1 Corinthians 10:21-22

“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of demons; 22. or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than He?”

Edwards thinks that the matter in question here is an impossibility in point of fact. The heart cannot at the same time receive the holy inspirations of Christ and the impure influences of demons. But in that case the apostle would have used words of a more inward and spiritual character than cup and table. The impossibility is rather one of right: “You cannot morally, that is to say, without self-contradiction, and drawing down on you a terrible judgment, take part at the same time in two worships so opposite to one another.” The cup of demons is an expression easily understood, when we remember that in the solemn feasts of the ancients the consecration of the banquet took place with that of the cup, accompanied by the libation in honour of the gods. The first cup was offered to Jupiter; the second to Jupiter and the Nymphs; the third to Jupiter Soter. To participate in these three cups which circulated among the guests, was not this to do an act of idolatry, and to put oneself under the power of the spirit of evil, as really as the Jew by sacrificing put himself under the influence of Jehovah, and the Christian by communicating under that of Christ? Materially, no doubt, it was possible to act thus, but not without criminal inconsistency. And what proves that this is the meaning of the: Ye cannot, is the fact that, in the sequel, Paul expressly states that the Corinthians already venture to act thus; for he declares the fate which awaits them if they persist (1 Corinthians 10:22).

Vv. 22. The ἤ is taken in its usual sense in Paul's writings: “ Or if, notwithstanding.” In other words: “Or if you will persist in acting thus, do you know what you are doing, and to what you expose yourselves? You provoke in the heart of God that more terrible fire than the fire of wrath, which is called jealousy!” What is the hatred vowed against a declared enemy in comparison with the fury which falls on an unfaithful spouse? The term παραζηλοῦν, to excite to jealousy, is taken from Deuteronomy 32:21: “They have provoked me to jealousy by that which is not God” (idols put in the place of God). The text says briefly: “Do we provoke to jealousy?” Holsten regards this indicative as inadmissible, and thinks the meaning of the subjunctive to be indispensable: “Would we provoke (παραζηλῶμεν)?” He therefore takes the termination ουμεν to be an irregular subjunctive form, like that which is supposed to be found in 1 Corinthians 4:6 and Galatians 4:17 (see on the first of these passages). But the supposition seems to me unnecessary. The indicative signifies: “Are we truly acting thus?” The form supposes that it was really being done; and this is certainly what is proved by the saying 1 Corinthians 8:10, which has by no means the effect of a supposition without reality.

The apostle alludes to the maxim whereby the strong Corinthians justified their carnal conduct: “All things are lawful for us.” The communicative form: Do we go the length of...? Are we...? serves to soften the severity of the merciless irony: stronger than God...? The term κύριος, Lord, might be applied to God, as is usually the case in passages quoted from the Old Testament. But I rather think, with de Wette, Meyer, Hofmann, following the 1 Corinthians 10:4; 1 Corinthians 10:9; 1 Corinthians 10:21, that in this case Paul applies it to Christ.

And now, after having adjusted this burning question, the apostle reverts in a calmer tone to the less difficult one, of the use of offered meats, giving a few very simple and precise practical rules on the subject, which flow from the principles laid down in the foregoing Chapter s. 1 Corinthians 10:23-24; 1 Corinthians 10:32-33, prove that these injunctions are specially addressed to the strong (see Heinrici and Holsten).