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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 2 | April 2012 Rebecca Lewis appeals to this verse and its surrounding context and suggests as a rationale for the “insider movement” that “it was preferable that they not convert, [to Judaism] but remain as they were when God called them (I Cor. 7: 17-­‐24).131 Jay Smith then interviews leaders of the insider movement in 2009 and asks them for their views of I Cor. 7 and they assert that “’Stay like’ means Muslims stay in the condition that Christ met them, i.e. as Muslims.” This is justified by the explanation that “culturally they remain, transformed by the Holy Spirit into their new nature, yet in their old Muslim culture.” 132 The 2011 Pioneers Statement on Contextualization also appeals to this verse and states, “We believe God normally desires new believers to remain connected with their social context (1 Corinthians 7:17-­‐24), while not compromising biblical teaching in their beliefs or practice (e.g. permanently retaining their former non-­‐Christian religious identity).” 133 Whereas the context of the passage would indicate a concern on the part of Paul regarding domestic relations, many of the above quotes have given it a bit of help and can make it a statement as a justification to remain in Islam or Hinduism. 134 Might this action of seizing on the word “remain” all smokescreens of acceptance, evangelical outreach, releasing the 131 Rebecca Lewis, “Promoting Movements to Christ Within Natural Communities,” International Journal of Frontier Missiology 24:2 (Summer 2007), pp. 75-­‐76. 132 Jay Smith, “An Assessment of the Insider’s Principle Paradigms,” St Francis Magazine 5:4 (August 2009) p. 31. 133 Doug Coleman provides a helpful list of proponents of ‘remaining’ in this text and also a refutation of them in his “A theological analysis of the Insider Movement paradigm from four perspectives: Theology of religions, revelation, soteriology, and ecclesiology,” (PhD diss: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2011), pp. 182-­‐187. 134 See Brian K. Petersen, ‘The Possibility of a “Hindu-­‐Follower of Christ”’ International Journal of Frontier Missiology, 24:2 (Summer 2007), p. 97 fn 30. 261