The eCrozier

My hunch is most preachers this Sunday who are following the Revised Common Lectionary won’t be preaching on the lesson from 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. After all, it has the word fornication in it, a word that scares most preachers. So, since you probably won’t hear from the pulpit about this passage from St Paul’s letter, I’ll address it here.

From the context of St Paul’s letter and from what we know historically about the city of Corinth, the issue concerning fornication was related to another issue St Paul also deals with in his letter, namely eating meat sacrificed to pagan gods at their shrines. St Paul says one has a right to eat such meat, but shouldn’t do so out of concern for others in the Church who have a weaker faith and might get the wrong idea if they saw another disciple at a pagan shrine steak house.

In a similar way, St Paul addresses the issue of fornication. It was a common practice of Corinthian men to visit shrines to various fertility cults. At these shrines, there were prostitutes. By engaging in fornication with these prostitutes it was believed that one could influence the gods and gain their favor. The excuses men make up are amazing, aren’t they?

But St Paul isn’t being prudish here. His argument is about Christian freedom. He insists that in Christ we’re free of religious rules. Yet, our freedom is be exercised in the context of our relationship to God and to our neighbor. So here, St Paul talks about the importance of the flesh. He insists that God is a great materialist, because through the material of creation, we’re created in God’s image. Thus, our physicality, our matter, if you will, matters to God. In other words, what we do in the flesh and with our flesh matters. How we use or misuse our bodies (and other people’s bodies) matters to God.

Please see the distinction here. It’s not the act of fornication, per se, that’s the problem for St Paul. It’s what one is proclaiming with one’s body by engaging in such actions. Such behavior is disregarding the importance of the flesh. It’s treating one’s flesh like an amusement park rather than the image of God it truly is. Our physicality, our flesh, is way too important. We shouldn’t treat our flesh, or anyone else’s, as if it didn’t matter.

Context is so important to understanding the Scriptures. Our life together in the Christian Church is a celebration of our freedom in Christ. You and I are truly free in Christ. Our faith is free from any set of religious rules. Our freedom, however, was bought with a price: The cross of Jesus. And that’s the paradox of Christian freedom.

Our freedom in Christ means we’re not lone rangers or masters of our own fate. We’re bound to one another by a common faith in the cross and resurrection of Jesus. That means how we exercise our freedom is always contingent on what will edify others in their faith. Our freedom is also subject to our creation in God’s image. Thus, our freedom is always a gift from God as well as an opportunity to glorify this God who created us and more wonderfully redeemed us in Jesus.

+Scott