Follow Paul's example. 1 Corinthians 7.

In several of Paul's letters he suggests to the readers that if they're having trouble knowing what to do, or trouble keeping God's commands, then they should remember how Paul acted while among them. To the Philippians, for example, he said, "Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example." (Phil. 3:17). To his commissioned teachers, Timothy and Titus, he wrote that they should live exemplary lives.

In looking at 1 Corinthians 7, Paul once again refers to his own life as a way to think about how to live. In this case, which has to do with whether or not to live unmarried, he doesn't insist that people follow his example, unless they are able to. But this is not the example I want to briefly discuss.

The example I'm interested in is the distinction Paul makes between teachings from the Lord, and his own recommendations. Paul has been asked one or more questions about sexual relations, and as a part of his answer in verse 10, he says, "To the married I give this command – not I, but the Lord..." He then gives the command which comes directly from Jesus' teaching on divorce. In verse 11, he says, "To the rest I say – I, not the Lord..." Paul then gives his recommendation in an area where there is no direct teaching from Jesus or scripture, because this situation had never arisen before -- believers in Jesus married to non-believers. No doubt Paul's recommendation is based on Biblical principles, but he is careful to distinguish his advice from the direct teachings of the Lord.

Later, in verse 25, Paul once again gives advice and marks it as coming from himself. As Paul says, this doesn't make it binding, but it does carry the weight of Paul's trustworthiness as an apostle to the Gentiles.

Churches with a heritage in the Restoration Movement, take this example seriously. We teach it in this way:

• You can say:
• The Bible says... (if it does)
• I think this means...
• I believe... (in my opinion, etc.)
• You must... (to a Christian, quoting scripture)
• You can't say (if not quoting scripture):
• The Bible says...
• You have to believe...
• You have to...

Basically, the idea is to make sure you identify opinion as opinion, distinguishing opinion from what the Bible says. This gives us a certain amount of freedom to disagree, because we're clearly identifying opinion. In no case should these disagreements lead to division. By recognizing opinion as opinion, as Paul did here, enough of the passion (hopefully) is removed from the discussion, preventing division. Both the idea of disagreement without division, and the distinction between opinion and clear Biblical teaching come from this letter to Corinth. Which is pretty cool.

If you'd like to comment on the rest of the text, and the content of Paul's teaching instead of his example, go ahead, and I'll participate with you. Otherwise, for those in the 5x5 class, we'll get into the meat of this chapter on Sunday.