Episode 2836 - Lesson 5 - Thursday July 30 - Overcoming Idolatry

Overcoming IdolatryIn 1 Corinthians 8:1-3, Paul argues that love for God keeps one safe from idolatry. This argument is resumed and further developed in 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1. In 1 Corinthians 8:3, he speaks about our love for God. He says, "Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being" (1 Cor. 10:24, NKJV). This is love for others.Read Mark 10:17-22 and Mark 12:28-31. What do these two passages have in common, and how do they apply to the situation in 1 Corinthians 10?Paul is doing in 1 Corinthians 10 precisely what Jesus did in Mark 12:28-31; namely, he binds together the two great commandments of the law: love for God above all, and love for others. In the story of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-22), Jesus unites these two kinds of love, and does so by respectively alluding to Deuteronomy 6:4 (see Mark 10:18) and the second table of the Decalogue (see Mark 10:19). The problem of that rich young man is that he loved his possessions more than he loved God and his neighbors (Mark 10:22). He valued his treasure on earth above the treasures in heaven. He valued his money above the poor (Mark 10:21). He was an idolater.Following the teachings of Jesus, Paul hints that the principle of loving God above all and the neighbor as oneself is to be applied to the hypothetical situations he mentions in 1 Corinthians 10:27-28. This means that even lawful things may not be helpful or edifying since they can be offensive to someone else's conscience (1 Cor. 10:23). This principle is masterly synthesized in the words "Do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31, NKJV). By saying that all must be done to the glory of God, Paul indicates that idolatry can manifest itself in the most varied forms, for anything that usurps the glory that belongs to God alone is a form of idolatry (Isa. 42:8).Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 serve as a conclusion to chapters 8-10. He makes it clear he did not seek his own advantage, "but that of many, that they may be saved" (1 Cor. 10:33, ESV). That is how he imitated Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).How can you learn to better love your neighbor as yourself?