Human freedom can be alluring, and often intoxicating. I want to be free to do all the things I like to do and want to do. But all the things you like to do and want to do that I don’t approve of? Then I want the church, the government, or some other form of authority to say, “No, you’re not free to do that.” Of course, we think our ideas of freedom are precisely God’s ideas of freedom – so much of “religion” these days seems to suggest “I’m in charge – God said . . . “
The first line of Paul’s 1 Corinthians 9 starts out with this bold question: “I’m a free man, aren’t I?” (The Kingdom New Testament: A Contemporary Translation) Paul expected that his readers would answer that question, “Yes.” From that beginning, he goes on to discuss a number of ideas about apostles and freedom, but in the middle of the chapter, verse 19, he comes to the real issue at hand: “The reason for all this is as follows. I am indeed free from everyone; but I have enslaved myself to everyone, so that I can win all the more.” In other words, it seems as though he had been “freed to be enslaved.” That’s a bit of an oxymoron, for sure.
From there, he talks about all sorts of categories in his culture: everyone, Jews, those with the law, those without the law, and the weak. He wraps that conversation up by declaring, “I have become all things to all people, so that in all ways I might save some.” (9:22) The word “win” floats around in the text five times – once for each category – and then shifts to “save some” as a summary of it all.
Freed to be enslaved! Sometimes I try and imagine all the seeming contradictions that must have fought for space in Paul’s head. A former Pharisee and hater of those who followed Jesus, he is now its chief missionary. Later, in Ephesians, he will say he spent jail time “on behalf of Gentiles.” He will sit with a group of “God-worshipping women” by a river bank in Philippi and have a conversation about Jesus. Having been set free from the law of sin and death, he finds himself enslaved to everyone so he can influence them for the gospel.
At the end of this paragraph, he declares this is the very nature of the gospel itself: “I do it all because of the gospel, so that I can be a partner in its benefits.”
Each of the categories Paul mentions has potential for difficult moments for him. It isn’t as though he is thinking “this is a breeze” and I can influence people. Rather he must be thinking something like “this won’t be fun, it won’t be easy, but it will be worthwhile.”
I love being free. But I hope I love even more the call God has placed on my life. I suspect that is true for you, as well. Thus the question that now remains is something like this: “What area of freedom should I set aside in order to better influence others for the kingdom?”
Elsewhere, Paul will remind his readers that when abused, freedom can be an excuse to sin (Gal. 5:13; 1 Cor. 8:9). But he also reminds us that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1).
Learning to walk in freedom and not abuse it may be one of our greatest challenges these days.
Wye Huxford 