1 Corinthians 10

David Lipscomb Commentary On 1 Corinthians 10 TO SELF-DENIAL BASED ON JEWISH HISTORY 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 1 For—Paul had just shown them, by his own example, the necessity for watchfulness and untiring effort, lest they should be unapproved, and now he continues this same thought by reference to the history of Israel that the possession of great privileges is no safeguard, and that the seductions of idolatry must not be consciously despised. I would not, brethren, have you ignorant,—By this he does not mean their being ignorant of the bare facts of the narrative, for they were the most striking in the Old Testament, but of their spiritual significance. This practical application is found in the fact that the fleshly kingdom of Israel was the type of the spiritual kingdom, the church of Jesus Christ. The earthly Canaan, the type of the heavenly. The rewards, the conflicts, the weapons of the one were earthly and carnal; in the other, heavenly and spiritual. The conduct of the people under the law of God and his dealings with them were recorded for our instruction and warning. Paul introduces the dealing of God with them here for the instruction and warning of the church at Corinth and for all Christians, as the letter is addressed “ unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours.” (1: 2.) So after telling them in the preceding paragraph how he labored to keep under his body lest he should be rejected, he pleads with them to be guarded and careful, and introduces these dealings of God with Israel to warn and help them by these examples. that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;—[The cloud betokened the immediate pres¬ence of the angel of God; “ And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them: and it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and the one came not near the other all the night.” (Exodus 14:19-20.) And immediately after this, trusting themselves to Moses as a medium of God’ s power, they passed through the dried-up bed of the sea so that] the cloud was over them and the sea stood as a wall on each side of them, thus were they covered and overwhelmed with the two.

2 and were all baptized unto Moses—It brought them into a relationship to Moses they had never sustained before. That is, into his undisputed control over their movements. Up to the very moment of that baptism this control was still dis¬puted by Pharaoh. They were saved by that baptism from his hands and passed under the leadership of Moses. True they were baptized figuratively in the cloud and in the sea; yet at the same time, by a like figure, passed out of Pharaoh into Moses. They were committed to his leadership as men now by baptism are consecrated to the leadership of Jesus Christ, and this transition into Moses by an act quite similar to baptism. in the cloud and in the sea;—Those who passed through the sea did not have water sprinkled or poured upon them. The cloud was not a rain cloud, but one of smoke, that presented at night an appearance of fire and by day a cloud to guide them, (see Exodus 13:21-22.) The water from the sea did not wet them, for a strong east wind blew the waters back and congealed them, and they went over on dry land. (Exodus 15:8.) In this passage the whole body of people were hidden, enclosed, covered by the sea and the cloud, [prefiguring the double process of submersion and emersion in baptism]. They were baptized in these. “ The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 14:29-30.)

3 and did all eat the same spiritual food;—They ate of the food that God gave them— the manna and the quails. [Spiritual is to be taken in contrast with natural, not as regards the nature of the food, but of its source, which was su¬pernatural and miraculous.] The manna given by God is contrasted by Jesus with himself as the true bread that came down from heaven. (See John 6:31-35.) As the Israelites ate of the manna and were preserved alive, so the disciples ate of the true bread, Jesus Christ. The disciples ate of him by making him their Lord and doing his will. Jesus said: “ My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:34.) So it is the meat of his disciples to do the will of Jesus and to finish the work he has given them to do. To do his will strengthens the soul as bread does the body.

4 and did all drink the same spiritual drink:—When they were in the wilderness they were thirsty; Jehovah told Moses to smite the rock; he did so; the water gushed out; they drank of it, and were refreshed. Jesus compares the life he gives to living water, of which if a man drinks, he shall never die: “ Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” (John 4:14.) for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them:— [They habitually made use of the source which was always at hand. In drinking from the smitten rock the Israelites were drinking at the same time of a “ spiritual rock”— and not supplying them once alone, but following them throughout their history. So that looking back on the entire journey, it might very naturally be said that the rock had followed them, not meaning that wherever they went they had the same source to draw from, but that throughout their journey they were supplied with water in places and ways as unexpectedly and unlikely.] and the rock was Christ.—The object of the two epithets— “ followed” and “ spiritual”— is certainly to distinguish exactly the invisible and spiritual rock, of which he himself speaks, from the material rock spoken of in Exodus, that of which Jehovah said to Moses the first time: “ Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink” (Exodus 17:6), and the second time in the Wilderness of Sin: “ Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock” (Numbers 20:8). These two rocks already stood there when Israel arrived in these two localities, and remained there when Israel left them. Paul, therefore, can only mean that, behind these material, immovable rocks, there was one invisible and movable, the true giver of the water, to wit, the Christ himself.

[This is plainly the meaning of the passage in the light of the numerous sayings of Moses in which the Lord is called the Rock of Israel: “ The Rock, his work is perfect.” “ And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” “ Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful.” (Deuteronomy 32:4 Deuteronomy 32:15 Deuteronomy 32:18.) And by similar ones in Isaiah: “ For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength.” (17: 10.) “ Trust ye in Jehovah for ever; for in Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an everlasting rock.” (26: 4.) Only what is special in the passage under consideration is that this title “ Rock” during the journey through the wilderness is ascribed here, not to Jehovah, but to Christ. The passage forms an analogy to the words in John 12:41, where the apostle applies to Jesus the vision in which Isaiah beholds Jehovah in the temple of his glory. (Isaiah 6:1-13.) Christ is represented in the passages by Paul and John as pre-existent before coming to the earth, and presiding over the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness. In chapter 8:6, Paul had spoken of Christ as the one “ through whom are all things.” Here he designates him as the one who accompanied Israel in the cloud through the wilderness, and gave them de¬liverances when they needed.]

5 Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased:— [In the course of these opening verses the emphatic word all occurs five times, the more emphatically to make the sad contrast between the commencement and the close of the journey. They all without exception stood on the same level of divine favor. In his marvelous dealings with them he was one and the same to them all: to the standing and the falling he was gracious alike, for as “ all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea,” so in the wilderness the same food was common to them all and the same drink to all, both of divine origin, and had they but remained steadfast in the covenant, the same prospect of reaching Canaan was before them all.] But notwithstanding the deliverance he had given them from bondage, and the many works he did in their behalf, most of them forgot his goodness, turned from following Moses, and with them God was not well pleased. for they were overthrown in the wilderness.—All of the generation that left Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, were disqualified by their misconduct. They were overthrown by the pestilence, by wars, or by natural and unusual diseases, so that they did not reach the land of Canaan. [So now notwith¬standing Jesus has delivered us from the slavery of sin, he has provided blessings and favors at every step of the way, we murmur and complain at his dealings and rebel against his law and displease him, and as the Israelites were overthrown in the wilderness, so we fall from our steadfastness and are overthrown by the way, fail to reach the promised land.]

6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.—The Israelites and the facts of their history are examples to us. The same Lord directs our affairs that ordered theirs; and if we sin as they did, we also must expect to be punished and ex¬cluded from his favors and from heaven. [In the case of Israel, the punishment was directly and visibly connected with the sin, and it is recorded so that their history might be used to instruct future generations; for in this life punishment is not, as a rule, summarily and immediately meted out to sin¬ners. In fact, if we judge by appearances only, we might sometimes even think that God rewarded crime and set a pre¬mium on sin. The Scripture records show that such appearances are deceptive, and that God’ s punishments are sure, though they may be long delayed. Israel lusted after flesh, and God granted them their desires, and the consequence was a plague, and the destruction of multitudes. (Numbers 11:4 Numbers 11:33-34.) This is a perpetual warning against the indulgence of in¬ordinate desires for forbidden things. It was especially appropriate as a warning to the Corinthians not to desire partici¬pation in the sacrificial feasts of the heathen in which they had been accustomed to indulge.]

7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them;—Some of them had a fondness for idolatry and were drawn into it. When Moses went up into the mountain to receive the law, the people induced Aaron to make them the golden calf, “ and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:4.) as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.— [To play here refers to those lively dances which occurred at heathen festivals (Exodus 32:3-6 Exodus 32:18-19 Exodus 32:25), in which the Corinthians, who, before they became Christians, had indulged. Here lay their peril. They had been released from the superstitions of idolatry (8: 4), and were still attracted by the feasting and gaiety, which were directly designed to provoke the most licentious passions— dances of which those now practiced are the direct lineal descendants. Hence the close connection between idolatry and fornication, which appears all through this epistle.]

8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed,—They were guilty of fornication with the daughters of Moab, and by them led into idolatry and three and twenty thousand were destroyed. This is held up as a warning to Christians to avoid associations that lead to idolatry. [The danger of fornication was always connected with idolatry. At Corinth, therefore, it might easily follow participation in sacrificial feasts.] fell in one day three and twenty thousand.—In Numbers 25:1-9, it is said that there were four and twenty thousand. Why this discrepancy I am not able to explain.

9 Neither, let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial,—When difficulties presented themselves in the way, the Israelites often tried the Lord by their distrust of him and readiness to turn back and follow him no more. [The word, try, when applied to man, means to present motives or inducements to sin; when used in reference to the Lord, it means to try his patience, to provoke his anger to act in such a way as to see how much he will bear and how long he will endure the wickedness of men. The Israelites tried his patience by rebellion, by murmuring, by impatience, and dissatisfaction with his dealings. The Corinthians tried him when they exposed themselves to temptations in idol temples, and thus needlessly trying the strength of his religion, and making the experiment on the grace of the Lord, as if he were bound to keep them even in the midst of danger into which they needlessly ran. They had the promise of grace to keep them only when they were in the way of duty, and were using all proper precautions against sin. To go beyond this would be to try him, and to provoke him to leave them.] and perished by the serpents.—“ And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness ? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee; pray unto Jehovah, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.” (Numbers 21:4-9.)

10 Neither murmur ye,—To murmur is to complain in a discontented rebellious spirit. as some of them murmured,—The fact here recited is that of the revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who murdered because they were not permitted to serve in the priestly office. They envied others who were entrusted with higher trusts than they. [In quoting this example, Paul possibly had in view the irritation felt by a party among the Corinthians against himself and his fellow laborers who disapproved of their taking part in heathen rejoicings. This party chafed at their severity, which gave rise to so painful a situation for Christians in relation to their idolatrous friends.] and perished by the destroyer.—Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed up by the earth. (Numbers 16:1-35.) [The destroyer means the pestilence which destroyed fourteen thousand and seven hundred persons. (Numbers 16:49.) The pestilence in David’ s day was administered by a destroying angel. (2 Samuel 24:16-17.) The angel in Exodus 12:23 is called the destroyer. It should be noted, (1) that in all the sins specified in the foregoing, Paul says, “ some of them,” showing that it was not true of all the Israelites of that day; (2) that he regards all these sins as connected with and growing out of lusting. (Compare James 1:14-15; 1 John 2:16-17.)]

11 Now these things happened unto them by way of example;—In the days of the patriarchs and of Moses, God gave the law, and then applied the law to the facts and conditions as they arose in the workings of human affairs. and they were written for our admonition,—They were written for examples and instruction to the world for all succeeding’ time, to teach how God deals with man and how he applies his own law. No man can have a clear knowledge of how God will apply his law without studying the lessons he has given in the Old Testament Scriptures. All his dealings with men are instructive to us, and help in learning our duty and how God will regard our actions under his law. God’ s dealings with the unfaithful are just as much for our good as his dealings with the righteous. With both it has been impossible to keep man long in the strait and narrow way. So it behooves us in questions of God’ s dealings with men to go to these examples in which God applies his law to learn the con¬ditions required. upon whom the ends of the ages are come.—[The ages are the ages of the world’ s history, and the apostle means that we belong to the last dispensation, or the gospel era. In Hebrews 9:26, Christ’ s manifestation as the Messiah is said to mark the end or completion of the ages. The Christian dispensation is called “ the end of the ages” because it is the last and final dispensation. (1 John 2:18; 1 Peter 4:7.) The church is the heir of all the past— history culminates in it, and the lessons taught by the past are for its admonition.]

12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.—When one feels most confidence in himself, then there is the greatest danger that he will be presumptuous and commit the greatest sin. Poor in spirit, contrite and humble in heart are qualities that God loves in man. [Distrust of self leads to trust in God, and God loves not him who thanked God that he was not as other men are, and felt that his good deeds and holy life entitled him to the high privileges of di¬vine favor; but loved him who in humility smote upon his breast and cried, “ Be merciful to me a sinner.” Self¬confidence leads to reliance on self instead of God.]

13 There hath no temptation taken you—[Seized upon you, or assailed you, as when an enemy grasps one and attempts to hold him fast.] but such as man can bear:—Temptations come to all men to test, prove them, and show their fitness to enter the kingdom of heaven, and their worthiness to stand before God in the im¬mortal state. [In verse 10 was a warning; this is an encouragement. Having just heard what efforts even Paul had to make in order to run successfully the Christian race, and how terribly the Israelites in the wilderness had failed, they might be inclined to throw up every effort in despair. Paul, there¬fore, reminds them that these temptations were not superhuman, but such as man had resisted, and such as they could resist.] but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;—[This was the only source of security, and this was enough. If they looked only to themselves, they would fall. If they depended on the faithfulness of God, they would be secure. Not that God would keep them without any effort of their own; not that he would secure them if they plunged voluntarily into the temptation, but if they used the proper precautions to avoid it, if they resisted temptation, if they sought his aid, and depended upon his promises, then he would certainly perform his part of the covenant. This is everywhere implied in the Scriptures; and to depend on the faithfulness of God otherwise than in the proper use of the means, and avoiding the places of temptation, is to tempt him, and provoke him to wrath.] but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.—God permits those whom he loves to be tempted to test, prove them, and show their worthiness to stand before him in the immortal state. If we do not escape, pass through the temptation without sin, we may know that we are not true to God as we should be. God is faithful and never fails to provide the way of escape if we have the fidelity to resist and escape. Men are given to excuse themselves for their wrongs because they are not able to bear temptations. [As temptations vary, so the means of escape also vary. We have in this verse, perhaps, the most practical and therefore the clearest exposition in the scriptures of free will in relation to God’ s overruling power. God makes an open road, but then man must walk in it: God con-trols circumstances, but man must use them. This is where man’ s responsibility lies.]

THE EATING OF MEAT AT AN IDOL’ S TABLE OR IN FEASTS 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 14 Wherefore,—[This appeal is made in view of all that has been said of the severe judgments that came upon the idola¬trous Israelites, and the danger that Christians may fall into the same sins and thus incur God’ s displeasure.] my beloved,—While Paul reproves them very sharply, he speaks to them in much love and tenderness. flee from idolatry.—Avoid idolatry by fleeing from it. This is the only safe method of escaping its coils. We are subject to idolatry, not so gross in form, but more insidious and deceptive. We serve what we worship. [We should avoid all that approaches the confines of sin, and keep at a dis¬tance from everything which excites evil passions or which tends to ensnare the soul.]

15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.—[It is a matter requiring judgment and discrimination. They were wise men, and could, out of an abundant personal knowledge, judge as to the wisdom of his counsel when he thus told them to shun all that pertained to idolatry. For idolatry was so in¬terwoven with drunkenness, revelling, and licentiousness that it practically included them, and was not to be dallied with.]

16 The cup of blessing—He now directs their attention to the Lord’ s Supper which they had greatly perverted. The cup of blessing is the cup that was blessed (Matthew 26:26-27) and consecrated as a means of blessings to those who properly observed it. [The word “ blessing” is used interchangeably with “ gave thanks.” That is, the same act is sometimes ex¬pressed by the one form and sometimes by the other. In Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, what is expressed by “ blessed” and “ had blessed” in Luke 22:17 Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24 is expressed by saying, “ had given thanks.” And in the account of the Lord’ s Supper as given by Matthew and Mark, the one expression is used in reference to the bread, and the other in reference to the cup. They therefore mean the same thing, or rather ex¬press the same act, for that act was both a benediction and thanksgiving; that is, it is addressed to God, acknowledging his mercy and imploring his blessing, and therefore may be expressed either by the words “ had blessed” or “ had given thanks.” ] which we bless,— [This is the explanation of the preceding clause. The cup of blessing is the cup which we bless; which can only mean the cup on which we implore a blessing; that is, which we pray may be a blessing to the end for which it was appointed.] is it not a communion of the blood of Christ?—In partaking of it we become partakers of the benefits of the blood of Christ. The blood is the life, and in partaking of it, w’e de¬clare that we partake of the life of Christ, we live the life of Christ. The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?—This is but a repetition of the thought contained in the preceding clause. We partake of the benefits of the blood and body of Christ in the observance of this ordinance.

17 Seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.—[This is in confirmation of the preceding statement that in the Lord’ s Supper there is a fellowship with the body and blood of Christ— with his death.] We who partake are members individually, but we constitute one body of Christ, because we all draw our life from the blood and partake of one bread, the body of Christ. So we are one body in Christ.

18 Behold Israel after the flesh:—This refers to fleshly Israel as distinguished from spiritual Israel, the church. (Romans 2:28-29; Galatians 4:29 Galatians 6:16.) have not they that eat the sacrifices communion with the altar?— They participate with the altar in partaking of the sacrifice offered. A part of the sacrifice was consumed upon the altar; the remainder was divided between the priest and the offerer. (See Leviticus 7:15-19 Leviticus 8:31; Deuteronomy 12:18.) [To eat of the sacrifices in the way prescribed by the law of Moses was to take part in the whole sacrificial service. Therefore Paul says that those who eat the sacrifices are in communion with the altar. They become worshipers of the God to whom the altar is dedicated. This is the import and effect of joining in those sacrificial feasts. The question is not as to the intention of the actor, but as to the import of the act, and as to the interpretation universally put upon it.

To partake of a Jewish sacrifice as a sacrifice in a holy place was an act of Jewish worship. Therefore to partake, of a heathen sacrifice as a sacrifice, and in a holy place, was of necessity an act of hea¬then worship.]

19 What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?—He does not mean to say that the idol is anything or that which is offered to the idol is anything. [This however does not alter the case. For although there are no such beings as those whom the heathen conceive their gods to be, and though their sacrifices. are not what they consider them, still their worship is real idolatry, and has a destructive influence on the soul.]

20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God:—The sacrifice made at the altar of the idol is sacrificed to demons, and the demon is a participator in that sacrifice. If Christians partake of that sacrifice they commune with demons to whom the sacrifice is made. and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.—We are said to be in communion with those between whom and us there is congeniality of mind, community of interest, and friendly intercourse. In this sense we are in communion with our fellow Christians, with God, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And in this sense the worshipers of idols have fellowship with evil spirits. They are united to them so as to form one community, with a common character and a common destiny. Into this state of communion they are brought by sacrificing to them. It was of great importance for the Corinthians to know that it did not depend on their intention whether they came into communion with demons.

The heathen did not intend to worship demons, and yet they did it; what would it avail to the reckless Corinthians, who attended the sacrificial feasts of the heathen, to say they did not intend to worship the idols? The question was not what they meant to do, but what was the import and effect of their conduct. A man may not intend to pollute his soul when he frequents the haunts of vice. The effect is altogether independent of his intention.

This principle also applies with all its force to the compliance of professed Christians with the religious services of churches that are using mechanical instruments of music in the worship of God. Whatever their intention may be, by the force of the act they become one with those in whose worship they join. We constitute with them and with the methods of their worship one communion.

21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord,—[The cup of the Lord is that cup which brings into communion with the Lord.] and the cup of demons:—[The cup of demons is the cup which brings into communion with demons.] ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord,— [The table of the Lord is the Lord’ s Supper at which the Lord presides and at which his people are his guests.] and of the table of demons.—This would be to make them one. [The table of demons is the table at which demons preside, and at which all present are their guests. Here the apostle teaches that there is not merely an incongruity and incon¬sistency in a man’ s being the friend and guest of Christ and in being a guest and friend of demons, but the thing is impossible. A man cannot eat at the table of demons without being brought under their power and influence; nor can he eat at the Lord’ s table, without being brought into contact with him, either to his salvation or to his condemnation. If he should come thoughtlessly; without any desire to commune with Christ, he eats and drinks judgment to himself. But if he comes in faith with an humble desire to obey his Master and to seek his presence, he cannot fail to be welcomed and blessed.]

22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?—The comparison here is to a wife who would provoke her husband to jealousy by showing her affection for another man. Can we af¬ford thus to treat Christ? [This illustration is the most effec¬tive that can be borrowed from human relations, and is often employed in Scripture to set forth the heinousness of the sin of idolatry.] are we stronger than he?—If we arouse his jealousy, he will destroy us. [As he has threatened to punish such transgres¬sors, it is therefore madness and folly to expose ourselves to the fury of his indignation.]

LIBERTY AS REGARDS MEATS OFFERED TO IDOLS WHEN EATEN AT PRIVATE MEALS 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 and 1 Corinthians 11:1 23 all things are lawful;—[This is limited to things indifferent, not having a moral quality.] The reference here is to chapter eight, where he insisted that, as the idol was nothing, he who could eat without offense to others was at liberty to do so. but not all things are expedient.—Here he is referring to the sacrifices made at the altars of the false gods, and as the gods are nothing the altars are nothing, and a man might eat at them without injury to himself; but it was not expedient for Christians to do so, lest weak Christians and the heathen world should be encouraged to worship the idol. All things are lawful; but not all things edify.— Eating meat at the altar of an idol may be lawful, but will not build up or strengthen the weak, which is the chief concern of the Christian. When we lead a weak brother into sin, or encourage one in sin to remain in it, we sin against Christ who died to save the weak and lost.

24 Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor’ s good. —Spiritual good is under consideration, and he warns them to let no man seek his own good to the disregard of his neighbor’ s good. In neglecting his neighbor’ s good, he destroys his own. Spiritual good is unlike material good, the more we seek the good of others, the more we promote our own. The more we look to our own good to the neglect of others, the more we destroy our own good. The more we divide our blessings with others, the more our own blessings grow.

25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles,—[In the public meat market.] Of the sacrifices made to idols, the part given to the officiating priest was sometimes sold in the meat market ; the devotees bought this meat. Sometimes an animal was consecrated to a certain god when slaughtered that it might be sold to the devotees of that god. Certain stalls in the market place were consecrated to a certain god, and its devotees patronized that stall. [But with the Christian it was different. If he merely bought his meat in the open market, no one could suspect him of meaning thereby to connive at or show favor to idolatry. It would, therefore, be needless for him to entertain fantastic scruples about matters purely indifferent; for when thus sold it was wholly disassociated from the rites of idolatrous sacrifice, and one so using it could not be suspected of doing so as an act of worship.] eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake;—[He was not to trouble his conscience by scruples arising from needless investigation about the food.]

26 for the earth is the Lord’ s and the fulness thereof.—“ For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving.” (1 Timothy 4:4.) The intelli¬gent Christian, then, may eat of it as the Lord’ s. 27 If one of them that believe not biddeth you to a feast,— The Christian was not forbidden to retain his friendship among the heathen, nor was he forbidden association with them. and ye are disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake.—[If a heathen friend should ask him to a meal in a private house and not in a sacri¬ficial feast in an idol temple, he was not to trouble himself to ask whether the meat that was served was a part of the idol sacrifice, for such a dining was in no sense an act of worship.]

28 But if any man say unto you, This hath been offered in sacrifice, eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience’ sake:—If a fellow Christian, one of the weak brethren, being scrupulous himself about such things, thinks that he ought to warn the other of what he chances to know, he is not to eat.

29 conscience, I say, not thine own, but the other’ s;—Not for the sake of his own conscience, which could eat without injury, knowing that the idol is nothing; but for the sake of the weak brother or the unbeliever who sits at meat with him. He is not to eat lest the weak brother be encouraged to eat in worship to the idol. for why is my liberty judged by another conscience?—Why should he make such a use of his liberty as to give offense when no good end will be served by his eating?

30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?—In this Paul seeks to induce the strong to respect the scruples of the weak. They might eat of sacrificial meat at private tables with freedom, so far as they themselves were concerned; but why, he asks, should they do it so as to give offense, and cause the weak to stumble and speak evil of them ?

31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.—All that Christians do should be done to the glory of God, and his glory is never enhanced by our destroying his weak children to gratify ourselves. Jesus pleased not himself, but gave up all to save men and so glorify God. He is our great exemplar. We must glorify God by sacrificing self for the good of others.

32 Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God:—The Christian is to do nothing that encourages a Jew or Gentile to remain in sin, and to stay away from God, or that would lead the weakest mem¬ber of the household of faith to stumble or go into sin. [Love to God and love to men should govern all our conduct.]

33 even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many,—As showing how far this method of action may rightly be carried, Paul’ s own course is given as an example for them to follow. [He sacrificed his personal comfort, and personal liberty of action; but he never sacrificed any important principle, or compromised the liberty of others. (Galatians 2:5.) With him to please others is what he chose in love to do instead of pleasing himself; he did not sacrifice to it the pleasing of God. We may also be liberal with that which is our own to give. When Peter, in becoming as a Jew to the Jews (Galatians 2:11-14), abandoned his previous habit of eating with Gentile converts, he both made a serious compromise of principle and went far to impose the burden of the law upon those who were free from it. Hence Paul’ s rebuke.] that they may be saved.—The chief consideration with Paul was to save men and honor God. In this he was following in the footsteps of Jesus, who gave up heaven with the glory he had with the Father, and came to earth, and suffered and died to save men. Paul drank of the same spirit, was willing to suffer the loss of all things of earth, and make himself the servant of all if thereby he might save men.

1 Corinthians 11:1 1 Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.— Having just told them how he himself acted in cases of the kind referred to, Paul bids them to follow his example, and in so doing they would copy that of Christ. [Christ alone is the perfect model; each believer is a model to his brethren only in so far as he is a copy in relation to Christ. In making the exhortation Paul had in mind especially the greatness of the self-denial of the Son of God in taking upon himself “ the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8), that he might save men from their sins.] If we are not willing to deny self, and suffer the loss of all earthly things in order to serve and honor God and save men, we have not the spirit of Christ and are none of his.

Verse 1 1 Corinthians 10In this chapter, and through verse 1 of the next, Paul completed his answer to the triple question regarding the permissibility of Christians: (1) sitting down at idol feasts, (2) purchasing meat in the common markets, and (3) being guests where facts about the origin of the meat were unknown. The very first word in this chapter demands that a close connection with the previous two chapters must be recognized; and it is deplorable that the RSV omitted that word, ignoring it completely. That word is “for”; and such a perversion of the sacred text was, as Farrar said, “due to the failure to understand the whole train of thought."[1] Also, it may be suspected that the omission of this authentic connective could be related to the critical bias which would make this chapter “the relic of a previous epistle."[2] It is now recognized, however, that such a view is concocted out of “no sufficient evidence."[3] The understanding of Paul’s full line of thought in these chapters also explodes any notion that two different positions are advocated by the apostle in 1 Corinthians 8,1 Corinthians 10. It will be recalled that in chapter 8, the apostle effectively blasted the conceit and arrogance of his Corinthian questioners by warning them that: (1) knowledge puffs up, but does not build up (1 Corinthians 8:1); (2) those who thought they knew, actually knew nothing as they should have known (1 Corinthians 8:2); (3) their actions defiled the consciences of the weak (1 Corinthians 8:7); (4) such “liberty” was a stumblingblock to the weak (1 Corinthians 8:9); (5) sitting down in an idol’s temple encouraged idol worship (1 Corinthians 8:10); (6) through their conduct the weak perished (1 Corinthians 8:11); and (7) their actions were not merely sins against brethren but a “sin against Christ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). In this light, it is ridiculous to make 1 Corinthians 8 to be in any manner permissive with regard to the worship of idols. The cautious manner of Paul’s dealing with the question in 1 Corinthians 8, however, was to make a distinction between the legitimate claims of Christian liberty and the heartless abuse of the principle. Having fully made that distinction in 1 Corinthians 8, and also having reinforced his own example in such matters by explaining his forbearance in the matter of financial support in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul in this chapter returned to make an unqualified demolition of the thesis that any Christian could have anything whatever to do with idol worship. [1] F. W. Farrar, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), Vol. 19, p. 322. [2]; ISBE p. 713. [3] Ibid. For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. (1 Corinthians 10:1) At the end of 1 Corinthians 9, Paul had hinted that it was possible, even for himself, to be a “castaway,” after preaching to others, requiring the conclusion that even he (who had as much “knowledge” as any of the Corinthians, and who knew all about Christian liberty) took the most vigorous precautions against sinning, and that such precautions required him to give up everything such as the indulgences of the Corinthians. Apparently, the inherent error in the philosophical Corinthians was the impression that the Lord’s Supper and Christian baptism had made them immune to any contamination from the idol feasts, especially in the light of their presumed “knowledge” that idols were actually nothing anyway. Paul refuted this by reference to the allegorical nature of historic Israel, many of them, in fact most of them, being lost despite their covenant relationship to God. For … This connective requires the understanding that this section of the epistle is a continuation of the argument in previous chapters. See in the chapter introduction. I would not have you ignorant … was a favorite expression with Paul. He used it in 1 Corinthians 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8; Romans 1:13 Romans 11:25, and in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, as well as here. It is not likely that Paul thought his readers would have been ignorant of the history of Israel, but rather that they would not have been aware of the typical nature of that history. Our fathers … Many of the Corinthians were not of Jewish extraction, and therefore the reference here regards Israel as the spiritual ancestry of all Christians. As Russell said, “The Old Testament was used in the Christian church, and even Gentile converts were expected to be familiar with it."[4] See Romans 9:6;Galatians 3:27-29, etc. All under the cloud … all passed through the sea … The word “all,” repeated five times in these first four verses, emphasizes the fact that the entire Jewish people enjoyed the high privilege of covenant relationship with God, being fed miraculously, and that they were thus constituted as God’s chosen people. Some of the Corinthians seem to have regarded the fact of their being baptized into Christ as some kind of endowment that made them immune from dangers, or in some manner exempt from sin even while indulging themselves at idol feasts. By the analogy of what happened historically to Israel, Paul would teach them that high privilege does not mean immunity from sin and death. ENDNOTE: [4] John William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 419. Verse 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.By this bold comparison, Paul made the marvelous deliverance of Israel through the Red Sea from the pursuing armies of Pharaoh as a figure, or type, of Christian baptism. It should be carefully noted that the figure in evidence here is not baptism, that being the reality of which the great deliverance of Israel was the figure. Nowhere in the New Testament is baptism ever referred to as any kind of “figure” or “sign.” “The voluntary character of that baptism is suggested by the aorist middle,"[5] as in Acts 22:16; Acts 2:38, where the meaning is “have yourselves baptized."[6]Bruce presented the analogy between Israel and Christians thus: Their (the Christians’) baptism is the antitype of Israel’s passage through the Red Sea; their sacrificial feeding on Christ by faith is the antitype of Israel’s nourishment with manna and the water from the rock; Christ the living Rock is their guide through the wilderness; the heavenly rest before them (the Christians) is the counterpart to the earthly Canaan which was the goal of the Israelites.[7]As the next verse indicates, there is also a reference to the Lord’s Supper in Paul’s analogy. [5] Paul W. Marsh. A New Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 394. [6] W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940), p. 97. [7] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrew (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 62. Verse 3 And did all eat the same spiritual food.Just as Israel’s commitment “unto Moses” by their passage through the sea corresponded to the Christian’s baptism, their being fed with “spiritual food,” that is, food of supernatural origin, as in the manna, and the water from the rock, corresponded to the Christian’s eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood in the manner of Joh 6:54-58. John Wesley said that this spiritual food was “typical of the bread which we eat at Christ’s table."[8] Dummelow noted that “Only here in the New Testament are the two Sacraments mentioned side by side,"[9] giving three reasons why the term “spiritual food” was used in this verse: (1) it was miraculous; (2) it was typical; and (3) it assured them of God’s presence. [8] John Wesley, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco. [9] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 907. Verse 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ.Rock that followed them … This is not to be understood as Paul’s reference to the Jewish legend about a literal rock that followed the Israelites in their wanderings. The rock to which Paul referred here was clearly stated: “The rock was Christ.” The miracle of Moses’ bringing forth water from the rock in the wilderness (Exodus 17:5 ff) provided literal water for Israel; but much more than that is in evidence here. As Marsh said, “The rock was Christ, not is' or is a type of’ … and this is a clear statement of the pre-existence of Christ."[10]One of the most beautiful and instructive titles of Christ in all the Bible is “Christ the Living Stone”; and for a full discussion of this, see my Commentary on Romans, pp. 352-357. In these first four verses, the broad outlines of the great allegory of fleshly Israel are laid down; and a little further attention is due to it. As DeHoff declared: “The story of the Israelites and their journey from Egypt into Canaan is a type of our journey from the Egypt of sin into the everlasting Canaan."[11]THE GRAND ANALOGY OF ISRAELEgypt is a type of sin and bondage. God’s sending Moses to deliver them is a type of God’s sending Christ to deliver us from the degrading slavery of sin. Pharaoh is a type of the devil. The compromises he offered Moses are like the compromises that Satan still suggests to Christians. Moses is the most eloquent type of Christ in all the Bible (see my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 67-69). Israel’s crossing the Red Sea is typical of Christian baptism. Their spiritual food is typical of the Lord’s Supper. Israel’s entering the wilderness is typical of the Christian’s entering the church. The wilderness is a type of the church. That Israel sinned is typical of the sins and rebellions of Christians. The majority of them failed to enter Canaan; and this is typical of “the many” Christians who will not be saved eternally. Canaan is a type of heaven. Some of Israel entering Canaan is typical of the final victory of victory of Christians who shall enter into the joy of the Lord. That some of them “fell” is typical of Christians who fall away and are lost. God’s providential care of Israel in the wilderness is typical of his providential care of Christians till “the end of the world.” The fact of Israel’s being “baptized” and having the Lord’s Supper (in the analogy) did not make them immune to sin and death, as Paul was teaching here; and the same is true of Christians now. Canaan was entered when Israel crossed Jordan, making Jordan a type of death, beyond which Christians enter heaven. The dangers which beset Israel in the wilderness are typical of the dangers confronting Christians during confronting Christians during their probation. They were tempted to commit fornication, even as the Corinthians were being tempted, and by the same means, through the licentious celebrations of idol worship. Other analogies in this remarkable allegory may be pointed out, but the above is sufficient to show the extensive parallel between the fleshly Israel and the spiritual Israel. [10] Paul W. Marsh, op. cit., p. 394. [11] George W. DeHoff, Sermons on First Corinthians (Murfreesboro, Tennessee: The Christian Press, 1947), p. 79. Verse 5 Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.Of all that great host who passed through the Red Sea and witnessed God’s mighty act of delivering them from slavery, all of them except Caleb and Joshua failed to enter Canaan (Numbers 14:30-32). This brief, pungent verse is the apostle’s summary of one of the most tragic and pathetic failures of all history. Passing over, except for the brief references in the first four verses, the startling parallels between fleshly and spiritual Israel, Paul here called attention to the pitiful defeat of an entire generation in the wilderness and made their overthrow a warning to the Corinthians and the Christians of all generations of the dreadful consequences of disobedience. Verse 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.The blunt meaning here is that Christians should not suppose that their having been baptized into Christ and having been made partakers of the Lord’s table, nor the fact of their sharing high privileges of spiritual life in God’s kingdom, could endow them with any immunity to sin, a conceit which it seems some of the Corinthians had. Were our examples … Farrar believed that these words might also be rendered, “Now in these things, they also proved to be figures of us”;[12] but the meaning is the same either way. After having been totally and completely “saved” from Egyptian slavery, they were lost and rejected; and, corresponding to that, Christians who are completely and totally saved may fall into sin and lose their hope of eternal life. Lust after evil things … Although the technical meaning of “lust” is “to desire either good things or bad things,"[13] its use in the holy Scriptures is invariably a reference to illicit and harmful desire. The inspired author James identified this inward desire ever burning in people’s hearts as the embryonic source of all sin. To paraphrase James, “Lust has a child, which is sin; and then sin also has a child, which is death” (James 1:12-15). Self-denial is the soul’s rejection of all unlawful desire. The surrender to Christ is the subordination of all selfish desire to the will of the Lord. The lust after evil things is the first of five rebellious actions of fleshly Israel; and, enumerating them one by one, Paul demanded that Christians avoid committing them. [12] F. W. Farrar, op. cit., p. 323. [13] Donald S. Metz, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1969), p. 405. Verse 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.The Scriptural quotation here is Exodus 32:6; and thus the idolatry Paul mentioned was that of Israel’s worshipping the golden calf. The mention of idolatry almost in the same breath with “lust” (v. 6) shows the close connection, the one leading to the other, indicating that idolatry depended for its motivation upon the gratification of fleshly lusts. It is of great significance that in the incident thus cited by Paul, the Old Testament specifically revealed that the people “were naked” (Exodus 32:25); and this may not be dismissed as a mere reference to their nakedness! Sat down to eat … rose up to play … The “playing” was not some innocent diversion, or game, this being a reference to the wild naked dances which concluded the idol feasts. As Wesley said, “(the word play) means to dance in honor of their idol."[14] McGarvey declared that the kind of playing in view here “was familiar to the Corinthians who had indulged in such licentious sportfulness”[15] in such temples as those of Bacchus, Poseidon and Aphrodite (Venus). [14] John Wesley, op. cit., in loco. [15] J. W. McGarvey, Commentary on 1Corinthians (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1916), p. 100. Verse 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.Notice the list of sins: (1) we should not lust after evil things; (2) neither be idolaters; (3) neither let us commit fornication. The whole sequence was the normal procedure in idol worship. In one day three and twenty thousand …; Numbers 25:9 gives the number who fell as 24,000; and many have been perplexed by this, even Lipscomb saying, “Why this discrepancy I am not able to explain."[16] The explanation is in the words “in one day,” a phrase not in the Old Testament narrative. Paul’s 23,000, therefore, did not include those slain by the judges before this “one day.” It will be recalled that, before the plague broke out, God through Moses had commanded the judges of Israel to “hang all the heads of the people” who had condoned and encouraged the worship of Baal-Peor, the idol god of the Moabites, especially the Moabite women who had used the device of idol worship to seduce the Israelites to commit fornication. Putting the two figures together, in which there is no discrepancy whatever, it is clear that the judges hanged one thousand men in connection with this disaster which are not counted in Paul’s 23,000 who perished in one day. Guthrie pointed out a Jewish tradition which confirms this explanation. He said, “Jewish tradition ascribed 1,000 deaths to the action of the judges described in Numbers 25:5."[17] Another pseudocon bites the dust! [16] David Lipscomb, Commentary on First Corinthians (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1935), p. 149. [17] Donald Guthrie, The New Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1064. Verse 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents.Make trial of the Lord … refers to provoking the Lord through disobedience and murmuring against his benign government, in a sense “testing” the Lord to see whether or not he will punish the disobedient. The Old Testament background of this admonition is found in Numbers 21:5-6. Significantly, all sin and disobedience of God fall into the category of making “trial” of him. The particular sins of Israel mentioned here were those of speaking against God and Moses and complaining of the manna. The Lord … Many ancient authorities read “Christ” instead of “Lord” (English Revised Version margin); and, as Barnes observed, “It cannot be denied that the more natural construction is … Christ' ... rather than God.’"[18] As the reference is to a time before Christ came, however, the translators rendered it “Lord,” thus avoiding the difficulty. The point is not crucial, because, as a matter of fact, they made trial of both God and Christ. The view preferred here is that Paul meant “Christ,” the same being another reference to his pre-existence, and indicating that our Lord’s pre-incarnation activity included that of shepherding the chosen people in the wilderness. It was not Christ, however, who spake the law to Israel, for Hebrews 1:1 makes it clear that God did that through the prophets, and not through his Son. ENDNOTE: [18] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1949), p. 185. Verse 10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer.The sin of murmuring rounds out the five: lusting, idolatry, fornication, making trial of God, and murmuring. Neither murmur ye … For a more detailed comment on this vice, see my Commentary on Acts, pp. 121-122. The murmurers are the complainers, fault-finders, objectors and critics who, alas, form a part of every congregation that ever existed. The attitude represented by such behavior is not a minor or negligible “fault” but an atrocious sin, standing in sequence here as the climax involving even greater guilt than idolatry and fornication; for it would certainly seem to be true that Paul arranged these in ascending order of magnitude. Verse 11 Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.Now these things happened … This is a bold testimony to the Old Testament record, which contains not legends, myths or traditions, but what “happened.” By way of example … This same thought was expressed in 1 Corinthians 10:6; and under 1 Corinthians 10:4 is given a list of analogies in the great allegory of fleshly Israel, the type of spiritual Israel. Romans 15:4 has much the same teaching, indicating that the Old Testament is for the “learning” of Christians, and making it clear that the Old Testament is a legitimate part of the teaching which applies to every Christian, only with this limitation, that all of its forms and ceremonies and TYPES have been replaced by the great realities of the new covenant. Upon whom the ends of the ages are come … This is similar in thought to “this is the … last days” (Acts 2:16-17) mentioned by Peter on Pentecost, and a number of other similar references in the New Testament; and the usual interpretation is to refer these to the final dispensation of God’s grace, the Christian age, which at that time was only beginning. In this interpretation, the meaning is that the present dispensation is terminal, which is believed to be true of course; but the words have a more immediate application to the end of the Jewish dispensation which had already occurred in the crucifixion of Christ; but that terminus of the whole Mosaic age would shortly be marked by the destruction of the Jewish state, the city of Jerusalem and the temple. It is not incorrect to see this also in Paul’s words here. It was indeed the “ends of the ages” shortly to be fantastically demonstrated before their eyes in 70 A.D. As Barnes truly observed, “This by no means denotes that the apostle believed the world would soon come to an end."[19]ENDNOTE: [19] Ibid., p. 186. Verse 12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.Whether taken alone or in context, this verse may not be referred to anything else other than to the danger of apostasy, which is an ever-present for all of the saved in Christ as long as they are under the probation of earthly existence. We shall not take occasion here to demonstrate the lengths to which scholars have gone in their vain efforts to edit such a thought out of it. Unless there is a real and present danger of falling away so as to be lost, the message of this whole chapter is meaningless. “The history of Israel not only showed the mere possibility of apostasy, but demonstrated its actual reality and the sad prevalence of it."[20]ENDNOTE: [20] J. W. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 102. Verse 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.No temptation … but such as man can bear … The notion of temptations being irresistible was not allowed by Paul. “Any temptation that comes to us is not unique! others have endured it, and others have come through it."[21]God … The agency of God himself is in view in this passage. All temptation, while allowed by God, is also controlled by him; and the Father will simply not allow a child of God to be tempted above what he is able to bear. In the wise providence of God, he has made a way out of every temptation; and, as Barclay noted, “There is the way out, and the way out is not the way of surrender, and not the way of retreat, but the way of conquest in the power of the grace of God."[22]This instruction regarding “the way of escape” seems to have been given by Paul to alleviate any undue discouragement caused by the blunt and dreadful warning in 1 Corinthians 10:12. The fact that many may, and do, apostatize cannot mean that they were overwhelmed by irresistible temptations, but that they neglected to take “the way of escape.” [21] William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1954), p. 100. [22] Ibid. p. 101. Verse 14 Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.This is Paul’s dramatic summary of the whole epistle from 1 Corinthians 8:1 to this place, tying the whole passage together as one ardent and sustained plea against any indulgence whatever, by any persons whatever, including both the weak and those who thought of themselves as “strong,” and demanding absolutely that they “flee from idolatry.” The meaning of that is to get as far away from it as possible. Such dilly-dallying with idolatry as that being engaged in by the “knowledge” party in Corinth was the most stupid kind of folly. Their acceptance of any kind of participation in the idol feasts was a violation of their status as participants in the Lord’s Supper; and Paul’s saying, “I speak as to wise men,” in the next verse, far from complimenting them on their wisdom, is a bitter irony spoken in rebuke of their phenomenal spiritual density. Verse 15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.Wise men … (?)” To these who were sitting down in the temples of idols and criticizing the “weak” who would not do likewise, these who were boasting of their “liberty” and declaring that “all things were lawful” for Christians, Paul’s remark here has the weight of “All right, you smart people, listen to this.” Verse 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we who are many are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.The cup of blessing … This was one of the four cups which marked participation in the Jewish Passover (see my Commentary on Luke, pp. 467-468), being the final one, over which the patriarch pronounced a blessing at the end of the Passover. “It is here transferred to the chalice of the Eucharist."[23]Which we bless … Paul’s use of the plural “we” reveals “his representing the entire company present, and not as individually possessed of some miraculous gift."[24] The superstition that the one presiding at the Lord’s table performed any function that could change the nature of the elements of bread and wine did not arise until a much later time. The thought of this whole verse is that participants in the Lord’s supper were unified and bound together in one spirit. Their taking the supper was a declaration that “They had the same object of worship, the same faith, the same hope, etc., with others whom they joined in such a religious act."[25]Nothing may be made of the fact that Paul mentioned the cup first in this passage, a circumstance which probably resulted from the fact that, “In the heathen feasts, the libation came before the food."[25] Also, there is the obvious intention of the apostle to dwell at greater length upon the bread.

The great principle behind Paul’s remarks here is the truth that “Partaking of a religious table, whether Christian, Jewish or heathen, involves fellowship with the being to whom it is directed,"[26] as well as with the participants themselves. This great principle was not even guessed at by the Corinthians who partook of the idol feasts. “In almost all nations, the act of eating together has been regarded as a symbol of unity and friendship."[27]This is even more true with reference to eating a sacred meal such as the Lord’s supper. [23] F. W. Farrar, op. cit., p. 324. , [24] T. Teignmouth Shore, Ellicott’s Commentary on the Entire Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 324. [25] James Macknight, Apostolical Epistles and Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1969), p. 160. [26] S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 620. [27] Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 191. Verse 18 Behold Israel after the flesh: have not they that eat the sacrifices communion with the altar?“The question is not the intention of the actor, but the import of the act, and the interpretation universally put upon it."[28] Paul thus removed the evaluation of idol worship altogether from the consideration of any “intention” in the heart of the worshiper, the act itself being universally understood as worship either of God or of idols. Here again the question of “What is worship?” demands consideration; and it is a principle laid down dramatically in Scripture that worship is “an action,” not some kind of subjective feeling. For full discussion of this see in my Commentary on Acts, pp. 208-210. The subjective feelings of Jewish worshipers made no difference whatever; if they brought their sacrifices, they had communion with the altar and were invariably accounted as worshipping God. ENDNOTE: [28] David Lipscomb, op. cit., p. 155. Verse 19 What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?The Hebrew idiom here is to be understood as a negative, such use of the interrogative being common in the New Testament. In Paul’s view, the idol was actually nothing at all; and the intention of the “knowledge” group in Corinth was nothing at all; but none of this made any difference with the fact that actions engaged in the worship of idols were sinful. Verse 20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.To demons … Despite the fact of an idol; being nothing at all, there is, nevertheless, a Satan in the world, and a great number of malignant spirits, perhaps even fallen angels, who are used by the evil one to attain his goals regarding human corruption and destruction. The device of the idol is used by Satan as a means of destroying people’s souls; and Paul brings such facts as these into sharp focus here. One of the great blind spots in modern thinking regards the very existence of Satan as a person; but the most universally prayed prayer on earth says, “Deliver us from the evil one.” Paul here identified such things as idol feasts at a theater where the forces of Satan are operative. People refuse to believe this at their peril. “The essence of the matter lay in the participation in idol worship, which was a reversion to heathenism."[29]As Alford said, “Heathendom being under the dominion of Satan … he and his angels are in fact the powers honored and worshipped by the heathen, however little they may be aware of it."[30] “Demons are the real force behind all pagan religion; attested not only by the Old Testament and the New Testament, but by missionary experience. Idolatry is a medium through which satanic power is particularly manifest."[31][29] Donald S. Metz, op. cit., p. 410. [30] Ibid. [31] Paul W. Marsh, op. cit., p. 396. Verse 21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.Ye cannot … has the weight of “I forbid you to …” Of course, it was not a physical impossibility for some to lead such double lives; and it may be inferred that some in Corinth were actually partaking of both; but it was a sin, the words here indicating that it was morally impossible to do such a thing. Verse 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?Even in the Old Testament, idol worship was spoken of as provoking the Lord to jealousy; and, as Macknight said, “This is an allusion to Exodus 20:5, where, after prohibiting the worshipping of images, God adds, “I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God!"[32]Are we stronger than he? … This carries the thought, “Do you really wish to be an enemy of God?” Jesus gave a parable of one who contemplated going to war with one stronger than himself in Luke 14:32. The thought there is particularly applicable here. See my Commentary on Luke, p. 319. ENDNOTE: [32] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 163. Verse 23 All things are lawful; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful; but not all things edify.All things are lawful … The total absence from this passage of any mention of behavior which might, under any circumstances, be considered “lawful” raises a question of how these words should be understood, fithis was the watchword of the “knowledge” party in Corinth, and if they had been pressing Paul for permission to engage in idol worship, which seems likely, then the words here are spoken by way of identifying those to whom these stern words were addressed. Verse 24 Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor’s good.This does not forbid conduct which is in keeping with enlightened self-interest, but requires that every action shall also be weighed in the light of its effect upon one’s fellow Christians. The purely selfish person is by definition non-Christian. Verse 25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake.In verse 21, Paul had commanded, “I forbid you to partake of idol feasts”; but there were two other questions which had troubled the Corinthians, a second being whether or not to eat meat from the common markets, where the likelihood was strong that the meat had been sacrificed to idols. The apostolic answer to this second question was: “Pay no attention to the possibility of its having been sacrificed to idols, there being no intrinsic change whatever wrought in the meat by such an act.” Paul reinforced this by an Old Testament quotation in the next verse. Verse 26 For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.This meant that the meat did not really belong to an idol, no matter if it had been sacrificed. It may therefore be eaten in gratitude as a gift from the Lord, and having no connection at all with an idol. This is a quotation from Psalms 24:1, emphasizing that nothing that people might do can change the ownership of that which intrinsically belongs to God, not merely by the right of creation, but also by the right of maintenance. Verse 27 If one of them that believe not biddeth you to a feast, and ye are disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake. But if any man say unto you, This hath been offered in sacrifice, eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience’ sake.This was Paul’s answer to the third question, which regarded eating as a guest in the home of an unbeliever. Paul’s command was full of reason and consideration. The Christian was not to raise any question whatever about the meat served; but, on the other hand, if the meat was definitely identified by “any man” as having been offered to idols, then the Christian should not indulge in it. Thus, by his firm and unequivocal answer to the three solemn questions propounded by the Corinthians, Paul enforced the absolute abstinence on the part of Christians from anything that was identified as a sacrifice to an idol. Where does that leave the “all things are lawful” proposition? Before leaving this, the words of Farrar should be noted: How gross was the calumny which asserted that Paul taught men to be about eating things sacrificed to idols! He taught indifference only in cases where idolatry could not be directly involved in the question. He only repudiated the idle superstition that the food became tainted by such a consecration when the eater was unaware of it.[33]ENDNOTE: [33] F. W. Farrar, op. cit., p. 325. Verse 29 Conscience, I say, not thine own, but the others; for why is my liberty judged by another conscience? If 50partake with thankfulness why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?It will be remembered that Paul frequently had resort to the old diatribe manner of presenting his arguments, in which a question is raised from the viewpoint of the opponent and then devastated with a concise reply. Something of that is certainly in evidence here; and Metz caught the spirit of these verses perfectly, thus: Paul writes as though he hears an objection from one of the “enlightened” Corinthians. “Living Letters” paraphrases it thus: “But why, you may ask, must I be guided by what someone else thinks? If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why let someone spoil everything just because he thinks I am wrong?” In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul replies, “Well, I’ll tell you why.[34]ENDNOTE: [34] Donald S. Metz, op. cit., p. 412. Verse 31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.The overriding question which must determine all that any Christian does is the question of whether or not his actions will build up, edify, strengthen and encourage the church of Christ; and if any action whatsoever falls short of such utility to bless and honor God’s kingdom, then it is forbidden to the child of God. God’s glory is paramount; human appetite and convenience have no weight whatever when opposed to God’s glory. Paul was a great leader who refused to do anything that might hinder people outside the church or alienate those within it. Verse 32 Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God: even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.Give no occasion of stumbling … This is the apostolic order. If our human brethren, either in or out of the church, may be offended by any action, that action for the true Christian is proscribed and forbidden. We are not living the Christian life for the purpose of blessing ourselves, merely, but for the purpose of saving as many immortal souls as possible. That they may be saved … This was the passionate desire of the holy apostle; and everything was subordinated to that goal. What a revival would break out upon earth today if all those who profess to follow Christ should adopt such a rule of conduct. 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.” This is included in the next chapter, but the logical connection of it is at the conclusion of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10. Paul often used the admonition to be “imitators” of himself, always with the limitation of the qualifier, “as he followed the Lord,” whether expressly stated or not. He gave the same command in 1 Corinthians 4:16; Philippians 3:17, and in1 Thessalonians 1:6.

“THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE "

Chapter Ten IN THIS CHAPTER

1. To realize the possibility of apostasy

2. To appreciate the help of God in times of temptation

3. To understand the importance of properly applying the principle of expediency

SUMMARY In this chapter Paul brings to a conclusion his discussion concerning things offered to idols. Reminding them about the example of Israel’s apostasy and the danger of their own, he commands them to “flee idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:1-14). He describes the communal implications of religious feasts and warns against provoking the Lord to jealousy by having fellowship with demons (1 Corinthians 10:15-22). This is probably a rebuke to the sort of practice alluded to in chapter 8, verse 10, where some at the church in Corinth thought nothing of eating sacrificial meat even in an idol’s temple! He closes by giving specific instructions concerning meat that was later sold in the market place, or offered at the dinner of an unbeliever to which they might be invited; that they not be concerned unless someone specifically associates it with having been offered to an idol, and then to refrain out of consideration for the other’s conscience (1 Corinthians 10:23-30). An overriding principle? Do all to the glory of God, and provide no occasi on for others to stumble (1 Corinthians 10:31-32). In other words, imitate Paul, who sought to save others just as Christ did (1 Corinthians 10:33 to 1 Corinthians 11:1).

OUTLINE I. OF ISRAEL’S (1 Corinthians 10:1-14) A. IN SPITE OF (1 Corinthians 10:1-5)1. Blessings received in the crossing of the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:1-2) 2. Blessings received as they sojourned in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:3-4) 3. Still, with most of them God was not pleased, and they died in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:5)

B. THE EXAMPLE OF ISRAEL SHOULD SERVE TO WARN (1 Corinthians 10:6-14)1. Their example of apostasy to warn us (1 Corinthians 10:6) a. Not to become idolaters (1 Corinthians 10:7) b. Not to commit sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 10:8) c. Not to tempt Christ (1 Corinthians 10:9) d. Not to murmur (1 Corinthians 10:10) 2. Their history recorded to admonish us (1 Corinthians 10:11) a. For we can just as easily fall (1 Corinthians 10:12) b. Though God is faithful to provide help in dealing with temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13) 3. Therefore, flee from idolatry! (1 Corinthians 10:14)

II. FEASTS AND THEIR (1 Corinthians 10:15-22) A. THE EXAMPLE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER AND THE OF ISRAEL (1 Corinthians 10:15-18)1. Paul speaks as to those capable of making wise judgments (1 Corinthians 10:15) 2. Partaking of the Lord’s Supper is a communion of the Lord’s body and blood (1 Corinthians 10:16-17) 3. The priests of Israel who ate the sacrifices were sharing in the services offered on the altar (1 Corinthians 10:18)

B. APPLIED TO THINGS TO IDOLS (1 Corinthians 10:19-22)1. Not to say that an idol is anything, nor that which is offered to the idol (1 Corinthians 10:19) 2. But those who offer the sacrifices do so to demons, not God; and Paul would not want them to have fellowship with demons (1 Corinthians 10:20) 3. They cannot eat and drink at the Lord’s table and then do the same at the tables of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21) 4. Such would provoke the Lord to jealousy (1 Corinthians 10:22)

III. THINGS TO IDOLS (1 Corinthians 10:23 to 1 Corinthians 11:1) A. (1 Corinthians 10:23-30)1. Seek for those things that are helpful, being considerate of the well-being of others (1 Corinthians 10:23-24) 2. Concerning things sold in the market, eat without question (1 Corinthians 10:25-26) 3. When you are invited to a dinner with an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 10:27-30) a. Eat what is set before you, asking no question for conscience’s sake (1 Corinthians 10:27) b. But if someone should point out that the food had been offered to an idol, don’t eat (1 Corinthians 10:28-30)

1. For the sake of the one who pointed it out (1 Corinthians 10:28 a)
2. For the sake of another’s conscience (1 Corinthians 10:28 b) a) Lest your liberty be judged (condemned?) by the other’s conscience (1 Corinthians 10:29) b) Lest you be evil spoken of concerning that for which you gave thanks (1 Corinthians 10:30)

B. GENERAL (1 Corinthians 10:31 to 1 Corinthians 11:1)1. Whatever you do, do all to the glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31) 2. Give no offense to Jews, Greeks, or the church of God (1 Corinthians 10:32) 3. Just as Paul sought to please others rather than himself, that others may be saved (1 Corinthians 10:33) 4. Imitate him, as he imitated Christ (1 Corinthians 10:33 to 1 Corinthians 11:1)

REVIEW FOR THE CHAPTER

1. List the main points of this chapter- Examples Of Israel’s Apostasy (1 Corinthians 10:1-14)

• Religious Feasts And Their Communal Implications (1 Corinthians 10:15-22)
• Conclusion Regarding Things Sacrificed To Idols (1 Corinthians 10:23 to 1 Corinthians 11:1)

2. What Old Testament account illustrates the possibility of apostasy? (1 Corinthians 10:1-11)- The exodus and wilderness wanderings of the Israelites

3. What attitude is most likely to precede one’s fall? (1 Corinthians 10:12)- Thinking that by standing there is no danger of falling

4. What promises do we have that should encourage us in times of temptation? (1 Corinthians 10:13)- That God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear

• That He will provide a way of escape to bear it

5. What is the Lord’s Supper according to 1 Corinthians 10:16?- A communion (or sharing) of the body and blood of the Lord

6. What does partaking of the one bread demonstrate? (1 Corinthians 10:17)- That we are one body

7. In considering a matter, what must be considered besides its lawfulness? (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)- Is it helpful; does it edify one another

8. To whom are we to give no offense (an occasion of stumbling)? (1 Corinthians 10:32)- Jews, Greeks, the church of God

Questions by E.M. Zerr On 1st Corinthians 101. Who are meant by the fathers ? 2. State the kind of cloud referred to here. 3. When did this occur? 4. Unto whom were they baptized ? 5. Why to this man ? 6. In what were they baptized; the cloud or sea? 7. How many kinds of meat? 8. How many drank of the same drink? 9. To what person did these things point? 10. How was God’ s feeling toward many of them? 11. What happened which indicated this fact? 12. Whose examples did they become? 13. To what intent was all this? 14. What happened when they committed idolatry? 15. Are we in any danger of this sin? 16. State the result of their fornication. 17. Is it possible for us to tempt Christ? 18. How were they destroyed for this sin ? 19. Point out some form of murmuring. 20. Why did these things happen? 21. For what purpose were they written? 22. How many ages are to come after ours ? 23. With whom is it possible to fall? 24. State the warning given. 25. How much was their temptation greater than others ? 26. State the assurance given. 27. Does this mean we will not be tempted? 28. What provision is made and at what point? 29. How does all this agree with James 4:7? 30. Is mere indifference to idolatry sufficient ? 31. What sort of men did Paul consider them? 32. For that reason what did he expect them to do ? 33. What subject is now introduced? 34. How can we “ bless” the cup ? 35. Of what is it the communion? 36. How many bodies attributed to Christ? 37. State what number of breads necessary? 38. Who are “ we” in 17th verse? 39. What body is meant in this verse? 40. Who is meant by “ Israel after the flesh5’ ? 41. How many altars had they? 42. How many were partakers of that altar? 43. What kind of altars would this fact rule out? 44. To whom were sacrifices of Gentiles attributed ? 45. How might one have fellowship with devils? 46. When can we not drink the cup of the Lord ? 47. Of how many tables can we partake? 48. Whom can we not provoke to jealousy ? 49. State why we are unable to do so. 50. Which must be first, expediency or lawfulness ? 51. When is a thing not expedient? 52. What should every man seek ? 53. Harmonize this with Heb. 13: 5. 54. Give the meaning of shambles. 55. State our permitted attitude toward them. 56. What reason is here given for the permission? 57. May we attend the feast of unbelievers? 58. What are we directed to eat? 59. What about our conscience ? 60. For whose sake must we refrain from eating ? 61. On what may our liberty be judged by his conscience ? 62. Unto what end must we eat or drink, etc. ? 63. Giving no offense to whom? 64. What was Paul seeking all the time ? 64. State what his motive was for this.

1 Corinthians 10:1

1 Corinthians 10:1. The main lesson in several verses of this chapter, is that it is not enough just to get a good start in the service to Christ, but it must be followed by a faithful life to the end. Emphasis should be placed on the little word all in these verses. Since all of the fathers had the same start, whereas they did not all reach Canaan, the lesson mentioned is set forth. The fathers means the early ancestors of the Jewish nation who started from Egypt, to go toward the country that had been promised to Abraham and his descendants. The cloud was what guided them, and the sea was the Red Sea, through which all passed “without the loss of one.”

1 Corinthians 10:2

1 Corinthians 10:2. Notice that both the cloud and the sea were required to accomplish the baptism. That is because the word means a complete burial or envelopment. The sea at their sides and the cloud over the top made a literal surrounding. They are said to have been baptized unto Moses because he was their leader, even as Jesus is the leader of Christians unto whom they are baptized.

1 Corinthians 10:3-4

1 Corinthians 10:3-4. The meat they ate was literal but had a typical or spiritual significance, because it had to be provided by miracle; it refers to the manna and quails recorded in Exodus 16. The drink also was literal water but had to be produced by miracle (Exodus 17:6). The rock at Horeb from which the drinking water was drawn was a type of Christ who is the Rock of Ages.

1 Corinthians 10:5

1 Corinthians 10:5. For they were overthrown in the wilderness is stated as the proof that God was displeased with them.

1 Corinthians 10:6

1 Corinthians 10:6. These things refers to the judgments sent upon the Israelites, and they were to serve as punishments for them, and a warning for Christians not to lust after evil things as they lusted.

1 Corinthians 10:7

1 Corinthians 10:7. The idolatry referred to is recorded in Exodus 32. Verse 6 of that chapter says the people “rose up to play,” which is the passage Paul quotes in our present verse. And verse 19 of the chapter in Exodus says when Moses came in sight, the people were dancing. The word play in our verse is from PAIZO which Thayer defines, “to play, sport, jest; to give way to hilarity,” and he explains it to mean, “by joking, singing, dancing.” It is significant that Paul connects idolatry with the playing, which we now have learned included dancing. That is a serious conclusion, and we are sure the idea is from the truth that in promiscuous dancing, the participants are devoted to the goddess of lust.

1 Corinthians 10:8

1 Corinthians 10:8. The case of fornication referred to is recorded in Numbers 25. The occasion of it was the failure of Balaam to curse Israel in his speeches. Afterward, however, he gave Balak some advice by which the men of Israel were induced to commit fornication with the girls of Moab; this is mentioned in Revelation 2:14. The secular history of the event is recorded in Josephus, Antiquities, Book 4, Chapter 6, Sections 6-9. It was especially appropriate to warn the Corinthians against fornication, in view of the immorality that was so common in that city.

1 Corinthians 10:9

1 Corinthians 10:9. We know when this temptation took place by the fiery serpents that Paul mentions in connection with it. The case is in Numbers 21:5-6, and consisted in the complaints of the people “against God, and against Moses.” Christ was not specifically known to the Israelites, but He was with God in all of the dealings with man. If Christians utter words of opposition against Christ, as those Israelites did against Moses and God, it is regarded as a temptation which Paul is warning against.

1 Corinthians 10:10

1 Corinthians 10:10. Murmur is from GOGGUZO, which Thayer defines, “to murmur, mutter, grumble, say anything in a low tone,” and he explains it at this place to mean, “those who discontentedly complain.” The instance Paul refers to is in Numbers 14:1-4. The word is used of members of the church who manifest an unfavorable attitude toward things in general, yet will not specify anything they can show to be unscriptural.

1 Corinthians 10:11

1 Corinthians 10:11. These things means the same as the phrase in verse 6, namely, the judgments sent on the Israelites for their sins. They were thus punished on account of their own deserts, and the account of them is written for the benefit of us who are living in the Christian Dispensation; we should profit by their mistakes and the punishment inflicted on them. Ends of the world. The last word is from AION and means “age.” The word is plural, so the phrase means “the ends of the ages.” God has given the world three ages or dispensations, and the Christian Dispensation is here declared to be the last one. The theory that Christ will come and set up another age (the Millennial age) is therefore false, and implies that Paul did not tell the truth here.

1 Corinthians 10:12

1 Corinthians 10:12. This verse is good general advice, appropriate for all people in all ages. No one is in as much danger of falling as the man who is too sure of himself. (Paul showed the opposite attitude in chapter 9:27.) The Corinthians were so puffed up over their spiritual gifts and other advantages; they had that overconfident feeling, so the admonition was peculiarly needed for them.

1 Corinthians 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13. The Bible does not teach that God will do something for the salvation of one man that He will not, do for another under the same circumstances, therefore this verse does not justify the theory known as “Special Providence.” The plan of salvation is completely offered in the New Testament (Colossians 2:10), and all of the human race have equal access to it. The other passages showing this truth are too numerous to be cited here. No miracle is promised as an escape from temptation that has not been provided for in the Gospel. If such a favor were intended by this passage, Paul certainly would not have written chapter 9:27, for he would have expected the Lord to provide such an escape for him that he should not become a “castaway.” Will with the temptation, etc. In the management of the universe, if it is God’s will to bring about some conditions that might be too trying for a Christian, then He will so regulate those conditions that nothing will be beyond the protection offered the Christian in the written Word.

1 Corinthians 10:14

1 Corinthians 10:14. Idolatry was frequently mingled with immorality, both of which were common in Corinth. In chapter 6:18 Paul exhorts the brethren to “flee” from the latter, and in this verse he urges the same action toward the former. To flee from a thing means more than merely not partaking; it means to run as from a poisonous adder.

1 Corinthians 10:15

1 Corinthians 10:15. The original for wise means one who is intelligent, a man who is capable of forming logical conclusions. Paul believed the Corinthian brethren were able to “see the point” in all of the present reasoning.

1 Corinthians 10:16

1 Corinthians 10:16. In chapter 8 Paul deals with the subject of meat that had been offered in sacrifie to idols. He shows that the mere eating of such meat was not wrong in itself, but that when it was used as a religious performance it constituted a form of idolatry; fellowship (or communion) with idols. On the same principle, to partake of the cup and bread in the Lord’s Supper means to have fellowship with the blood and body of Christ. Note that Paul does not call the cup and bread “The Communion,” as a familiar but careless saying puts it. In truth, the term is not to be found in a single passage in the New Testament, much less is it applied to the Lord’s Supper which is only a part of the communion or general service to Christ under the Gospel system of salvation. Bless is from EULOGEO, and Thayer’s first definition is, “to consecrate a thing with solemn prayers; to ask God’s blessing on a thing,” hence it does not mean to confer some miraculous quality on the cup and bread.

1 Corinthians 10:17

1 Corinthians 10:17. One bread means that Christians have only one use for bread as a religious act, and that is to represent the body of Christ that was given for the salvation of man. When it is partaken of for that purpose, all who do so are acting as sharers of the same blessing of salvation through Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:18

1 Corinthians 10:18. Ancient Israel not only offered certain articles in sacrifice upon the altar, but the roper ones ate of a part of those animals. In doing so they became participants of the altar service. On the same principle, when disciples eat of the bread in view of the body of Christ, they receive benefits of His body.

1 Corinthians 10:19

1 Corinthians 10:19. In chapter 8:4 Paul had said that an idol was “nothing,” and yet he showed that if a man participated in the sacrifices offered to the idol, it made him guilty of a real sin, that of idolatry. In the present passage he sees that a wrong impression as to the importance of the idols, might have been made of his comparison to the body and blood of Christ. He wishes to prevent such an erroneous conclusion, which he does with this introductory question. It is as if he would say, “Do you think I have changed my mind, and am granting to the idols some important existence?”

1 Corinthians 10:20

1 Corinthians 10:20. In answer to the foregoing question, the apostle affirms that the beings to whom the Gentiles offer their sacrifices are only devils, a word coming from . Thayer defines the word, “a spirit, a being inferior to God, superior to men . . . evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil.” He then adds historically, “According to a Jewish opinion which passed over to the Christians, the demons are the gods of the Gentiles an the authors of idolatry.” With this view of the subject in mind, the idolatrous worship is considered as fellowship with devils.

1 Corinthians 10:21

1 Corinthians 10:21. The thought of this verse is that people cannot be in fellowship with the Lord and with devils at the same time, which Christ taught in Matthew 6:24.

1 Corinthians 10:22

1 Corinthians 10:22. To be jealous means to be fearful of losing something that may be obtained by another. Paul implies that men might give their devotion to idols and thereby cause God to be jealous, which would actually take place according to Exodus 20:5. The Corinthians may not have been doing it for that purpose, but Paul shows them that their conduct implies it.

1 Corinthians 10:23

1 Corinthians 10:23. All things is said with regard to questions on which there is no specific legislation from the Lord, some of which will be considered soon. To be expedient means to be profitable; a thing might not be wrong, but if it would not benefit anyone it would not be expedient.

1 Corinthians 10:24

1 Corinthians 10:24. There is no original word for wealth. The verse means that no man should be selfish, but should seek to bring happiness to others.

1 Corinthians 10:25

1 Corinthians 10:25. The shambles was a market where they sold meat and other provisions of food. Meat that had been offered in service to idols was taken to these markets for sale. Paul means they need not have any conscientious scruples about partaking of food that might have been purchased at these markets.

1 Corinthians 10:26

1 Corinthians 10:26. All articles that are suitable for food have been created by the Lord and no restrictions need be made as to their use. The law of Moses did make some regulations against certain creatures, but that was for the purpose of ceremonial training and not because of any literal unfitness in them. That law passed away and now “every creature of God is good” (1 Timothy 4:4).

1 Corinthians 10:27

1 Corinthians 10:27. Them that believe not mean one’s personal friends who are not members of the church. To a feast is not in the original but is implied by the rest of the verse. Asking no question means the same as the phrase in verse 25.

1 Corinthians 10:28

1 Corinthians 10:28. Eat not . . . for the earth is the Lord’s, etc. See the comments on verse 26 for the last phrase. That phrase shows that it would be right in itself to eat of any food, yet he should not eat for the sake of one who thinks it is wrong.

1 Corinthians 10:29

1 Corinthians 10:29. Paul explains that it is the other man’s conscience he means, not the one who would otherwise eat. For why, etc., means as if Paul said, “Why do I give you this instruction? Answer, because my liberty is to be controlled by the other man’s conscience with reference to these un-legislated questions.”

1 Corinthians 10:30

1 Corinthians 10:30. This verse means the same as the preceding one.

1 Corinthians 10:31

1 Corinthians 10:31. In regulating one’s liberty on these matters of eating and drinking so as not to offend a weak brother, it will redound to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:32

1 Corinthians 10:32. Give none offence means not to do anything that might cause another to stumble or sin. Some things would be regarded wrong in the eyes of the Jews that would not offend the Gentiles, and vice versa. Also, there might be matters on which neither would have any scruples as far as their nationality is concerned, yet would be objectionable to the brethren. Paul means for the disciples to have regard for the conscience of all these classes.

1 Corinthians 10:33

Verse 33. This is the same as 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.