A Torah Commentary on First
Corinthians 7-12:
Interpreting the Text in Light of
Its Old Testament Roots
by
Roland
H. Worth, Jr.
Richmond, Virginia
© 2011
Reproduction of this book for non-profit circulation by any electronic or print media means is hereby freely granted at no cost—provided the text is not altered in any manner.
If accompanied by additional, supplemental material—in agreement or disagreement—it must be clearly and visibly distinguishable from the original text.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are
taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Themes Developed (3)
Old Testament Precedent for the Themes of This Chapter
(16)
Explicit Quotations: None
Possible Allusions/Similar or Parallel Concepts (17):
7:1: “Touch[ing] a woman” as a euphemism for a sexual touching (17).
7:1, 7: Adopting a life of celibacy (17).
7:2-4: The propriety of the sexual relationship within marriage (18).
7:4: The reciprocal nature of the sexual
relationship (19).
7:5-6: The propriety of periods of fasting and
prayer postponing
the normal sexual relationship in marriage (19).
7:10-12: The assumption of the permanency of
marriage among
God’s people (21)
7:11: In case of two believers separating, they
are to remain
“unmarried or be reconciled” to their original mate (22).
7:13-16: The propriety of a marriage with an unbeliever (22).
7:16: Remaining in a marriage with an unbeliever
keeps the door
open for the partner’s conversion (24).
7:19: The primacy of obedience over the rituals
of the law—
specifically circumcision (24).
7:20,
24: Remaining in the “same calling”
one was in when
becoming a Christian (24).
7:26: The coming of “distress” upon God’s people (25).
7:31: Believers should “use” the benefits and
opportunities of
“this world” rather than “misusing” them (25).
Historical Allusions: None
Problem Texts (26)
7:1: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” (26).
7:5: Temporary sexual abstinence for the
purpose of “fasting
and
prayer” (28).
7:6: What is the “concession” and what is the
“commandment”
under
consideration? (29).
7:6: Paul’s preference for celibacy: Preference, not a
denigration
of those who chose marriage (30).
7:7-8: Was Paul ever married? (31).
7:10-11: “The Lord” Himself had dealt with the
question of the
divorce
of believers and had prohibited it (32).
7:12-13,
15: In contrast, Paul and “not the
Lord” was delivering
new
instruction to deal with situations of divorce between
believers
and unbelievers (33).
7:14: How is one’s spouse “sanctified” by the
marriage and one’s
children “holy” rather than “unclean” (36)?
7:16: The possibility of the other marital
partner being saved as
the
result of the preservation of the marriage (38).
7:21: Slaves and the opportunity to become free
(39).
7:26: Was the expectation of Jesus’ prompt
return the rationale
behind
Paul’s ethical teaching (40)?
7:26: What is “the present distress” (42)?
7:36-38: Is a father/daughter or the future
wife/husband under consideration (46).
7:39: A widowed person may remarry “only in the
Lord” (49).
7:40: Does Paul consider himself inspired in
giving his
“judgment”
(50).
Notes (51)
Chapter Eight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Themes Developed (65)
Old Testament Precedent for the Themes of This Chapter
(71)
Explicit Quotations: None.
Possible Allusions/Similar or Parallel Concepts (71):
8:1: “Knowledge” as encouraging destructive pride (71).
8:3: God knows our love for Him (72).
8:4: An “idol is [really] nothing in the world”
since there is
only one true God (72)
8:5: The pervasiveness of idolatry (73).
8:7: Things sacrificed to idols (73).
8:11: Becoming a stumblingblock
that causes others to do
what they are convinced is sin (74).
Historical Allusions: None
Problem Texts (75)
8:1: Under what circumstances would Christians
be likely to
eat
“things offered to idols” (75)?
8:10: Why and under what circumstances would a
Christian be
“eating
in an idol’s temple” (80)?
Notes (83)
Chapter Nine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Themes Developed (89)
Old Testament Precedent for the Themes of This Chapter
(97)
Explicit Quotations (97):
9:9: The Torah’s concern for the humane
treatment of
animals (97)
Possible Allusions/Similar or Parallel Concepts (98):
9:7-8: It is a natural law that one is benefited
by the work
one does (98).
9:13: The right of those who served the temple
to be temporally
benefited for their work (99).
9:16: The obligation to teach the truth one is aware of (99).
9:27: Teachers must bring themselves in “subjection”
to God’s
will or face rejection by Him (100).
Historical Allusions: None
Problem Texts (101)
9:1-18: The propriety of an apostle working to
support himself
rather
than being financially provided for by
church members (101).
9:9-10: How does something written about oxen have
its “real” application to support of
ministers (102)?
9:14: Where did Jesus command that “those who
preach the
gospel
should live from the gospel” (104)?
9:15: Paul’s preference for secular work to
church support (106).
Notes (109)
Chapter Ten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Themes Developed (115)
Old Testament Precedent for the Themes of This Chapter
(124)
Explicit Quotations (124):
10:7: The moral excesses connected with the
worship of the
golden calf (124).
10:25-26,
28: Precedent for eating all types of
meat without
questioning it’s origin (126).
Possible Allusions/Similar or Parallel Concepts (127):
10:6ff.: The use of
Biblical history to teach moral right and
wrong
(127).
10:12: Recognition that we are never so morally
upright that sin
is impossible (128).
10:13: God being able to deliver a person from a
temptation
that would otherwise be overpowering (128).
10:15: The challenge to those who claim to be
“wise” to judge
the validity of what is being taught (128).
10:18: The concept of a “fleshly” versus “true”
Israel (129).
10:20: Idol sacrifices are actually sacrifice to “demons” (130).
10:21: Partaking of the “cup” and “table” of
demons through
idol worship (131).
10:22: The danger of “provok[ing] the Lord to jealousy (132).
10:31: “Glory” is to be given to God in all of
life, even in
partaking of nourishment (133).
Historical Allusions (133):
10:1-3: The crossing of the Red sea (134).
10:1: The language of how “all our fathers
were under the
cloud” (135).
10:3-4: Being given “meat” and “drink” in the wilderness (136).
10:5: Death in the wilderness as punishment for their sin (137).
10:6: Desire for evil things (138).
10:7: The conduct associated with the golden calf incident (138).
10:8: Mass sexual immorality; mass deaths in retribution (138).
10:9: “Tempt[ing]”
God/Christ and destruction by the
serpents’ bite (138)
10:10: Complainers destroyed in the wilderness (139)
Problem Texts (140)
10:4: The “rock” that followed the Israelites in
the wilderness
was
Christ (140).
10:8: Twenty-three thousand “fell” in “one day”
as the result
of
sexual immorality (142).
10:11: The moral teaching value of Old Testament
example (145)
Notes (146)
Chapter Eleven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Themes Developed (156)
Old Testament Precedent for the Themes of This Chapter
(167)
Explicit Quotations: None.
Possible Allusions/Similar or Parallel Concepts (168):
11:4: The propriety of women “prophesying” (168).
11:4-5: Male/female public praying or prophesying with head covered/uncovered (169).
11:17-18: Religious worship is not inherently a virtue (170).
11:21: The impropriety of exulting in one’s
prosperity while
others
who one personally knows are lacking the makings
of even a decent meal (171).
11:27-29: Spiritual self-examination in the Old
Testament (172).
Historical Allusions: None.
Problem Texts (172)
11:1: What are the “traditions” the Corinthians
were to
maintain
(172)?
11:4: Male head covering rejected during
prayer: Why the
divergence from later synagogue customs (173)?
11:5-6: The tension in regard to women prophesying
between
chapters 11 and 14 (174).
11:10: Women are to have “a symbol of authority”
on their
heads
“because of the angels”. ”. In
what sense is it a
“symbol” and how do the “angels” become involved
in the matter (176).
11:13-15: What is the head covering a woman is
expected
to
wear (179).
11:21-22,
34: The nature of the feasting that
had been introduced
into
the church assembly (181).
11:23: The origin of Paul’s teaching regarding
the
Communion
(183).
11:24-26: The Communion as a memorial of Jesus’ death (185).
11:27-29: Self-examination as to one’s motives and
behavior in
order
to avoid partaking in an “unworthy manner” (188).
11:33: How large was the Corinthian congregation? Did
the
Corinthian “church” consist of a number of
“house
churches” (190)?
Notes (194)
Chapter Twelve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Themes Developed (208)
Old Testament Precedent for the Themes of This Chapter
(216)
Explicit Quotations: None.
Possible Allusions/Similar or Parallel Concepts (216):
12:2: Idols were, by their very nature, unable
to tell or teach
any one anything (216).
12:4-11,
26: Miraculous gifts in the Old
Testament
narratives (217).
12:12-25: The usefulness of each and every church
member (225).
Historical Allusions: None.
Problem Texts (226)
12:3: There are things which the Holy Spirit
will never instruct
a person to speak (226).
12:3: “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except
by the Holy
Spirit” (228).
12:7-10: The difference between the nine different types of “manifestation of the Spirit” (229).
12:13: “By one Spirit we were all baptized into
one
body” (233).
12:13: Believers have “all been made to drink
into one
Spirit”
(234).
12:28: Types of church office and functions
(234).
Notes (236)
Preface
In the first four chapters of the
book, Paul struck hard at the divisive mentality of loyalty to cliques. He never does explicitly tell us whether much
or all of the problems he addresses in the remainder of the letter grew out of
this loyalty or whether arguments over those issues played the decisive
role in their creation. One could easily
imagine it working either way.
We don’t really need to know. Nor did the other
congregations of Paul’s day. The
central thrust was the important thing--that the creation of partisan groups
was wrong for it transplanted core loyalty from God and Christ to their
particular sect.
In dealing with the specific “issues”
in the church, Paul, wisely, begins with one that virtually no one could hope
to credibly defend—incest (chapter 5).
As he vigorously argues, even the most reprobate Corinthian pagan would
find it impossible to defend such behavior.
So how could they? Whatever
critics Paul had in the congregation, this had to give them pause: Paul is clearly right here; what else might
he be accurate on that we’ve been ignoring?
Chapter 6 edges
into another matter that created disrespect and contempt for them among
outsiders—their taking internal matters of dispute before secular law courts
and not settling it themselves.
That outsiders would react this way would have been unquestionable to
any one but the willfully blind. (“Just
look at those Christians!”) Yet here
Paul is also edging into the much more disputed areas of internal differences
on moral and religious belief and practice.
In chapter 7 he surveys the various
controversies related to sexuality, marriage, and divorce that faced them in
making their personal future decisions.
If he be conceded as having shown good judgment in his arguments in
chapter 6, his “judgments” on these matters compelled respectful attention as
well. A “carry over
effect,” if you will. (Important because he wants to convince them and not merely instruct
or order them.)
The question of under what conditions
one might eat meat offered to idols, especially in pagan temples, raised two
interlocking issues in chapter 8. The
first was due to the bulk of available meat having been technically so offered
and that question affected everyone. The
eating in pagan temples concerned the more well off since the facilities were
often used as group meeting places and those of the upper stratas
were far more likely to be invited to such activities.
Personal sacrifices might well be
involved in making such decisions. Yet
Paul had clearly made such himself, as he argues at length in chapter 9: He had a right to local living support,
but had abstained from exercising it while among them. Likewise, the implicit message is that there
are times for them to rein in their “rights” as well. Such self-control is not only theoretically
possible but scriptural examples manifest the folly of not exercising it, as he
shows through citing the failures of God’s people in an earlier age (chapter
10).
They were having significant
problems in their worship services not only due to personal behavior that
violated proper norms, but also by the ignoring of others who were counted as
of no importance (chapter 11). The final
chapter in this volume moves the latter matter into a lengthy abstract
discussion so they can better understand why this was wrong. It wasn’t a matter of favoring the well off
(their clear desire) or preferring the poorer (which could be an easy
misreading of Paul’s words), but that everyone in the congregation was
of value. That was an important lesson
in self-respect for those previously looked down upon and a vital lesson in
humility for those inclined to do otherwise.
Note: The footnotes in this volume do not include
anything more than author and page numbers when the original mention of the
work was in the first volume. The
Bibliography will be in the concluding volume.