1 Corinthians 10:6

“Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.”

These things: this rejection, this curse after such blessings. Examples for us; strictly: examples of us, that is to say, of what will happen to ourselves if we follow their example. The use of the plural (ἐγενήθησαν) follows by attraction from the predicate τύποι. The word τύπος, type, which comes from τύπτω, to strike, strictly denotes an impression in which an already existing image is reproduced. But, strange to say, in the history of the kingdom of God, the figure which serves to produce the impression does not appear till after the impression itself; it has indeed a pre-existence relatively to it, but only in the Divine mind. In history, the derived impression appears first, on one of the lower stages of revelation, and the model figure does not appear till a more advanced epoch of the kingdom of God.

That we should not lust after...Literally: “that we should not be lusters of evil things.” The noun (ἐπιθυμητής) denotes the permanent disposition, the inward vice, while the particular acts are denoted by the verb in the aorist (ἐπεθύμησαν).

The word ἐπιθυμία, lust, expresses, as is shown by its composition, the motion of the soul (θυμός) toward (ἐπί) a good thing which God does not give, egoistical and discontented aspiration.

By evil things are to be understood the enjoyments which God does not grant, either because they are evil in themselves, or because, perfectly legitimate as they are, God requires them to be sacrificed in the service of love or for the sake of watchfulness. The phrase: desirous of evil things, includes all the following sins, and reveals their common cause, just as the phrase to be overthrown sums up all the judgments which are about to be enumerated.

These examples are four in number; two refer to pleasures which God refuses, 1 Corinthians 10:7-8; two to the feelings of irritation and rebellion excited by this refusal, 1 Corinthians 10:8-9.