Page 78 - Christ and Culture Textbook

Study Section 14: Christian Freedom and Culture Divisions

14.1 Connect

I am sure everyone of us have brought some things from our culture that are not biblical, and
we have judged others based on that. This was true in the ancient world were distinct cultures
had their own food customs; some philosophical schools also had their own food rules. But few
cultures were as insistent as the Jewish people that a deity had assigned their food laws; in the
two centuries before Paul many Jews had died for refusing to eat pork, a meat Greeks thought
delicious. Those converted to Christianity in the first century did not come with minds like
empty slates.

They had had years of living in Judaism or in some pagan situation and in the process had acquired
deeply rooted habits and attitudes. When we became Christians, all culture practices do not drop away
from us in a moment. Some of us lives ascetic lives, sometimes giving up the eating of meat altogether.
Jewish converts also kept the law of Moses, and specifically they had observed the Sabbath. When they
became Christians, they maintained such habits.

14.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to emphasize Christian unity where culture wants to divide us.

2. The student should be able to discuss Biblical principles regarding Christian freedom

3. The student should be able to be loving and caring toward our fellow believers.

14.3 Disunity in the Church

We all have been the ability to think and to make certain judgements. But our judgement is
sometimes sinful and very distractive to others. We destroy others because of our judgmental
attitude toward them. This happens because of our personal preferences and hypocritical
thinking. We conclude that others are completely wrong because they don’t do what we do, or
they do what we don’t do. What is the will of God pertaining to other believers whose beliefs
and practices differ from our own? What is my responsibility in dealing with other believers? It
seems to me that Christians have forget what love is. Human beings can make wrong judgements
because they judge by what they hear and see. But God judges by looking down into our hearts and
motives.

There are times when we will need to let God be the judge and that is the best thing we ever do. There
will be times when we will need to accommodate those, we disagree with forsake of unity. In 1 Cor. 9,
for example, Paul says that to the Jews he becomes as a Jew, to the Greeks as a Greek. To the weak (to
people with special religious scruples) he becomes weak, in order to gain the weak. Paul accommodates
his behavior to the customs of different groups, to their culture.

At Rome there were Jewish Christians who were reluctant to give up certain ceremonial aspects of their
religious heritage. They were uncertain about how faith in Christ affected the status of Old Testament

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