Season 4 Episode 1
The focus of this episode is: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 Getting this passage right.
Here’s some good advice. “Don't take verses out of context.”
How do you do that? One way is to cut off the beginning of a passage. If you miss the beginning thoughts of a passage you risk missing the meaning of the following message. Sadly, this happens every time people skip over 1 Corinthians 11:2 and start at verse 3. And most people start after verse 2. They leave out this critical verse!
In verse 2, Paul begins a passage of praise. He praises the Christians at Corinth for resisting pressure to behave differently. He praises them for following exactly what he had advised them to do.
Only after the end of the passage of verses 2-16 does he begin to criticize the Corinthians. So, What were they getting right? They were applying what he summarizes in verses 10-12. Have you noticed?
Wrong assumptions. In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson risked their lives to share the Gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Their book Peace Child tells their unforgettable story of living among a people group where treachery was valued as their highest virtue. They would fatten potential victims with friendship before betraying them for slaughter.
The very first time these pioneer missionaries tried to tell the Sawi headhunting cannibals of New Guinea the Good News about the cross of Christ things went very wrong! This occurred as they were telling about Jesus the night Judas betrayed him with a kiss.
Jesus, the good guy, was praying in the Garden of Gethemane on the hill across from Jerusalem where soon he would be nailed to a cross for our sins. In the night, Judas, the bad guy, came up to him in the darkness with a crowd with clubs and swords. He wanted to make it clear to them who to arrest. He didn’t want them to get the wrong person. He didn’t want Jesus to get away. He told the brutal crowd, watch for the one I greet with a kiss. He is the one to arrest.
The listeners held their breath as the scene unfolded before them for the very first time. Up came Judas, the follower, to Jesus his teacher. “Teacher” the betrayer said to Jesus and then kissed him.
The listeners went wild! What a master stroke! What a fantastic betrayal!
The missionaries were horrified at the unexpected response their teaching produced. These headhunting cannibals saw Judas as the hero of that night scene. He had just betrayed his victim. To them, he had triumphed!
In the Sawi culture they valued treachery. They would deceive their enemies pretending to be friends. Judas for them was a master of betrayal. Jesus was just a witless target. Undoing the results of that session took lots of work.
In a less spectacular way, people have been getting wrong the message of 1 Corinthians 11. Coming to these verses with the wrong presuppositions, readers and translators alike have missed the message the passage. They have misread the key verses.
Let’s start with the overall flow of thought which is Praise for Proper Practice 1 Corinthians 11:2-16.
2Now I praise you, brothers and sisters, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. …
10Therefore, a woman should have authority over her own head …
16But if anyone thinks of being contentious, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.
17Now I do not praise you in giving these next instructions since you come together not for the better but for the worse. …
After Paul moved on from Corinth in his missionary journeys, the church he had founded there continued the practices he had taught them to follow. They followed what he had taught them about women and men ministering to the congregation. God raised up both women and men to lead the congregation in worship and to teach
Published on 4 years, 7 months ago
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