All Things to All Men

by Ryan J. Martin

For many American evangelicals, the call to cultural engagement is a call to “contextualize”[1] the gospel and its accompanying practices. While believers must communicate the gospel clearly (Col. 4:3– 4), advocates of contextualized ministry will often add that evangelists and church planters must appropriate the latest cultural trends to make the gospel more palatable to unbelievers and “seekers.” Gurus of this approach have tried to defend their position from 1 Corinthians 9:22, where Paul states, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Contextualization relativizes and minimizes the fact that cultures are laden with values, meaning, and even religious significance.[2] Cultural habits and customs have varying importance, but they always have meaning. In American culture, tennis shoes and dress shoes carry different meanings, as do eating with a fork and eating with fingers.

Was it Paul’s method to become a cultural shapeshifter for the sake of the gospel? Does 1 Corinthians 9:22 mean that the apostle abandoned the nascent “Christian culture” to assume the garb of whatever situation he found himself in? If Paul visited Los Angeles today, would he, like Rick Warren, say, “When in southern California I became like a southern Californian in order to win southern Californians”?[3] I suggest that hipster ministry was the furthest thing from Paul’s mind in 1 Corinthians 9:22.