Last week, a brother in Christ was inquiring on Twitter about something good to take for a sinus infection. Me, being the jerk I am, responded, “anti-freeze cures it every time”.
What I said was true. Absolutely, 100% true. Drink enough antifreeze and you will no longer have a sinus infection. Or breath in your lungs.
If we aren’t careful we can become this way with our theology. We can say true things that wrongly applied leads to death. Or we can highlight something that is totally true (drinking anti-freeze cures sinus infections) but leave out an equally important truth (it also causes death).
This was the problem in Corinth.
One group had a pretty good theological argument for eating food offered to idols. They rightly said that “an idol has no real existence” and that “there is no God but one”. Therefore, when people sacrificed to false gods they were sacrificing to only “so-called gods in heave or on earth”.
In their mind this was the end of the case. These believers with a weak-conscience needed to get with the program and stop denying the freedom of the gospel. So, they ate meat and mocked those whose conscience would not allow them to partake. They used true theology to bludgeon weak believers.
Anti-freeze theology “puffs up”. It is true theology held by an arrogant heart. Paul’s argument throughout 1 Corinthians seems to be that knowing right things is only half the battle. Having a grace-captivated heart that responds in love is also a necessity. To have one without the other is as harmful as suggesting anti-freeze for a sinus infection.
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Don’t drink anti-freeze. Ever. This is my DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME disclaimer. Or at church. Or anywhere. If you drink anti-freeze you will die. So don’t do it.
We need to die. Jesus told us that much.
So…your anti-freeze theology is on the right track.