Ken Bailey’s Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians. The image is a link to purchase on wtsbooks.com.
Grace and Peace from Our Lord Jesus Christ!
We will be getting back into First Corinthians in January and early February and look at Paul’s third essay in that letter. This one has to do with how we relate to the culture around us. Once again you will see that what Paul has to say is most contemporary – that is, he speaks to issues that we still need guidance with today and answers our frequently asked questions about how to live as Christians. It is for this reason that it will be so very valuable for you to spend some time with these passages.
This third essay is actually the climax of the whole letter. The first essay about the cross of Christ is answered by the last essay about the resurrection of Christ. The second essay about men and women in the human family is answered by the second-to-last essay about men and women in worship. And standing alone at the center – at the climax – is this essay about how we relate to the culture.
Ken Bailey’s outline of the five essays of the letter shows this:
The Cross and Christian Unity 1:5-4:16
Men and Women in the Human Family 4:17-7:40
Food Offered to Idols (Christian and pagan) 8:1-11:1
Men and Women in Worship 11:2-14:40
The Resurrection 15.(see endnote: 1)
And at the climax of this letter we will see that there are ways we can fully identify with the culture around us, ways we can only partially identify with the culture, and ways we cannot at all identify with the culture.
Too often people quote the first part where Paul says, “I have become all things to all people” and ignore the next two sections about partial identification and no identification. Thus you will not want to miss any part of the series on this essay. After all, we cannot address every frequently asked question on how we relate to the culture on only one Sunday. But with this foundation you will be equipped to tackle those questions as they come up in your life.
In Christ,
Pastor Justin
1 Kenneth E. Bailey, Paul through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic,
2011), p.26.
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