Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information.
Jeremy Duncan:We hit one of the most difficult conversations in 1st Corinthians. We need to talk about human sexuality from the perspective of a 1st century celibate man named Paul. 1st, though, let's look back at the whole series. As we've called this series, make good choices. And the reason for that is that first Corinthians is actually not a letter that maps very well onto modern life.
Jeremy Duncan:The context is different. The concerns are different, and the expectations are just very different. And because of that, If we want to use this letter well to make good choices for ourselves, then we need to do more than just pare it back what we read. The truth is it just doesn't apply to us, at least not easily. So we need to dig underneath what we're reading And suss out the situation and look for the underlying principles, we need to uncover the wisdom that Paul offers so that then we can apply it in the context of our real lives.
Jeremy Duncan:And that's what this whole series has been about. If you remember, we started back in week 1 where Paul is challenging the different theological camps that are emerging in Corinth. Right? Paul are lining up behind Paul, who started the church, We're behind Apollos who currently pastors the church or behind Peter who's off doing his own thing in his own church. Some people are even claiming that they Follow Christ, which on the surface sounds pretty good, but really, it's more about the implication that they alone follow Christ and No one else is really doing it very well.
Jeremy Duncan:And I think what's interesting here is that Paul doesn't villainize different perspectives. He doesn't drag Apollos or cancel Paul. Don't get me wrong. He will call out what he sees as wrong, and we need to do that as well. But he starts by saying, maybe it's our carefully manicured camps.
Jeremy Duncan:All those barriers that we build up between ourselves and each other, Maybe those are sometimes actually the root of our problem. Now hear me. That doesn't mean you should not have boundaries. We all need healthy boundaries, and there are some voices that have not earned the right to be listened to. Talked about that many times before, but difference is not the same as division.
Jeremy Duncan:And sometimes unity in community comes from the Hard work of making room for each other to be heard, which led into the 2nd week of the series where we talked about lawsuits. Bobby, it led us through that conversation, and Paul says, look. Stop hauling each other into court every time you have a disagreement. There's a better, there's a more equitable way to handle disputes than just the leaning on courts that are often very heavily tilted toward the wealthy. Wisdom expressed in community is often a better alternative than that.
Jeremy Duncan:And then last week, it was all about disagreements over food. Paul says, what we eat doesn't matter all that much. What does is how we surrender our freedoms to each other. So does it matter if you eat meat that was sacrificed to some nonexistent god? No.
Jeremy Duncan:Not really. Does it matter if you eat meat sacrificed to some nonexisting god in front of someone for whom the question of that god does matter? Well, yeah, that does. Because good choices are always contextual. They're often relational, and most of the time, that matters a whole lot more than just the objective answer to question.
Jeremy Duncan:So that brings us to today. 1st, let's pray. God of wisdom, who offers us more than just rules to follow, but instead guideposts to tutor our footsteps through the world. Would we be open to the path ahead and the wisdom that we will need to walk it well, To the ways that we will be asked to surrender ourselves to each other along the way, to the fact that how we walk the path We'll slowly, steadily become as important as the steps that we take. We want to make good choices.
Jeremy Duncan:Careful and full of care for each other, but we know that we can only do that once we see ourselves in the example of your son. And so we ask for grace where we have fallen and for courage where we need to stand, For compassion as we do our best together, might we always be open to learn. And in that, might we see you more clearly each day through each other. As we speak today of Difficult, touchy subjects, sex and sexuality, relationships often misapprehended and misused. Might your grace flood our imaginations, and might your love always be the guide that leads us back to you.
Jeremy Duncan:Before we continue, god, we wanna pause to think of our friends and family, our neighbors across the province threatened by fire right now, Choked out by smoke and forced to leave homes to find a safety, might you bring reprieve Through rain or through neighbor or through supports, but might you keep those in danger in your sight today? In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen. Today, it's 1st century sex, and We're gonna talk about fine Corinthian leather, 1st century slogans, stepmothers, and finally, some sexual ethics. And look.
Jeremy Duncan:It's gonna get weird today, so strap in. We're gonna listen to a 1st century celibate man teach us about Sex, which to be honest, is kinda like me as a vegetarian telling you how to barbecue your ribs. And by the way, I have opinions on that, so talk to me after. I'll let you know. But since we're here, let's start with our stomachs.
Jeremy Duncan:This is what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 6 starting in verse 12. I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything you say, but I will not be mastered by anything. You say food for the stomach and stomach for food, and god will destroy them both. The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the lord and the lord for the body.
Jeremy Duncan:And then jumping ahead a bit here, verse 18, he adds, Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside of the body, but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from god? You are not your own. You were bought at a price.
Jeremy Duncan:Therefore, honor God with your bodies. Now we're just getting started, and we are going to jump back to chapter for 5. In a moment, we are going to jump ahead to chapter 7 in a bit, but why are we starting here with our stomachs? Well, first, because it's a nice little tie in to last week and our conversation about food sacrificed to idols, But second, because this is actually a very similar argument Paul's gonna make about building a sexual ethic to the argument he made last week about how we surrender to each other. They put verse 12 back on the screen here.
Jeremy Duncan:See all those quotation marks. I have the right to do anything. You're gonna see a lot of quotes in 1st Corinthians when you read, and that is where Paul is likely quoting something the Corinthians have said to him previously. Now I understand that's an interpretive decision. The Greek of the New Testament does not have any quotation signifiers.
Jeremy Duncan:So somebody's making a judgment call here, and you're reading their best guess every time you open an English bible. That said, I do agree with our judgment here. Paul does seem to be interacting with sayings that were floating around in the Corinthian community. Remember, we actually saw this last week in 1st Corinthians where Paul talks about an earlier letter that he's written. In Fact, it's possible he wrote up to 5 letters to Corinth.
Jeremy Duncan:He tells us there's 1 before 1st Corinthians, which means we're in 2nd Corinthians right now. In 2nd Corinthians, he refers to a tearful and severe letter he sent them, but that doesn't sound like this one. So it likely means there's one after this, Making it the 3rd, making 2nd Corinthians, now 4th Corinthians, except most scholars tend to think that 2nd Corinthians 1 to 9 And 10 to 13 were also 2 originally separate letters, which puts us at 5 Corinthian letters, which does sound a lot like fine Corinthian letter, but I digress. Now do you need to know any of that? No.
Jeremy Duncan:Absolutely not. The point, however, is that it's very important to understand that Paul has a long, Ongoing, unfolding relationship with this community. Nothing is happening here in a vacuum. Everything here is unfolding in relationship. That's how theology is supposed to work.
Jeremy Duncan:It's a dialogue, And, unfortunately, we're only reading 1 half of the interaction. Now Paul's gonna push back on some of the things that the Corinthians have said. That's why he quotes them regularly in the letter, but it doesn't mean that what the Corinthians added to the conversation didn't matter. We're reading someone else's mail. So Bobby said last week, but we're only reading one side of it, and we should keep that in mind as we read.
Jeremy Duncan:So I have the right to do anything. That is pretty much where we found ourselves last week. Right? I mean, what does it matter if I eat food Sacrifice to an idol if I don't believe in those false gods is just a hunk of wood. Who cares?
Jeremy Duncan:And Paul says, look. You're right, But that's not the whole conversation, is it? What about your neighbor who's still working out what they believe about those gods and they're now attempting to Follow the way of Jesus. In spite of that, what's more important to you, your barbecue or your friend? Rights, for Paul, Don't have a lot of meaning in community.
Jeremy Duncan:Responsibilities to each other, for each other, those Absolutely do. So that's where he starts. You say I have the right to do anything I say that's not all that compelling to me. You say food for the stomach and stomach for food, and this is where we need to talk about some 1st century slogans. Because this one is actually not about food at all.
Jeremy Duncan:It's about sex. Now the full slogan From verse 13 here, it goes like this. Food for the stomach and stomach for the food, and god will destroy both the one and the other. It's got a nice ring to it, kind of a lilt. That's because this appears to be a slogan that was used to talk about the temporality of the physical.
Jeremy Duncan:Essentially, this is about taking that wisdom tradition that Apollos was trained in. Remember? We talked about that back in the 1st week of this series, but it's Extrapolating things out too far. The argument here is that what is really real is the mind and the intellect and the soul, and the body is just this flesh machine that we find our true selves trapped in for the moment. Discovering the way of Jesus is how we transcend the physical and we become spiritual.
Jeremy Duncan:And people took this in 2 distinct directions. The ascetics decided then to punish the body, To deny the body even to the point of hurting themselves because they didn't see their bodies as part of their true selves. They they wanted to escape or distance themselves from their body. The other direction, the one we're seeing here, is just to say, well, look, Everything physical is passing and provisional, but for now, we need to keep these flesh bags going. I mean, we gotta eat every day.
Jeremy Duncan:Am I right? So we might as well just feed every physical desire we have because it's all temporary anyway. So when they say, god will destroy both the one and the other, they're not saying that's a bad thing. They're saying that's the hope. We might as well enjoy the ride until we get there.
Jeremy Duncan:Essentially, this is eat what you want, Sleep with who you want. None of it matters anyway. We'll all be spirit beings free from these desires in the end anyway. Now you might say, okay. A little odd, but is it really all that bad?
Jeremy Duncan:I mean, no one's gonna take it too far, are they? And the answer is yes. They are absolutely going to take it way too far. There's a meme that makes its way around the Internet every couple full years, and the joke is that you can summarize all of Paul's letters with 2 simple statements. 1, We are heirs through unfathomable grace to unimaginable glory, and 2, I am, as Personal favor begging you sick little freaks to just be normal for, like, 5 minutes.
Jeremy Duncan:That's as odd as letters now. Well, this discourse in chapter 6 is happening in response to a very real situation happening in Corinth, one that Paul lays out in chapter 5. Shall we? This is verse 1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that even the pagans do not tolerate.
Jeremy Duncan:A man is sleeping with his father's wife, and you are proud of it. Shouldn't you rather have gone into mourning and have Put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this. Now a man is sleeping with his father's wife. Isn't that his mom? Well, thankfully, at least, no.
Jeremy Duncan:Paul has worded this in a way to point away from that. He's actually referencing a specific passage from Leviticus 18 that talks about who you can and who you can't have sex with. And there it says, a, don't sleep with your mom, and b, don't sleep with your dad's wife. Now the reason it delineates both of those commands is because this was a polygamous culture at the time, and men did have more than 1 wife. In fact, often, they kept concubines who were women that they could afford to support financially and in turn have sex with, but they didn't get even the minimal status afforded to a wife in the ancient world.
Jeremy Duncan:And just in case I need to make this clear for anyone, we do not get our sexual ethics today from Leviticus, where Paul is siding from. And for the record, neither does Paul. Because while it's possible, it's very unlikely that this situation here in Corinth was actually related to what was being described in Leviticus. For the most part, At the time of the New Testament, concubinage, polygamous marriages, they were long out of favor in Judaism, so it's very unlikely that's what happening here. Scholars today are almost entirely in agreement that what's being described in Corinth is a man sleeping with his stepmother, which is still super weird, but not the same thing as the polygamous relationships described in Leviticus.
Jeremy Duncan:However, to make it even more complicated, we have to ask another question. Is the father still alive while all of this is happening. And we don't know for sure, but if this woman is not the man's mom And she's no longer married because the father has died, well, then it's awkward. But it's also hard to see Paul getting this upset about that strange scenario, which means it is very likely that the father is still alive And that the son is doing this, at least in part, specifically to humiliate his dad. Wild.
Jeremy Duncan:Right? Like, honestly, can I just say how glad I am that I'm not a pastor in 1st century Rome? This stuff is definitely above my pay grade here. But it's this specific situation along with lawsuits among different church members that provide the context for that vice list that Paul offers in the middle of chapter 6. There he says, do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of god?
Jeremy Duncan:Do not be deceived. Neither those who visit prostitutes, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkers, nor slanderers, nor Swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god. So understand, Paul does not just randomly bring up homosexuality here. He's talking very specifically about forms of sexuality that he considers predatory. Like, that translation, men who have sex with men, far too oversimplified.
Jeremy Duncan:The specific words That he uses here are arsenokoitai and malachoy. And the reason that he uses 2 different words is because they describe what we call the active and the passive role in sex. And in ancient Rome, it was generally fine for men to take the active role with men or women, by the way, But it was seen as shameful and humiliating for a grown man to be in the passive role because it made them feminine or soft, Which is literally what Malachi meant. For Paul, sex should be mutual, not predatory. That's why sex should not be the result of an attempt to humiliate your dad.
Jeremy Duncan:That's why sex shouldn't be the result of an economic imbalance. That's why sex shouldn't be an expression of 1 man trying to dominate another. Now what would Paul think about modern mutual monogamous same sex relationships? The truth is we just don't know, But that is absolutely not what he's talking about here in 1st Corinthians. And you need to know that our queer siblings are unequivocally a gift to us Today in the church, this entire section is about weaponized sexuality.
Jeremy Duncan:And all of a sudden now, not only can we make sense of why Paul starts with food and stomach and transition so quickly to talking about sex, But we can also start to see what he's doing as he builds out an argument for a sexual ethic in the world. Remember this from earlier? Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, But whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. Do you not know that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, Whom you received from God, you are not your own.
Jeremy Duncan:You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. There's actually 3 really important things here that Paul says about how to construct a sexual ethic for ourselves. We'll take them in reverse order. 1st, honor god with your bodies.
Jeremy Duncan:That is Paul Very specifically addressing that Corinthian slogan. God will destroy both the one and the other, so it doesn't really matter what we do. And Paul says no. Your body is not a trap for you. God is not trying to help you escape into the spiritual.
Jeremy Duncan:God loves the you that is embodied in God's world right now. So salvation is not escape from the world for Paul. Salvation is coming alive now and forever in the world for Paul. You have to remember That in the world of the new testament, people like Paul absolutely firmly believed that one day, all of us would come back to life in real bodies here on earth with everyone healed in Christ. Now how's that gonna work if salvation means that everyone comes back to life and lives on the planet together?
Jeremy Duncan:Aren't we gonna run out of room eventually? I'm not sure Paul did the math on that one, to be honest. But he knows that physical bodies are not meant to be rejected. They are To be loved and cared for and lived in and deeply grateful for. So, no, the body is not just for destruction, but that means that what we do with the body matters, Which leads to point 2, you are not your own.
Jeremy Duncan:Now here, Paul is talking about the fact that we have been bought by God. But that's not the end of the story by a long shot. In the next chapter, 7, he will say that husband and wife, their bodies belong to each other. Now that can be taken in some problematic ways as well. I mean, we still retain our autonomy Even in marriage, it's important to understand that.
Jeremy Duncan:But this is radically progressive stuff in a world which women, particularly wives, were Property. For Paul to say that a man, quote, does not have authority over his own body, But yields it to his wife, 1st Corinthians 74. Like, that is mind blowing stuff in the 1st century. Your body is not disposable, neither is anyone else's, and therefore, your sexuality does not belong Just to you. If you are sleeping with your stepmom to humiliate your dad, you're abusing both of them.
Jeremy Duncan:If you're sleeping with someone, but you're not considerate of their sexual desires, well, then you're using them. If you're sleeping with someone to put pressure on them or coerce them or control them, then you're manipulating them, and none of this is serving each other well with our bodies. A healthy sexual ethic is so much more than just, are you married? Yes or no? Then anything goes.
Jeremy Duncan:It's about a sexuality that is as fully embodied as anything else in your life, which is why whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. Now This one, again, is one of those verses that I think has been used inappropriately at times, probably a lot of times. The emphasis being placed on the idea that somehow sexual sin is worse than or different than any other kind of sin. I don't think that's what Paul has in mind here necessarily. In fact, I actually think this is a pretty good window into how Paul imagines sin in our times.
Jeremy Duncan:A sin is ultimately not just a list of do's and don'ts, boxes that you check off along your way through your life. Sin is what? Sin is anything that hurts us. And, yeah, we sin against god, and, Yes. We sin against our neighbor, but since he's here, Paul uses this chance to remind us that we sin against ourselves as well.
Jeremy Duncan:We hurt ourselves, and we injure ourselves, and we tear at the very goodness god has invested did in ourselves, and sometimes we do that with our sexuality. And, sure, that that can be the unhealthy ways that we use sex, but Just as easily, it can be the self talk that we give into or the self sabotage that we rely on. It can be all the ways that we beat Down and beat up our very selves that god has given everything to purchase. When I hear Paul say this, I don't hear him saying, this sin is worse than anything else, so be careful. I hear him saying, please, for the love that comes from god, treat yourselves with care.
Jeremy Duncan:Love yourselves, care for yourselves, especially in something as delicate as your sexuality. And I think this is really important, because while I don't think that Paul would have necessarily imagined us Constructing different sexual ethics than his, he is smart enough. Perhaps we could even say inspired enough To approach this moment through the lens of wisdom so that instead of just a cultural list of do's and don'ts stuck In one moment, we can actually begin to construct the sexual ethic that will help us make good choices today. See, the truth is, You and I, we do not subscribe to the specifics of Paul's sexual ethic at all, really. Paul, some good ideas, some good things to say about marriage.
Jeremy Duncan:Chapter 7, we talked about how he talks about how we use our bodies and our sexuality mutually. Again, really progressive stuff in the 1st century, but at the same time, he also still thought marriage was at best a compromise, And that is at all possible, you should probably be celibate like him, 1st Corinthians 77. Paul thought that even in your marriage, Your sex should be passionless and as devoid of lust as possible. So go ahead and do the nasty if you need to, but please do not enjoy it. First Thessalonians 45, Paul understood that texts like Leviticus could be repurposed And recontextualize to condemn new abusive situations like the one in Corinth even though he knew full well that was not the original context in Leviticus.
Jeremy Duncan:Paul even acknowledged that sexuality was one of the very few areas he struggled to make sense of the complexity of. In 1st Corinthians 712, he gives some marriage advice, but it comes with this caveat. Guys, this is just me speaking, not God, so Take this with a grain of salt, but here's my opinion. Yes. That is in your bible.
Jeremy Duncan:The point is sexual ethics, 1st Corinthians is a letter. None of this is about just following the rules. It's about developing enough wisdom To make good choices for ourselves and for those we love today. It's about learning To reject practices that harm no matter how common they are to us. It's about learning to celebrate love that lifts up and heals no matter how unfamiliar to us it might be.
Jeremy Duncan:It's about slowly, steadily welcoming the god that shows up in our daily decision to live with and for each other In the model that Jesus set for us. And the truth is that has always been the far more narrow way. Because for too long, you and I, we've been told that if we check the right boxes, we can continue to be as selfish as we want with our sex. That's not the way of Jesus. It's not the wisdom of scripture.
Jeremy Duncan:It's the wide road that most of us have been discipled in by our culture. Now the call to give ourselves away In support of each other consistently and clearly over and over again in all of our interactions, even in our sexuality, This is the wisdom that Jesus calls us to live out. Let's pray. God of wisdom and of grace, who offers us more than just a list of do's and don'ts, Rules to follow and boxes to check, but instead offers us the tools to build a healthy sexual ethic for ourselves today and for those we love. God, for those times when we have been discipled by our culture To believe that sexuality is about gratifying ourselves and going after what we want, Grabbing what we think we need at the expense of someone else.
Jeremy Duncan:The ways we have done this with our economics and our relationships and our politics Gender sexuality, we are sorry. And instead, we ask for grace by your spirit to come and slowly renew us, To understand that it is only in our self giving, our opportunities to love each other well, To recognize flourishing and goodness in relationships around us, to celebrate love wherever it surrounds us, That we can actually be made into the people you intend us to be. That this is where our flourishing is found. Not in grabbing what we need, but in serving each other even with our bodies. God help us, renew us, guide us on the path of wisdom, and might we celebrate love around us wherever it shows up.
Jeremy Duncan:In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray.