1 Corinthians 10

17. one bread--rather, "loaf." One loaf alone seems to have been used in each celebration.
and one body--Omit "and"; "one loaf [that is], one body." "We, the many (namely, believers assembled; so the Greek), are one bread (by our partaking of the same loaf, which becomes assimilated to the substance of all our bodies; and so we become), one body" (with Christ, and so with one another).
we . . . all--Greek, "the whole of us."

18. Israel after the flesh--the literal, as distinguished from the spiritual, Israel ( Romans 2:29 , 4:1 , 9:3 , Galatians 4:29 ).
partakers of the altar--and so of God, whose is the altar; they have fellowship in God and His worship, of which the altar is the symbol.

19, 20. What say I then?--The inference might be drawn from the analogies of the Lord's Supper and Jewish sacrifices, that an idol is really what the heathen thought it to be, a god, and that in eating idol-meats they had fellowship with the god. This verse guards against such an inference: "What would I say then? that a thing sacrificed to an idol is any real thing (in the sense that the heathen regard it), or that an idol is any real thing?" (The oldest manuscripts read the words in this order. Supply "Nay") "But [I say] that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils (demons)." Paul here introduces a new fact. It is true that, as I said, an idol has no reality in the sense that the heathen regard it, but it has a reality in another sense; heathendom being under Satan's dominion as "prince of this world," he and his demons are in fact the powers worshipped by the heathen, whether they are or are not conscious of it ( Deuteronomy 32:17 , Leviticus 17:7 , 2 Chronicles 11:15 , Psalms 106:37 , Revelation 9:20 ). "Devil" is in the Greek restricted to Satan; "demons" is the term applied to his subordinate evil spirits. Fear, rather than love, is the motive of heathen worship (compare the English word "panic," from PAN, whose human form with horns and cloven hoofs gave rise to the vulgar representations of Satan which prevail now); just as fear is the spirit of Satan and his demons ( James 2:19 ).

20. I would not that ye . . . have fellowship with devils--by partaking of idol feasts ( 1 Corinthians 8:10 ).

21. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord--really and spiritually; though ye may outwardly ( 1 Kings 18:21 ).
cup of devils--in contrast to the cup of the Lord. At idol feasts libations were usually made from the cup to the idol first, and then the guests drank; so that in drinking they had fellowship with the idol.
the Lord's table--The Lord's Supper is a feast on a table, not a sacrifice on an altar. Our only altar is the cross, our only sacrifice that of Christ once for all. The Lord's Supper stands, however, in the same relation, analogically, to Christ's sacrifice, as the Jews' sacrificial feasts did to their sacrifices (compare Malachi 1:7 , "altar . . . table of the Lord"), and the heathen idol feasts to their idolatrous sacrifices ( Isaiah 65:11 ). The heathen sacrifices were offered to idol nonentities, behind which Satan lurked. The Jews' sacrifice was but a shadow of the substance which was to come. Our one sacrifice of Christ is the only substantial reality; therefore, while the partaker of the Jew's sacrificial feast partook rather "of the altar" ( 1 Corinthians 10:18 ) than of GOD manifested fully, and the heathen idol-feaster had fellowship really with demons, the communicant in the Lord's Supper has in it a real communion of, or fellowship in, the body of Christ once sacrificed, and now exalted as the Head of redeemed humanity.

22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?--by dividing our fellowship between Him and idols ( Ezekiel 20:39 ). Is it our wish to provoke Him to assert His power? Deuteronomy 32:21 is before the apostle's mind [ALFORD], ( Exodus 20:5 ).
are we stronger?--that we can risk a contest with Him.

23. All things are lawful for me, &c.--Recurring to the Corinthian plea ( 1 Corinthians 6:12 ), he repeats his qualification of it. The oldest manuscripts omit both times "for me."
edify not--tend not to build up the spiritual temple, the Church, in faith and love. Paul does not appeal to the apostolic decision ( Acts 15:1-29 ), which seems to have been not so much regarded outside of Palestine, but rather to the broad principle of true Christian freedom, which does not allow us to be governed by external things, as though, because we can use them, we must use them ( 1 Corinthians 6:12 ). Their use or non-use is to be regulated by regard to edification.

24. ( 1 Corinthians 10:33 , 1 Corinthians 13:5 , Romans 15:1 Romans 15:2 ).

25. shambles--butchers' stalls; the flesh market.
asking no question--whether it has been offered to an idol or not.
for conscience' sake--If on asking you should hear it had been offered to idols, a scruple would arise in your conscience which was needless, and never would have arisen had you asked no questions.

26. The ground on which such eating without questioning is justified is, the earth and all its contents ("the fulness thereof," Psalms 20:1 , 50:12 ), including all meats, belong to the Lord, and are appointed for our use; and where conscience suggests no scruple, all are to be eaten ( Romans 14:14 Romans 14:20 , 1 Timothy 4:4 1 Timothy 4:5 ; compare Acts 10:15 ).

27. ye be disposed to go--tacitly implying, they would be as well not to go, but yet not forbidding them to go ( 1 Corinthians 10:9 ) [GROTIUS]. The feast is not an idol feast, but a general entertainment, at which, however, there might be meat that had been offered to an idol.
for conscience'

28. if any man--a weak Christian at table, wishing to warn his brother.
offered in sacrifice unto idols--The oldest manuscripts omit "unto idols." At a heathen's table the expression, offensive to him, would naturally be avoided.
for conscience' sake--not to cause a stumbling-block to the conscience of thy weak brother ( 1 Corinthians 8:10-12 ).
for the earth is the Lord's, &c.--not in the oldest manuscripts.

28. if any man--a weak Christian at table, wishing to warn his brother.
offered in sacrifice unto idols--The oldest manuscripts omit "unto idols." At a heathen's table the expression, offensive to him, would naturally be avoided.
for conscience' sake--not to cause a stumbling-block to the conscience of thy weak brother ( 1 Corinthians 8:10-12 ).
for the earth is the Lord's, &c.--not in the oldest manuscripts.

29. Conscience . . . of the other--the weak brother introduced in 1 Corinthians 10:28 .
for why is my liberty judged off another man's conscience?--Paul passes to the first person, to teach his converts by putting himself as it were in their position. The Greek terms for "the other" and "another" are distinct. "The other" is the one with whom Paul's and his Corinthian converts' concern is; "another" is any other with whom he and they have no concern. If a guest know the meat to be idol meat while I know it not, I have "liberty" to eat without being condemned by his "conscience" [GROTIUS]. Thus the "for," &c. is an argument for 1 Corinthians 10:27 , "Eat, asking no questions." Or, Why should I give occasion by the rash use of my liberty that another should condemn it [ESTIUS], or that my liberty should cause the destruction of my weak brother?" [MENOCHIUS]. Or, the words are those of the Corinthian objector (perhaps used in their letter, and so quoted by Paul), "Why is my liberty judged by another's conscience?" Why should not I be judged only by my own, and have liberty to do whatever it sanctions? Paul replies in 1 Corinthians 10:31 , Your doing so ought always to be limited by regard to what most tends "to the glory of God" [VATABLUS, CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. The first explanation is simplest; the "for," &c. in it refers to "not thine own" (that is, "not my own," in Paul's change to the first person); I am to abstain only in the case of liability to offend another's conscience; in cases where my own has no scruple, I am not bound, in God's judgment, by any other conscience than my own.

30. For--The oldest manuscripts omit "For."
by grace--rather, "thankfully" [ALFORD].
I . . . be partaker--I partake of the food set before me.
evil spoken of--by him who does not use his liberty, but will eat nothing without scrupulosity and questioning whence the meat comes.
give thanks--which consecrates all the Christian's acts ( Romans 14:6 , 1 Timothy 4:3 1 Timothy 4:4 ).

31. Contrast Zechariah 7:6 ; the picture of worldly men. The godly may "eat and drink," and it shall be well with him ( Jeremiah 22:15 Jeremiah 22:16 ).
to the glory of God--( Colossians 3:17 , 1 Peter 4:11 )--which involves our having regard to the edification of our neighbor.

32. Give none offence--in things indifferent ( 1 Corinthians 8:13 , Romans 14:13 , 2 Corinthians 6:3 ); for in all essential things affecting Christian doctrine and practice, even in the smallest detail, we must not swerve from principle, whatever offense may be the result ( 1 Corinthians 1:23 ). Giving offense is unnecessary, if our own spirit cause it; necessary, if it be caused by the truth.

33. I please--I try to please ( 1 Corinthians 9:19 1 Corinthians 9:22 , Romans 15:2 ).
not seeking mine own--( 1 Corinthians 10:24 ).
many--rather as Greek, "THE many."