Tom writes:

Paul has graffitied on the prized plinth of the patriarchs. The Shema of Deuteronomy 6 was the pinnacle of Jewish monotheism. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” If you desecrated that, you were dead to the Jews. In fact you were probably dead. By stoning. But Paul graffities Jesus’ name right into the great prayer of Judaism (v6). He has a new schema for the Shema. It is staggering. The fact that Paul can speak this way shows how robustly he has integrated Jesus into his understanding of God. Paul has integrated Jesus into the Old Testament picture of God and this has given him a shatter-proof understanding of all creation. Paul can approach all questions about life from the perspective of his creator God who he understands so well. The particular issue at hand in this chapter is about food sacrificed to idols. We don’t think about idols much today. Except for Father Christmas. He’s an idol we roll out every December. Or is it September? Anyway, in Corinth idols had been fused into the fabric of society. And division sprung up in the church between those believers who, at great difficulty, avoided the food from these idols and those who didn’t bat an eyelid about them.

Paul approaches the topic by remembering who God is. God is creator of all things. We live through God. You can’t get a more Old Testament idea than that. And therefore any food we receive is a gift from God. Any claim that the food belongs to an idol or fuses you to the idol is ridiculous to Paul. It’s like saying your house is mine because I put a post-it note on it. The meat is God’s. We are God’s. So crack on. But the caveat from this monotheistic preacher is that one God means one church. And one church means we all belong to one Lord. And if we all belong to one Lord then if we do anything to separate a brother from his Lord then it is also separating them from our Lord. And our Lord doesn’t like that. So crack on… but only in a way that builds up the one body. The conclusion of this argument may not be hugely interesting for us today. But the process by which Paul gets there should inspire us. Could we get to know God that well? Could we get to know God so well that every decision we make flows from a deeply integrated understanding of his generous and unchanging character as the creator of all things?

Question for reflection

Is there anything God made that you actually look at negatively? What would it look like for you to embrace all creation as a generous gift from God?

1 Corinthians 8 - Monday 27th May