Honor, Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture by David A. deSilva

Author:David A. deSilva [deSilva, David A.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2012-12-28T05:00:00+00:00

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. (Phil 2:1-4)

Paul discerns that the self intrudes mightily wherever division and strife emerge, and this promotion of the self is exactly what Christ refused to consider as he ran the course of obedience unto greatest honor. So also we as sisters and brothers in the church are enjoined to keep our focus on the work of God, on the larger vision of God in which we can cooperate and which we will only serve effectively as we put the needs and worth of one another ahead of our own, even as Jesus did.

One specific breach of unity brought out by Paul, and quite relevant for the American scene, was the tendency of the Corinthian Christians to continue to raise lawsuits against one another: “Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believer and another, but a believer goes to court against a believer—and before unbelievers at that? In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—and believers at that” (1 Cor 6:5-8). Lawsuits were just one more facet of their preconversion life that the Corinthian believers thought nothing of continuing. Paul argues, however, that the new relationship between the parties makes court cases inappropriate. It is better to suffer injury or loss than to seek to hurt or avenge yourself on your kin. An important aspect of this for Paul is the public that will view the suit—“and that before unbelievers.” In Paul’s eyes, such lawsuits are a stain on the honor of the family of God as well as an excellent cause for unbelievers to question the virtue and value of this group that calls itself family.

How can Paul’s ideal of unity—or Jesus’ for that matter (see Jn 17:11, 21)—ever be realized in our fragmented and polarized church? It will not be realized as long as we insist that unity be achieved by “accepting me on my terms.” Only a spirit of humility, a willingness to sacrifice what we may hold dear for the sake of love for the other, a willingness to “die to self” will contribute to restoring unity in the church where it has been breached and to preserving it where it is now threatened. When each of us ceases to demand of others that they recognize and accept us, and instead shows a willingness to abstain from that which gives offense—not out of fear, nor out of hopelessness, but out

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