Identity in Christ

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Reflection on 1st Corinthians 6.11-17

April 15th 2018 Milk Alright, we left off reading some heavy passages that Paul delivered to the Saints at Corinth, saying:

1st Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future.? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

In the end of this list and after studying each term, I addressed what I think is the important way of understanding these passages in this day and age of Jesus having had the total victory, and that is one of our identity in Christ, a view that caused Paul to add:

11 And such (adulterers, coveters, thieves, homosexuals) were some of you: but (in other words, “But what changed in your lives? He tells us saying, “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Understanding New Identity

The difference in these Saints at Corinth was one of identity – they were once seen as unforgiven fornicators and idolaters, “but , but, but . . .YOU ARE washed, you ARE sanctified, your ARE justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Two things are happening here in my estimation. First, Paul is speaking of the actions and lives of those who are NOT believers here. This is proven by him saying, “And such WERE some of you.” However, he then adds a but, which speaks to Paul seeing them, and therefore proposing that they see themselves in a new light . . . “BUT you ARE washed, you ARE sanctified, you ARE justified . . . in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

And as we touched on last week, this is the applicable point to us – we were once of these things, which are the products of the flesh, but NOW we too ARE regenerated of the Spirit, we ARE sanctified and justified . . . and we are NO LONGER what we were. That woman and that man are dying daily deaths to the life of the Spirit. That woman or man of the flesh is headed to the grave and will not last beyond it.

We have a new eternal identity that is of the Spirit and not of the Flesh. And as such we ARE justified, sanctified . . . forgiven, risen to new life in the Spirit and not roiling in the old life in the flesh.

Focusing on the Spirit

(beat)

I’ve made some mistakes of late on the show in discussing homosexuality. My mistake is that I have allowed myself to get drawn back into a conversation of flesh which has no place in Christian dialogue today. My response ought to have been focused on what people are in the Spirit, not what they have been in the flesh. So when any subject comes up where the question is, is it a sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., the real question is, have a person been justified and sanctified by Jesus . . . or not.

PERIOD. End of story.

Let’s read on beginning at verse 12

“12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”

Okay, now we have to make a decision on the context of what Paul says next because most Christian commentators cannot accept the fact that he is speaking of the materials of verse 9-11.

In other words, he has just said to not be deceived – that people who “do this and that” cannot inherit the Kingdom of God but now, after admitting that

Paul's Teachings on Righteous Living

The believers were WERE WERE guilt of such things but are now justified and sanctified, he adds:

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Again, most commentators think that Paul has transitioned to a new topic. Unfortunately for them and this stance, I think the text proves them wrong.

Let me go to the board to show you what I mean.

Examination of 1 Corinthians 6:9-17

In verses 9-11, then in verse 12 and ½ of 13 he says, then in 13.2 forward he says:

1st Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

(CLARIFICATION) 11 And such (adulterers, coveters, thieves, homosexuals) were some of you: but (in other words, “But what changed in your lives? He tells us saying) “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. . . .Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

Clarification of Paul's Message

So we see in box one (verses 9-10) that Paul speaks against fornication – with many of its variants. In verse 11 he clarifies that this WAS what they were. In Box 2 (verse 12-1/2 of 13) he adds what most say has nothing to do with the content of 9-10 or 13.5 on) but add he just threw this in to talk about what they can eat and not). I maintain that Paul is referring to the crimes of the flesh that some of them were guilty of, and in light of the clarification that this was ONCE what they were, Paul puts these behaviors in their proper place in the age of justification by faith in Christ, adding here (relative to such works of the flesh) “12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. He then adds this odd reference in the second half of thirteen, saying: 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. And then in the second half of 13 returns to the topic of verse 9-10 – fornication, and continues on with in as seen in box 3 (verses 13.5 -17). In my estimation Paul is trying to explain to them that God’s rules / laws for sin stand because the implementation of them in our lives will lead to bondage and a loss of liberty which Christ gave His life to bring.

So, for clarity, I would suggest that in Christ, and to a people who have never had the Law of Moses imposed upon them, Paul is saying, first:

Know this – anyone who is not washed and sanctified (in other words, those who do the laundry list of sins – who live in them – will not inherit the Kingdom of God. And while some of them were (WERE) guilty of these forms of bondages in their former unregenerate lives, they are NOW washed, justified and sanctified by Jesus through the spirit – and

Liberty and Bondage in Christian Life

The identity of people in bondage to sin is done. Then at verse 12, he speaks to liberty and bondage that all Christians have, and says:

12 All things are lawful unto me

Now, this is a radical thing to write after he just told us that those who do the laundry list will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. His comment here is not to those who DO such things who have not been justified and washed. Verse 12 is to believers who have been washed and sanctified. And to them, he strips the law back, knowing that they HAVE been justified and sanctified, and says, with a completely free conscience and in relation to the LIST – "All things . . . all things . . . all things, as someone who is justified and sanctified, are lawful unto me." All things? Yes. Lawful? Absolutely?

Liberty Through Christ

Fornication? Adultery? Man lying with man? Thievery, coveting? Yes yes yes. How can I say this? Because we are NOT under a posted law so all things in the life of a Christian are legal according to laws written in stone. Why? Because laws written in stone cause sin. So Paul must say that to a justified sanctified person that ALL THINGS are, in fact, lawful. Got that? Paul, even in the face of these egregious behaviors, points out that he is free to pursue them – all things – all things, he emphasizes, are LAWFUL (again, because the Law was nailed to the cross) but we cannot stop here because he adds:

"But NOT all things are expedient."

This is such an important clarification to the whole of understanding the Good News. All the way back in Isaiah we discover a number of passages that speak to the great purpose of Christ coming to this world:

In Isaiah 42:7 we read of the Christ prophetically that he was coming "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."

Isaiah 61:1 (which we know Jesus cited when He was in the synagogue, saying) "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."

I point this out because I maintain that God is a God who adores, perhaps above all other things, liberty in its highest form. The less liberty, the more bondage, the more He grieves for His creations. As these passages in Isaiah maintain, He sent His Son to proclaim liberty. That can only be truly approached when choice is present, and so in light of what Jesus brings the world, all – even His believers – are free, free, free and at liberty to choose all things – which is why Paul says:

All things are lawful to me . . .

(Christ has paid the debt, the slate is clean and cannot be marred again because his blood will not allow for marks to be made – so all things are lawful – even the laundry list mentioned in verses 9-10) BUT, HOWEVER Paul notes with import, NOT ALL THINGS ARE EXPEDIENT.

Lawful vs. Profitable

The Word translated expedient here in the Greek is soomfero and it better means . . . This is big . . . PROFITABLE. All things in the world now are lawful, Paul maintains to those who are God’s by Christ, but not everything is profitable. Hmmmmm. Now we are talking about another way to understand this life as people redeemed by the blood. Yes, we are justified and sanctified and yes, we are freed from the confines of the law that makes us all sinners – but while in the liberty that Christ has given us we know that there are many things, not all things, that are “profitable” both to life here but especially to life there.

And this is key to our understanding of God reconciling the world to Himself by the shed blood of His Son. All things are now lawful, but there are many things that will wind up being unprofitable to our person, to our lives, to our eternities. How are they unprofitable? I would suggest that they not only add nothing to us as individuals they serve to bring us into bondage from which Jesus came to set us free!

The question in our day and age of post deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., resurrection, ascension and…

The Power of Choices and Liberty in Christ

The return of Jesus is not to get and keep ourselves justified and sanctified by Christ – that He did, and we are recipients of this work once and for all. They point and key to our lives now is focused on continuous and increased liberty (which comes through love) and profitability as recipients of His free gift, especially in relation to the fruit of the Spirit we bear and in relation to our future resurrections!

“All things are lawful,” Paul says, “but not all things are profitable.” Then he repeats that first line as a means to emphasize, and he says: “all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

Think about this in our lives. God sent His son to bring the human race liberty and to free us from captivity. But if we freely, in His grace, since sin is paid for past, present, and future by Christ, choose to thieve, while it is lawful, the action will serve to make us less profitable – in our lives here and in our lives to come! And by thieving, we, believers, are brought “under the power of this choice.” Which Paul says he will not personally allow. This is remarkable!

As we are forgiven, justified, sanctified, all things – everything is lawful, and there is no room to judge something as having the power to keep us from a relationship with God (because it has been taken care of) but not all things (that we might lawfully allow in our lives) are profitable, and if it is unprofitable, it lends to bondage – the opposite result that God wants for any of his children! Paul here tells us that his decisions in life are so that he will not be brought under the power of things – and this implies for us that there is power in choices and the things we allow in our lives.

Understanding the Power Behind Sinful Practices

We are constantly implored to assume the power of God through the spirit and to walk from the power of other forces in this life. Why? So we can remain and continue to grow in our utter liberty in God through Christ. Look back at our list – all of them bring with them a power to control us, bind us, and cast us into a prison. Let’s quickly take a look at them – again, which we are all free to adopt, according to what Paul says.

“Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats:” This line appears to be some sort of proverb that was around in that day that Paul is citing to make a point not to necessarily agree with it. According to some expert speculation, the point seems to be: "God has made us with “appetites for food,” and the proof of this is in the fact that he has given us food – and vice versa. The phrase appears to be sort of like a ditty.

Individual Struggles and Their Binding Nature

1. Fornicators
   Many people understand the power that comes with sexual engagements – its potential to bind us is proverbial.

2. Idolaters
   Again, the power of believing that an inanimate or even an animate object can bless us brings with it tremendous bondage, superstition, and relentless adoration.

3. Adulterers
   I have been both under the power of adultery and have since been involved in helping break the power that it has on the lives of others. When people come to me and their spouse is going out on them, it's really important for them to understand that adulterers are literally under a spell of sorts. They do NOT see clearly, think clearly, nor are they able to reasonably navigate the most important things in their lives rightly. It is a power and is really difficult to break.

4. Effeminate
   nor abusers of themselves with mankind. I don’t know how to address this as a power but I'm sure that there is a power and spirit to it.

5. Thieves
   Covetous
   Of course, there is a power connected to both. At least a reliance. When I was a freshman in college, a colleague and I used to get high off high-risk capers that involved theft.

6. Drunkards
   Goes without saying – I mean the power consumes some people's entire lives!

7. Revilers

8. Extortioners
   Must be otherwise why resort to such, right?

The Nature of the Body and Its Purpose

That someone would say at a bar before indulging luxuriously in a platter of food before them – sort of like, “God has given me a belly and he has given me this roasted pig, so let this roasted pig now consume my belly! Arghg arghg arghg.” But we notice that Paul adds a line to the saying: “But God shall destroy both it and them,” presumably referring to the belly and the types of food consumed. In other words, both are so insignificant to real life they are as if things that will soon face destruction. It’s a principle expressed to describe the unimportant nature of the flesh relative RELATIVE . . . to the eternal things of the Spirit.

The Lawful vs. the Profitable

This statement appears to be related to Paul having first said, All things are lawful (like a belly full of food – and he quotes the saying) but that not all things are necessarily profitable (like a belly full of food) relative to life in the Spirit. And we are presented with a constant appeal that the apostles and Jesus made – living for this life and its pleasures or for the life and world to come and what is promised. Paul made it clear when He said:

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

So having made these principles plain: One, that all things are lawful (to them that are justified and sanctified) that, Two, that not everything is fruitful Three, again that all things are lawful Four, but he will not be put under the power of anything, and Five, that the bromide to eat drink and be merry is not the way to live because Six, God will destroy those things that are abused . . .

The Purpose of the Body

Paul returns to the topic of fornication made in verse 9 and says: . . . Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. In other words, looking to the example of the belly for meat and meat for the belly (which he refutes) Paul now says That the body (probably meaning the individual body a person lives in but he could mean the body of believers as a whole – not sure – “The BODY IS NOT (made) for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.” The body is not designed for licentious living, but to be devoted to the Lord."

And the remainder of this chapter is focused on licentiousness practices –a lifestyle which we have pointed out repeatedly the Corinthians were particularly prone to. SO where Paul clearly states contextually that all things ARE in fact lawful, he is quick to point out that there are a number of things that are NOT profitable and that if indulged in would be to go against the intention of the Lord and would come with bondage. Here, and speaking of fornication, Paul is giving us a working example of what would be a fruitless, binding practice for the saved to engage in – fornication – because in a believer that is not what the body is for – it is for, as he puts it “The Lord . . . AND the LORD for the body.”

In other words, the Lord of our lives has a purpose for us and He uses us to carry out His redemptive purposes with the surrounding world. It’s incongruent to take a vessel that is the LORD’s and use it to engage in practices that it is not intended once He has taken ownership of the vessel.

Resurrection and New Life

At this point Paul offers another reason why using the body for fleshly purposes is incongruent with His spiritual objectives, saying 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. In other words, God took Jesus body and raised it to new life. Because we are united with Him and His eternal life by the Spirit it is wholly inconsistent and incongruent to take our new man or new woman and tie it back to actions that are unprofitable to His Kingdom and will only serve to put our bodies back in bondage to what Jesus came and freed us from!

The principle is touched on in Romans 6:5-7 where Paul says: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,

Union with Christ and the Body

that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.”

Later in Romans 8 Paul wrote:

10 “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

We are united to Christ. God has raised him from the dead, and made his body glorified. He is in us, and our bodies will be like his (meaning perfected) and since our body is operating by His power and since it will be raised up by the power of God, pure and holy, it is inconsistent that we should, as His, bind it up with pollutions that have nothing to do with His will and ways. The real proof of this is that we have life in and through OUR RISEN Savior. And He was raised wholly incorruptible. Since He is in us it is faulty to think we can corrupt our vessels with binding fruitless activities.

Members of Christ

At this point, Paul brings the point home even more and says:

15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

First notice how Paul here defines fornication as joining with a harlot (a porne which is a word that comes from the root to sell) so he is speaking of joining with a prostitute here and that is what he means in the context of these passages).

“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid.”

Here we are reminded that in being His own bodies combine with other bodies to create His body here on earth, with all of us doing our part as he wills it. And if we are connected with others in the body of Christ, with Christ abiding in us by His Spirit, it is improper for one member of the body to be engaged with a harlot while the other members are focused on holy and heavenly matters.

The concept is really quite profound. Imagine if our body parts could act independently of each other, and say, that our hands choose to commit murder – but the rest of the body resist this because if caught the whole body has to serve time – or be put to death for that matter. And so is Paul’s argument as to why one member of the body of Christ is not permitted to wander off into areas of fruitless bondage – it affects the whole thing. So it is when an individual who has been redeemed and washed decides, in his or her liberty, to make all things lawful, including things that are not expedient but reduce liberty.

Romans 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Spiritual Oneness

At verse 16, Paul hearkens back to the beginning and appeals to Moses' description of marriage, saying:

16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

So again, Paul illustrates (through a reference to the formation of a marriage couple becoming one) that when believers join together through fornication, that one is united to the Body of Christ unlawfully – and a defilement of sorts – occurs. This was unacceptable in Paul’s eyes as he wrote, God forbid, that this should be the case.

Then clearing the whole matter up he says at verse 17:

17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

He has used the oneness of the flesh through fornication as an example of how forbidden it is to bring defiled actions into the body but here he seems to be saying that in contrast with physical intercourse, believers who are “joined unto the Lord” (by and through the Spirit) is ONE SPIRIT.” In other words, in a

Unity with the Spirit

In a similar sense in which a man and a woman are one body, so are those who are joined unto the Lord one Spirit. They are of the same disposition as the King, they are Him in Spirit, and in truth and in action for the same Spirit that moved and directed Him moves and directs those who are united with Him. And guess what, they are fruitful, and are not in bondage to anything, which means that they are TRULY UTTERLY FREE.

Liberty in the Lord

This caused Paul to write in 2nd Corinthians 3:17

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Truly all who are His can say that ALL things are truly lawful to them – but that NOT all things are expedient or profitable. That all things are lawful, but that they will not be brought under bondage to anything, for when we are united in Christ we fulfill God’s ultimate desire for His children – total, unobstructed liberty and freedom in Him.

True Freedom and Unconditional Love

In the end . . . this comes by letting go, and letting God, and loving all. This is what we did when we were regenerated in Him – we said:

I cannot do this myself – my life is yours – take it. I surrender.

But guess what? It is what we also say of others around us? I cannot control or manage their lives? They are yours, they are not mine. I cannot force them or make them do anything. I let them go, and leave them in their hands. And in so doing, we are freed to actually and totally love unconditionally. The whole point of all things God – for His children to be free to love all always.

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