Warnings From Israel’s History
10 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”[Exodus 32:6] 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, [Some manuscripts test the Lord] as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation[The Greek for temptation and tempted can also mean testing and tested.] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted [The Greek for temptation and tempted can also mean testing and tested.] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[The Greek for temptation and tempted can also mean testing and tested.] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Idol Feasts and the Lord’s Supper
14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks, participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
The Believer’s Freedom
23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”[Psalm 24:1 ]
27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. 29 I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
NOTES:
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10:1–5 Paul embarks unexpectedly upon a panoramic survey of
the events of the Exodus period. The privileges of Israel in the wilderness are
described in terms that apply strictly only to the realities of the new
covenant (“baptism,” “spiritual food and drink”); interpreted in this way they
point forward to the Christian experience (1 Cor 10:1–4). But those privileges
did not guarantee God’s permanent pleasure (1 Cor 10:5).
10:4 A spiritual rock that followed them: the Torah speaks
only about a rock from which water issued, but rabbinic legend amplified this
into a spring that followed the Israelites throughout their migration. Paul
uses this legend as a literary type: he makes the rock itself accompany the
Israelites, and he gives it a spiritual sense. The rock was the Christ: in the
Old Testament, Yahweh is the Rock of his people (cf. Dt 32, Moses’ song to
Yahweh the Rock). Paul now applies this image to the Christ, the source of the
living water, the true Rock that accompanied Israel, guiding their experiences
in the desert.
10:6–13 This section explicitates the typological value of
these Old Testament events: the desert experiences of the Israelites are
examples, meant as warnings, to deter us from similar sins (idolatry,
immorality, etc.) and from a similar fate.
10:9 Christ: to avoid Paul’s concept of Christ present in
the wilderness events, some manuscripts read “the Lord.”
10:11 Upon whom the end of the ages has come: it is our
period in time toward which past ages have been moving and in which they arrive
at their goal.
10:12–13 Take care not to fall: the point of the whole
comparison with Israel is to caution against overconfidence, a sense of
complete security (1 Cor 10:12). This warning is immediately balanced by a
reassurance, based, however, on God (1 Cor 10:13).
10:14–22 The warning against idolatry from 1 Cor 10:7 is now
repeated (1 Cor 10:14) and explained in terms of the effect of sacrifices: all
sacrifices, Christian (1 Cor 10:16–17), Jewish (1 Cor 10:18), or pagan (1 Cor
10:20), establish communion. But communion with Christ is exclusive,
incompatible with any other such communion (1 Cor 10:21). Compare the line of
reasoning at 1 Cor 6:15.
10:20 To demons: although Jews denied divinity to pagan
gods, they often believed that there was some nondivine reality behind the
idols, such as the dead, or angels, or demons. The explanation Paul offers in 1
Cor 10:20 is drawn from Dt 32:17: the power behind the idols, with which the
pagans commune, consists of demonic powers hostile to God.
10:23–11:1 By way of peroration Paul returns to the opening
situation (1 Cor 8) and draws conclusions based on the intervening
considerations (1 Cor 9–10).
10:23–24 He repeats in the context of this new problem the
slogans of liberty from 1 Cor 6:12, with similar qualifications. Liberty is not
merely an individual perfection, nor an end in itself, but is to be used for
the common good. The language of 1 Cor 10:24 recalls the descriptions of Jesus’
self-emptying in Phil 2.
10:25–30 A summary of specific situations in which the
eating of meat sacrificed to idols could present problems of conscience. Three
cases are considered. In the first (the marketplace, 1 Cor 10:25–26) and the
second (at table, 1 Cor 10:27), there is no need to be concerned with whether
food has passed through a pagan sacrifice or not, for the principle of 1 Cor
8:4–6 still stands, and the whole creation belongs to the one God. But in the third
case (1 Cor 10:28), the situation changes if someone present explicitly raises
the question of the sacrificial origin of the food; eating in such
circumstances may be subject to various interpretations, some of which could be
harmful to individuals. Paul is at pains to insist that the enlightened
Christian conscience need not change its judgment about the neutrality, even
the goodness, of the food in itself (1 Cor 10:29–30); yet the total situation
is altered to the extent that others are potentially endangered, and this calls
for a different response, for the sake of others.
10:32–11:1 In summary, the general rule of mutually
responsible use of their Christian freedom is enjoined first negatively (1 Cor
10:32), then positively, as exemplified in Paul (1 Cor 10:33), and finally
grounded in Christ, the pattern for Paul’s behavior and theirs (1 Cor 11:1; cf.
Rom 15:1–3).
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Letter to the 1 Corinthians
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