1 Corinthians 15:33-34
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Tag: Mindset Produces Conduct
Paul has been laying down a long argument about the fact that Christ rose from the dead. There were, in the early church, teachers who were attempting to discredit the resurrection (Easter Sunday). Paul’s argument, throughout chapter fifteen, is that if there is NO resurrection we are all, indeed, lost. As his treating of this false teaching comes to a climax, he states the above passage. The entire idea he is stating could be paraphrased like this:
If you keep hanging with and listening to people with bad teaching and bad behaviors, don’t be too surprised if you, TOO, develop a bad set of ethos (the word “morals”, above, is actually the Greek word, “ethos” .... it means your mindset, character, values, beliefs).
Paul is stating that these bad actors in and among them are corrupting them. Paul’s approach is to call to attention that they are listening to bad counsel and people with bad behavior and need to change their mindset, if they hope to live in light of Christ. He actually quotes a cliche from a Greek poet/philosopher to make his point. That seems odd, as this is Paul writing Scripture. Never-the-less, Paul is trying to make a point and he uses even modern day thinking of the Greeks, to make the point ... bad company will change your ethos. He goes on to “shame” them (on purpose ... something we could never do today, since “shaming” is consider “bad”). He is telling them that the reason they are being corrupted by these bad teachers is because they are not only “hanging” with them, but that they are not fully knowledgeable about God. He is saying, that their willful ignorance (not naïveté) is keeping them from living a victoriously life, failing to believe in the power of the resurrection and corrupting their mindset, which is producing bad conduct. Paul is a straightforward teacher not a life-coach. He is telling it like it is. His solution to bad behavior is two-fold in the above passage: Quit listening to those with bad teaching and fill your mind with the knowledge of God/Christ. That is the formula to change your mindset. There is no shortcut or any other way to change your ethos.
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