33 to what he stated in verse 32 regarding not giving offense or causing someone to stumble in spiritual matters. The expression I…even of the NIV is translated from a Greek word that is a contraction of the Greek word (kagō) that literally means “and” and the Greek pronoun that means “I.” The contraction in our passage is probably better translated “I also.” Thus, the apostle is setting himself up as one whose example believers in Corinth, and so all believers, should follow before he even issued the command to do so.
The action of the apostle that complies with the command he gave negatively in verse 32 about not offending others is given positively in verse 33. The opposite of not offending others is pleasing them. Consequently, the apostle states that that was what he did as in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:33 I try to please everybody in every way. Literally, the Greek reads I also in everything please everyone. The literal translation indicates that the word “try” of the NIV is not in the Greek text, but it is added as a way to capture a possible meaning of the present tense used in the Greek. The present tense used in the Greek could be understood either to indicate that what the apostle states is something that he routinely does in that he has formed a habit to do what he stated or that the apostle has the intention of pleasing others and is indeed doing so. It is probably the latter that the apostle meant to convey. In effect, the apostle as a matter of fact is involved in pleasing others but he also realized that such action is not completed as long as he is alive.
The word “please” is translated from a Greek word (areskō) that we are told is “a favored term in the reciprocity-conscious Mediterranean world, and frequently used in honorary documents to express interest in accommodating others by meeting their needs or carrying out important obligations.” Thus, it may mean “to please” in the sense of to give pleasure or satisfaction, as that is the sense the apostle used it in Romans 15:2:
Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
The word may mean “to please” in the sense of acting to win favor or approval as Apostle Paul used it to remind the Galatians, he was not seeking human approval as he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, as we read in Galatians 1:10:
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:33, the Greek verb has the sense of “to delight,” that is, “to give pleasure to or be pleasing to.”
The apostle’s action, as we stated, that he compared to the instruction not to give offense or cause anyone to stumble spiritually is given in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:33 I try to please everybody in every way. We should, of course, be careful not to think that what the apostle stated here is that he absolutely attempts pleasing everyone in every way without qualification. Such thinking would imply that the apostle would do something sinful to please people or that he would do whatever people want to curry their favor but that could not be what he means. Such understanding would conflict with the apostle’s instruction to believers to operate in a way to glorify God as he stated in verse 31. Furthermore, such understanding would contradict the way the apostle functioned as one that is not wanting to please people at the expense of displeasing God as we read, for example, in 1 Thessalonians 2:4
On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
When the apostle stated We are not trying to please men but God in this passage of 1 Thessalonians, he probably meant that he and his team did not try to do what people want them to do instead they did what God wants them to do. Thus, when the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 10:33 I try to please everybody in every way we should understand it to mean that he would do whatever is not sinful to please people. This truth is evident in the instructions of the Holy Spirit through the apostle to believers. He instructed about the necessity of not pleasing self by accommodating weak believers as we read in Romans 15:1:
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
To ensure we do not think that when we are to accommodate others that the apostle was concerned with believers doing something sinful in the name of accommodating others or not pleasing self, he gave the second instruction in the next verse we cited previously, that is, Romans 15:2:
Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
The instruction here is to please one’s neighbor, that is, a fellow believer in a way that would be spiritually beneficial to the neighbor. The implication is that a believer could not do anything sinful to please a neighbor because encouraging anything sinful in the life of another person is to function contrary to God’s word or nature. Besides, sin does not build up a person instead it destroys an individual. Therefore, we contend that when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:33 I try to please everybody in every way or literally I also in everything please everyone, he could not mean doing any and everything to please everyone without qualification.
To understand that the apostle did not mean he did any and everything to please everyone without qualification, we should pay attention to two words in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:33 I try to please everybody in every way. The first is the word “everybody” in the NIV or “everyone” in the literal translation. The word is translated from the plural of a Greek word (pas) that may mean “all, everyone.” In our verse, it is used in the sense of “all” that is determined by the context. The apostle in verse 32 classified humanity in terms of Jews who are not believers in Christ, Gentiles that are unbelievers, and all believers in Christ. So, when he used the word “all” in the Greek, he was thinking of these groups of people. Of course, he would not have meant everyone in each group but those he had had any kind of dealing or interaction with. The fact that he pleased those in each group would imply that he was not doing anything that is sinful. This is underscored by the second phrase every way or literally “everything” that is also translated from the same Greek word that means “all, everyone.” Here the apostle would have had in mind every dealing that he had with different individuals in the groups he had identified. This being the case, he would be thinking of dealings that involve spiritual matters. For example, he would handle the matter of eating meat bought from the marketplace in Corinth differently if he was with any of the three groups. He would have acted in a way that would not cause problem with each group while being careful not to do anything that is contrary to the word of God. Hence, when the apostle wrote I try to please everybody in every way or literally I also in everything please everyone, he meant that he was careful to act in such a way that he does not offend or cause anyone to stumble in spiritual matters regardless of what group the individual belonged. That the apostle was concerned with the spiritual matters in the sentence we have considered is evident in what he states following the sentence we are considering
The apostle first conveyed that he was not concerned with what benefits him but with what benefits others. It is this declaration that is given in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 10:33 For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many. Literally, the Greek reads not seeking my own advantage but the (advantage) of the many. The literal reading indicates that the apostle used a participle in the Greek translated seeking in majority of our English versions. Although our English versions that rendered the Greek using the word seeking are correct as far as the Greek is concerned but they fail to help the English reader that has no knowledge of the Greek to understand what the apostle wrote. To my surprise, even the NET whose translators are usually careful to reflect what is intended in the Greek did no better in translating the Greek here because they translated the participle as a finite verb I do not seek my own benefit. This translation implies that the apostle used a finite verb, which he did not. The apostle could have used a finite verb here but he did not so we should recognize that he had a reason for not doing so. In my judgment of all the English versions I consult, only the NIV that attempted interpreting the Greek participle the apostle used as I will attempt to demonstrate.
Translating the Greek form the apostle used merely as a participle, as done in majority of our English versions, means that an English reader would most likely not see that the form the apostle used holds the key to the meaning he wanted to convey in the literal reading in the Greek that reads not seeking my own advantage but the (advantage) of the many. When the apostle used a participle in the Greek, he intended to convey that what he wrote is related to a main assertion in the Greek text which is that he pleased those he encountered among the groups he listed. But he was not satisfied to stop as such declaration, so he went further to write the Greek participle translated seeking in most of our English versions. His purpose then was that the reader should understand the apostle linked the word seeking to his action of pleasing others. The question is how to understand the link between what the apostle meant in the action of seeking to the action of pleasing others. There are two possibilities. The action associated with the word “seeking” may be a reason the apostle pleased others so that to fully translate his action into the English would require the use of the word “because” or “for.” This seems to be the interpretation followed by the translators of the NIV or that they meant that what the apostle wrote explains his action of pleasing others since they used the word “for” that could be used either to provide reason or to provide an explanation to a preceding sentence. A second possible interpretation is to consider the participle to be used to describe manner of the apostle’s action of pleasing others. In effect, the participle the apostle used answered the question of how the apostle went about pleasing others. While the interpretation of reason makes sense but because there is an implied reason given shortly in the last clause of the verse so that they may be saved, we believe that the apostle was concerned with providing the manner of pleasing others. Our interpretation implies that instead of the translation of the NIV For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many the Greek should be translated as by not seeking my own good but the good of many. Thus, the apostle tells us about his attitude when he pleased others as he stated.
In any case, the manner of the apostle pleasing others is given in the verbal phrase not seeking my own good but the good of many. The word “seeking” is translated from a Greek word (zēteō) that may mean “to seek, look for” in order to find. It may mean “to strive for, aim (at), try to obtain, desire, wish (for).” The word may mean “to request, demand, ask for” as it is used by Apostle Paul to justify his threat of punishing the offenders in Corinth during his visit to them, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 13:3:
since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.
The word may mean “to devote serious effort to realize one’s desire or objective,” hence means “to strive for, try to obtain, aim” as the word is used in describing Timothy’s devotion to the affairs of the Philippians as we read in Philippians 2:21:
For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:33, it is used with the meaning “to seek” in the sense of “to strive for one’s own advantage” or “to try to reach something one desires.” The Greek reveals that the action of seeking in this specific verse is one that the apostle repeats frequently when faced with pleasing others. The point is that the apostle has a mindset that reveals that pleasing others requires being concerned about what benefits them instead of the one who seeks to please. It is for this that what the apostle strives for is described with the word “good” in the NIV in the clause of 1 Corinthians 10:33 For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many.
The word “good” is translated from a Greek word (symphoron) that appears only twice in the Greek NT in our present verse and in 1 Corinthians 7:35:
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.
The Greek word means “advantage, benefit” although in our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:33, it is used with the meaning “purposeful advantage,” that is, “an advantage, often for the achieving of a particular end.” The apostle’s point is that he is not concerned with seeking his own advantage when he wants to please people. This does not mean that the apostle does not seek something that is beneficial to him for he did, since we have argued that the apostle was concerned with the spiritual matters concerning those he wants to please. We are saying that the apostle certainly was concerned about his own spiritual well-being and that he seeks that also but when he wants to please others, he would be more concerned about their spiritual wellbeing at that instant than any benefit that is due him such as using his freedom in Christ to do what he knows to benefit him that is not sinful.
In any case, when the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 10:33 I am not seeking my own good he means that there are at least two things he was not concerned. The apostle was not concerned with his material benefit. This he had made clear to the Corinthians since he had conveyed to them that he did not use his right of material support as an apostle from them instead he preached the gospel to them free of charge as we read in 1 Corinthians 9:12,18:
12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.
Another thing the apostle was not concerned is human praise or honor as he conveyed clearly to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2:6:
We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you.
These two things are what we humans concern ourselves whether we admit it or not. I am saying that we humans are generally concerned with material things and recognition by others, the very things the apostle stated he was not concerned with. Of course, there is a third thing that humans for the most part concern themselves, which is right relationship with God. The apostle would not exclusively be concerned with this. By this, we mean that he would be concerned about his own relationship with the Lord but that does not mean he was focused on himself without being concerned with others as it pertains to their spiritual benefit since his ministry was devoted to helping others spiritually. Anyway, when the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 10:33 I am not seeking my own good he implies that he was not one occupied with selfish ambition. He ensured that he was not a stumbling block to the faith of believers and certainly not a stumbling block to unbelievers in such a way to do anything that would keep them from accepting the gospel message. We know that the apostle could not possibly put a stumbling block to any person’s faith because of what he stated in 2 Corinthians 6:3:
We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.
The point is that the apostle was not concerned with seeking his own advantage or benefit per se. In contrast, the apostle was concerned with the benefit or advantage of others as that is what is meant in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 10:33 but the good of many.
The phrase the good of many of the NIV and that of many of our English versions although good English but it hides a relevant point the apostle probably intended to convey in the phrase. In my judgment, even the translation of the TEV the good of all makes the matter worse because it implies that the apostle’s concern was for everyone in absolute sense. That aside, the Greek literally reads the (advantage) of the many. The primary difference between the translation of the NIV and the literal translation we gave is the use of the definite article before the word many. The apostle used a definite article for a purpose that is not obvious in the English versions that omitted its translation. This is not to say that those English versions such as the NASB and the LEB that translated the definite article so that the phrase reads of the many convey the salient point of the Holy Spirit through the apostle but at least such translation would cause a reader to wonder why the apostle used the definite article. It is our contention that the apostle used the definite article to communicate that he was thinking of specific individuals that he called the many not everyone on this planet. True, the apostle as a general principle would want to please everyone that he comes into contact because of his limited knowledge of the election status of anyone that he encounters but when he literally wrote the many he was particularly thinking of the elect of God. They are the ones that he wants to please and to seek what benefits them. The idea of thinking of the elect would elude anyone who reads the phrase as used in the NIV without the definite article. Anyway, we contend that the apostle used the definite article because he was thinking primarily of the elect as those he was concerned to please and to benefit. Of course, it is the context that enables us to be certain that the apostle was thinking of the elect since he used the definite article with the word “many” to refer both to all humans and the elect as we read in Romans 5:19:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The first use of the phrase the many refers to all humans since all humans are sinners but the second use of the same phrase the many refers to the elect since not all humans are in good standing with God or put right with Him, that is, in the words of the NIV made righteous but only the elect.
That the apostle was concerned primarily with the elect is given in his purpose of pleasing others and seeking their good which is their salvation. It is this purpose that is given in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 10:33 so that they may be saved. This clause helps us to understand that the apostle’s concern was the spiritual benefit of others. In fact, the clause conveys that the good of others the apostle seeks is their eternal salvation.
Anyway, there is the tendency for many of us to think of the word “save” in only one way which may or may not be right. So, we need to explore the word “saved.” It is translated from a Greek word (sōzō) that is used in a physical or a spiritual sense. In a physical sense, it may mean to preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions, hence “to save, keep from harm, preserve, rescue.” To save in the physical sense may mean “to heal”, that is, to rescue from torment of diseases or to be restored to health, as the word is used of the Lord Jesus’ relieving a woman who has suffered from bleeding for twelve years, as stated in Matthew 9:22:
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
The sentence your faith has healed you is literally your faith has saved you. The literal translation may imply that there is a physical healing as well as a spiritual healing. To save may mean to keep from dying as in the instruction of Paul to the centurion taking him to Rome about not allowing the sailors to abandon ship, as we read in Acts 27:31:
Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
To save may mean “to deliver”, that is, to bring out safely from a situation fraught with mortal danger, so the word is used to describe Israel’s deliverance from Egypt in Jude 5:
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
The sentence the Lord delivered his people is literally having saved the people. In a spiritual sense, the word may mean to save or preserve from transcendent danger or destruction hence “to save/preserve from eternal death” with the implication of being preserved from judgment and from all that might lead to eternal death, for example, sin. It is in this sense that the word is used when Apostle Paul offered eternal salvation to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31:
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
It is, of course, in the spiritual sense of being delivered or rescued from sin and the consequent eternal death that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:33.
Apostle Paul knew that not everyone would be saved. Even quite early in his ministry, he conveyed to the Gentiles that only those who are of the elect would be saved as implied in the commentary of the Holy Spirit through Luke, the human author of Acts, as we read in Acts 13:48:
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
The phrase appointed for eternal is one that describes the elect of God since the phrase may also be translated chosen for eternal life. The apostle was aware that not everyone would be saved but only the elect, so they were the ones that he was most concerned about. As we implied, the apostle does not know who the elect was so he preached the gospel to everyone with the intention that the elect would hear it and be saved as he stated in 2 Timothy 2:10:
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Anyhow, the apostle had indicated that his concern for the salvation of others overrides his use of his freedom in Christ. It is for this reason the apostle then gives the command that is the basis of the third responsibility we are considering which is that You should follow Apostle Paul’s example of use of freedom that he patterned after that of Jesus Christ.
The command of the apostle for the Corinthians and so all believers to follow his imitation of Christ is given in 1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. By the way, this verse is still concerned with what the apostle wrote in the preceding verses that it should be considered a part of the tenth chapter instead of the eleventh so that the chapter division here is not good, bearing in mind that the division of Bible books into chapters is not part of the inspired Scripture but work of scholars in attempt to help us locate sentences in each book. That aside, literally, the Greek reads Be imitators of me just as I also (am) of Christ. This is because the word “follow” of the NIV is translated from a Greek verb (ginomai) that may mean “to be” with emphasis on one being what one was not before. This verb is followed in the Greek by a Greek noun (mimētēs) that means “imitator,” that is, a person who copies the words or behavior of another. The apostle used a present tense in the Greek regarding the Greek verb used so that the sense here is for the believer to repeatedly be imitators of the apostle or follow his example.
The apostle was not being arrogant in commanding others to imitate him or follow his example. No! He was in effect telling us that he is the kind of preacher who lives what he preaches. This he did by imitating Christ. So, the question is to determine in what way he imitated Christ.
There are certainly many ways in which Apostle Paul imitated Jesus Christ but in the context of the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, there were two ways the apostle imitated the Lord Jesus. The first is in not trying to please self for the benefit of others. The Lord Jesus is described as not pleasing Himself to benefit us, as we read in Romans 15:3:
For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Jesus Christ did not live on this planet to please Himself but to help us by dying on the cross for our sins. The apostle certainly imitated the Lord Jesus in this respect. It is for this reason that he wrote in the passage we have studied, that is, 1 Corinthians 10:33:
even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
Another thing about Jesus Christ that the apostle imitated is Jesus’ willingness to give up His right as God to take on human form to bring salvation to us as we read in Philippians 2:5–7:
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
The specific verse that is concerned with the Lord Jesus giving up His right as God is the sentence of verse 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. In this sentence, Apostle Paul meant to convey that although Jesus Christ in His pre-incarnate state is God, He was willing not to hold to His right as God in order to come into this world to die for us. He understood what taking on the human form would mean while on this planet. He would temporarily have to depend on the provisions of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit instead of His right as the second member of Godhead. Apostle Paul imitated the Lord Jesus in giving up his right to be married and his right to be supported by the Corinthians in order to communicate God’s word to them. The apostle addressed these two rights in the ninth chapter of 1 Corinthians that he summarized in his statement of 1 Corinthians 9:15:
But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast.
The two examples of Jesus Christ that the apostle imitated are primarily what he wanted the Corinthians and so all believers to imitate him because he imitated Christ. Therefore, your responsibility in imitating the apostle is that you should strive not to be so concerned about pleasing yourself that you do not please others for the purpose of helping them spiritually. In effect, your personal pleasure should be secondary to helping fellow believers spiritually or helping unbelievers to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Similarly, you should not hold on to any right you have so as to hinder the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ or advancing the teaching of God’s word. We should not be caught up with the idea of freedom that we forget that we are here to please the Lord Jesus Christ and so to be willing to forgo our freedom in Christ if that meant that we could reach a soul with God’s word. As we end this passage let me remind you of the overall message, we have studied which is: Use your freedom in Christ in such a way to advance the spiritual need of others. This led to three responsibilities. The first is that You should understand that not everything you have right to do, helps others spiritually but you are required to seek the good of others. The second is that You should understand that your use of your freedom is not absolute, so you need to adjust its application. The third is You should follow Apostle Paul’s example of use of freedom that he patterned after that of Jesus Christ.
10/22//21