1 Corinthians 10:11

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.

'these things' -all the events just cited.

'by way of example' -'are illustrations of the way in which God works.' (Phi) 'What happened to the Israelites is not exceptional by any means; it will in its way happen to God's people every time they turn away from him.' (Lenski p. 401)

'they were written' -'thus indicating their divinely ordained reason for being in Scripture. In this sentence one captures. sense of Paul's view that both the historical events and the inscripturated narrative are not simply history or isolated texts in Scripture; rather, behind all these things lies the eternal purposes of the living God, who knows the end from the beginning..' (Fee p. 458)

'for our admonition' -'to serve as. caution to us.' (TCNT) 'Words that remonstrate and reprove.' (Lenski p. 401)

'And God said: "Write that down!. want the Corinthians to read that in years to come. And. want them to get the message.. will not be trifled with or insulted."' (McGuiggan p. 135)

'upon whom the ends of the ages are come' -The Corinthians were living in. time when all the past purposes of God expressed in the O.T. were realizing their fulfillment. (Mark 1:15; Luke 10:23; Luke 24:25; Acts 3:24). time period when prophecy and fulfillment had met.

'Hence the Christian is justified in considering himself as the terminus to which all the earlier developments of revelation point..Christianity is the goal and end of all earlier revelations, and now new one follows it.' (Willis p. 330)

Points to Note:

1. God still feels the same way about..fornication, idolatry, grumbling, and pushing our "rights".

2. The events recorded in the O.T. were all recorded for. definite purpose. To teach anything, they must have been recorded accurately, and then preserved. Hence Paul here admits that the O.T. is inspired and infallible.

3. Man hasn't changed. We are not morally superior to the Israelites, for we can fall into the same sins. We need to be "admonished" also. Therefore, God's word is ever relevant to the human condition.

4. No 'age' is going to be after the Christian age, hence WE MUST learn from the examples of the past. The only warning that we will get, are examples recorded from the past! (2 Peter 2:4)