Wednesday, September 30

Today, I want to focus on the I Corinthians passage from the daily lectionary, particularly chapter 8, verses 1-3. Paul is writing to a somewhat arrogant group of early Christians, who are struggling with the concept of eating food offered to idols. Corinth, like any Mediterranean city heavily influenced by Greek culture, was a know-it-all community. People craved knowledge there. Greek scholars and philosophers were the movie stars of their days - great orators who charged money to teach people how to advance socially and properly appease the many gods. And their arrogance was rubbing off on the church members in Corinth. Paul, knowing this, poked fun at the Corinthians when he said their "'knowledge' puffs up" (1). I love how he put "knowledge" in quotes. To Paul, the average Corinthian "does not yet know as he ought to know" because Christianity, unlike the other religions of the day, was not (and still is not) based on knowledge. They thought they knew it all, but they really had no understanding of God. Here's the full thought: "If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God" (2-3). Our knowledge, no matter how many books we read or classes we attend, can never approach that of the Creator of the universe. Even the combined knowledge of today's "wise" and "eloquent" preachers and orators would be put to shame. However, Paul says we can be "known by God" because of our love. Isn't this a wonderful promise? I don't know about you, but I want the God of all creation to know who I am. So instead of praying for knowledge, pray for love. Our hearts can be filled much fuller than our minds.