[In chapter 8 Paul had answered the question of the Corinthians concerning idolatrous meat. In chapter 9 he answered their inquiries concerning his apostleship, and closed with a description of the self-denial which he exercised in order to secure his crown, and a statement that despite all his effo... [ Continue Reading ]
and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea [Paul speaks of the fathers of the Jewish race as "our fathers," though addressing Gentiles. The patriarchs of Israel were the spiritual fathers of Gentile Christians (Galatians 3:7-8; Galatians 3:29). Moreover, the patriarchal and Mosaic... [ Continue Reading ]
and did all eat the same spiritual food;... [ Continue Reading ]
and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. [As Israel had an experience answering to baptism, so it also enjoyed privileges similar to the two parts of the Lord's Supper; viz.: the manna (Exodus 16:13-22), which lasted... [ Continue Reading ]
Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown [literally, strewn in heaps] _in the wilderness_. [In 1 Corinthians 10:24 of the preceding chapter Paul enforces the lesson of self-control by showing that though all run, yet but one receives the prize. This law, which the... [ Continue Reading ]
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. [Having shown that the Israelites lost their inheritance despite the fact that they were prepared, sustained and strengthened by the same Christ and practically the same ordinances enjoyed by... [ Continue Reading ]
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. [Israel worshipped the golden calf, Moloch, Remphan, Baal-peor, etc. The "playing" which Paul refers to (Exodus 32:3-6; Exodus 32:19; Exodus 32:25) was familiar to the Corinthi... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. [Numbers 25:1-9. While Paul gives the number as twenty-three thousand, Moses gives it as twenty-four. Alford and Kling think the discrepancy is due to a failure in Paul's memory, but why shou... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. [Numbers 21:4-6. Compare John 3:14-15. To "tempt" here means to try beyond all patience or endurance. Israel tempted God in the case referred to, by its spirit of unbelieving discontent. Compare also Exo... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. [Numbers 14:2; Numbers 14:29; Numbers 16:41-49. The Israelites murmured against God by rebelling against and rejecting his servants; and the Corinthians were at this time murmuring against Paul, the servant of Christ. They w... [ Continue Reading ]
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. [The facts of the past become examples for the present, because God rules by unchanging principles (Romans 15:4). The Christian dispensation is called "the ends o... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. [The weaknesses of saints in former days, notwithstanding their privileges, should warn us of our own frailty lest we presume to dally with temptation, and so fall. This verse is a stumbling-block to those who hold the doctrine "onc... [ Continue Reading ]
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. [The temptations which befell the Corinthians were such as men h... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.... [ Continue Reading ]
I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. [As idolatry had proved the mother of sins in Israel, so had it also in Corinth. Paul, therefore, in exhorting his readers to flee from it, appeals to their own past experience. They were wise men in this respect, and could, out of an abundant personal kn... [ Continue Reading ]
The cup of blessing which we bless [Not the cup which brings blessing (though it does that), but the cup over which blessing is spoken, the cup consecrated by benediction. Wine becomes a symbol of the blood of Christ by such a consecration, and even ordinary food is sanctified by prayer (1 Timothy 4... [ Continue Reading ]
seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread. [Paul here points out the nature of the Lord's Supper, showing how it unites us with each other and with the Lord. We all partake of the loaf and thereby become qualitatively, as it were, a part of it, as it... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold Israel after the flesh: have not they that eat the sacrifices communion with the altar? [In Paul's eyes the church was the true Israel, and the Jews were Israel after the flesh. Part of the Jewish sacrifice was eaten by the worshiper as an act of worship (Deuteronomy 12:18), and part was cons... [ Continue Reading ]
What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? ["But, Paul," say the Corinthians, "your reasoning can not apply to feasts or sacrificial meat offered to idols; for you have already admitted (1 Corinthians 8:4) that an idol is a nonentity. By sacrifice a m... [ Continue Reading ]
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. [It was true that the idol was nothing, but it represented a reality, and it was well established both among Jews and Greeks that that reality... [ Continue Reading ]
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. [At the sacrificial feasts of the pagans the provisions and wine were both blessed in the name of the idol, and thereby consecrated to him. Part of the festal cup was p... [ Continue Reading ]
Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? [God does not permit a division of his worship (Matthew 6:24). Any attempt to do this is said to arouse his jealousy, that passion which arises from wounded love (Isaiah 54:5; Ephesians 5:23-32; Exodus 20:5). Paul doubtless has in mind... [ Continue Reading ]
All things are lawful; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful; but not all things edify. [See comment on 1 Corinthians 6:12]... [ Continue Reading ]
Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good. [As to eating idolatrous meat and all similar questions of liberty, be more careful to think of the interests of others than to assert your own rights.]... [ Continue Reading ]
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake;... [ Continue Reading ]
for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. [Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:12. Meat sold in the public market might be bought and used by the Christian without stopping to make investigation or to consult his conscience, for when thus sold it was wholly disassociated from the rites of idolatrous... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
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:... [ Continue Reading ]
conscience, I say, not thine own, but the other's; for why is my liberty judged by another conscience? [Christianity did not forbid a man to retain his friendships among pagans, nor did it prohibit fellowship with them. If such a friend should ask a Christian to a meal in a private house and not to... [ Continue Reading ]
If I partake with thankfulness, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? [The conscience of another man does not make it wrong for me to do that which I am not only permitted to do by my own conscience, but which I even do in a spirit of prayerful thankfulness. Nor does my doing suc... [ Continue Reading ]
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to, the glory of God. [All eating should be with thanksgiving to God and should not dishonor God by injuring the consciences of weak men--comp. Colossians 3:17; 1 Peter 4:11]... [ Continue Reading ]
Give no occasion of stumbling [Mark 9:42], _either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God_ :... [ Continue Reading ]
_ even as I also please all men in all things_ [indifferent or permissible], _not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved_.... [ Continue Reading ]