IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 138 CHRISTIANITY IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT: THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF 1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23 Obielosi, Dominic Department of Religion and Human Relations Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria dobielosi@yahoo.com & Aboekwe, Mary Emilia Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam, Anambra State, Nigeria emiliachy@gmail.com DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29332.65925 Abstract Christianity was introduced to Africa from the West. The available options for studying and learning Christian religion are all conveyed from the Western perspective, utilizing references, cultural norms and experiences that have no relevance to Christians in Africa. The cultures and traditional values of African people are important and have valid influences in their Christian life. To avail African Christians same opportunities to strengthen their faith like the Westerners, biblical resources must be contextualized. Contextualization does not mean changing the meaning of sacred Scripture. Paul himself explains in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 that he worked to be relevant to each culture to which he brought the gospel. Notwithstanding that the truth contained in God’s Word are universal and will not change, the illustrations, applications, and additional contexts provided prompt deeper understanding and should change according to the audience. This will create greater opportunities to know, understand, and apply God’s word in daily life experiences. In this study, we are going to identify and study some reasons why context matters. The way the bible is understood comes with context. The Bible itself must be understood within its settings and cultures. The researchers made extensive use of exegetical and hermeneutical methods of interpretation to study 1Cor 9:19-23. From the backdrop of the result from the interpretation, the paper then posits contextualization of scriptural messages as a necessity if the bible will remain valuable to all cultures especially Africa. Keywords: Christianity, African, Theology, Contextualization, Culture. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 139 Introduction Africa, though the seat of Christianity, lost her position as the first recipient of the good news to the West before the religion became institutionalized. Formal Christianity was therefore introduced to Africa from the West wearing Western culture. At the advent of Christianity to Africa, there were no available options for evangelization other than the Western culture. Niebuhr (1951) asserts that Christianity is not a culture, but the Christian faith can be expressed and communicated only through cultural media. Hence, Christianity cannot be expressed or communicated without a cultural medium. Ironically, Christianity in Africa is introduced cloned with Western culture. This is inevitable because culture is a medium for the expression and communication of all religions. Jacobs (cited in Niebuhr, 1951) likened the Christian faith to a jockey who rides a racing horse as long as the horse is a faster runner. When the horse loses its racing ability, the jockey chooses another horse, and by so doing he remains on the racecourse. Christianity portrays the culture in which it is developed. There is nothing like Christian Cultures, but Christians in a culture can greatly influence the culture. Lamentably, those that evangelized Africa imposed western culture on the peoples on the assumption that Western culture was “Christianity, while other cultures were dismissed as “pagan” and “heathen”. This is a theological error. The Christian faith can be effectively expressed and communicated only in “culturally designed” media. For the work of a missionary to be effective, an evangelizer must learn to appreciate the culture of the people whom he is evangelizing. He must learn their language and appreciate their art, music, dance, architecture, ritual and all other aspects of their culture. He must identify himself with the community of those whom he is introducing to Jesus Christ. Then he must go further and translate his understanding of the Christian faith into the cultural terms familiar and traditional to his prospective converts. He must be willing to be changed. This is a very difficult task, but effective Christian mission demands nothing less. Saint Paul, one of the greatest missionaries in the history of Christianity, appreciated this demand, and lived up to it. In the 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 he says: IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 140 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. It is regrettable that these profound insights from Paul are not observed in the modern missionary enterprise. The effect of this theological error is that many African converts to the Christian faith are taught to accept the view that becoming a Christian means dropping one’s cultural heritage and adopting the cultural norms of foreign missionaries. Conversion is determined through behavioral norms, in terms of abandoning traditional African customs and adopting Western ones. This results in a life of double standards among African converts. On the one hand, they accept the norms introduced by the missionaries who see nothing valuable in African culture. On the other hand, the converts cannot deny their own cultural identity. They cannot substitute their denominational belonging for their cultural and religious heritage. Yet they cannot become Europeans or Americans merely by adopting some aspects of the missionaries' outward norms of conduct (Taylor, 2001). Early Christian Missionaries Encounter with African Culture A big question mark is placed on the content and method of catechesis being used by the European missionaries towards conversion of the locals. There is no doubt that the message of Christianity brought by the Europeans is coated with Western culture and taught with a kind of imperialist tone. In most instances, the message Africans receive from the missionaries is that their culture and traditional practices are not good. According to Edusa-Eyison (2006), these European missionaries did not respect the people’s culture as they perceive “everything Africa as primitive, pagan, fetish, and heathen.” Hence, Africans are told that in order to become Christians they must renounce their cultural IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 141 practices and accept that of the Europeans. On Ndigbo axis, Nwosu (1987) affirms that “the missionaries adopted a negative attitude that was tantamount to condemnation of disproval of traditional Igbo society.” The adverse effect of this teaching is that it makes people develop inferiority complexes concerning their cultural identity. This is because they now believe that in order to be a Christian; one must abandon his/her culture since they are thought to be “barbaric” and “heathen”. According to Schreiter (1994) all these “have undermined African Christians in two ways: by demeaning their own sense of worth and dignity as Africans.” This situation is therefore confusing as the scenario is not clear as to whether the missionaries are really Christianizing or Westernizing. Critical observation could claim that they are Westernizing more than Christianizing, and they might have done this consciously or unconsciously but the fact is that they acknowledged European culture with Christianity. The outcome of their evangelization is the imposition of the Western culture on the Africans which resulted in the denial of African cultural heritage. The missionaries consider the white man’s civilization as good for the so called ‘heathen” Africans, and as such, they caricature African cultures and traditions, presenting theirs as superior. Ifemesia (1972) affirms that some missionaries are not actually presenting Christ but rather the superiority of their culture and personality. The problem now emanates from the fact that the first African converts assimilate this wrong teaching as the real gospel message and passed it on to their brothers and sisters. They thought that accepting their cultural identity/traditional cultural practices and the message of Christianity preached by the missionaries is a rejection of their cultural practices. For them, being a Christian and Traditionalist are two different states of life. It is either this or that. Hence those who see the good in the message of Christ and embrace it but still want to maintain their cultural heritage have to resort to a kind of hypocritical life. They practice Christianity during the day and go during the night to participate in their cultural rituals and ceremonies. This causes lots of misunderstanding in local Christian communities and families as members are embarrassed and are called “pagans” and “heathens” by their fellow brothers/sisters, just because they participate in a traditional ceremony. This phenomenon raises a big theological question for African Christians on how to understand the relationship between the message of Christ and cultures of IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 142 those that receive it. There is need to critically examine culture in relationship with Christ and how to understand the message of Christ communicated through cultures. Christ and Cultures If culture is a way of life of people ordained by God, one can then ask: why must a person do away with his/her cultural identity in order to accept the message of Christ? Is it because the message of Christ cannot fit into these receptor cultures without annihilating them? Some people obviously thought so among whom are the early missionaries to Africa; however, let us also note that the same problem reared its ugly head during the early days of Christianity. The Apostles of Christ and early Christians come in contact with people of other cultures right at the onset of Christian missionary. Consequently, there are cultural problems in the early Church of the Acts of the Apostles, between the gentiles who accept the message of Christ and the Jewish followers of Christ (Acts 15:1-35). One of the issues raised concerns circumcision, a Jewish cultural practice that marks one as a member of the Jewish community. The problem is that some Jewish Christian elders want the gentile converts to become circumcised and also to abandon some of their cultural practices and accept the Jewish ones. Their reason being that it should be so since Christianity is born into the Jewish tradition and assumes its religious worldview. However, the Apostles and elders meeting at the first council in Jerusalem are enlightened to realize the problem in asking people to leave their cultural identity and accept that of the Jews because they want to accept the message of Christ. So they rule that circumcision is not necessary for Christians, but that they should abstain from cultural practices that involve idolatry and immorality. In effect they are able to discern that the message of Christ is not culturally bound as Peter had earlier asserted that in any culture anyone who receives Christ pleases God and is saved (Acts 10:34). Hence, the message of Christ can fit into other cultures without altering or uprooting them. Ilogu (1974) asserts “Christianity is intended to be the religion not of one particular race of people, but of the whole world; but in different countries it will wear different clothes.” Such different “cloths” take the shape of the cultures of the people to whom the Christian Gospel and faith is brought to. Paul VI (1975) observes that “there are many links between the IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 143 message of salvation and cultures as God spoke according to the culture proper to each age.” St Paul at Athens was able to make people understand the way to the true God, through their own traditional religion (Acts 17:22-28). Paul was the epitome of a good missionary who understands that the message of Christ can find means of expression in different cultures without uprooting or annihilating the said culture. Hence, Christianity can find a way of growth in any culture but this can only be possible, if the evangelizers of the Christian message adopt the approach of the Apostles of Christ; Paul. Regrettably, this message could be hampered when the evangelizers like some missionaries to Africa cannot distinguish between their own cultural bias and the Christian message they bear. It is this failure that has resulted in the conflict between Christianity and the African culture. Christian Missionary Hegemony on African culture African societies start to disintegrate when traditional religion is attacked. Achebe (1959) portrays a situation in which an African indigenous missionary succeeds in separating a son from his African parents so that the son can become a Christian. As the son leaves his parents’ house for the mission compound, the missionary quotes the Bible, “Blessed is he who forsakes his father and mother for my sake (Matthew 19:29). Ngugi wa Thiongo similarly depicts a situation in which the family is utterly divided as a result of the parents’ conversion to Christianity. A rift occurs between the family and the extended family. Instead of bringing reconciliation and understanding, Christianity in this case brings division. This is because converts are instructed to leave everything behind, including families, for the sake of the gospel. African religion looks at life in a holistic way. There is no dichotomy between sacred and profane; hence many people are horrified when the first converts want to set themselves apart, away from other members of the community. This is why indigenization is important, as it enables the African Christian to see and experience life in a holistic manner without doing needless violence to cultural values. The missionaries endeavour to jettison the culture and religion of the African. They term it conversion both spiritually and culturally. Murzorewa (1985) observes that the missionaries are convinced that unless Africans adopt much of the Western culture and civilization, it was difficult to measure the success of the missionary work. With this attitude, they launched a contagious attack on IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 144 African social organisations, such as family, marriage, rituals, festivals, funeral rites and entire world-view. To this extent, Christianity becomes synonymous with westernization. They apply strategies such as prohibition of polygamy, the ancestral cult and rituals and food taboos, the introduction of western formal education and the creation of separate Christian communities among others. Contextualizing Christianity in Africa Contextualizing Christianity in Africa is a crucial venture if Christianity is to communicate to the Africans. Among many religions, Christianity is the most universal religion; hence it has to find an expression within each and every cultural context it finds itself if her evangelization is to be meaningfully advantageous to the adherents. However, this adventure may result to syncretism among the African Christians if not properly checked. Prior to the advent of Christianity, Africans have their indigenous religion which is part and parcel of their culture. Their culture is their religion and their religion is their culture. Both are interwoven. According to Mbiti (1969 p1) “Africans are notoriously religious.” Africans can never and will never be separated from their culture for religion. There is a strong move by many African scholars to contextualize Christianity. A great number of African scholars contend for the contextualization of Christianity, which aims at providing a link between the African culture and Christian foundations. A process where Christianity will be at home in Africa and Africans will be at home with Christianity. Late Prof Bolaji Idowu made a significant contribution in making Christianity at home in Africa and Africa at home with Christianity. He succeeded in creating Christian versions of the rites of naming, marriage and burial. But what seems to be lacking in this debate is the critical evaluation of how Christianity can fully be expressed or practiced within the cultural context. Even though it is apparent that Africans long to experience Christianity within their cultural setting, it still remains to be established how Christianity can best be communicated within an African cultural context. So far, the attempt to contextualize Christianity seems to permit syncretism. It results in the emergence of “African Christianity”, which is the amalgamation of Christianity and African Traditional Religion (ATR). The amalgamation of Christianity and African Traditional Religion appears to overlook the essence of both religions, as the elements of one religion are expressed through the other. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 145 In an effort to contextualize Christianity, certain terms will be unavoidably used: adaptation, inculturation, Africanization, and indigenization.  Adaptation: this refers to areas of apparent similarities and contacts between Christianity and African cultural practices. To the proponents of this view, immediate adaptation is experienced when elements of Christianity are taken to mean something that is already familiar. For instance, when missionaries go to different African communities they adopt the term for God that is used by the traditional religion. Thus in Igbo, God is Chukwu, in Yoruba, God is Oluwa, in Hausa, God is Ala. This intends to show that Christians worship the same God as the traditionalists, the difference being in the understanding of who this God is.  Inculturation : The term “inculturation” expresses the encounter between Christianity and African traditional religion, which is basically an encounter between two cultures. Since Christianity comes to Africa from another culture it is expected to grow within the African culture in order to become truly African. There is a process of transformation that takes place in order for Christianity to reflect authentically the African cultural milieu.  Indigenization: While “indigenization” basically means the same thing as inculturation, indigenization is meant to emphasize the incarnational aspect. The concept, drawn from Christology, means that just as Jesus became human in order to redeem humankind so must Christianity become African in order to reach the African soul. Christianity must grow within the African environment so as to acquire the characteristics, forms, and trappings of African spirituality. Generally African people believe in God as the Supreme Being, called by different names in different communities. God is worshiped through different rituals according to the traditions of the people. Africans believe that everything has its origin in God and nothing comes into existence without divine sanction. African people also believe that there are lesser spirits through whom God speaks to people and who serves as mediators between God and humans. Includes in this category are the ancestral spirits or the spirits of the living-dead who, together with the living, make up a community. Going back to time immemorial, African religion is interwoven with the experiences, history, and cultures of the African peoples. It prepares the ground for the reception of IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 146 Christianity and Islam (Idowu 1965). African Christians see the hand of God at work in and through African religion. Hence, it is obvious that the Western missionaries made grave mistake when they jettison African religion as fetishism, spiritism, animism, or paganism. The Way Forward The first step towards solving the contemporary conflict between Christianity and the African cultures in general and Igbo cultures in particular, is to make efforts towards re-catechizing people by returning to the essential Christian proclamation of the sovereignty of the one God in three persons, and the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed us and made us members of God’s family. The believe that many traditionalists have about God can then be rejuvenated and integrated into the Christian faith. Strip the Gospel of non-essential elements and concentrate on the person of Jesus Christ. This idea can foster a reflection on what is acceptable in the moral code of the local people that does not contrast with Gospel values. The consequence should also be a re-thinking of the ways to worship and to administer the Sacraments in rituals that carry the proper symbolism for the people and reflect the inner theology of the sacred actions. Furthermore, most of the problems African Christians who try to maintain their culture and still be good Christians are provoked by the colonized brothers and sisters, who are in charge of catechesis at the different levels of Christian communities. These converts adhere to the early teachings of the missionaries and have refused to accept the fact that people can retain their cultural identity and still belong to Christ. Hence, they help in widening the chasm between Christianity and African cultures and this is evident in some of the demands they make of people, for example, to baptize a child or a convert in most parishes in Igboland, some catechists or parish priests insist in using a foreign saint’s name; and one does not really understand for what theological reasons is this request made, when many local names show a connection to God. In fact, the natives have good names, most of which are traditional religious names that tell of the great works of God in their lives; so why should they not be allowed to use such names? People should be allowed to use names that have meaning for them and show a focus in their lives. IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 147 Ndigbo have strong traditional religious background and also valuable cultural practices. The concept of a supreme God is not alien to the Igbo religious psyche; they refer to the supreme God as Chukwu (Big God). They believe that God works through and blesses them through their ancestors and the lesser gods and goddesses of the land identified with the nature around them; hence they have gods/goddesses dedicated to hills, rivers, lands, trees, animals, seas, etc. The rituals and festivals of Ndigbo are thus geared towards the worship of God and reverence of the gods and ancestors of the land. On the side of cultural ceremonies in Igboland, such prestige taking ceremonies like the Ozo, Nze, Ichie, chieftaincies, are done in order to recognize deserving members and elders of the community as vanguards of the moral fibre of the communities. These ceremonies are ritualized and sacrifices are made to invite Chukwu, the gods of the land and the ancestors to come and sanctify and sanction the installations. Other rituals include those done by the masquerade cults and the elders during initiation of young men into adulthood; sacrifices made as part of sending a dead into the world of ancestors, etc. All these have caused lots of misunderstanding resulting to those who participate in them oftentimes excommunicated from parishes and regarded as heathens. Looking at these ceremonies one notices that there is no element in them that contradicts the law of love in Christ. It is true however that in the past, some of the sacrifices involve humans, but these days, people know this evil and have abolished such sacrifices and used other means to sanctify these ceremonies, yet, it still causes lots of problems. The issue of traditional rituals and sacrifices are a no-go-area for some of our priests and African theologians. They condemn them as part of idolatry; but then it is no problem to talk about the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. One cannot but ask why the fuss about sacrifices? Christians got their idea of sacrifice from that of the Hebrew religion and this involves blood, so why should that of Africans be such a big issue? We must understand that sacrifices are means by which people are reconnected with the sacred and divine as evident in the Sacrifice of Christ which reconnected sinful humans to God. The Igbo culture and traditional religion asks to be understood. The misunderstandings between the Church and Igbo culture stems from the fact that the Church leaders in Igboland has not understood that to be a Christian, Ndigbo need not abandon their cultural heritage and those practices which identify them as such. According to Ilogu (1974) “the Ibo Christian...can be taught to feel at IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 148 home from the totality of his (sic) being, as obtained in his past and his present experiences, both as a Christian as well as a member of his societ”. Hence there is need for dialogue between the theologians in Igboland and the experts of Igbo Traditional Religion and culture towards finding ways in which Inculturation can be realized between the two cultures. Pauline Adaptability: A Textual Analysis of 1 Corinthians 9: 19-23 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law, not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in its blessings (1Corinthians 9: 19-23). Paul began this narrative by first declaring himself a man ‘free from all men’ who makes himself ‘a slave to all’. It is really remarkable for a man to be free and yet enslaves himself for the sake of what he believes in. why does Paul declares himself a slave for all? Why would a free man make himself a slave (or enslave himself)? These are questions we need to tackle in the course of this study to unearth how it contributes to genuine evangelization in Africa. Pauline adaptability in the text has been analyzed by different scholars and viewed with different nomenclatures. (Tucker 2012) perceives Paul as a ‘spiritual chameleon’ why (Richardson (1980), considers Pauline adaptability as ‘Pauline accommodation’. Others analysis of Pauline adaptability are as follows: ‘Pauline flexibility’ (Longenecker 1964), ‘Pauline incarnational principle’ (Daube 1956), ‘Pauline versatility’ (Prior 1993) and ‘Pauline inconsistency” (Carson 1982). Nonetheless, all agree that Paul’s ‘adjustment’ is for the penetration of the Gospel into the complex lives of the people. To begin an exploration therefore, into his adaptability, it is necessary to identify the explicit groups Paul is referring to in his ‘becoming all things to all men’. A study of verses 20 to 22 reveals four categories of men (Reuf 1977). IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 149 1. The Jews: These are those Jews who do not accept the Messianic reality of Jesus. 2. Those under the Law: These are Jewish Christians who still observe the prescription of the Jewish law, though they accept Jesus as the Messiah. 3. Those outside the Law: These are the people that the law is not meant for because they are non-Jews. They constitute the Gentile nations. 4. The Weak: These are Gentiles who hold strongly and naively on the pagan world view, though they accept Jesus as the Messiah. They are weak in conscience and weak in faith. For these four classes of people to whom Paul adjusts himself, he has but one aim ‘to win’. The word ‘win’ (kerdaino) appears repeatedly five times in the text, and can also be seen in 1Cor. 6:16 and Rom. 9:14. Afterwards, the focus is changed by moving from ‘win’ to ‘save’ (1 Cor.19: 22), pointing to the essence of the winning strategy, which is saving. The word ‘save’ (sozo) states what ‘win’ (kerdaino) can imply. kerdaino is used in active sense of an Evangelist. Prior (1993) opines that due to the implicit consideration for sozo. Paul was ready to adapt to or adopt any legitimate ‘means’ from efforts to win people. Paul identifies with the Jewish point of view, as when he wants Timothy circumcised or agrees to share vow at Jerusalem (Acts 16:3; 19:20 ff). He enters into the feelings of the Jews, considering their thinking pattern and frailties, and seeks with sympathy and empathy to appreciate their world view. With Pagans born outside the law tois onomois. Paul declares “I make myself” or “I become as” “one outside the law hos anomos ,“(not becoming ‘lawless’ in any sense or ‘an outlaw’ (Prior (1993). Paul refers to his freedom from the code of Torah, but subject to the law of Christ. He also identifies with the weakness of his contemporaries in order to strengthen their faith and consciences as touching controversial matters. He stoops low to raise them. In this way, he becomes a slave to all in order to rescue them from the pending judgment which will not recognize their cultural differences. Dodd (1968) in his Ennomous Christou agrees that Paul saw himself as Ennomous Christou (1Cor.9:21) who would not use all his Exousia (right or freedom), rather as an expression of his commitment in his apostolic ministry. This consciousness Paul has that he owes the Gospel to all, whatever their nationality, temperament or social class, carries him far beyond the restrictions of pharisaic dispositions. Going by his Pharisaic training, Paul is not supposed to associate with pagans in any social standing, but under the law of Christ, the law IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 7. No. 4. (2021) ISSN: 2488- 9210 (Print) 2504-9038 (Online) Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 150 of love, the apostle Paul has the spiritual mandate to bridge the gap and save the souls. Paul’s intent is to discover, combine and use any collection of methods, strategies which would combine the greatest integrity with the greatest impacts. Paul is the most versatile of men who is never locked into any single way of operating. Prior (1993) submits that “Paul’s versatility in seeking to win men of all backgrounds to Christ challenges us to cross the culture-gap between the Christian sub-culture and the pagan culture of our local community.” It is not uncommon that Paul is accused of maintaining double standards in the affairs of dealing with the different sects. However, Bruce (1958) notes that Paul’s behaviour is rescue from being unprincipled by only one thing: his goal. His goal of saving helps put his pattern in proper perspective. Paul is certain of his mission, not leaving any man as he meets him. Prior (1993) explains that Paul’s life is that of self-discipline, self-control, while aligning himself with all sorts and conditions of men. In Prior’s word, the fact that Paul lives daily in the light of eternity, means for him evangelism with integrity, relationship with adaptability and personal holiness with single-mindedness”. Paul places himself alongside the people and not against them (Hargreaves 1978). There is an alignment for purpose. Joseph (2012) asserts that the phrase “all things to all men” does not mean that Paul is not the same person to all groups of people; rather he is sensitive to the challenges of each cultural group. Joseph (2012) therefore concludes that the basis of Pauline adaptability is determined by the norm of the Gospel. References Achebe, C. (1959). Things Fall Apart. New York: Heinemann. Bruce, F. F. (1958). The Spreading Flame. Paternoster. Carson, A. D. (1982). 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