1 Corinthians 15:34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
Shame, and why it is a bad thing, seems to be a popular topic for pastors these days. It’s also been a buzzword among psychologists and counselors for a quite a while now. A couple of years ago, my son was at a Christian camp and the guest pastor spoke about the dangers of shame and said that you should never say to someone, “Shame on you!” Shame is seen as a negative, terrible thing. If that is true, then why do we find Paul, here in his letter to the Corinthian believers, basically saying, “Shame on you!”
As always, to understand a Bible verse, we need to put it in context. First Corinthians is packed with lots of specific directives. Paul is writing to the Christians in Corinth because they are obviously confused by a lot of things. In chapter 3, he says, “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). They are acting like new believers who don’t know the right way to live.
In 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 we read, “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?”
He doesn’t want to shame them, only warn them, but by saying that, he is actually shaming them. Another way of saying what he said would be, “I don’t want to shame you, but I need to, in order to warn you.” In the next chapters, he goes through a long list of problems that have cropped up in their church. There are people who are acting very immoral. Paul says it is such bad immorality that it’s “a kind that even pagans do not tolerate” (1 Corinthians 5:1).
Then he addresses everything from wrongful lawsuits, proper behavior in marriage, proper behavior for unmarried people, food sacrificed to idols, and the need for self-discipline. He says, concerning lawsuits among believers, “Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!” (1 Corinthians 6:4-6). Here he says it clearly, “I say this to shame you.” He wants them to feel shame so that they stop.
He also quotes some things that they have said, and he clarifies their statements and corrects them. He says, “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others” (1 Corinthians 10:23-24).
Paul goes through many topics that the Corinthians need to address and change. He has even brought up proper behavior in church, how to take communion, and spiritual gifts. Then we get to chapter 15. Let’s look at the verse right before this verse. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 says, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.”
But Paul, earlier, said he didn’t want to shame them. What’s changed? It’s like he didn’t want to shame them at the beginning of the letter, but by the time he’s written it all down, he’s realized that they need to be shamed. They are really messing up and they need to repent. The Corinthians believers were being corrupted by people who, among all those other problems, didn’t even believe in the resurrection. This was effecting their whole theology. Basically, if they couldn’t get it right about Jesus rising from the dead, what other important things were they getting wrong, too? He’s saying to the Corinthians, you know better than this! There are people who are ignorant of God, like the pagans, and they don’t know any better. No one has told them about the true God and how He wants them to behave. But you Corinthians, you have no excuse. You know what you ought to do. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
If you think that shame is always a bad thing, I get it. Our society has turned all shame into something to be avoided at all costs. I’ve read many articles talking about how shame has no place in Christianity. Usually the article says something about how we are not under shame, we are under grace. That’s great, and it’s true for the repentant believer, but what about everyone else? What about the person who is a Christian but is living in unrepented sin? The believer who is continuing to do things they know are wrong? What about all of us believers who make excuses for our bad behavior or attitudes of the heart? What if we never feel any conviction? What if we never realize that we need to repent? What if we continue in our wrong thinking and it leads us to worse things? Isn’t shame sometimes exactly what we need to feel so that we correct course and “come to our senses?”
Like all things, the devil works hard to corrupt shame. He will try to place shame on us so that we feel so worthless that we do not ask the Lord to forgive us. Shame without repentance is what Judas experienced, and it led to his death. When we feel shame, we should allow that shame to lead us to repentance. Then we will be forgiven and can then stand before the Lord unashamed. Until we repent and receive forgiveness, though, shame can be a very good thing. Despite what parenting books espouse today, shame can be used as a teaching tool. I’m not talking about belittling and stomping on children’s self-esteem. I’m talking about healthy correction. Depending upon a person’s personality, a little shame can go a long way or maybe a lot may be needed. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. Sometimes children will test boundaries, right? They will see what they can get away with. Let’s say you ask your child to take the trash out. They take it out, but the big receptacle is already full. Instead of asking for help or finding a solution, they simply dump it on the top and shrug as the trash falls out onto the yard. The next day, you go outside and find the trash all over the yard. Maybe you have a dog and the dog has spread it even further. If you are worried about negatively shaming your child, maybe you say nothing to him or her. Maybe you worry your child will feel shame if you say anything and you don’t want to embarrass them. Or, you realize this is a perfect teaching moment to help your child grow and so you lead them outside and show them the results of their actions. At that moment, they will probably feel pretty ashamed. They might even cry or turn red with embarrassment. They will probably feel pretty bad about their actions. Hopefully, the child will say that he or she is sorry and then you can set about helping them find the correct actions they should have taken instead. Shame, in this sort of instance, is healthy. It is helping someone see that they should feel regret for their actions. Now, if you yelled and screamed and told your child that he or she was an idiot, then you are the one who needs shaming. That is an example of how not to shame someone. Healthy shame does not shove someone down and metaphorically lock someone in a box of regret. Healthy shame reaches out a hand and helps the person realize their wrong behavior and turn away from it to right behavior.
Now some people have probably written entire books about the difference between shame and guilt, and these people might say that I am describing healthy guilt, not shame. I say it’s a fancy dance of semantics that they are arguing over. I think the last thing our society needs is more assurance that bad behavior is ok. I think our society needs to repent, and if shame helps us repent, then that is a good thing. Just like Paul says to the Corinthians when he says, “come back to your senses and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.” He wants them to be ashamed of their behavior so they repent and change. Then, after they have repented and been forgiven, they no longer have to be ashamed.
Romans 8:1-2 tells us, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” This is the good news that Jesus offers us. We no longer are under condemnation if we are in Christ. He has forgiven us and set us free from the condemnation we deserve. The thing is, we cannot skip the role that shame and guilt play in getting us to this place of freedom from condemnation. It is only after we “come to our senses and stop sinning” that we repent. That is what repentance is. It is a turning away from what we were doing. It is a changing of our minds. If we don’t realize that what we are doing or thinking is wrong, then we won’t repent. If we don’t come to a place of feeling guilt or shame for our actions or thoughts, then how will we repent? Why would we change our wrong behavior if we don’t realize it is wrong? We wouldn’t. Paul is pointing out to the Corinthians that their thinking has been wrong. They need to come to their senses, come to the correct way of thinking, and stop sinning. He wants them to realize they have been wrong and change.
Then Paul gets to the end of his letter and he says something that honestly surprised me. He says, “If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord!” (1 Corinthians 16:22). I had to look up the Greek word for cursed. Here, Paul is using the word anathema. The Oxford dictionary defines it as “something or someone that one vehemently dislikes.” It’s a word that has evolved definitions over the centuries. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines this as “a man accursed, devoted to the direst woes.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance says this word is, “From anatithemai; a (religious) ban or (concretely) excommunicated (thing or person) — accused, anathema, curse.”
Paul is saying that if anyone does not love the Lord, that person should be excommunicated. They should be banned or cursed. That probably seems anathema to our ethos as Christians to love our enemies, doesn’t it? Why would Paul conclude his letter this way?
For starters, anybody who does not love the Lord is already cursed. They are already under condemnation and shame because they do not love God. As Isaiah 45:24 says, “They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’ All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.” In other words, those who are not saved will not be delivered on the day of judgement, they will be put to shame.
Second, perhaps Paul says that the people who do not love the Lord should be shunned because the Corinthians were obviously being corrupted by them. They do not seem to be mature enough in the Lord to withstand the deception of those not following Jesus. Remember, back in chapter 3, Paul referred to these Christian Corinthians as infants in the Lord. They were just learning to crawl as they followed the Lord. Maybe Paul knew if the Corinthian believers kept company with those who didn’t love the Lord, their influence would be stronger than Paul’s influence? Whatever the reasoning, Paul, very bluntly, instructs them to avoid those who are against the Lord.
The third thing to consider is maybe Paul says what he says so that those people will feel the shame of being ostracized and then they will repent. Just as Paul says in chapter 11:31-32 to the believers, “But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.” He wants people to repent and be delivered of their shame.
We see this same idea in 2 Corinthians 7:8-13, which tells us that this first letter Paul wrote to them accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish. He says, “Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while — yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. So even though I wrote to you, it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. By all this we are encouraged.”
The Corinthians experienced shame when they received Paul’s first letter. Then they changed. It made them sorry, and so they repented and changed. They were receptive to Paul’s first letter, I think, because they knew Paul was speaking the truth to them in love. He says to them in 2 Corinthians 2:4, “For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.” Again, he was not chastising them in order to hurt them. He was disciplining them because he loved them. He wanted what was best for them.
That is what the Lord does with each of us. Proverbs 3:11-12 tells us, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” The Lord will allow us to experience shame so that we make needed corrections.
I homeschool my children. What if I never pointed out their mistakes? What if I never told them they misspelled words or did their math problems incorrectly? What if I didn’t bother to make corrections on their work? They would be terrible students and they wouldn’t be very intelligent! I would be an incompetent teacher. The whole concept of a teacher is to instruct. Sometimes when I point out mistakes, they feel embarrassed. A lot of times it’s no big deal though, because it’s just part of learning. We all make mistakes and need instruction. But sometimes the correction brings shame. Those moments occur when the mistake was not a matter of needing to learn, but a matter of negligence or apathy by the student. Then they feel shame, because they knew better but did a poor job on purpose. In those moments, shame is healthy and hopefully it leads them to do better the next time. Again, it’s worth mentioning, shame that is not constructive can lead to even poorer results. If the student were to feel that their improvement was hopeless, the shame could cause them to rebel and do even worse.
This is where we again look at what Scripture tells us. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Godly sorrow is shame or correction that is given out, not in an attempt to harm, but is motivated by love. My children accept my corrections, even when they don’t like it, because they know how much I love them. We must always remember that love must motivate any correction or it’s just going to harm the person, not lead them to repentance.
So many people who claim the name of Christian are not actually following the Lord’s instructions. Those of us who are more mature in the Lord should speak out and offer correction. Our world, both inside and outside the church, desperately needs to repent and come to their senses. We should not shun the discipline of the Lord. Proverbs 13:18says, “Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.”
The key to helping our brothers and sisters in Christ is love. Love must be our motivation. After all, we have good news to offer everyone. It is not condemnation we bring, but hope! David prayed in Psalm 31:1, “In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.” We, too, can ask the Lord to take away our shame. He promises us that if we find forgiveness in Him, we will not have to live in shame. We can stand before Him, unashamed! 1 John 2:28 tells us this hope we have, “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”
We can have confidence that we do not have to be ashamed before God if we have repented and been forgiven by Jesus. Romans 5:1-8 explains this perfectly: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus endured the cross. He took our sins upon Him and if we are hidden in Him, He proclaims us justified and righteous through His blood. We do not have to despair under the weight of sin and shame. Jesus takes away the sin that would weigh us down and we can stand unashamed before God. Until we die or Jesus comes back, we must do our part to follow Him. We should not despise correction, but rejoice in it. We should hold one another accountable and help each other follow God’s ways. When our motivation is from love, we should be unafraid to offer correction and encouragement. We need to help each other follow Christ. As Paul said, “for there are some who are ignorant of God.” We must be good examples of what it means to follow the Lord so we can point people to Jesus.
Pray: Lord Jesus, we thank You for dying on the cross for us. Thank You for offering us forgiveness from our sin. We pray that You would help us, by Your Holy Spirit, to come to our senses in any areas that need correcting. Please convict us when we sin. Please use shame to help us repent when we fail and then please reassure us of Your forgiveness and love, so we can stand before You unashamed and forgiven. We pray that You would help us follow You. We love You and praise Your name. Amen.
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