1 Corinthians 10
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CHAPTER 10
Warnings From Israel’s History (10:113)
1 In this verse, the forefathers mentioned by Paul are the ancestors of the Jews, that is, the founders of the nation of Israel. Abraham was the first Jew, the father of them all. About three hundred years after Abraham’s time, the Jews fell into bondage in the land of Egypt. These forefathers were, in a spiritual sense, the forefathers of the Corinthian Gentile believers too, because the Corinthian Christians were citizens of the new spiritual “nation” of Israel. In other words, all Gentile believers are citizens of the “new Israel”; they are spiritual descendants of Abraham; they have received a spiritual inheritance from Abraham (see Romans 4:11,16; Gal-atians 3:7,29 and comments). This is why Paul here writes “our forefathers,” even though most of the Corinthian Christians were not Jews but Gentiles.
Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. These Jews, of course, were also the forefathers of Paul’s generation. As they were led out of Egypt, the Jews journeyed under the cloud of God’s presence and guidance (Exodus 13:21; Psalm 105:39).
As the Jews were escaping from Egypt, they passed through the sea. This was the Red Sea, which forms the eastern border of Egypt. God separated the water of the sea, and the Jews passed through it on dry land and thus escaped from the pursuing Egyptians (Exodus 14:21-31).
2 Moses was the greatest leader of the Jews. After he led the Jews out of Egypt, he continued to be their leader for forty years, during which time they remained in the Sinai desert between Egypt and Israel.
Paul says that all the Jews were baptized into Moses. Paul is not talking here about actual BAPTISM. Rather, he is using the experiences of the Jews to illustrate the meaning of Christian baptism. The cloud and the sea (verse 1) are symbols of God’s presence and protection, blessings which believers also receive through Christian baptism. Just as the Jews were brought under the leadership and authority of Moses, so Christians are brought under the leadership and authority of Christ. This is why Paul says that the Jews were baptized into Moses.
3 While the Jews were in the Sinai desert, God fed them with “bread from heaven,” or manna, which Paul here calls spiritual food28 (Exodus 16:4,14-15,31,35; John 6:31).
4 God also gave the Jews water, or spiritual drink, while they were in the desert. That water came out of a rock in a miraculous way (Exodus 17:6). That rock was the visible sign of a “spiritual rock” that was always present with the Jews wherever they went. Paul says that that (spiritual) rock was Christ. All of these blessings—the cloud, the sea, the spiritual food and drink—actually came from Christ. Christ is the true bread that has come down from heaven (John 6:30-35). From Christ comes spiritual water, that is, the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). And even in the Sinai desert, Christ, the eternal Son of God, was with the Jews. Christ existed before the world began; He has always existed. All spiritual blessings are available in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). The person who has Christ has all the blessings of God (see Romans 8:32).
5 But what happened to the Jews? God had done so much for them. He had sent Moses to be their leader. He had delivered them from bondage in Egypt. He had given them, through Christ, all these spiritual blessings. But instead of being thankful, they complained against God (Numbers 11:1). Therefore, God punished most of them by causing them to die in the desert.
6 Let us be careful not to grumble against God. We who believe in Christ have received far greater blessings than those Jews received, yet how of ten we grumble and complain against God! God is not pleased with this. Let us not forget how severely the Jews were punished because of their grumbling!
Paul admonishes us to keep from setting our hearts on evil things as [the Jews] did. What evil things did the Jews do? Paul gives the answer in verses 7-10.
7 Some of the Jews were idolaters (Exodus 32:1-6). Paul quotes here from Exodus 32:6.
8 Some of the Jews committed sexual immorality, and God punished them by sending a plague upon them (Numbers 25:1-9). According to Numbers 25:9, twenty-four thousand Jews died. Here Paul writes that in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. The remaining one thousand died the next day.
9 We should not test the Lord. To “test the Lord” means to act or speak in opposition to God.
A good example of testing God in this way is found in Numbers 21:4-5. The result of such testing is described in Numbers 21:6.
10 God led the Jews from Egypt through the Sinai desert right up to the border of Canaan (present-day Israel), the land He had promised to give Abraham’s descendants as an inheritance. God showed the Jews much love and mercy while they were in the desert, and He watched over them and protected them. In addition to that, God performed many amazing signs and miracles. Nevertheless, the Jews did not put their faith in God. Instead, they complained and grumbled against Him continually. Therefore, God prevented most of them from entering the promised land, and they perished in the desert (Numbers 14:1-33; 16:41,49).
The Jews were killed by a destroying angel, whom God sent to punish the Jews because of their complaining and grumbling (Exodus 12:23).
11 Paul describes the sins of the Jews and the punishment they received as an example and a warning for us. Therefore, let the Corinthian Christians not do as those Jews did; that is Paul’s warning. There existed in the Corinthian church all the sins that those ancient Jews had been guilty of : idolatry, sexual immorality, testing God, complaining against Paul (as the Jews had complained against Moses). “Beware,” Paul tells the Corinthians (and all other Christians), “or the punishment that fell upon those ancient Jews will also fall upon you!”
These things that happened to the Jews are warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. What is the fulfillment of the ages? It is the time of Christ’s first coming to earth. Christ Himself is the fulfillment of the ages (Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 1:1-2).
12 The Jews boasted that they were descendants of Abraham and thus were God’s “chosen people.” They were confident that God would always bless them. They thought they were standing firm. They thought they would never fall out of God’s favor. They were proud. But in the end they fell more and more into sin, and God destroyed most of them in the desert.
The Corinthian Christians were also proud; they also supposed they were standing firm and would not fall. “We are free; we can do whatever we want,” they thought. “Sin is no problem for us,” they boasted.
Let us not think such things. The moment we think to ourselves, “I am standing firm,” we will surely fall. It is only by God’s grace given to us day by day that we can stand firm. Even mature and spiritual Christians can fall into temptation (Gal-atians 6:1).
… be careful that you don’t fall. Some people believe that Paul is talking here about falling away from Christ altogether and losing one’s salvation. Others say that Paul is only talking here about falling into sin.
If we follow Christ and obey His commands, He will keep us from falling. But if we stop following Christ, then we shall certainly fall. Christ cannot protect those who do not follow Him (see John 10:2728 and comment).
13 All men experience TEMPTATION. If we are troubled by some temptation, let us not suppose that we are the only ones to have experienced that temptation. We can be sure that many others have struggled with the same temptation.
Temptations are of two kinds. First, there is the kind of temptation that comes from outside of us, such as persecution, abuse, hardship, illness.29 The second kind of temptation arises from within us—namely, evil thoughts and desires, and lack of faith. In this verse, Paul has both kinds of temptations in mind.
God will not let us be tempted beyond what [we] can bear. This is an extremely important promise. We must never say that we can no longer resist a particular temptation, that we cannot stand firm. If we say this, we are calling God a liar. Because God has promised to give us the power to stand, to resist any temptation. If we have the will to resist, we shall be able to do so.30 Either God will give us the power to resist the temptation, or He will provide a way out—that is, He will remove or lessen the temptation. God’s grace is sufficient to enable us to overcome every temptation that comes to us. But we must pray for that grace whenever temptation comes.
Why does God allow temptation to come upon us? The answer is this: God allows us to be tempted so that our faith might be tested and so that we might become mature and complete (see James 1:2-4,1215; 1 Peter 1:6-7 and comments).
Idol Feasts and the Lord’s Supper (10:14-22)
14—15 Let us recall that the first of God’s ten commandments is this: You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3-5; 1 John 5:21). Let us also remember that idolatry includes more than just worshiping ordinary idols made of wood, stone, or metal. Idolatry means putting anything in God’s place. It means giving something else besides God first place. It means loving something more than God—such as our money or possessions, our family, our work, our honor, etc. If we love anything more than God, then for us that thing becomes an idol.
16 The cup of thanksgiving is the third of the four cups of wine traditionally drunk during the Jewish Passover feast. Many Bible scholars believe that at Jesus’ last supper it was this third cup that He raised when He said to His disciples, “This is my blood” (Mark 14:23-24).
Paul says here that the cup and the bread are a participation in the blood and body of Christ. Paul is talking here about the Lord’s Supper. Some Christians believe that the cup (that is, the wine inside it) and the bread are actually Christ’s blood and body in a physical way (Mark 14:22). Others believe that the cup and the bread are only symbols or representations of Christ’s blood and body. Still others believe that the cup and the bread are only meant to be reminders of Jesus’ death (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; General Article: Lord’s Supper).
However, there is one thing that all Christians agree on, and that is that Christ gave His body and blood in order that our sins might be forgiven and we might receive salvation. When we drink from the cup and eat the bread during the Lord’s Supper, we are sharers together in the great gifts of for-giveness and salvation that Christ has given to us. In the Lord’s Supper, we in some way participate anew in Christ’s death, through which death we receive new spiritual life that will never end (see John 6:3335,48-56 and comment). We are sharers in the blood and body of the living God. How then, Paul asks, can we ever think of worshiping idols?
17 During the Lord’s supper, the bread is broken into small pieces so that each one present can eat. But all the pieces come from one loaf. In the same way, even though we believers are many individuals, in Christ we are all one body (see Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:27 and comments).
Paul says that we all partake of one loaf. That is, we all are sharers together in the body of Christ. Just as the one loaf enters our bodies during the Lord’s Supper, so Christ’s one Holy Spirit enters each of us and makes us one spiritual “body,” whose head is Christ Himself (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Colossians 1:18).
18 Here Paul again cites the example of the people of I SRAEL, that is, the Jews. When the Jews of fered sacrif ices, the priests and the people used to eat the meat of the sacrificed animal (Leviticus 7:15-16; 10:12-14). When they did this, they were participating in the altar; that is, they were sharing in the meat sacrificed on the altar.
In the same way, when the Corinthian Christians ate at the temple of an idol, they were sharing and having fellowship with evil spirits, or demons (verse 20). Let this not be, says Paul. We cannot be sharers with Christ and sharers with evil spirits at the same time (see 1 Corinthians 8:4-5; 10:21 and comments).
19 Paul is not saying here that sacrif ices of fered by the Jews to the living God are the same as the sacrif ices of fered by the Gentiles to dead idols. An idol is nothing at all (1 Corinthians 8:4).
20-21 Idols are nothing, but DEMONS, (evil spirits) are something. When one worships an idol, he is really worshiping a demon (Deuteronomy 32:17). We must not be participants with demons.
22 if we become participants with demons, we are like adulterers. God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5), and if we forsake Him to follow after demons, He will become angry with us. Are we stronger than he? of course, not. It is surely foolish to anger God, who is so much stronger than we are!
The Believer’s Freedom (10:23-33)
23-24 See Romans 14:19-20; 15:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:12 and comments.
25 In Corinth in Paul’s time, almost all the meat sold in shops had first been sacrificed to idols. But since an idol is nothing (1 Corinthians 8:4), such meat was not unclean; it was all right for a Christian to eat it.
26 Paul here quotes from Psalm 24:1. Everything that God has made is “clean,” and can be enjoyed with thanksgiving (see Mark 7:19; Acts 10:13-15; Romans 14:14; 1 Timothy 4:4 and comments).
27 Christians should not go to feasts at the temples of idols; but it is all right for them to go to the homes of their non-Christian neighbors to eat. There they can eat whatever is served to them (Luke 10:8).
28-29 But if anyone says to you, “Look out, this food has been sacrificed to idols,” then don’t eat it (verse 28). When Paul says anyone, he means any Christian with weak faith or a weak conscience (see 1 Corinthians 8:7,9-13 and comment). If such a person of weak conscience knows that the food we are about to eat has indeed been sacrificed to idols and he warns us about it, then for the sake of that person’s weak conscience, we must not eat that food.
It is for the sake of the other man’s conscience (verse 29)—that is, the weak Christian’s conscience—that Paul will not eat food sacrificed to idols. Paul will do nothing that might defile his brother’s weak conscience and cause him to sin. Paul’s own conscience says that he can eat such food freely and lawfully, but the weak brother’s conscience does not allow him to eat it. Each man will be judged by his own conscience. Paul will be judged by his own conscience, not his weak brother’s conscience. The weak brother’s conscience cannot take away Paul’s freedom. The weak brother is not entitled to judge Paul’s freedom (see Romans 14:2-3). What would be a sin for the weak brother (eating food sacrificed to idols) is not a sin for Paul.
However, even though Paul has the freedom to eat food sacrificed to idols, he will voluntarily give up his freedom for his weak brother’s sake, in order not to defile the weak brother’s conscience and cause him to sin (1 Corinthians 8:13).
30 Anything we receive from God with thankfulness is clean and good, and can be lawfully enjoyed31 (1 Timothy 4:4). We should not be denounced for partaking of it.
31 In this verse we see Paul’s main point. Whatever we do, we must first ask ourselves: Why am I doing this? For whose sake am I doing this? And the answer must always be: I am doing it for God’s sake, for His glory. If we cannot say that, then we shouldn’t do that thing.
Anything we do must ultimately be for the glory of God (see Matthew 5:16; Romans 14:7-8). Anything that does not glorify God is not acceptable to Him.32
32 See Romans 14:13,20-21; 1 Corinthians 8:8,13 and comments.
33 Paul does not please others to gain advantage for himself. Rather, he tries to please others for their own spiritual benefit (see Romans 15:2; 1 Corinthians 9:22; 10:24 and comments).