1 Corinthians 10
10
Warning From History
1Brothers and sisters, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who were with Moses. They were all under the cloud,#10:1 cloud The cloud that led and protected the people of Israel on their journey out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and through the wilderness. See Ex. 13:20-22; 14:19, 20. and they all walked through the sea. 2They were all baptized#10:2 baptized See “baptize” in the Word List. Here, Paul seems to mean that what happened to the Jews with Moses can be compared to the baptism of a believer into Christ. into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food, 4and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that was with them, and that rock was Christ. 5But God was not pleased with most of those people, so they were killed in the desert.
6And these things that happened are examples for us. These examples should stop us from wanting evil things like those people did. 7Don’t worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to have a wild party.”#Quote from Ex. 32:6. 8We should not commit sexual sins as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died because of their sin. 9We should not test Christ#10:9 Christ Some Greek copies say, “the Lord.” as some of them did. Because of that, they were killed by snakes. 10And don’t complain as some of them did. Because they complained, they were killed by the angel that destroys.
11The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written to be warnings for us. We live in the time that all those past histories were pointing to. 12So anyone who thinks they are standing strong should be careful that they don’t fall. 13The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.
14So, my dear friends, stay away from worshiping idols. 15You are intelligent people. Judge for yourselves the truth of what I say now. 16The cup of blessing#10:16 cup of blessing The cup of wine that believers in Christ thank God for and drink at the Lord’s Supper. that we give thanks for is a sharing in the blood sacrifice of Christ, isn’t it? And the bread that we break is a sharing in the body of Christ, isn’t it? 17There is one loaf of bread, so we who are many are one body, because we all share in that one loaf.
18And think about what the people of Israel do. When they eat the sacrifices,#10:18 sacrifices Animals killed and offered as gifts to God. they are united by sharing what was offered on the altar. 19So, am I saying that sacrifices to idols are the same as those Jewish sacrifices? No, because an idol is nothing, and the things offered to idols are worth nothing. 20But I am saying that when food is sacrificed to idols, it is an offering to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to share anything with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and then go drink a cup that honors demons. You cannot share a meal at the Lord’s table and then go share a meal that honors demons. 22Doing that would make the Lord jealous.#10:22 make the Lord jealous See Deut. 32:16, 17. Do you really want to do that? Do you think we are stronger than he is?
Use Your Freedom for God’s Glory
23“All things are allowed,” you say. But not all things are good. “All things are allowed.” But some things don’t help anyone. 24Try to do what is good for others, not just what is good for yourselves.
25Eat any meat that is sold in the meat market. Don’t ask questions about it to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. 26You can eat it, “because the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”#Quote from Ps. 24:1; 50:12; 89:11.
27Someone who is not a believer might invite you to eat with them. If you want to go, then eat anything that is put before you. Don’t ask questions to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. 28But if someone tells you, “That food was offered to idols,” then don’t eat it. That’s because some people think it is wrong, and it might cause a problem for the person who told you that. 29I don’t mean that you think it is wrong. But the other person might think it is wrong. That’s the only reason not to eat it. My own freedom should not be judged by what another person thinks. 30I eat the meal with thankfulness. So I don’t want to be criticized because of something I thank God for.
31So if you eat, or if you drink, or if you do anything, do it for the glory of God. 32Never do anything that might make other people do wrong—Jews, non-Jews, or anyone in God’s church. 33I do the same thing. I try to please everyone in every way. I am not trying to do what is good for me. I am trying to do what is good for the most people so that they can be saved.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
1 Corinthians 10
10
1-5Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.
6-10The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—“First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.
11-12These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
13No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
14So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.
15-18I assume I’m addressing believers now who are mature. Draw your own conclusions: When we drink the cup of blessing, aren’t we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life, of Christ? And isn’t it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat? Don’t we take into ourselves the body, the very life, of Christ? Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is. That’s basically what happened even in old Israel—those who ate the sacrifices offered on God’s altar entered into God’s action at the altar.
19-22Do you see the difference? Sacrifices offered to idols are offered to nothing, for what’s the idol but a nothing? Or worse than nothing, a minus, a demon! I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?
23-24Looking at it one way, you could say, “Anything goes. Because of God’s immense generosity and grace, we don’t have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.” But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.
25-28With that as a base to work from, common sense can take you the rest of the way. Eat anything sold at the butcher shop, for instance; you don’t have to run an “idolatry test” on every item. “The earth,” after all, “is God’s, and everything in it.” That “everything” certainly includes the leg of lamb in the butcher shop. If a nonbeliever invites you to dinner and you feel like going, go ahead and enjoy yourself; eat everything placed before you. It would be both bad manners and bad spirituality to cross-examine your host on the ethical purity of each course as it is served. On the other hand, if he goes out of his way to tell you that this or that was sacrificed to god or goddess so-and-so, you should pass. Even though you may be indifferent as to where it came from, he isn’t, and you don’t want to send mixed messages to him about who you are worshiping.
29-30But, except for these special cases, I’m not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I’m going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed it!
31-33So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you’re eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.