Flee gluttony!

1 Corinthians 6.12-14.

In the beginning of this chapter, Paul and Sosthenes rebuked the Corinthians for dragging one another before Roman courts, then reminded them the Romans weren’t leaders of good character, by listing some of their works of the flesh. (And we might recognize many of these defects of character in our own leaders. We really gotta stop voting for such people.)

The next passage riffs off those fleshly works by rebuking the Corinthians for indulging in some of them. In it, the apostles quote two popular Corinthian slogans:

EVERYTHING’S ALLOWED (πάντα ἔξεστιν/pánta éxestin, KJV “All things are lawful,” NIV “I am allowed to do anything”).

FOODS FOR THE STOMACH, AND THE STOMACH FOR FOODS (τὰ βρώματα τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ ἡ κοιλία τοῖς βρώμασιν/ta vrómata ti kilía, ke i kilía tis vrómasin, KJV “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats,” ESV “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”).

Because in Corinth, hedonism was a virtue. Nope, it wasn’t just a tourist slogan, like “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”; it wasn’t just a way to encourage visitors to indulge themselves and boost the economy. This was Cyreniac philosophy: Pleasure, namely physical pleasure, was considered the most important thing in life. Knowledge—meh; what good is it? Stop thinking so hard and enjoy yourself while you can. Have some wine, some hashish, some opium, some sex. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. 1Co 15.32

So in Corinth, and in many Greek cities, you were permitted to do pretty much anything you pleased. Especially the sexual stuff, which I’ll get into at another time. But you were allowed to eat what you wished, as much as you wished—at least until your belly was full, or your purse was empty. (There’s a popular belief the ancient Romans would eat till full, then go to a “vomitorium” and purge themselves. That’s turned out to be false. Vomitoriums were in fact crowd-control passageways in an amphitheater, not some weird room where you indulged your bulimia—not that bulimia didn’t exist back then, but it wasn’t encouraged. Party food was expensive!)

In contrast Christians, especially we who follow the Holy Spirit, are meant to practice self-control. “Everything’s allowed” unless Jesus forbids it; unless those practices harm others and ourselves. Our “freedom in Christ” isn’t the freedom to do absolutely anything we please, simply because God forgives all. Unfortunately, Christians have taken the opposite attitude throughout history. Still do. Still wrong.

Bible time:

1 Corinthians 6.12-14 KWL

12“Everything’s allowed” to me,

but not everything is appropriate.

“Everything’s allowed” to me,

but I won’t be controlled by anything.

13“Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food,”

and God will destroy both food and stomach—

and the body isn’t for unchastity, but for the Master,

and the Master for the body.

14God both raises the Master up,

and will raise us up, by his power.

Dodging the issue.

You’ll notice many English translations title this section something like the NKJV’s, “Glorify God in Body and Spirit.” The NIV, on the other hand, went with “Sexual Immorality,” and the ESV has “Flee Sexual Immorality.” Shows you where their editors’ heads are. And they’re not the only ones.

Thing is, this passage doesn’t start with πόρνος/pórnos, the word often translated “sexual immorality” but more accurately means unchastity, i.e. sexual activity with the wrong people, at the wrong times. It’s sex without any self-control. You know, like pagans do. Greco-Roman pagans in particular.

True, if you’re the horny type, and are told “Everything’s allowed,” 1Co 6.12 that’s right where your unchaste brain will go. But y’notice the next slogan the apostles quote is “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food,” 1Co 6.13 because, duh, they’re not specifically talking about sex. Or even, for that matter, food! They’re talking about the typical human tendency to overindulge ourselves. Overdoing it on food… and sex. And anything else we might enjoy, so we overdo it: Overdoing it on work, on sleep, on exercise, on entertainment, on sports, on fads, on liquor and weed, on collections and hobbies, on anything. To use the proper old-timey English word for it, gluttony.

And y’notice American churches do not talk about gluttony.

Why’s that? Duh; how much does your pastor weigh? I’m overweight too; I’m certainly no exception to this. I have no qualms about denouncing a failing I myself have. I’ll confess: I shouldn’t be doing it either! But y’notice even fit pastors refuse to talk about it. Usually because they fear alienating or enraging members of their congregation. How dare they “fat-shame” anyone.

Besides, Christians tend to think unchastity is the real issue here. Not overeating; fornication! Lookit all the nonmarital sex going on in the world! (Well, not literally; the issue, not the actual sex.) Lookit all the adultery, and infidelity, and the casual and dismissive way people treat a sacred thing; and the casual and dismissive way they treat each other, ’cause none of that sexual activity is about loving one’s partner, but about satisfying one’s urges. (Of course, these Christians also ignore the way people dismissively treat each other in marital sex, but I’m not gonna go there yet. Another time.)

So like I said, they leapfrog the issue of gluttony and start talking about unchastity. Ignoring the fact gluttony is as prevalent as unchastity—if not more. Lotta overweight Americans out there! And lemme remind you, food is hardly the only form of gluttony. Overdoing anything, is gluttony.

No control is the opposite of self-control. And for that matter, how often do Christians talk about self-control?—other than when they’re talking about sexual self-control, and that talk is almost entirely, “Don’t do it outside of marriage,” and then they say nothing about sexual self-control within marriage. They’re still avoiding the issue of gluttony.

It’s not about fat-shaming.

Lemme first define what I mean by “fat-shaming”: It’s when someone either mocks you for being fat, or tells you your weight has to do with some kind of moral failure. “You’re fat because you lack self-control”—something like that.

Years ago I spoke on gluttony, and had someone come up to me afterwards and rebuke me for “fat-shaming” her. I pointed out I’m fat, and had gone out of my way to not accuse anyone of moral failure. People gain weight for all sorts of reasons!

I gained weight because when my teenage metabolism slowed down to something more normal in adulthood, I was still eating entire pizzas and not thinking, “Huh, I’m not still hungry.” I was used to eating a lot, so I still did. I was used to outgrowing my clothes, and didn’t think about how I was now growing wider instead of taller. I was inattentive. Yeah, that’s a failing—but it’s certainly not a moral failure. It was because I didn’t think I needed to change my behavior. I hadn’t been forewarned by my high school and college health classes. (Nor had my pastors ever warned us Christians about gluttony.)

Others gain weight during pregnancy—as they should, but they overdid it a bit. Or they had health problems. Or they were likewise inattentive; too busy to create a proper diet. And of course Americans regularly overindulge. Usually because we can afford to… but then again, our cheapest foods are loaded with carbohydrates and fat, and contribute to pretty much all of North America becoming obese.

But even if there is a moral failure at the core of a person’s obesity: Shame doesn’t motivate them to improve themselves. It only motivates them to hide. Those who cheat on their diets hide how they cheat on their diets. Immoral people seek darkness.

The solution to the problem isn’t pointing fingers anyway. It’s in recognizing we have a problem, and resolving to fix it. We need to focus on the apostles’ statement, “I won’t be controlled by anything.” 1Co 6.12 Only Jesus should be in control. Not our desires. Not even our jobs. If we can’t get hold of ourselves and our passions, and make them submit to us, and us to Jesus, let’s be honest with ourselves: We’re fleshly.

And we might need help to get hold of these things. Like therapists and 12-step groups and accountability partners. Like doctors and psychiatrists, if there are legitimate medical reasons we can’t control ourselves, or can’t get down to a healthy weight.

For some things, we might just need to go cold turkey. Alcoholics need to quit drinking entirely. Addicts need to quit their addictions altogether. Years ago I realized video games were swallowing up all my time, so I deleted all the games off my hard drive… which horrified my roommate, probably because he was a little hooked on ’em too. My nephews don’t understand at all how I can know so little about the latest games… but they’re kids; of course they don’t. (Plus their youth pastors have likely never, ever spoken about gluttony.)

The apostles remind us God is eventually gonna destroy the world. That includes our bodies. And all that food. Yeah, there are trees of life in New Jerusalem, with fruit on ’em, Rv 22.2 and since Jesus ate after he was resurrected, Lk 24.43 it’s not that food will cease to exist. But indulgence in food should never control our lives; certainly not to the idolatrous level it does Americans.