One of the more challenging passages in the New Testament is found in Romans 12:1–2:
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (NASB).
In this passage, Paul encourages his readers to devote their lives to God completely and not to conform to their surrounding world. Paul’s command seems clear in this passage: Christians should conform their lives to Christ while avoiding the negative influence of the world’s depravity. But after reading this command not to conform to the world, one may remember a verse from 1 Corinthians that seems contradictory. In 1 Corinthians 9:22b Paul says, “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” At first glance, this may seem like Paul is conforming to this world.
A closer look at these passages in context is necessary for proper application to the Christian life.
Romans 12
The passage from Romans 12 is rather straightforward. There’s nothing too tricky about what Paul is saying. The word therefore at the beginning of 12:1 points the reader back to all that Paul has discussed up to this point (the work of Christ), which he sums up as “the mercies of God.”[1] On this basis Paul pleads with his readers to devote themselves completely to Christ; this is the reasonable response to all that Christ has done for them.
Verse 2 contains both a negative command and a positive command. The negative command is not to be conformed to this world. In other words, Christians should recognize the fallen aspects of their culture and not adapt in ways that are not Christlike. They don’t need to let what’s popular dictate what is appropriate. This principle could apply to a number of situations.
We could apply it to music and to other forms of entertainment that are inappropriate for the Christian life. We could apply it to political views that do not align with the Christian faith that are being pushed by non-Christians. We could also apply it to the way that non-Christians choose to lead their families that might be in direct contrast to what we see in Deuteronomy 6. Instead of conforming to the world in areas such as these, Paul is telling his readers to do something different.
Instead of conforming to the world, Paul commands Christians to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Paul recognizes that humanity is depraved—that our minds need to be renewed. This renewal is accomplished through reading the Scriptures, meditating on them, and praying to the Lord. As He sanctifies us, He renews our minds to think and act in the way that He originally intended for us to think and act.
1 Corinthians 9
Seemingly contradictory to Paul’s command in Romans 12, the phrase that stands out the most in 1 Corinthians 9 is the latter part of verse 22 when he says, “I have become all things to all men.” We can easily misconstrued this phrase if we’re not careful, if read on its own. But if we read it in light of 1 Corinthians as a whole, we can understand its meaning more clearly.
In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul explains whether eating meat offered to idols is acceptable. This meat was sold in the public market, but Jews were commanded not to buy sacrificed meat. Any Christian with a Jewish background would have known to steer clear. On the other hand, it’s easy to see how other Christians who didn’t have a Jewish background wouldn’t have had a problem with eating this meat since it was sacrificed to a false god.[2] Based on one’s liberty in Christ, eating the food was acceptable. But Paul’s focus in 1 Corinthians 8 was on the need to regulate Christian liberty, which he continues to elaborate on in chapter 9.
In 9:1–18, Paul illustrates what he has just stated in 8:9–13 about sacrificing of one’s liberty for the sake of another. Paul goes to great lengths to demonstrate that he had the rights of an apostle, but that he was willing to refuse those privileges for the sake of others. Paul says, “What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:18). The NASB translators get the phrase “to make full use” from a Greek word that also has the connotation of misusing or abusing something.[3] By using this word, Paul is pointing out that he, by limiting his liberty, is avoiding the misuse or abuse of the privilege of living under the law of Christ.
The climax of Paul’s discussion on Christian liberty is found in 9:19–23.[4] He first makes clear that he is free from all men, but that he makes himself a slave to all in order to win more (v. 19). He then tells his readers that, to the Jew, he became like a Jew to win them (v. 20). Paul knew that he was no longer obligated to abide by the Jewish rituals, but he gladly embraced them and gave up his freedom for the sake of winning the Jews to the Lord.[5]
In verse 21 Paul then speaks of becoming like those without the law but not without a very important caveat. He says, “to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.” This verse makes clear that Paul, even when he was not around those who were under the strict Mosaic Law, did not live carelessly as if there were no law altogether. Instead, he lived under the law of Christ, meaning that his life was “governed and ordered by his relationship to Christ and by Christ’s authority over him.”[6]
Paul summarizes all that he’s been saying in verse 22 when he writes, “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” If we were not aware the preceding context of this verse, we might easily interpret it in a way that allows us to do whatever we felt necessary to win others to the Lord, quite apart from exercising moral, ethical, or prudential judgment.
Application
How should we live in a way that does not cause us to conform to the world (Romans 12) while also becoming all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9)? One clear conclusion from 1 Corinthians is that the focus is on not allowing our liberty to prevent others from becoming Christians. Instead, we should limit liberty since it is not necessary for us to use it to its fullest extent. In light of this, we should not use Paul’s example of becoming all things to all people as an excuse to participate in sinful and foolish activity in order to bring others to Christ.
The Christian is not like an undercover officer who does drugs to convince those around him that he’s one of them. He wouldn’t be willing to participate in or to engage with sinful acts such as drunkenness or prostitution in an attempt to lead someone to Christ. These types of things are fundamentally opposed to Christian living as seen in the Scriptures. Paul’s focus is clearly on not taking full advantage of the freedom he has in Christ if it is going to prevent someone from accepting the gospel.[7]
Picirilli concludes that we should even restrict our liberty with things that are indifferent.[8] A perfect example can be found in 1 Corinthians 8 where Paul discusses food offered to idols. He concludes that, even though there is nothing inherently wrong with eating the meat, it would be wrong to eat it in the presence of someone who has former association with idol worship since his or her conscience would be weak.
Similarly, Calvin suggests, “We ought to restrain our liberty in intermediate things.”[9] But how do we determine what is indifferent or intermediate? Sometimes I think the answer to this question will be obvious. However, we will sometimes have to rely on the wisdom that God gives us. We need to remember what James 3:17 tells us about wisdom from the Lord: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”
If we continue to pursue holiness
through the reading of God’s Word, through meditation, through prayer and
fasting, service/worship, and through godly counsel, we will be more prepared
to make these types of decisions. And, like Paul, we should be able to say, “I
do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow
partaker of it.”
[1]F. Leroy Forlines, Romans, The Randall House Bible Commentary, ed. Robert E. Picirilli (Nashville: Randall House, 1987), 319.
[2]Robert E. Picirilli, 1, 2 Corinthians, The Randall House Bible Commentary, ed. Robert E. Picirilli (Nashville: Randall House, 1987), 113.
[3]See BDAG or LSJ.
[4]Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Greek Testament Commentary, ed. I Howard Marshall and Donald A. Hagner (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 698.
[5]Picirilli, 1, 2 Corinthians, 130.
[6] Ibid., 131.
[7]Ibid., 153.
[8]Ibid., 136.
[9]John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, vol. 1, trans. John Pringle (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1948), 272.
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