1 Corinthians 10:1

1 COR. 10

In this chapter, and through verse 1 of the next, Paul completed his answer to the triple question regarding the permissibility of Christians: (1) sitting down at idol feasts, (2) purchasing meat in the common markets, and (3) being guests where facts about the origin of the meat were unknown.

The very first word in this chapter demands that a close connection with the previous two chapters must be recognized; and it is deplorable that the RSV omitted that word, ignoring it completely. That word is "for"; and such a perversion of the sacred text was, as Farrar said, "due to the failure to understand the whole train of thought."[1] Also, it may be suspected that the omission of this authentic connective could be related to the critical bias which would make this chapter "the relic of a previous epistle."[2] It is now recognized, however, that such a view is concocted out of "no sufficient evidence."[3] The understanding of Paul's full line of thought in these chapters also explodes any notion that two different positions are advocated by the apostle in 1Cor. 8,1 Corinthians 10.

It will be recalled that in chapter 8, the apostle effectively blasted the conceit and arrogance of his Corinthian questioners by warning them that: (1) knowledge puffs up, but does not build up (1 Corinthians 8:1); (2) those who thought they knew, actually knew nothing as they should have known (1 Corinthians 8:2); (3) their actions defiled the consciences of the weak (1 Corinthians 8:7); (4) such "liberty" was a stumblingblock to the weak (1 Corinthians 8:9); (5) sitting down in an idol's temple encouraged idol worship (1 Corinthians 8:10); (6) through their conduct the weak perished (1 Corinthians 8:11); and (7) their actions were not merely sins against brethren but a "sin against Christ" (1 Corinthians 8:12). In this light, it is ridiculous to make 1 Corinthians 8 to be in any manner permissive with regard to the worship of idols.

The cautious manner of Paul's dealing with the question in 1 Corinthians 8, however, was to make a distinction between the legitimate claims of Christian liberty and the heartless abuse of the principle. Having fully made that distinction in 1 Corinthians 8, and also having reinforced his own example in such matters by explaining his forbearance in the matter of financial support in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul in this chapter returned to make an unqualified demolition of the thesis that any Christian could have anything whatever to do with idol worship.

[1] F. W. Farrar, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), Vol. 19, p. 322.

[2]; ISBE p. 713.

[3] Ibid.

For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. (1 Corinthians 10:1)

At the end of 1 Corinthians 9, Paul had hinted that it was possible, even for himself, to be a "castaway," after preaching to others, requiring the conclusion that even he (who had as much "knowledge" as any of the Corinthians, and who knew all about Christian liberty) took the most vigorous precautions against sinning, and that such precautions required him to give up everything such as the indulgences of the Corinthians.

Apparently, the inherent error in the philosophical Corinthians was the impression that the Lord's Supper and Christian baptism had made them immune to any contamination from the idol feasts, especially in the light of their presumed "knowledge" that idols were actually nothing anyway. Paul refuted this by reference to the allegorical nature of historic Israel, many of them, in fact most of them, being lost despite their covenant relationship to God.

For ... This connective requires the understanding that this section of the epistle is a continuation of the argument in previous chapters. See in the chapter introduction.

I would not have you ignorant ... was a favorite expression with Paul. He used it in 1 Corinthians 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8; Romans 1:13; 11:25, and in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, as well as here. It is not likely that Paul thought his readers would have been ignorant of the history of Israel, but rather that they would not have been aware of the typical nature of that history.

Our fathers ... Many of the Corinthians were not of Jewish extraction, and therefore the reference here regards Israel as the spiritual ancestry of all Christians. As Russell said, "The Old Testament was used in the Christian church, and even Gentile converts were expected to be familiar with it."[4] See Romans 9:6; Galatians 3:27-29, etc.

All under the cloud ... all passed through the sea ... The word "all," repeated five times in these first four verses, emphasizes the fact that the entire Jewish people enjoyed the high privilege of covenant relationship with God, being fed miraculously, and that they were thus constituted as God's chosen people. Some of the Corinthians seem to have regarded the fact of their being baptized into Christ as some kind of endowment that made them immune from dangers, or in some manner exempt from sin even while indulging themselves at idol feasts. By the analogy of what happened historically to Israel, Paul would teach them that high privilege does not mean immunity from sin and death.