Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:2
“I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.” (1 Corinthians 11:2, NIV)
The Remedy says it warmly: Paul is so pleased with them for remembering all he taught them and holding firmly to the truth he shared. The word “traditions” here is the Greek paradoseis — things handed over. Paul received the gospel from Christ and handed it on (1 Corinthians 11:23; 15:3), and these believers were holding on to what had been handed to them.
The Hard Part Is Keeping It
Paul recognized the effort it took to stick with the changes they had taken on while he was with them. He understood how hard it is to accept something new, to learn it, and then to keep doing it until it is no longer a new thing. The science of the brain wasn’t available then, but observation and wisdom could see how the mind works.
Think about who these people were. The society they came from was different in every way from the truths they had embraced into their hearts and minds. It was an entirely new way of living — and they learned it and kept living it without leaving the city and community they lived in. They changed their gods. They took a new foundation to build their lives on, right in the middle of the same society. That is truly huge.
A Perfect Storm
A change like that could not have happened if society had been at rest, with nothing stirring the heart to go looking for somewhere to rest. The Roman world was that storm. People were weary of the drama — of leaders, of politicians, of a military that could turn on itself at any moment. The more affluent Roman culture became, the more corrupt its leaders grew, and the decay was already in public view when Christ was born. A single ruler could give an order and every boy in a town would be killed, as Herod, Rome’s appointed king, did in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16).
Brain science shows the mind holds hard to its old foundational ways of thinking until something strong enough — a crisis, an epiphany, a force — pushes it to look for something new. Into that weary world, Christ brought something new.
The Imprint That Remains
Two thousand years later the whole world carries the imprint of what Paul and the disciples of Christ left behind. Slavery, once ordinary everywhere, has been abolished by law nearly everywhere. The life of Christ is known in every corner of the earth — not accepted by every culture, but known well enough that some fight against it. It began with ordinary people like those Corinthians, holding fast to what was handed to them.
So Paul’s praise is for us too. What Christ hands us is new at first, and it is hard. But we keep at it, day by day, until it is no longer new — until it is simply who we are. And then we hand it on.
