Becoming all things to all Men; 1Corinthians 9:19-23 (focus: vs. 22)

Have you ever heard 1 Corinthians 9:22 quoted in defence of the use of questionable practices employed in evangelism? For example, have you ever heard of a new church plant meeting in a bar on Sunday morning or a Christian missionary calling himself "Muslim" and when you suggested that something doesn't seem quite right about that, those in favor of such practices said something like, "Hey, what's wrong with that? They're just becoming all things to all men..." Well, are they? Are they simply employing the same evangelistic practices as the Apostle Paul. Let's take a closer look at the passage used to defend evangelism by any means possible and see what we discover.

1Corinthians 9:19-23
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” (May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of His word.)
Let's consider a few historical factors regarding the ancient city of Corinth around 54 AD when this letter was most likely penned by the Apostle Paul. Most citizens of that notable city would have been worshippers of idols especially the Greek gods Apollo, Athena, and Aphrodite because Corinth was the guardian and steward of temples and shrines dedicated to these divinities (much like the Arabian cities of Mecca & Medina are the guardian city of the holy sites of Islam today).

In order to increase one’s influence for buying and selling goods and to prove one’s respectability in society, an entrepreneur or merchant in 1st Century Corinth would be a proud member of one of the many trade guilds or collegia of the day. Membership in these associations came with both benefits and obligations. For instance, involvement in the guilds and generosity towards their shrines or temples would guarantee their members a proper and “fancy funeral” after death. But membership also obligated members to make sacrifices and contributions to a particular favorite god. Guild members would be expected to join in on the revelry of the annual feast in honor of the gods (something akin to a company Christmas party).


Luke in Acts 18:1-11 Records Paul’s arrival and ministry in Corinth. As is descriptive of much of Paul’s ministry, in Corinth he reasoned with Jews and Gentiles alike. He was opposed by Jews and Gentiles alike. And he saw the fruit of his evangelism from Jews and Gentiles alike. (Vv. 8-11…) After the new church in Corinth had emerged as a result of Paul’s ministry he apparently was able to come back to visit at some point in time and he also wrote a letter to them, which we no longer have. After this visit and first letter, the Corinthian church either wrote back to Paul, and/or a woman named Chloe, an Ephesian woman mentioned in 1Corinthians 1:10, who had visited Corinth, brought a report back to Paul while he was in Ephesus.


Whichever way the report was delivered to Paul, the report was really bad. The Corinthian church had become divided and full of chaos, confusion, and conflict. This passage in chapter 9:19-23 comes in the middle of a section specifically addressing issues related to idolatry. The section on idolatry starts with Chapter 8:1 (“Now concerning food offered to idols…”) and with many diversions, continues all the way through the first verse of Chapter 11. In this section Paul is answering a complaint made by the Corinthian church about a restriction he had put on them not to participate in the Temple feasts because it was a form of idolatry.



The Corinthians were likely complaining that even though Paul being a Jew, himself, would eat kosher meat when he was with Jews, yet he would also freely eat meat from the market place which was most likely sacrificed to idols before it was brought to the market for sale. The Corinthian Christians thought it was hypocritical of Paul to practice this kind of freedom in his own life but then turn around and make restrictions on them prohibiting them from attending the feasts in the temple like the ones sponsored by their guilds (collegia) which seemed to them to be perfectly harmless, or at least culturally neutral festivals that a good citizen should attend if he’s going to live a “normal” life in Corinthian culture.



Paul responds by showing that there is a big difference between his practice of eating meat sold in the marketplace that may have been sacrificed to an idol and the practice of attending feasts in honor of an idol in a Temple like those sponsored by the guilds. His argument can be summed up like this:


8:1-6
First of all it is not a knowledge of his liberty in Christ that ultimately guides the Christian. Rather it is the love of Christ and being known by God which edifies and guides us. For example, we may know that idols are not really gods at all and we know we have freedom in Christ with regard to eating food that has been sacrificed to idols because nothing has really happened to the meat. (8:7-10) However, not everyone knows this. And if you are going to be guided by love that edifies, you will need to consider the new believers among you who have come out of a dark life of bondage to idol worship. These people may still really believe idols are real and you don’t want to validate their false beliefs by eating meat sacrificed to an idol in the context of Temple worship (vs. 8:10). This kind of action actually becomes sin when you lead your weaker brother for whom Christ died into sin. (8:11-13) So, Paul is appealing to the Corinthians to put their love for one another in Christ before their knowledge of their rights and freedoms in Christ for the sake of the gospel. Paul then finishes the section stating his commitment to the gospel saying: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16)

So far we can see that the following elements define the approach of Paul’s ministry:

a. The love of Christ trumps the knowledge of our rights & freedom in Christ

b. Never practice freedoms that could lead others or ourselves into sin

c. Remove any unnecessary hindrances to people understanding the gospel

d. The preaching of the gospel must happen



That brings us to our passage. In 1Cor 9:19-23 Paul continues his comments on his commitment to the gospel by describing the way he does evangelism…and specifically how he goes about sharing the good news with people of different cultural and religious backgrounds who may have very different understandings of what the Bible is about if they have any knowledge of the Bible at all. When among Jews he appeals to them in a special way. When among Greeks he appeals to them in a different way. He becomes all things to all men in order to save some.

Even a quick survey through the book of Acts will show us examples of Paul using a somewhat different approach in his preaching depending upon his audience. Among Jews: he quoted the Old Testament extensively and built his case for Jesus as the Messiah upon the promises and prophets with which his listeners were familiar. Whereas among Greeks like the idol-worshiping philosophers of Athens (Acts 17), for example, Paul cleverly described God according to the Bible’s revelation of God yet without quoting scripture or mentioning the names of biblical prophets. There was no benefit to prophet name-dropping upon initial contact because the Gentiles had no point of reference for such allusions.

A risky application:
In contemporary mission circles concerned with the Muslim world, 1Corinthians 9:22 has got to be one of the most misinterpreted and misapplied verses in all the canon of Scripture. That is a risky thing for me to say. For by highlighting the relevance of this passage to the ministry of missions to Muslims I run the risk of losing your attention. You might be tempted to reason that the rest of this message is going to be about an in-house controversy that is only of interest to missionaries, missiologists, and theologians. So, lest you are tempted to surfing the web for something else to read let me try to bring this issue home for you.


Most of the mission theories, approaches to evangelism, and church-planting strategies employed by American missionaries on the Muslim mission field, for good or for ill, originated and were learned in American churches and American seminaries. Jonathan Leeman is the editor of the 9Marks E-journal which is a ministry of Capitol Hill Baptist Church under Mark Dever. In his editor’s note in their issue dedicated to missions he wrote:

“A country can only export what it manufactures. That's a pretty basic principle. But now apply that principle to the topic of missions: if generations of American churches have been characterized by pragmatic church growth principles, what would you expect to see characterizing their overseas missions endeavors?"(Editor's Note: Jonathan Leeman; 9Marks E-Journal July/August 2009, Volume 6, Issue 4; found at  http://www.9marks.org/ejournal/missions)

I have witnessed the truth of this statement worked out on the mission field. Whether it is pragmatic church growth principles or easy-believism or “emergent church” evangelism strategies, what is taught in churches at home becomes what is exported to the mission field.



Several years ago I was invited by the pastor of our home church to attend a friendly debate at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan between some concerned pastors and professors who were debating Bryan McLaren, the author of “A Generous Orthodoxy” & “A New Kind of Christianity.” What was being debated was the "Emergent" church movement (or "conversation" as emergent folks call it); the new kind of “emerging” evangelicalism wherein among other things, the more offensive elements of the gospel message (like the doctrine of man’s sinfulness and God’s righteous indignation against sin, or the doctrine of hell) are being shelved as obsolete and irrelevant in favor of a message about God’s tolerance and universal, inclusive love which is more appealing to “post-modern” people. Essentially what is being promoted is the conforming of the gospel message to the prevailing culture not unlike what was practiced by late 19th Century protestant liberalism only now it is being dressed up in new clothes and marches under the banner of Evangelicalism. This approach of culturally-conformed evangelism to difficult-to-reach-people if often based upon a proof-text-reading of 1Corinthians 9:22 – “becoming all things to all men.”


One of the church leaders with whom I attended the debate suggested to me at the break that perhaps this whole controversy was not very relevant to what I was preparing to do in the Middle East. I countered that it was extremely relevant because I was seeing the very same thing exported onto the mission field. It comes under many titles but the approach is the same: The “Insider movement”, starting “Jesus Mosques,” finding “common ground” with Muslims, or as I prefer, the “dynamic equivalent” approach to church-planting among Muslims. All these titles refer to an approach to evangelism among Muslims which makes its starting point the adaptation of the Gospel message to Muslim culture. This is based on the premise that Culture is neutral and its expressions and forms can be “filled” with Christian and biblical meanings.

This dynamic equivalent approach involves:

1. Using terms from the Qur’an to refer to biblical concepts.

2. Encouraging Muslim converts not to think of themselves so much as converts but rather as just Muslims who follow Jesus.

3. Encouraging these Muslim “followers of Jesus” to continue using Islamic forms & recitations of prayer, and to continue worshiping in the Mosque so as not to get themselves “extracted” from the community.

4. Discouraging baptism and participation in the Lord’s Supper and thereby discouraging outward identification with Christ and his church.

5. Such missionaries will sometimes even refer to themselves as Muslims – “ones who submit to God” (which is a literal translation of the term).


Why?
Because the approach endeavors to strip the church of “western” trappings and become “all things to all men so that by all means they might win some.” At first glance this verse does seem like it might actually be a biblical precedent for such pragmatist practices but upon closer examination of the context we see that the Word of God actually teaches an extremely different manner of evangelism among pagans.


But consider the immediate context:
9:19
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”

This is a restatement of the earlier assertion that Love trumps our rights – not only that but we should be willing even to see ourselves as servants before others so that they may hear the gospel.


9:20
“To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.”

Again, in order to win the hearing of the Jews for the gospel Paul desires to remove any unnecessary hindrances to people understanding the gospel. An example of this is found in Acts 18:18 where we are told that Paul had taken on a voluntary traditional Jewish vow, something that endeared him to his Jewish listeners.

9:21
“To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.”


Now in order to win the hearing of the Gentiles, who don’t know about the laws and customs of those born under the law given through Moses, Paul lives as one who is free and can do things like eat meat that may have been sacrificed to idols. However, at this point, because those who are reading this letter may think this reasoning gives them license to live like pagans with no moral rules or guides for their conduct, Paul here interjects this qualifier: “not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ.” He writes this to reassure his readers that in asserting these things he does not propose living a licentious, “antinomian”, immoral life-style.

Why?
Because, again, although Paul believes we must remove unnecessary hindrances to people’s understanding the gospel we must also never practice things that lead others or ourselves into sin. In other words, Give up your rights for others, remove all unnecessary hindrances to your ability to win your hearers, but never in the name of these two important guidelines thereby commit sin or lead others to commit sin.


9:22-23
“To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”

Paul concludes this section stating that he has the same policy among the “weak”. Some commentators suggest this, as in the last chapter, refers again to “weak believers” who still need a bit of “winning over” in their faith. Some suggest this refers to non-believers. Either way the same principle applies: we try to remove hindrances to people hearing and understanding the gospel.


So, we can conclude that what Paul means when he writes (9:22b-23) “…I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” he means that he will live and preach the gospel among various different ethnic/religious/cultural groups, staying sensitive to customs of those around him so long as in doing so he does not involve himself or others in sin. Because, after all, he is doing it “all for the sake of the gospel.” So, if in trying to share the gospel he has taught by his actions sinful behavior – something contrary to the gospel – he will have undone what is his goal: to share the gospel, see it take root in the culture, and share with (new) believers in its blessings.

Paul continues after this passage to the end of chapter 9 with an illustration from Athletic competitions showing that it takes self-discipline in order to compete and succeed. Good athletes don’t eat a lot of potato chips and fried food, drink a lot of Pepsi, and sit on the couch and watch TV all day long. They give up these freedoms and diet and exercise and train in order to obtain the goal. Likewise, if we are going to be engaged in evangelism we must discipline ourselves and be rigorous about it.


But the question as to when “our becoming all things to all people” crosses the line and becomes sin, leading ourselves or others into sin” is also something Paul is concerned with. What then, constitutes taking our sensitivities to the customs of others too far in our attempts to win them with the gospel? In light of the Emergent church movement here at home and the highly contextualized approaches to ministry among Muslims on the mission field this is a relevant question to ask.

Paul turns to answer our question in chapter 10. We must read chapter 10 with verse 9:21 in mind: “not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ.”


1. 10:1-14 Paul begins by describing how the ancient people of Israel under the leading of Moses were brought out of slavery in Egypt yet over and over again their hearts were turned from the worship of God to idolatry. Paul tells us that this was written down as an example for us. He finishes this section with the stern and earnest exhortation: “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (10:14)


2. 10:16-18 Paul then enters into a very important discussion to show us that we must be very careful about what kinds of activities we engage in when interacting with an idolatrous culture. Consider our observance of the Lord’s Supper: (16) “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? …(18) Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
Through the centuries the church has debated about what exactly happens or doesn’t happen to the cup and the bread when we take the Lord’s Supper together. But one thing every believer would agree upon is that we are participating in an act of sacred worship and in some way participating in Christ Himself!


3. So what is Paul implying? (10:19-22)
(20) …that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
In other words, Just as someone taking the Lord’s supper participates in the sacred act of worship of Christ, whoever attends a temple ceremony (like that of the guilds) and eats along with the worshippers in their act of worship he too is participating in their act of worship even though the meat itself may be harmless.


Now, my friends let me exhort you with the concerns of the word of God.


1. It is right to seek to become all things to all men – we should care deeply about the salvation of others. Therefore, never let your knowledge for your own freedom in Christ overrule your love for others. In whatever you do and in all you say give glory to God by seeking the good of others even to the point of serving others at your own personal cost. It is no sacrifice if it doesn’t cost you any time, any effort, any inconvenience. Reaching the lost in your spheres of influence takes discipline, effort, and sacrifice.
2. Preach the gospel. You have the freedom to live a quiet life and to speak to no one and to bother no one about the truth of the Gospel. But let your love for God translate into love for your lost neighbors and even your enemies and let that love overrule your freedom. Say along with Paul: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”
3. Out of love for your neighbor remove any unnecessary hindrances to understanding the gospel. If you’re sitting down with a vegetarian at a café in order to share the gospel with him don’t order a steak. If you’re sitting down with a Muslim or a Jew don’t order a ham sandwich. If you’re trying to explain the gospel to someone who has never stepped foot in a church building don’t speak “Christianese.” Do you have the freedom in Christ to eat a rack of baby-back ribs in front of your Muslim or Jewish friend? Yes, but you will likely unnecessarily offend your neighbor and he will not hear a word you have to say. Why not rather remove such a hindrance so he will hear your message. Do you have the freedom in Christ to say things like, “In your current unregenerate state of total depravity you are running headlong into eternal destruction, therefore repent of your transgressions, and lean fully upon Christ’s work of substitutionary atonement upon the cross on your behalf which achieved propitiation for the wrath of God toward your sin then Christ’s righteousness will be imputed to you and you will attain justification before God”? Yes, of course you have the freedom to talk like this, but you may find your neighbor’s eyes glazing over. Why not speak plainly with much explanation, paying close attention to your neighbor’s level of understanding of such concepts praying all the while that the Holy Spirit will truly impart real knowledge.
4. Finally, never do or say anything that could be construed as a validation of their false beliefs in your adapting in these ways in order to proclaim and explain the gospel to non-believers . Never compromise or leave out some element of the gospel in order to adapt it to the norms or values of the prevailing culture. And never ever participate in things that are understood as forms of pagan worship by those you are trying to win to Christ. You may eat the food they serve but you may not pray in the name of their prophets beforehand. You may respect their beliefs & customs but you may not give any indication that you think their sacred books are inspired or their prophets are really from God or that their idols are real or that they can continue on in their acts of worship if they want to truly convert and participate in the worship of Christ! You and those you win to Christ must remain under the Law of Christ, namely:

“…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”

(Luke 10:27)