I Corinthians 6:3-4
Do you not know also that we [Christians] are to judge the [very] angels and pronounce opinion between right and wrong [for them]? How much more then [as to] matters pertaining to this world and of this life only!
If then you do have such cases of everyday life to decide, why do you appoint [as judges to lay them before] those who [from the standpoint] of the church count for least and are without standing?
We have power. Much more power than we know. I'd heard this before but I'd never read that part about judging angels. I remember as a child being told of the order of things and thinking "Wow...angels are subject to us?" Angels are these massive creatures....much bigger than humans. Its sort of like being told you're going to rule over elephants. Really? Elephants are pretty big but its not about size but about relationship. I've come to understand that angels were created for what they do as were we but we choose Him. There's something so significant about choosing God that I think is illustrated in this hierarchy.
I think its very interesting what Paul goes on to say in the 4th verse. Here he's saying "Why do you involve those who have no legitimacy in our community?" I think that's such an interesting idea because I often include people who many assume should have no standing. What I love here is that the question isn't simple. Its not just why ask them but why ask the unqualified. I think in my own life qualifications haven't been easy to spot either. For me, it comes down to values. I include people in my inner circle with like values. Admittance isn't based on finances or even degrees. One of the people I talk to most often has been doing diversity work for over a decade but she isn't a PhD or a professor. I still listen carefully to what she says. Paul is saying here "they don't value what we value so why ask their opinion?" Good question Paul. God doesn't take you to everybody to get an opinion on your stuff. I've found that He puts me where I need to be to ask the advice of those whose advice I actually need. Even still, what they say has to agree with my insides for it to be carried forward into anything that might result in action. I love finding a scripture that agrees with what I've seen in my life and relationship with God. Yup....He's faithful like that.
I Corinthians 6: 9-10
New Revised Standard Version
Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God
The Message
Don’t you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don’t care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom. A number of you know from experience what I’m talking about, for not so long ago you were on that list
Amplified Bible
Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure andimmoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,
10 Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.
The Bible requires thought and it also requires relationship. You know what relationship does for me? It helps me see and parse out what God is saying to me about my life and situation. It personalizes the text for me. God wants to show me something and that thing is for me.
So this is an often used clobber passage about homosexuality. I am a homosexual so how do I deal with this passage of scripture? Humbly and with great attention to God's whispers in my heart. So lets consider how you get into the Kingdom of God.
Salvation: Am I saved? Do I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and not for mine alone but for the sins of the whole world? Do you really believe that? And I ask because many people act as though there are things that are too bad for God to either know about or hear about from us. Can I tell you He already knows? He does and He's still after our hearts. I can't out sin the cross. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. He's relentless if we let Him in.
Relationship: Its complicated. Its complex. Its messy and beautiful and more than I could ever have imagined. Relationship with God is the greatest fulfillment of my life and my soul's greatest appetite.
The Kingdom of God is going to be made up of all types of people who actually believed God's grace was sufficient, His mercy endures, His forgiveness knows no bounds, and His love is limitless. That's who's in the Kingdom. People of faith. People who honestly know they can't do it themselves and under no power of their own are they worthy but they believe the work of the cross is enough and they are redeemed.
I'm struck but a previous passage of scripture that talks about how your judgement is based on the faith you actually have. If you don't have faith to believe something and you do that thing because someone else has that measure of faith, you have sinned because you violated your own faith. Your faith is what you and God are doing and if what you and Him are doing on your part hasn't permitted you to some things, then that's not for you. When I think of the standard God has set up for me around sexual behavior I know its not what everyone else is doing but I know that's what He's spoken to my heart. That's my measure of faith. In a since I think this very much applies to homosexuality. If you don't have faith to believe that the Source of Love is enabling you to love this person without reservation, then you shouldn't be doing that. Also...that without reservation piece is key. If love is supposed to mirror the relationship between Jesus and the church, giving His life for us is the definition of without reservation. That's martial love's blue print.
I've included several translations that I regularly use. I'm genuinely an Amplified Bible type but I went all the way back to the Greek and looked at scholarly writing on this passage. The version that most closely aligns with the original writings of Paul is the Message Bible. The word being translated as homosexual is a very obscure word that, in the context of the time, would not have been used to say homosexual. There were quite a few words that were used at that time to mean homosexual in a closer sense to what it means today and those words aren't found in Paul's writing. The closer meaning of the Original Greek is "a person who abuses power sexually or forces sex on others." The use of homosexual here is quite simply lazy from the position of hermeneutics and translation.
The Amplified simply misses the mark here. The New Revised does a little better as male prostitutes were often associated with pagan temples and obviously those who weren't practicing Christianity would not be a part of the Kingdom of God. The use of the word sodomite is interesting because the people of Sodom were actually guilty of being inhospitable and lacking charity towards others. Because of the continued misuse of this word and phrase its been associated with homosexual male sexual behavior but that's actually not the sin the people of Sodom were guilty of. This the New Revised is talking about those who don't believe in God and practice paganism and those who are without charity and love for their neighbor. <---Yup, those people don't sound like they would be in line to be a part of God's Kingdom.
I don't know about you but the way I love doesn't involve forcing sex on anyone. Love is powerful but it isn't consumed with power. So yea....me and my homosexual love are fine. I'd like to note here that the next verse talks about how we were purified by a complete atonement of sin and justified by Christ Himself. That sounds like grace and mercy to me!
I Corinthians 6:12
Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.
So now we can do anything. Everything is under grace. However, there are things that aren't expedient. They don't step over an absolute line of sinfulness but they just aren't good for us. That's a very real thing. There are things that just aren't going to work for us. When I think about this in my own life I'm struck by the reality that people may wrong you but the tit for tat just isn't profitable. There's not point there. I also consider that just because its permissible, that doesn't make it God's will for you. What I've found is that I know when it isn't His will pretty soon. As I walk down any path that isn't where He wants me, the consequences get harder and harder until I get back to where I'm supposed to be. You can do all things, but don't let anything have power over you and know that some things just aren't for you. What God has for me is for me and me alone unless He's including you in it.
I Corinthians 6:13
Food [is intended] for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will finally end [the functions of] both and bring them to nothing. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body
This is an interesting one. I think God often uses sexual immorality as an example because the sex drive is a powerful thing. Trust me, I know. The hardest year of my celibate life has been since I discovered how attracted I actually am to women. before it was a cake walk. Not doing something you don't want to do is exactly that. You don't want to dig a ditch today? Don't dig one! Easy!
For me, The Lord has placed upon my heart a standard I referenced earlier. Its not complicated or complex but its a deep as can be. "Forsaking all others?" That's the standard I live in and thrive in honestly. Even when I ponder doing otherwise, it hurts me. The thought of it causes me anxiety and anguish. Its how He's built me and what my current level of obedience supports. Remember when I talked about how peace standing guard over your heart and mind? That was Sunday's sermon so go get some of that if you haven't read it. Peace standing guard for me means living with this question. And you know what? I think it does set my body apart for God as opposed to for sexual immorality.
My relationship with God dictates my sexual behavior, not my own needs which can be very real some times. I love that I just got that too. Paul isn't saying no sex, Paul is saying let it be used to the glorification of God and your edification. Paul's saying under the right conditions, sex is fine. Because I can say forsaking all others I'd choose her, that changes the perspective from sexual immorality to worship. I've been saying sex is worship forever but this is a new insight. :-) I've been praying diligently that He show me a new thing in this Bible study and He surely just did. He's so faithful.
I Corinthians 6:15,17
Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ (the Messiah)? Am I therefore to take the parts of Christ and make [them] parts of a prostitute? Never! Never!
But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.
Listen, sexually inappropriate behavior isn't cool. I think of it like this: Worship can only take place under certain conditions and if you consider sexual intimacy to be a form of worship you can't just do it in any way or form you want. Its got to be holy and acceptable and the way God says that's done is through commitment. My Young Adult Pastor back in Nebraska use to say "Never let you level of intimacy exceed your level of commitment." When I look at this piece of scripture I think prostitute here means sex for pleasure only as opposed to for pleasure and worship. I think the invitation of God into the bedroom changes things. Commitment matters.
I sometimes think it matters to me so much because I use to pray this prayer about how I wanted the things that break God's heart to break mine too. Let me tell you, having His perspective on anything will change you. Having prayed about an received answers and scripture about sexuality and sexual behavior has shaped my thoughts around the subject to be much less about me and much more about Him. I'm still in progress but I'm thankful for His insight.
I Corinthians 6: 18-19
Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,
I so know this one. I know this one intimately. What did I say earlier about how even the thought is hurtful? It is. It makes me nervous and anxious and uneasy. When I step outside if what God has clearly told me is what He has for me, its not easy. And you know what...that's because being outside His will isn't supposed to be easy. Being in it isn't easy but there's peace. Being out isn't easy and you don't get the peace either because peace comes from Him. SN: Because I actually believe what God has for me and has promised me is His best for me, my ability to be obedient is strengthened. She's the one. Howard is the school. God's got an excellent track record of doing exactly what's in my best interest. If I believe Him about all the other things, I've got to believe Him in this too. He's the same God.
I've felt for some time that if you know what the Lord says to you, you don't operate as if you don't. If every sin begins with a thought and the Lord has been clear with me about His intentions, thinking otherwise is sinful? At the minimum it isn't expedient. It clearly isn't good for me because it isn't His best. Now yes, I could do that thing that isn't good for me but its going to hurt every time. Why? Because I know better, I'm outside the Will, and I'm consciously choosing to be outside the will. Being out and choosing it carry different levels of consequences because they initially included different levels of responsibility.
The Spirit lives in me. The pain I feel even thinking of being outside His will originates in the fact that my thoughts are creating chaos and an environment inhospitable to the Spirit in me. I need the Spirit. The craziness can go.
I Corinthians 6:20
You were bought with a price [purchased with a [b]preciousness and paid for, [c]made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.
I can't wait to see how God blesses my marriage. I can't wait to see how my loving my wife honors Him and brings glory to Him. I'm in awe of all He's simply shown me or planted in my heart that I know I'm probably going to be in tears every other day when He actually brings this whole situation into my reality. I'm a crier....its a thing. He's done all this work in me and for me so that I could one day make Him smile. I just want to hear "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things, I'll make you ruler over many." And some of the many might be angels Ref I Cor. 6:3
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