This post is a very rough sketch of ideas and may include unfinished, incomplete, or erroneous ideas that will later be corrected. This post will be part of a series that will form the basis of a new book I’m writing following on the themes of my last book, Thoughts From Reconstruction. All of these themes center around the New Covenant. You can find everything published so far in this series on the Highlights page under the My Most Important section.

Starting Easy

We will start with, perhaps, an easy one, a topic that is not a difficulty for most to permit but is likely a difficulty for most to justify. How does smoking fit into the New Covenant moral order, or, for that matter, the Old Covenant Law and Prophets? It doesn’t seem to be related, at all.

We do think it’s dirty, smelly, and our culture reminds us that more refined folk have often frowned upon it, and some have even, to some success, likened smoking to sin, even citing scripture. Now we have the science of it and it turns out it’s not great for our health. And, yet, we struggle to truly fit an act as simple as breathing in a certain concoction within moral categories.

If it doesn’t seem to be related to the New Covenant or Old Covenant then we at least try to find some comfort in what seem like related scriptures to justify our intuitions.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. -1 Corinthians 6:19-20

On one hand, they have a point, we should not dirty or poison our body with bad substances. On the other hand, we live in a Fallen and Cursed world, where we gradually die every day of our life, where we ingest innocent things that make us sick, where we do risky activities like sport, where we stay out in the sun too long, where we over-indulge in healthy and unhealthy food, and where we think somehow these don’t quite fit into moral categories, either.

Then we look to the context of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and see that Paul was specifically writing in the context of sexual immorality. As we look to scripture, we become less and less confident on certain moral choices. That is why we remember the difference of our New Covenant: It is a descriptive moral order. Each one must judge whether what he does fulfills the New Covenant, and whether or not he truly fulfills it in relationship to God and neighbour.

Is the act of smoking a manifestation of loving God and neighbour? Perhaps not, but perhaps like a good, shared meal with friends, enjoying the fruits of creation for its own sake, it might very well uphold the Great Command. On the other hand, if it promotes gluttony, if it turns into habit more than wholesome enjoyment, if it becomes a harm to others, then it might very well be a violation of the Great Command.

We get an idea of how this would play out with the Great Commission and the Great Mercy. Our witness to preach the gospel and make disciples could benefit from or be harmed by our actions. Our mercy may be to withhold judgment on someone who dislikes our habit. Our mercy, may also be to exert judgment on someone who dislikes our habit in order to better preach the gospel and make disciples.

Christ’s Law

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. -1 Corinthians 9:22b

Paul describes his philosophy of the New Covenant in 1 Corinthians 9. He says he is free and belongs to no one, yet he makes himself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. He acted as a Jew to the Jew, he acted as a Gentile to the Gentiles, he acted weak among the weak, etc. Paul chooses to do this in his freedom under the law of Christ.

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. -1 Corinthians 9:19-23

This pattern will emerge again and again as we look at moral dilemmas. Paul was not following prescribed Law, he was following described law and that gave him the freedom to act or not to act in whichever way was beneficial in relationship to his neighbours, those he was trying to reach.

This does not open the door to egregious sin, which would violate Love God, but, just as the Christian Jews were scandalized by not having the Old Covenant Law as their requirement, some of us will very likely feel scandalized about what is truly right and wrong under the New Covenant. Every age has its hang-ups, cigars and smoking were in recent times, now we have different taboos. What are our taboos now and how should we feel about the morality of them?

This series will continue. Please check back from time to time, if you’re interested in reading new parts as they become available. The entire series will be made available on the Highlights page under the My Most Important section as each part is published.