1 Corinthians 10
10
Don't Worship Idols
1 #
Ex 13.21,22;
Ex 14.22-29. Friends, I want to remind you that all our ancestors walked under the cloud and went through the sea. 2This was like being baptized and becoming followers of Moses. 3#Ex 16.35,36. All of them also ate the same spiritual food 4#Ex 17.6; Nu 20.11. and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. 5#Nu 14.29,30. But most of them did not please God. So they died, and their bodies were scattered all over the desert.
6What happened to them is a warning to keep us from wanting to do the same evil things. 7#Ex 32.6. They worshiped idols, just as the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance around.” So don't worship idols. 8#Nu 25.1-18. Some of those people did shameful things, and in a single day about 23,000 died. Don't do shameful things as they did. 9#Nu 21.5,6. And don't try to test Christ,#10.9 Christ: Some manuscripts have “the Lord.” as some of them did and were later bitten by poisonous snakes. 10#Nu 16.41-49. Don't even grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. 11These things happened to them as a warning to us. All this was written in the Scriptures to teach us who live in these last days.
12Even if you think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall. 13#Jdt 8.25-27; Si 15.11-20. You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations.
14My friends, you must keep away from idols. 15I am speaking to you as people who have enough sense to know what I am talking about. 16#Mt 26.26-28; Mk 14.22-24; Lk 22.19,20. When we drink from the cup we ask God to bless, isn't that sharing in the blood of Christ? When we eat the bread we break, isn't that sharing in the body of Christ? 17By sharing in the same loaf of bread, we become one body, even though there are many of us.
18 #
Lv 7.6. #4 Macc 5.2. Aren't the people of Israel sharing in the worship when they gather around the altar and eat the sacrifices offered there? 19Am I saying that either the idols or the food sacrificed to them is anything at all? 20#Dt 32.17 (LXX). No, I am not! This food is really sacrificed to demons and not to God. I don't want you to have anything to do with demons. 21You cannot drink from the cup of demons and still drink from the Lord's cup. You cannot eat at the table of demons and still eat at the Lord's table. 22#Dt 32.21. We would make the Lord jealous if we did this. And we are not stronger than the Lord.
Always Honor God
23 #
1 Co 6.12. Some of you say, “We can do whatever we want to!” But I tell you not everything may be good or helpful. 24We should think about others and not about ourselves. 25However, when you buy meat in the market, go ahead and eat it. Keep your conscience clear by not asking where the meat came from. 26#Ps 24.1. The Scriptures say, “The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”
27If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, and you want to go, then go. Eat whatever you are served. Don't cause a problem for someone's conscience by asking where the food came from. 28-29But if you are told it has been sacrificed to idols, don't cause a problem by eating it. I don't mean a problem for yourself, but for the one who told you. Why should my freedom be limited by someone else's conscience? 30If I give thanks for what I eat, why should anyone accuse me of doing wrong?
31When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God. 32Don't cause problems for Jews or Greeks or anyone else who belongs to God's church. 33I always try to please others instead of myself, in the hope that many of them will be saved.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians (1 Co) 10
10
1For, brothers, I don’t want you to miss the significance of what happened to our fathers. All of them were guided by the pillar of cloud, and they all passed through the sea, 2and in connection with the cloud and with the sea they all immersed themselves into Moshe, 3also they all ate the same food from the Spirit, 4and they all drank the same drink from the Spirit — for they drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Messiah. 5Yet with the majority of them God was not pleased, so their bodies were strewn across the desert.
6Now these things took place as prefigurative historical events, warning us not to set our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were — as the Tanakh puts it, “The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to indulge in revelry.” 8And let us not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, with the consequence that 23,000 died in a single day. 9And let us not put the Messiah to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. 10And don’t grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroying Angel.
11These things happened to them as prefigurative historical events, and they were written down as a warning to us who are living in the acharit-hayamim. 12Therefore, let anyone who thinks he is standing up be careful not to fall! 13No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure.
14Therefore, my dear friends, run from idolatry! 15I speak to you as sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16The “cup of blessing” over which we make the b’rakhah — isn’t it a sharing in the bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah? The bread we break, isn’t it a sharing in the body of the Messiah? 17Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many constitute one body, since we all partake of the one loaf of bread. 18Look at physical Isra’el: don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19So, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols has any significance in itself? or that an idol has significance in itself? 20No, what I am saying is that the things which pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice not to God but to demons; and I don’t want you to become sharers of the demons! 21You can’t drink both a cup of the Lord and a cup of demons, you can’t partake in both a meal of the Lord and a meal of demons. 22Or are we trying to make the Lord jealous? We aren’t stronger than he is, are we?
23“Everything is permitted,” you say? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permitted?” Maybe, but not everything is edifying. 24No one should be looking out for his own interests, but for those of his fellow. 25Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord. 27If some unbeliever invites you to a meal, and you want to go, eat whatever is put in front of you without raising questions of conscience. 28But if someone says to you, “This meat was offered as a sacrifice,” then don’t eat it, out of consideration for the person who pointed it out and also for conscience’s sake — 29however, I don’t mean your conscience but that of the other person. You say, “Why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30If I participate with thankfulness, why am I criticized over something for which I myself bless God?” 31Well, whatever you do, whether it’s eating or drinking or anything else, do it all so as to bring glory to God. 32Do not be an obstacle to anyone — not to Jews, not to Gentiles, and not to God’s Messianic Community. 33Just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not looking out for my own interests but for those of the many, so that they may be saved;
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