Every Member a Member

In 50 AD, the Christians in Corinth felt stuck. They had all this new found FREEDOM in Christ. They were saved, given gifts by the Holy Spirit, so they should feel the joy of FREEDOM, and yet, something was wrong.

Here’s what’s wrong, and see if this does not sound familiar:
They had been told in their culture over and over and very subtle lie:

They had been told a lie that Freedom is all about “keeping your options open.”
Never obligate yourself to someone or something. Stay Autonomous—that means utterly independent.

For example:
Marriage commitment
Giving your money—we even call it financial independence.
time (that’s a big one!) the New York YES.
ABOVE all, always ALWAYS reserve the right to come OVER the word of God and overrule it whenever you disagree with it, because obligating yourself to this ancient book means you won’t be free.

And that is where the Corinthian Christians were. And what they were discovering is what everyone eventually realizes, that freedom does NOT mean autonomy.

I am thinking of a terrifying novel I read a few years ago, with FREEDOM in the title, where these characters throw off all religion, they leave their marriages, all in the name of freedom and the disaster that results makes your heart break.

The irony is, true freedom is not found in escaping our obligations, in being free from other
people, but the opposite. Community, not autonomy is where we begin to find true freedom.

What does the freedom of obligating and committing look like? It looks like what we find in 1 Corinthians 12