Ethical Issues in the Pauline Epistles (Part 2)
Introduction
This article is a continuation of Ethical Issues in the Pauline Epistles (Part 1) which deals with such ethical issues as the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians; and The conduct of believers. Here, in part 2 of this same topic, the discussion continues taking into account additional vital ethical aspects such as: The abuse of Christian freedom; public worship; home codes. The Universal ecclesia must have a clear understanding of these issues to be the true ecclesia of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ibid., pp. 521-2.
The abuse of Christian freedom
The Corinthians, in their letter to Paul, raised questions about the advisability of eating the meat of an animal offered in a pagan sacrifice. According to David Lowery, the Corinthians’ questions apparently concerned: a) the acceptability of purchasing pagan sacrificial meat sold in the market; (b) the acceptability of eating the meat as a guest at a friend’s house; c) the acceptability of attending one of these pagan sacrifices and enjoying the celebratory meal, which followed in the temple precincts. For more mature Corinthian Christians, as Paul explained, ‘an idol is nothing at all and there is but one God, and as such eating food offered to idols was, in itself, inconsequential. However, not all Corinthians agreed that an idol was nothing. The weaker brothers who were led to participate with the stronger brother have corrupted consciences. So, Paul’s answer was that although the strongest brothers can be justified by exercising their freedom, they did not observe a basic and underlying principle, that is, love. Even though their knowledge about idols gave them freedom to participate, however, due to their love for their weaker brother, they should have refrained from eating. Therefore, Paul advises that the example of Christ be followed. In this situation, it will imply giving up one’s freedom or right for the good of the weaker brother.
Public Worship
With reference to public worship, three of the topics addressed by the apostle were the following: a) The status of women in worship (I Cor. 11:2-10); the status of Christians as the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34); and the status of spiritual gifts (ch. 12-14).
a) The Status of Women in the Cult
The problem for women in the Corinthian church was that of covering their heads. As David Lowery observed, ‘It seems that the Corinthian slogan, everything is permitted; It had also been applied to the meetings of the Church, and the women of Corinth had expressed that principle by shedding their distinctive clothing. More importantly, they seem to have rejected the concept of subordination within the Church (and perhaps in society) and with it any cultural symbols, eg head coverings, that might have been attached to it.’ From the above quote it can be seen that the issue is not simply about head coverings, but rather the insubordinate behavior of women in public worship. Lowery further noted that Paul first established the theological basis for his advice on this subject. Paul stated that for a woman to remove her covering was not an act of liberation but of degradation and dishonored her spiritual head, the man. Paul argues that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Therefore, the woman had to cover her head to honor the man.
b) The state of Christians at the Lord’s Supper
Ibid., p. 529
Ibid., p. 530.
According to Lowery, when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper with his disciples, the bread and cup were part of one meal, with the bread probably broken near the beginning and the cup taken last. When Paul wrote, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in two stages, cementing the partaking of the bread and cup at the end of a communal meal. Worship with the bread and the cup came to be called Agape. However, in the Corinthian celebration, the agape meal had become an occasion marked not by love for fellow Christians, but by self-centered indulgence. Paul noted that an experience meant to build up the Church was actually having the opposite effect: ‘their meeting does more harm than good.’ The Lord’s Supper must be the memory of an eminently selfless act, the death of Christ in favor of others. Instead, the Corinthians have turned this memorial into an experience of selfishness and have brought disunity to the body. Paul made the theological significance of the Lord’s Supper very clear to the Corinthians. They were to celebrate in memory of what Christ has done for them: his death, burial and resurrection, and also in the hope of his return.
c) The Status of Spiritual Gifts
The Corinthian believers manifest in their worship service the multiple gifts of the spirit. But the way believers use their gifts causes problems and brings disorder to their services. Especially the spectacular gifts, like tongues. They consider these gifts as a sign of gift of spirituality.
house codes
JD Douglas correctly observed that one of the distinguishing features of Paul’s epistles is the recurrence of so-called household codes (Eph. 5:22ff, col. 3:18ff, I Tim. 2:8ff, Titus 2:2ff), although as Douglas stated they have a conservative tone, but they are clear indications that there were problems in the Churches that require these codes. This particular relationship was selected because Paul had to address this issue in a specific situation between Philemon, a slave owner, and Onesimus, his runaway slave.
In his commentary on the Epistle to Philemon, Edwin C. Deibler wrote: ‘Onesimus, a slave of Philemon, had run away after evidently robbing his master (Phil. 18). His journey somehow took him to Rome, where in the providence of God, he came into contact with Paul. Through this contact, Paul brought Onesimus to know Christ as Savior.’ Paul decided to send Onesimus back to his mistress, but he was very worried about how Philemon would react. So, in his letter to Philemon, he challenged him on the basis of his relationship to Christ to receive Onesimus as his brother.
Conclution
Some of the ethical issues raised in the Pauline epistles have been discussed in this article and its counterpart: 1 Relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. 2. The conduct of believers. 3. The abuse of Christian freedom. 4. Public worship. 5. House codes. The format used was as follows: First, the theological basis for Paul’s ethical teaching was examined. On this examination it was discovered that Paul based his teaching on the doctrine of Christ-his death, burial and resurrection, and on his example of humility and love. The underlying principle of Paul’s ethical teaching is that the church or ecclesia of Christ is a new community of believers that can only positively influence the world and make disciples of all nations through their ongoing Christian witness.
JD Douglas, New Bible Dictionary (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1962), p. 354.
Edwin C. Deibler, Philemon: The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Illinois: Victor Books, 1983), p. 769.