Sermon Tone Analysis

When I was at Bethel Seminary, I had to write a paper on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.

I remember thinking that it was a horrible, difficult passage.

The kind of passage professors give students, in part to mess with them.

I remember being really unhappy with it, and never feeling like I quite got it right.

So it was with some amusement that I found myself having the privilege of wrestling with it again.

This sermon is a little more complicated than some, possibly.

But it's a legitimately difficult passage.

And English Bibles maybe aren't very helpful at times, so I have to interact with them more than normal.

-----------------------------------------

Most Bibles draw a line between 6:1-11 and 6:12-20.

And most teachers, and I guess I did the same thing, separate these verses.

But there's no break in the text- there's no "de" (Now,), or any other clue we are opening a new section ("Brothers," "Now concerning," etc.).

So, really, we are supposed to read chapter 6 as a whole.

Paul isn't talking about a separate thing.

So let's start, by reading the chapter as a whole.

Then, we'll pick back up in verse 12:

(1) Does someone among you dare, a dispute having against the other, to be judged

before the unrighteous

and not before the holy/dedicated ones?

(2) Or don't you know that the dedicated ones the world they will judge?,

and if by you the world is judged, unworthy/undeserving are you of the most insignificant courts of justice?

(3) Don't you know that angels we will judge-- not to mention the things belonging to everyday life?

(4) Therefore, on the one hand, if you have the courts of justice for the things belonging to everyday life, [the despised/disdained ones by the church] -- these ones do you seat?

(5) To your shame I speak.

So isn't there among you, anyone wise

who will be able to reach a decision in the midst between his brothers?,

but is a brother with a brother being judged-- and this before unfaithful ones?

(7) Therefore, on the one hand, already completely a loss/failure for you it is,

that disputes you have with one another.

Why not rather/instead be treated unrighteously?

Why not rather/instead be defrauded?,

(8) but you act unrighteously and you defraud-- and this to brothers.

(9) Or don't you know that the unrighteous God's kingdom will not inherit?

Don't be deceived: neither sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor passive homosexual partners, nor dominant homosexual partners, nor thieves, nor greedy people, nor drunkards, nor insulters, nor robbers, the kingdom of God will inherit.

(11) And these things some of you were,

but you washed yourself, but you were made holy, but you were made righteous by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

(12) "All things for me are permitted,"

but not all things are profitable.

"All things for me are permitted,"

but I will not be dominated/controlled by anything.

(13) "Foods [are] for the stomach, and the stomach for foods.

Now, God both this thing (the stomach) and these things (the foods) he will abolish."

Now, the body [is] not for sexual immorality

but for the Lord,

and the Lord [is] for the body.

(14) Now, God both the Lord raised up

and us He will raise up by his power.

(15) Don't you know that your bodies members of Christ they are?

Therefore, taking away the members of Christ, shall I make them of a prostitute members?

May it not be!

(16) Or don't you know that the one uniting himself to the prostitute one body he is?

For they will become, it says, the two into one flesh.

Now, the one uniting himself to the Lord one spirit he is.

(18) Flee sexual immorality.

Every sin that a person may commit, outside of his body it is.

Now, the one committing sexual immorality against his own body sins.

(19) Or don't you know that your (plural) body (singular) a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, it is, whom you have from God,?

And you aren't your own?

(20) For you were bought at a price.

Consequently, glorify God with your (plural) body (singular).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the things that people do sometimes, is live their life in part on the basis of slogans.

"You only live once."

"This is the first day of the rest of your life."

"No fear."

Paul begins verse 12 by quoting a Corinthian slogan.

This is like a catchphrase for them, that they live by.

And most modern Bible translations recognize this, and put the first words in quotes (NIV, ESV, NRSV, etc.).

What the Corinthians say, is this:

(12) "All things for me are permitted,"

The Corinthians think they can do anything they want.

They think they have total Christian liberty.

They think they are free to do whatever they want.

And we find ourselves asking, "Why?"

We tend to think of Christianity in terms of its "don'ts" or it's "can'ts."

There are a lot of things that Christians "can't" do, and this list varies by church.

Christians, maybe, "can't" watch movies, or play certain video games, or listen to secular music, or shop on Sundays, or drink, or smoke, or dance, or play card games, or gamble, and so on.

If we think about bigger things, we say, Christians can't have sex outside of marriage; they can't get drunk; they can't be homosexuals; they can't serve idols.

We think of Christianity in terms of what we can't do.

And the Corinthians are the total opposite.

They look at the world, and everything in it looks like fair game to them.

They say, "We can do anything we want."

Why?

The Corinthians know why they think this, and Paul knows why they think this.

So Paul doesn't feel any need to explain this to them.

No one has to tell you why you believe what you believe, right?

Paul will leave a clue for us below, so I'll wait to try explain this.

But I want you to see how differently the Corinthians view the world than you do.

So Paul begins by quoting this slogan, "All things for me are permitted."

And then he counters it by saying a slogan/truth of his own: "but not all things are profitable."

Paul doesn't dispute that everything is permissible-- that we are allowed to do, whatever we want.

However, Paul says that he asks himself a different question to guide his decisions.

He asks, "Is this profitable?"

What things, when you do them, are you, or others, better off for having done?

That, for Paul, is a much better question.

Paul then quotes their slogan a second time, so that he can attack it from another angle.

"All things for me are permitted,"

but I will not be dominated/controlled by anything.

If you choose to sin, you are going to tell yourself that you are in control of that situation.

You are in control of yourself, and you are in control of the sin.

You are the Boss.

Some of you have dogs, and you take them out for walks.