I was finishing up the reading this week getting to 1 Corinthians 9, when verse 21 caught my attention. Paul is talking about serving all men in a way they can identify with, in order for them to possibly come to know Christ. Paul was a devout Jew “under the Law” to his fellow Jewish brothers. That means he followed all the temple laws, in order to “win” some to Christ. What caught my attention was verse 21-“and to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law”
The sentence in parentheses was Paul clarifying that he was not without law completely, just without the law of Moses. He didn’t need to practice “Levitical” law when he was with Gentiles, but he was still under Christ’s Law, which, incidentally, was laid out for us in our reading this week in Romans 13.
I LOVE doing this reading straight through the New Testament because I don’t think I would have remembered what Christ’s Law was (putting the two thoughts together), if I hadn’t just read it five days earlier!!!
I love that! Knowing Christ’s Law from Romans helped me to understand what Paul was saying in 1 Cor. 9: 21.
Have you had any “aha” moments in your reading? I would love to hear about it if you did!