Dig Deeper:
TYPOLOGY - No, typology is not about the study of typewriters or fonts, rather it involves noticing how key events in the Old Testament prefigure (or are a type of) Jesus and our salvation. Paul notes several instances in the first few verses:
The Israelites were 'baptized' as they were covered in the cloud (of God's presence) and as they crossed down into, and then up out of, the Red Sea as they escaped their slavery in Egypt (v2).
The manna they ate and the water which sprung from the rock was much more than nutrition and hydration, rather it was their participation in Christ (though they didn't realize it at the time) in the same way that our eating bread and drinking wine is our participation in Jesus.
Typology plays a major factor in how we interpret the Bible's meaning. We don't read the Old Testament just for the heroic stories and altruisms. In other words, David killing Goliath is not a picture of us slaying the giants standing in our way, nor do we read Daniel so that we can dare to take the stands he did. No, we read these stories because they are pictures of who Jesus would be and what He would accomplish (the moral / life lessons these stories contain are icing on the cake).
These things happened to [the Israelites] as examples (literally: types) and were written down as instruction for us on whom the culmination of the ages has come (v11).
We will also rely on these sorts of principles of interpretation as we work our way through whether Paul meant some of his prohibitions just for the Corinthians or for all of us in later chapters.
SUMMER RERUNS: If v23 seems really familiar to you, it's because we just read the same words last week in the opening verses of chapter 6. As a Christian, you've been given a huge amount of freedom to live as you please, but of course that means that not everything you please is beneficial or constructive for you. This passage ended in chapter six with the reminder that you are not your own, but that you've been bought with a price, so therefore, the things you do must honor the one who bought you.
Today's passage on how to use your freedom ends in a very similar way which is also worth memorizing:
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (v31).
You have the freedom to determine what is right in all of the situations you will face, but whatever you choose must glorify God and be beneficial to others (v32).
Communion Preparation
We look forward to celebrating the Lord's Supper this coming Sunday at Worthington Christian Reformed Church. We will be preparing for this by following the guide given in the Westminster Larger Catechism, #171:
Those that come to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, are, before they come, to prepare themselves by:
Examining themselves to see that they are in Christ, and remembering that on their own, they are sinful and lacking the holiness God requires;
Follow the AAA Prayer Pattern:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The God of ancient Israel, who is also my God and Father
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that as you face temptation that God will make the way out which He's provided clear you you (v13), so that in all things you will glorify Him (v31).
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
