How Much a Christian Can Be Tested
1
Corinthians 10:12-13
Topic Explanation
The topic of this paper is temptation and
testing of new Christians. 1
Corinthians 10:13 states that God will not allow us be tempted or tested beyond
what we can endure, and that He will provide a way of escape. We will look at
the historical and literary context these words were written in, explain its
importance to the original hearers in Corinth, and make application to today’s
new Christian readers.
The General Historical Context / Cultural Background / Letter Form
Corinth
was a major metropolitan city of approximately 600,000 people made so by it’s
strategic location. It is located on an isthmus, a necessary travel connection
between the landmasses north and south of it, but also between the seas to the
east and the west. The isthmus is narrow enough to facilitate shipping passage
between the Aegean and Adriatic Seas by moving ships across the 4 miles wide
landmass on rollers.[1]
This
central location for land and see travel meant that Corinth had a very diverse
population, which resulted in the city having a population steeped in religious
syncretism as well as immorality. This city was immoral to such a degree that
the name of the city was used in a word coined to mean “to practice
fornication”, korinthiazomai, meaning Corinthianize.
The
people of Corinth were also lovers of wisdom and knowledge, and were proud and
arrogant.[2] Their accomplishments, accumulation of
knowledge, and the mixture of religions caused them to be puffed up with pride.
Their high opinions of themselves lead to a diluted worldly understanding of
scripture. They became dogmatic and split into various factions, each believing
that their scriptural understanding was correct, and others were wrong. These factions
caused divisions in the body of Christ.
It is
the problems formed within this environment that Paul addressed his letters to
the Corinthians. This letter takes the form of a “real letter”, meaning that
this letter to the Corinthians is intended for specifically the persons
addressed, and not the public in general. This letter addresses specific issues
the Corinthians were dealing with.
Literary Context
To
establish the literary context for 1Co 10:12-13, we will take a quick look back
at Chapters 8 & 9. Interestingly, and pertinent to the topic of this paper,
Paul starts by reminding his readers that “knowledge makes us proud of ourselves” and that “people
who think they know so much don't know anything at all.” 1Co 8:1-2 (CEV). He is addressing the proud arrogance of the Corinthians, which
has lead them into all sorts of error. Paul, using an example of one of their
points of error, reminds them of their responsibility not to “cause problems
for someone with a weak conscience, just because you have the right to eat
anything.” 1Co 8:9 (CEV) Paul reminds the proud Corinthians that he is “willing
to put up with anything to keep from causing trouble for the message about
Christ.’ 1Co 9:12b (CEV)
Clearly, it would seem that the
proud Corinthian Greeks had allowed their accumulation of knowledge to puff
them up to the point where they believed that their accumulated knowledge had
elevated them to a point above concern for their fellow believer. They were
using this self-perceived elevation for their own freedoms, giving place to
pride, and causing their fellow Corinthians in the church to stumble and fall,
and creating confusion. Paul was correcting this arrogant behavior and teaching
them that they should be more concerned about the less mature followers of
Christ.
Paul tells them that he has “never
used these privileges of mine, and I am not writing this because I want to
start now. I would rather die than have someone rob me of the right to take
pride in this.” 1Co 9:15 (CEV) This is an amazing statement that indicates how
highly Paul valued care and not being a stumbling block to those around him,
vs. personally enjoying certain freedoms afforded him by Christ at their
expense. Rather, he has “become all things to all men,
that (he) might by all means save some.” 1Co 9:22 (NKJV) Paul is teaching that the individual
salvation of those around us is far more important than our enjoyment of our
individual freedom at their expense.
Particular Context of Passage
This
bring us to our text, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.
Paul brought his teaching into the prevailing haughty crowds of
believers, who have for all intents and purposes, have raised themselves up in
their own minds to the pinnacles of wisdom.
Paul seeks to turn a light on by providing warnings from history showing
that they were (and we are) just as susceptible of displeasing God as their
“fathers”, the people of great priviledge whom God supernaturally cared for
during the exodus. (1Co 10:1-6) He
warns them; saying “Even
if you think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall.” 1Co 10:12
(CEV) Paul was addressing those proud believers with the warning learned from
the Israelites of times past that they should not be so confident in their
ability to stand up to temptation without falling. He continues with the
admonition that they “are tempted in the same way that everyone else is
tempted. But God can be trusted not to let (them) be tempted too much, and he
will show (them) how to escape from (their) temptations.”, 1Co 10-13 (CEV),
indicating that they were no different than those privileged people who fell so
hard, and that it was God who would provide their escape.
Practical Applications for Today’s Christian
Let’s look at these two verses in some detail:
1Co 10:12-13 Even if you
think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall. (13)
You are
tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted
not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from
your temptations. (CEV)
In 1Co 10-12, the idea behind
“standing” means to abide, or continue.
To me means to presume that we would be able to abide or continue in, or
allow temptation to linger, without giving in to it, or falling.
The word “temptation” being
translated means solicitation or provocation. The devil seeks to solicit or
provoke us to sin, such as in the case of the Corinthians, to immorality,
fornication, pride, and every other sin. Temptation occurs in the mind, before
sin actually takes place. We are tempted to sin in our mind with our desires.
The word for “fall” means just
that, to fall down.
Thus, in verse 12, Paul is warning
us that we are to be careful, that our perceived ability to resist sin while
allowing temptations to linger is not sure, and by implication, likely to
result in a fall, and giving in to the sin. We should not attempt to stand up
to temptation, but rather, put it out of our minds immediately.
In 1Co 10:13, Paul continues,
instructing that all of us, new Christians and old, are tempted in the same
manner. The struggles of new Christians
are no harder nor easier than the struggles of the Israelites of history or
veteran Christians in the days of Paul or of Christians today. Satan tempts
everyone equally across all times.
God will not let us be tempted beyond
what we are able to endure, and will always provide a way out. Knowing then
that temptation begins in the mind, by our desires, Paul would have us know
that when we are tempted, from the very first awareness in our minds of such
temptation, we are given the ability to turn away from the sin we are being
tempted into.
In the case of immorality for
example, whether adultery, homosexuality, watching pornography, and so on,
there is always an initial temptation prior to our acting out and performing
the actual sin. The way God gives us an
out is apparent in these early stages of temptation. From the onset of temptation, we would best immediately turn to
God, ask for His strength to endure and escape, and turn our minds to other
things, thus avoiding the sin.
If we look back on a time we fell
into sin, and we are honest with ourselves, we can see that indeed, we were
initially tempted, and we did not turn away when God told us to. We forfeited
His escape route, perhaps thinking we in our own strength could stand through
the temptation without falling, and were carried into sin. [3]
This is the same with pride. There
is always an initial temptation, which if turned from, will not give birth to
the actual sin of pride.
Another example is regarding
contemporary views of homosexuality. Homosexuality is a choice. At some point
in every homosexual’s life, they were faced with the choice wherein they could
turn away from the sin of homosexuality, or give into it. Either their eyes are
blinded from the truth that they have a choice (ignorance) or they ignore the
truth (rebellion) and believe that this temptation is beyond what they can
endure, and they believe that there is no escape. But the fact remains, at some
point, a choice was made, and a path to sin was traversed. God faithfully
provided an escape, and the fault of the fall was with the individual.
[1]
http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/intros/corinthi.cfm
[2] Gordon Fee,
How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, pg 61
[3] http://www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries/comm_view.cfm
?AuthorID=1&contentID=7210&commInfo=25&topic=1%20Corinthians
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