Imperial Valley Christian Center

There's a guy who hangs out down next to the highway on the street going between WalMart and Target. He holds a cardboard sign saying something like, "Vietnam Veteran, Please Help." Is it love to give to him? If I don't give to him does that mean I'm not walking in love? What if he's a con-man? What if he's not really a Vietnam Veteran but just a "vivales" as they say in Spanish? Is it still love to give to him?

We could make a rule or law out of giving to guys who stand on street corners asking for money. It might even make us feel that we were particularly good if we gave to every such person. But is it always love to do so? Does love give money to a man so he can buy drugs or alcohol? Does love give money to a guy who's just evading responsibility? Is it love to help him buy his drugs? Is it love to support his dishonesty? Is it love to support even just his laziness.

Christians like to make a big deal out of helping the poor. "I go down once a week and work at the homeless shelter, aren't I special."  My mom remembers going with a church group to help feed the homeless in our small town. (The weather is really nice here during the winters and so along with snowbirds from the Northern U.S. and from Canada we get an influx of homeless people from the coast.) They had prepared some sack lunches or something to distribute to the homeless. Unfortunately, they hadn't coordinated with the other churches in town and as a result there was an oversupply of food and an under supply of homeless. I kind of imagine some church lady, holding a sack lunch in one hand running through the park chasing after some poor homeless guy trying to deliver it, so she could say she had fed the poor. The upshot for my mom was that the churches distribution of lunches had undermined the ministry of the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army feeds the homeless all the time not just when the spirit news media moves them. Was that love?

My point is that real love isn't amenable to an easily complied with set of rules like, "love always gives to the guy who’s begging for money", or "love is feeding the homeless."  So how do we know what love would do? How do we define love?

Understanding that First Corinthians is a "responsa" will help you better understand what Paul is saying.¹ A "responsa" is, according to Merriam Websters Online Dictionary: “a written decision from a rabbinic authority in response to a submitted question or problem.” Remember Paul was a Jew who had studied under a very prominent Jewish teacher and was probably on track to become such a teacher, what we would call a rabbi, himself.

Philippians 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

Acts 22:3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city (i.e. Jerusalem.) at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

Since Paul was a Jew and had studied to be a Jewish teacher, it seems reasonable that he would communicate the same way other Jewish teachers communicated. So, First Corinthians is a responsa, i.e. a response to questions submitted to Paul by the Corinthian Christians. If we can figure out the questions the Corinthians were asking we’ll understand Paul’s answers a little better. Put differently, if you assume Paul is the one who brought up a subject you read Paul’s response differently than when you assume Paul is just responding to a question. Paul starts the letter with greetings, follows with some admonishments and corrections and begins to answer their questions in Chapter 7: