Okay, so in the John short-quote blog (or I should say in the comments that came afterwards), it was mentioned that perhaps other common "short-quotes" should be discussed, showing their common usages and misusages as well as their actual context and application.  The same evening as that blog was written I thought about the verse quoted above from 1st Corinthians, but am (pitifully) just getting it typed up now.  Slacker, I know...

So yeah, when I was just a baby in Christ -- maybe a few weeks old in Him at the most -- I heard someone quote that verse as a "statement of purpose" of sorts for what they felt was their caling of ministry: "I have become all things to all men, that by all means I might save some."  The person went on to explain how they wil have a few drinks with their friends who drink, they'll go to the strip-joints with those friends who frequent such establishments, etc., and I -- not knowing really anything of Paul's letters to the Corinthians yet -- thought "if that's really what the Bible says, and if that's the heart's cry of those who followed Christ in apostolic times, it should be mine as well".

Thankfully, looking back I see that the Holy Spirit was restraining me from really charging ahead in that direction, because I never felt right about doing all the debased things to gain the approval of the debased and as a result never did.  Something within was always saying "the light draws people much more than darkness does".  Thank you, Jesus!  I would never challenge those who took the "all things to all men" approach to reaching people though, because after all, "the Bible says so".

A year or so later when I finally began reading the epistles on my own, I came across the whole section that so many I had encountered were referencing:

A couple things jump out right away (even without my added emphases): "I have made myself a servant of all" and "not being without law toward God but under law toward Christ".  The statement about being "a servant to all that I might win the more" puts things in perspective, telling us plainly (if we'll only think about it) that Paul was willing to serve people -- even people who were unsaved -- in order that he might positively influence them enough to eventually win them to Christ.  Serving people is a whole lot different than participating in stuff with people... i.e. going out drinking with people isn't serving people -- if anything, it's giving them your stamp of approval saying "I'm a Christian, and I approve of this behavior" -- but fixing that broken fence your neighbor hasn't been able to get to yet is serving people.

The statement regarding "not being without law toward God, but being under law toward Christ" clarifies quite a bit for us exactly what "law" he's talking about.  "Being under law toward Christ" brings the clarification that He's maintaining his faithfulness to the commands the Lord Jesus has given, even though those who were judging him according to "the Law" -- i.e. the Mosaic system -- could find fault with the things he would do (the "Law" had been way over-interpreted to the point where as a general rule you could find someone guilty of law-breaking just for voluntarily submitting in service to a Gentile, in which case Paul would be pleading his guilt here).

That's probably the whole reason why Paul included this sidenote from his train of reasoning in the first place, because as he was penning it he realized two things: there would be people in the Body who would think he was saying "lawlessness is okay as long as you bring people to Jesus", and there would also be those Judaizers who would come after him and accuse him of abandoning righteousness towards God.  This was not the case, so Paul gave us this important explanation saying in effect: "Look guys, I'm not saying to be without law towards God, going around boozing and stealing and killing and such, but I am saying to be under the law of Christ, which is to love lawless people enough that I'm willing to be of service to them the same way Christ served us while we were lawless."

So the next time someone says to you (or you think to say to someone else) "I become all things to all people so that by all means I might save some", just remember that's not all of what Paul said about the subject, and know that "being a servant of all" in no means equals "an excuse to be debaucherous for Christ" -- as if such a thing was even possible.