Paul continues addressing the Corinthian church in a pagan urban environment where idol feasts, temple participation, marketplace meat, social banquets, and public religious life were deeply intertwined with ordinary commerce and civic identity.
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1 Corinthians 10
Learn from Israel, Flee Idolatry, and Seek the Good of Others for God’s Glory
Because covenant privilege does not protect the presumptuous and because believers belong to the Lord alone, Christians must flee idolatry, use liberty for edification, and seek the good of others so that in everything God is glorified.
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Chapter Summary
Because covenant privilege does not protect the presumptuous and because believers belong to the Lord alone, Christians must flee idolatry, use liberty for edification, and seek the good of others so that in everything God is glorified.
Overview
Paul warns the Corinthians against overconfidence by taking them back to Israel in the wilderness. Israel enjoyed extraordinary redemptive privileges that parallel Christian experience in striking ways. They were delivered, marked out as a people, nourished by God, and sustained by his presence. Yet those privileges did not prevent judgment when the people desired evil, turned to idolatry, fell into sexual immorality, tested the Lord, and grumbled.
Paul insists that these events were recorded as examples for the church upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore confidence without vigilance is deadly. Whoever thinks he stands must take heed lest he fall. Yet this warning is not despairing. God is faithful and will not permit temptation beyond what his people can bear, but will provide a way of endurance.
Paul then turns directly to the idol-food issue and moves beyond the more limited discussion of chapter 8. The real problem is not merely the conscience of the weak, but the spiritual meaning of cultic participation. Drawing from the cup and bread of the Lord’s Supper, as well as Israel’s sacrificial communion, Paul argues that shared ritual eating signifies fellowship.
Even if idols are nothing as gods, pagan sacrifices are connected with demons, and believers must not participate in demonic fellowship. The table of the Lord excludes the table of demons. Paul then returns to practical daily questions about meat. Food in the market may be eaten without tortured inquiry, because the earth is the Lord’s. Likewise food in an unbeliever’s home may be eaten without obsessive scruples.
But if someone specifically says that the meat was sacrificed, the believer should abstain, not because the meat has changed, but because of the other person’s conscience and the testimony involved. Paul closes by bringing the entire matter under one unifying rule: do everything for God’s glory, avoid needless offense, and seek not self-advantage but the salvation of many.
The chapter therefore argues that Christian liberty is always bounded by exclusive allegiance to God, by the edification of others, and by the missionary aim of glorifying God in all of life.
Context
Because covenant privilege does not protect the presumptuous and because believers belong to the Lord alone, Christians must flee idolatry, use liberty for edification, and seek the good of others so that in everything God is glorified.
Paul continues addressing the Corinthian church in a pagan urban environment where idol feasts, temple participation, marketplace meat, social banquets, and public religious life were deeply intertwined with ordinary commerce and civic identity.
Structural Flow
Paul reminds the Corinthians that Israel experienced extraordinary covenant privileges in the wilderness. They were under the cloud, passed through the sea, were baptized into Moses, ate spiritual food, and drank spiritual drink. Yet most of them fell under God’s displeasure.
Paul explains that Israel’s history serves as an example and warning for the church. Believers must not desire evil, become idolaters, commit sexual immorality, test Christ, or grumble as Israel did. He then balances warning with comfort by affirming God’s faithfulness in temptation.
Paul commands the Corinthians to flee from idolatry and argues from the Lord’s Supper and Israel’s sacrificial meals that participation in cultic meals expresses fellowship. Idol sacrifices may be linked to demons, and one cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Paul revisits the slogan about lawfulness and subjects it to the principles of edification and the good of others. Believers may eat marketplace meat without anxious inquiry, and may eat what is set before them in private homes, unless someone identifies it as sacrificial food.
Paul concludes with a sweeping rule: whether eating or drinking or doing anything else, believers must do all to the glory of God, give no needless offense, and seek not their own advantage but the salvation of many.
Chapter Outline
- 10:1-5: Paul reminds the Corinthians that Israel experienced extraordinary covenant privileges in the wilderness. They were under the cloud, passed through the sea, were baptized into Moses, ate spiritual food, and drank spiritual drink. Yet most of them fell under God’s displeasure.
- 10:6-13: Paul explains that Israel’s history serves as an example and warning for the church. Believers must not desire evil, become idolaters, commit sexual immorality, test Christ, or grumble as Israel did. He then balances warning with comfort by affirming God’s faithfulness in temptation.
- 10:14-22: Paul commands the Corinthians to flee from idolatry and argues from the Lord’s Supper and Israel’s sacrificial meals that participation in cultic meals expresses fellowship. Idol sacrifices may be linked to demons, and one cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
- 10:23-30: Paul revisits the slogan about lawfulness and subjects it to the principles of edification and the good of others. Believers may eat marketplace meat without anxious inquiry, and may eat what is set before them in private homes, unless someone identifies it as sacrificial food.
- 10:31-33: Paul concludes with a sweeping rule: whether eating or drinking or doing anything else, believers must do all to the glory of God, give no needless offense, and seek not their own advantage but the salvation of many.
Key Greek Terms
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Typos means a mark, form, pattern, or example that gives recognizable shape for others. Paul tells Timothy to become an example to believers in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Titus must present himself as a pattern of good works and integrity in teaching. Peter forbids elders from domineering and instead calls them examples to the flock. Philippians tells believers to observe those walking according to the apostolic pattern.
A biblical example is not a personality brand or a demand that others copy every preference. The pattern consists of gospel-shaped character and conduct that can be examined, tested, and imitated under Christ.
Sense type, example, pattern, model, formative illustration
Definition examples
Why it matters This term anchors the chapter’s hermeneutic. The wilderness narrative is for Christian instruction, admonition, and vigilance.
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Εὐδοκέω means to be pleased, take delight, consider something good, or willingly choose a course. At Jesus' baptism the Father declares His pleasure in the beloved Son, a public affirmation bound to Jesus' identity and obedient mission. Churches in Macedonia and Achaia are pleased to share materially with poor saints, so the verb can describe willing human resolve.
Paul also says God was pleased to save believers through the proclaimed message that worldly wisdom calls foolish. The word does not mean a passing mood or arbitrary preference. Its subject, object, and purpose show whether it speaks of divine delight, sovereign resolve, communal willingness, or approval of a proposed action.
Sense to take pleasure in, approve, be well pleased with
Definition was pleased
Why it matters This term destroys presumption. Privilege and participation do not guarantee divine approval.
Sense one who craves, one who desires evil things
Definition desire evil
Why it matters This term reminds believers that sin begins not only in outward acts but in inward cravings that must be resisted.
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G1496 is represented in this Pauline-focused companion by the reviewed display gloss "idolater." In Paul's letters, the term appears in passages such as 1Cor. 10. 7, Eph. 5. 5, 1Cor. 5. 10, where the local argument determines whether the emphasis is doctrinal, ethical, pastoral, or ministry-related. The companion therefore treats Idolater as a passage-governed word study rather than a detached lexical slogan.
It gives teachers a compact way to notice the term, compare several Pauline settings, and move toward application only after the immediate context has set the boundary. The aim is disciplined clarity: the Greek term can sharpen reading, but it does not replace the grammar, flow, and theological burden of the passage itself.
Sense idolater, one who worships idols
Definition idolaters
Why it matters This term frames the chapter’s central danger. The issue is not only food, but worship allegiance.
Sense to commit sexual immorality, engage in illicit sexual conduct
Definition commit sexual immorality
Why it matters This term shows that bodily sin and false worship often travel together and must both be rejected.
Sense to test thoroughly, put to the test, provoke through unbelieving challenge
Definition test
Why it matters This term confronts the arrogance that assumes God’s patience can be stretched without consequence.
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Gongyzo names grumbling, murmuring, complaining, or low-voiced discontent that resists what God is doing or what His servants receive. In the Gospels it appears when workers resent the landowner's generosity, religious leaders object to Jesus' fellowship with sinners, hearers complain about Jesus' bread-of-life claim, and disciples stumble over hard teaching.
John also uses it for crowd whispering about Jesus. Paul warns the Corinthians not to repeat Israel's complaining. The word is not a ban on honest lament or wise appeal. It exposes a posture that mutters against grace, rejects Christ's word, or measures God's generosity by self-protective comparison before repentance can soften speech.
Sense to grumble, murmur, complain resentfully
Definition grumble
Why it matters This term broadens the chapter’s warning. Sin includes interior and communal attitudes, not only spectacular acts.
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πειρασμός covers both 'trial' (an experience that tests and proves) and 'temptation' (an enticement toward sin), and the English distinction between these two meanings is not always present in the Greek. The same word covers both because the root meaning is testing — whether the test is a fiery trial that reveals the quality of faith, or an enticement that puts loyalty under pressure. The NT context usually clarifies which direction is in view, though often both are present simultaneously.
James 1:2-4 presents peirasmos as joy-producing precisely because of what it produces: 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials (peirasmois), because you know that the testing (dokimion) of your faith produces endurance (hypomone).' The trial in James is an external difficulty that puts faith under pressure — not an enticement to sin. The joy is not for the difficulty itself but for what it produces in the person who endures through it.
James 1:13-14 then makes the critical distinction for the temptation direction: 'Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.' The source of temptation toward sin is not God but the person's own disordered desire (epithumia). God sends trials; God does not send enticements to sin. This is the theological guardrail built into the passage that uses the same word for both.
The Lord's Prayer petition 'lead us not into temptation (peirasmon) but deliver us from evil' (Matt 6:13) sits in the middle of this range: the prayer asks God to spare the disciple from the testing situation that exceeds their current capacity to bear — which is what 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises ('he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it').
For the preacher, πειρασμός is the word that holds the connection between suffering and temptation — the external difficulty that tests faith often opens the door to the internal temptation to abandon God. Understanding this connection helps pastoral care of people under trial.
Sense temptation, testing, trial that presses toward failure
Definition temptation
Why it matters This term is pastorally crucial. Believers are neither uniquely doomed nor automatically safe; they must depend on God faithfully in real temptation.
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The Greek adjective pistos is one of the New Testament's most theologically load-bearing words. Derived from the same root as pistis (G4102, faith), it operates in two complementary directions: it describes something or someone as worthy of trust (faithful, reliable, trustworthy — the objective sense), and it describes someone who actively trusts (believing, a person of faith — the subjective sense).
Context usually makes clear which direction is in view, but the overlap is deliberate: the character of God as faithful is the ground on which human faith rests. When Paul writes 'God is faithful' (1 Cor. 1:9), he is not simply praising a divine attribute — he is establishing the bedrock on which the Corinthians' shaken confidence can stand. When he describes an elder as 'faithful' (Tit.
1:6) Or a servant as 'faithful and dear' (Eph. 6:21), he is commending the human virtue that mirrors the divine. The word spans the whole biblical theology of covenant: Yahweh is the faithful God who keeps covenant (Deut. 7:9), and the calling of his people is to become, by grace, faithful in return. For the preacher, pistos is a window into the grammar of the covenant relationship — reliability moving in both directions, from God to his people and from his people toward him and one another.
Sense faithful, trustworthy, dependable
Definition faithful
Why it matters This term balances the entire chapter. The answer to temptation is not self-confidence but confidence in God’s faithful provision.
Sense way out, outcome, exit, means of escape or endurance
Definition way of escape
Why it matters This term offers practical hope. Temptation is never an excuse for surrender because God faithfully provides endurance.
Pastoral Entry
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Pheugō means to flee, escape, or move away rapidly from danger. Joseph is commanded to flee Herod's murderous threat with the child Jesus. Townspeople flee after the drowning of the pigs and report what happened. Jesus warns Jerusalem's inhabitants to flee when devastation approaches. Paul commands Timothy to flee the love of money and pursue righteousness. Revelation portrays earth and heaven fleeing from the presence of the final Judge.
The verb can describe prudent protection, fearful reaction, urgent obedience, deliberate moral avoidance, or cosmic disappearance. Scripture does not praise or condemn flight in the abstract. The danger, command, destination, and accompanying pursuit decide whether fleeing is faithful.
Sense to flee, run away from, escape rapidly
Definition flee
Why it matters This term captures the chapter’s practical force. Some dangers are not to be analyzed at length but fled.
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Koinonia means fellowship, participation, sharing, communion, or partnership. In the New Testament it is not mere friendliness or social warmth. The church in Acts devotes itself to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Paul says believers are called into fellowship with God's Son, share in the cup and bread as participation in Christ, and join in practical service for the saints.
He also speaks of fellowship in Christ's sufferings. John says apostolic proclamation brings hearers into fellowship with the witnesses, and that this fellowship is with the Father and His Son. The word joins shared life, shared gospel, shared worship, shared suffering, and shared care.
Sense participation, fellowship, sharing, communion
Definition participation / fellowship
Why it matters This term shows why cultic meals are not neutral. Shared ritual eating expresses spiritual communion.
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Daimonion means a demon or evil spirit, a personal created power opposed to God. Paul says pagan sacrifices participate with demons and warns of teachings associated with deceitful spirits and demons. James says demons possess correct monotheistic knowledge yet shudder, proving that bare assent is not saving faith. The Gospels portray demons oppressing people and submitting to Jesus' sovereign command, while opponents wrongly accuse Jesus of demonic influence.
The word should not become a label for mental illness, disability, trauma, cultural difference, or a difficult person. Scripture affirms real spiritual evil without authorizing speculative diagnosis. Christian response centers on Christ's victory, prayer, truth, holiness, compassionate care, medical help where appropriate, and accountable pastoral practice free from fear, spectacle, or coercion.
Sense demon, evil spiritual being
Definition demons
Why it matters This term sharply heightens the stakes. Divided worship is not a harmless cultural exercise.
Sense to provoke to anger, arouse jealousy or wrath
Definition provoke to jealousy
Why it matters This term makes clear that God’s people cannot divide their worship without courting holy judgment.
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Symphero names what is advantageous, beneficial, useful, or fitting for a real purpose. The word can sound pragmatic, but the New Testament does not let pragmatism define the good. Jesus uses it in hard sayings where losing what leads to sin is better than keeping what destroys. Caiaphas uses the same kind of benefit language politically, arguing that one man's death would be useful for the nation.
Jesus uses it truly when He says His departure is for the disciples' benefit because the Advocate will come. Paul uses it for teaching that helps, liberty that must be tested by benefit, and spiritual gifts given for the common good. Symphero therefore asks who defines benefit, what end is being served, and whether the advantage is holy, loving, and true.
Sense to be beneficial, profitable, conducive to good
Definition beneficial
Why it matters This term protects liberty from becoming selfishness.
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OIKODOMEO, G3618, means to build, and in the New Testament it moves naturally from literal construction to the strengthening of people, churches, and faith. Jesus can speak of a house built on rock, of his church being built, and of disciples being built into a spiritual house. Paul can use the same word family to test whether knowledge, freedom, and speech actually build up others in love.
The word is not a decorative metaphor. It asks whether the work being done forms a durable people under Christ. For shepherds and teachers, it is a searching word: does this teaching, liberty, correction, or ministry construct faith, or does it merely display ability?
Sense to build up, edify, strengthen constructively
Definition builds up
Why it matters This term ties chapter 10 back to chapter 8. Mature decisions are measured by their building effect on others.
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Zeteo means to seek, search for, look for, desire, pursue, strive for, or ask for something. The New Testament uses it for ordinary searching, anxious pursuit, hostile attempts, prayerful asking, kingdom priority, Jesus' saving mission, and resurrection-shaped desire. The word does not automatically mean noble spiritual seeking; people may seek signs, honor, Jesus' death, or their own will.
In its faithful frame, disciples seek first God's kingdom, ask and seek from the Father, learn that the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost, and set their minds on things above because they have been raised with Christ. zeteo therefore exposes both what humans chase and what grace reorders.
Sense to seek, pursue, strive after
Definition let him seek
Why it matters This term states the ethical heart of Christian liberty in communal life.
Pastoral Entry
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δόξα means glory, honor, splendor, or radiance, and in the Pastoral Epistles it gathers the weight of gospel truth, worship, Christ's vindication, eternal salvation, final rescue, and the appearing of Jesus Christ. The word does not function as vague religious brightness. In 1 Timothy, the gospel entrusted to Paul agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, and the King eternal receives honor and glory forever.
In the confession of godliness, Christ is taken up in glory. In 2 Timothy, Paul endures so that the elect may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory, and he closes his confidence in rescue with a doxology: to the Lord be glory forever. Titus places believers in hope as they await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
The word therefore links the message, the God who is worshiped, the Christ who is vindicated and appears, and the future inheritance of the saved. Pastoral teaching should keep that movement intact. δόξα is not human impressiveness. It is the radiance and honor of God revealed in the gospel, centered in Christ, received in hope, and returned to God in worship.
Sense glory, honor, manifest worth, splendor
Definition glory
Why it matters This term gives the final criterion for all Christian conduct. Everyday actions are to display the worth of God.
Sense without offense, not causing stumbling, blameless in relation to others
Definition give no offense
Why it matters This term shows that gospel witness includes careful consideration of how conduct affects many groups.
Pastoral Entry
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σώζω names saving action: rescue from danger, deliverance from ruin, and preservation into the safety God gives. In the Pastoral Epistles, the word is not vague religious improvement. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, God wants people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, and God has saved us not because of our works but because of His purpose, grace, mercy, new birth, and the Holy Spirit.
The word also reaches into ministry responsibility. Timothy's persevering attention to life and teaching is described as saving himself and his hearers, not because teaching earns redemption, but because sound doctrine is one of God's appointed means for guarding people in the gospel. Paul can also use the word for the Lord's final rescue into the heavenly kingdom.
σώζω therefore holds together conversion, mercy, truth, sanctifying means, and final deliverance under God's saving initiative.
Sense to save, rescue, bring into salvation
Definition may be saved
Why it matters This term reveals the chapter’s missionary horizon. The glory of God and the salvation of others are inseparable priorities.
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
Verb Aspect (85 main verbs)
completed 15ongoing 29prospective 2resultant 3imperative 10subjunctive 5background 3infinitive 9participle 9
| v.1 | θέλωthélōwantpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthἀγνοεῖνunawarepresent active infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verbδιῆλθονdiérchomaipassedaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed action |
| v.2 | ἐβαπτίσαντοbaptized themselvesaorist middle indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed action |
| v.3 | ἔφαγονphágōateaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed action |
| v.4 | ἔπιονpínōdrankaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionἔπινονpínōdrankimperfect active indicativebackgroundImperfect indicative — continuous or repeated past actionἀκολουθούσηςfollowedpresent active participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting action |
| v.5 | ηὐδόκησενeudokéōpleasedaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionκατεστρώθησανkatastrṓnnymistruck downaorist passive indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed action |
| v.6 | ἐπεθύμησανepithyméōdesiredaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed action |
| v.7 | γέγραπταιgráphōwrittenperfect passive indicativeresultantPerfect indicative — completed action with present resultἘκάθισενkathízōsat downaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionἀνέστησανrose upaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionπαίζεινpaízōplaypresent active infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verb |
| v.8 | πορνεύωμενporneúōcommit sexual immoralitypresent active subjunctivesubjunctiveSubjunctive mood — conditional, purpose, or contingentἐπόρνευσανporneúōcommitted sexual immoralityaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionἔπεσανpíptōfellaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed action |
| v.9 | ἐκπειράζωμενekpeirázōput ~ tothe testpresent active subjunctivesubjunctiveSubjunctive mood — conditional, purpose, or contingentἐπείρασανpeirázōdidaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionἀπώλλυντοdestroyedimperfect passive indicativebackgroundImperfect indicative — continuous or repeated past action |
| v.10 | γογγύζετεgongýzōgrumblepresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortationἐγόγγυσανgongýzōgrumbledaorist active indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionἀπώλοντοdestroyedaorist middle indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed action |
| v.11 | συνέβαινενsymbaínōhappenedimperfect active indicativebackgroundImperfect indicative — continuous or repeated past actionἐγράφηgráphōwrittenaorist passive indicativecompletedAorist indicative — punctiliar or completed actionκατήντηκενkatantáōcomeperfect active indicativeresultantPerfect indicative — completed action with present result |
| v.12 | δοκῶνdokéōthinkspresent active participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting actionἑστάναιhístēmistandsperfect active infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verbβλεπέτωtake heedpresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortationπέσῃpíptōfallaorist active subjunctivesubjunctiveSubjunctive mood — conditional, purpose, or contingent |
| v.13 | εἴληφενlambánōovertakenperfect active indicativeresultantPerfect indicative — completed action with present resultἐάσειeáōletfuture active indicativeprospectiveFuture indicative — anticipated or promised actionπειρασθῆναιpeirázōtemptedaorist passive infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verbδύνασθεdýnamaiablepresent middle indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthποιήσειpoiéōprovidefuture active indicativeprospectiveFuture indicative — anticipated or promised actionδύνασθαιdýnamaiablepresent middle infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verbὑπενεγκεῖνhypophérōendureaorist active infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verb |
| v.14 | φεύγετεpheúgōfleepresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortation |
| v.15 | λέγωlégōspeakpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthκρίνατεkrínōjudgeaorist active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortationφημιphēmísaypresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.16 | εὐλογοῦμενeulogéōblesspresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthκλῶμενkláōbreakpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.17 | μετέχομενmetéchōpartakepresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.18 | βλέπετεconsiderpresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortationἐσθίοντεςesthíōeatpresent active participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting action |
| v.19 | φημιphēmísayingpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.20 | θύουσινthýōsacrificepresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthθύουσινthýōsacrificepresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthθέλωthélōwantpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.21 | δύνασθεdýnamaiablepresent middle indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthπίνεινpínōdrinkpresent active infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verbδύνασθεdýnamaiablepresent middle indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthμετέχεινmetéchōpartakepresent active infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verb |
| v.22 | παραζηλοῦμενparazēlóōprovoke ~ tojealousypresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.23 | ἔξεστινéxestilawfulpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthσυμφέρειsymphérōbeneficialpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthἔξεστινéxestilawfulpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthοἰκοδομεῖoikodoméōbuild uppresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.24 | ζητείτωzētéōseekpresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortation |
| v.25 | πωλούμενονpōléōsoldpresent passive participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting actionἐσθίετεesthíōeatpresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortationἀνακρίνοντεςasking ~ questionspresent active participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting action |
| v.27 | καλεῖkaléōinvitespresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthθέλετεthélōwantpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthπορεύεσθαιporeúomaigopresent middle infinitiveinfinitiveInfinitive — verbal noun or complementary verbπαρατιθέμενονparatíthēmiset beforepresent passive participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting actionἐσθίετεesthíōeatpresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortationἀνακρίνοντεςraising questionspresent active participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting action |
| v.28 | εἴπῃépōsaysaorist active subjunctivesubjunctiveSubjunctive mood — conditional, purpose, or contingentἐσθίετεesthíōeatpresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortationμηνύσανταmēnýōinformedaorist active participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting action |
| v.29 | λέγωlégōmeanpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthκρίνεταιkrínōjudgedpresent passive indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.30 | μετέχωmetéchōpartakepresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthβλασφημοῦμαιdenouncedpresent passive indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthεὐχαριστῶeucharistéōgive thankspresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truth |
| v.31 | ἐσθίετεesthíōeatpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthπίνετεpínōdrinkpresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthποιεῖτεpoiéōdopresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthποιεῖτεpoiéōdopresent active imperativeimperativeImperative mood — command or exhortation |
| v.33 | ἀρέσκωpleasepresent active indicativeongoingPresent indicative — ongoing, habitual, or general truthζητῶνzētéōseekingpresent active participleparticipleParticiple — verbal adjective, supporting actionσωθῶσινsṓzōsavedaorist passive subjunctivesubjunctiveSubjunctive mood — conditional, purpose, or contingent |
Verb forms indicate aspect — not interpretive weight. Consult context before drawing conclusions about emphasis.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Theological Focus
- Covenant privileges and the danger of presumption
- Israel’s wilderness history as typological warning
- The continuity of God’s people across redemptive history
- The seriousness of idolatry, immorality, testing the Lord, and grumbling
- God’s faithfulness in the face of temptation
- The necessity of fleeing idolatry
- The Lord’s Supper as participation in Christ
- Sacrificial meals as expressions of fellowship
- The demonic dimension of pagan worship
- Exclusive allegiance to the table of the Lord
- Christian liberty constrained by edification and conscience
- The glory of God as the governing end of all conduct
- Seeking the salvation of others over personal advantage
- Ecclesiology
- Christology
- Sacramental theology
- Sanctification
- Perseverance
- Demonology
Theme Weights
Holiness
10
Idolatry Warning
10
Liberty And Love
9
Church Edification
9
Unity
7
Apostolic Authority
7
Cross Wisdom
5
Eschatological Hope
5
Sexual Ethics
4
Worship Order
4
Spiritual Gifts
1
Resurrection
1
Covenant Significance
Paul presents the church as standing in continuity with the covenant people of God. Israel’s deliverance, wilderness provisions, and failures now function as warnings for the church. Covenant privilege is real, but it never licenses rebellion. The people of God must answer grace with holy allegiance rather than presumptuous self-confidence.
Canonical Connections
Paul presents the church as standing in continuity with the covenant people of God. Israel’s deliverance, wilderness provisions, and failures now function as warnings for the church. Covenant privilege is real, but it never licenses rebellion. The people of God must answer grace with holy allegiance rather than presumptuous self-confidence.
Exodus 13:21-22
Exodus 14:21-31
Exodus 16:4-35
Exodus 17:1-7
Exodus 32:1-6
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 95:8-11
Hebrews 3:7-19
Romans 14:13-21
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
1 Corinthians 11:23-32
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Colossians 3:17
Cross References
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? To whom did he swear that they...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans,...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, “All of you drink it, for this is my blood...
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.
Clarifies how the passage points to the gospel of Christ.
Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as...
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations. They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,...
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry...
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. It shall come to pass on the sixth...
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow...
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before...
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
for you shall worship no other god; for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Shows Old Testament grounding that frames or supports this passage.
God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and...
Canon-Wide Connections
Cross-reference data: OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Gospel Clarity
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
Gospel Cross References
We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from...
having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the...
For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? To whom did he swear that they...
For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may...
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.
I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father...
Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up...
Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans,...
He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my...
For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, “All of you drink it, for this is my blood...
Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.
Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as...
Primary Emphasis
Christ is woven through the chapter in several major ways. The wilderness rock is identified with Christ, showing his preexistent covenantal involvement with God’s people. The Lord’s Supper is participation in the body and blood of Christ, making exclusive loyalty to him non-negotiable. Paul also warns against testing Christ, placing him within the identity of the Lord who was provoked in the wilderness.
Chapter Contribution
Paul warns the Corinthians against overconfidence by taking them back to Israel in the wilderness. Israel enjoyed extraordinary redemptive privileges that parallel Christian experience in striking ways. They were delivered, marked out as a people, nourished by God, and sustained by his presence. Yet those privileges did not prevent judgment when the people desired evil, turned to idolatry, fell into sexual immorality, tested the Lord, and grumbled.
Paul insists that these events were recorded as examples for the church upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore confidence without vigilance is deadly. Whoever thinks he stands must take heed lest he fall. Yet this warning is not despairing. God is faithful and will not permit temptation beyond what his people can bear, but will provide a way of endurance.
Paul then turns directly to the idol-food issue and moves beyond the more limited discussion of chapter 8. The real problem is not merely the conscience of the weak, but the spiritual meaning of cultic participation. Drawing from the cup and bread of the Lord’s Supper, as well as Israel’s sacrificial communion, Paul argues that shared ritual eating signifies fellowship.
Even if idols are nothing as gods, pagan sacrifices are connected with demons, and believers must not participate in demonic fellowship. The table of the Lord excludes the table of demons. Paul then returns to practical daily questions about meat. Food in the market may be eaten without tortured inquiry, because the earth is the Lord’s. Likewise food in an unbeliever’s home may be eaten without obsessive scruples.
But if someone specifically says that the meat was sacrificed, the believer should abstain, not because the meat has changed, but because of the other person’s conscience and the testimony involved. Paul closes by bringing the entire matter under one unifying rule: do everything for God’s glory, avoid needless offense, and seek not self-advantage but the salvation of many.
The chapter therefore argues that Christian liberty is always bounded by exclusive allegiance to God, by the edification of others, and by the missionary aim of glorifying God in all of life.
Motifs in This Chapter
Study holiness as divine character, covenant identity, and sanctified life across Scripture.
Track judgment as covenant accountability, divine justice, and eschatological reckoning.
Trace remnant preservation, covenant continuity, and mercy under judgment across Scripture.
Study temple presence, worship, corruption, judgment, and renewal across Scripture.
Follow faith, believing response, trust, and persevering allegiance across Scripture.
Trace how divine glory, revealed majesty, and Christ-centered exaltation move across Scripture.
Trace servant identity, obedient mission, and suffering service across Scripture.
Trace the Spirit's presence, empowerment, renewal, and mission-bearing work across Scripture.
Doctrines in This Chapter
Scripture records past failures of God's people to instruct and warn future generations.
Christ is the ultimate source of spiritual life and provision throughout God's redemptive plan.
Believers possess freedom in Christ but must exercise it with wisdom and love.
Believers live in ways that reflect the gospel and invite others to salvation in Christ.
The conscience plays an important role in guiding moral decisions and must be treated with care within the church community.
Participation in the Lord's Supper expresses covenant allegiance that must not be compromised by idolatry.
God faithfully sustains His people and does not abandon them in the midst of temptation.
God graciously provides for His people, sustaining them through His power and faithfulness.
God alone deserves the devotion and worship of His people, and idolatry must be rejected.
All aspects of the Christian life are ultimately directed toward honoring and magnifying God.
God calls His people to reject sinful desires and pursue a life marked by obedience and purity.
The worship of God must remain distinct from practices connected to false religion.
Believers must remain aware of their vulnerability to sin and avoid spiritual pride.
Persistent rebellion against God brings serious consequences even among those who have received spiritual privilege.
Christian love seeks the spiritual benefit and well-being of others rather than personal advantage.
The church exists to glorify God and to participate in the mission of bringing people to salvation.
God sovereignly governs circumstances, ensuring that temptations do not exceed what believers can endure through His grace.
Believers grow in holiness as they learn from Scripture and submit their desires to God's will.
Receiving spiritual blessings brings with it the responsibility to respond with faith and obedience.
Behind idolatrous worship stand real spiritual powers opposed to the purposes of God.
Freedom in Christ must be stewarded in ways that honor God and strengthen the church.
The Lord’s Supper is a covenantal act of remembrance and participation in Christ’s saving work.
Believers share in the life and benefits of Christ through faith and covenant fellowship.
The church is one body in Christ, expressed through shared participation in the Lord’s table.
Believers must guard against assuming that participation in spiritual activities guarantees faithfulness.
Doctrinal Weight
The church is the covenant people who must learn from Israel, share in the Lord’s table, and live with mutual concern for witness and edification.
Christ is identified with the sustaining rock, the one in whose body and blood believers participate, and the Lord whose exclusive allegiance must not be compromised.
Paul presents the Lord’s Supper as meaningful participation and fellowship, not as a spiritually empty gesture.
Believers must flee idolatry, resist temptation, and order liberty toward holiness, edification, and God’s glory.
The chapter strongly warns against falling while also grounding endurance in the faithfulness of God.
Paul teaches that pagan sacrificial participation is not neutral but linked to demonic realities.
Reading Lenses
8 Imperatives
- Do not desire evil
- Do not be idolaters
- Do not commit sexual immorality
- Do not test Christ
- Do not grumble
- Take heed lest you fall
- Flee idolatry
- Seek the good of the other
Warnings and Misreadings
- Paul gives severe warning against presumption, idolatry, and divided worship. Covenant experiences, spiritual privileges, and doctrinal knowledge do not protect those who flirt with evil. One cannot partake of the Lord’s table while participating in demonic fellowship.
- Because Israel had spiritual experiences, they were automatically secure regardless of conduct. - Paul’s whole point is the opposite. Extraordinary privileges do not cancel the danger of judgment when God’s people become presumptuous and disobedient.
- The rock was literally Christ in a simplistic physical sense. - Paul is making a typological and theological identification, emphasizing Christ’s sustaining presence with God’s people, not flattening the narrative into crude literalism.
- God will never allow a temptation that feels overwhelming. - Paul teaches that God is faithful and provides a way to endure temptation, not that believers will never feel intense pressure or weakness.
- If idols are nothing, participation in idol feasts is spiritually harmless. - Paul explicitly denies this. Though idols are nothing as rival gods, pagan sacrifices are linked to demons, and cultic participation is spiritually incompatible with communion in Christ.
- Paul’s instructions about meat mean believers must live in constant fear of contamination. - Paul rejects obsessive scrupulosity. Meat may ordinarily be eaten without anxious inquiry. The issue becomes acute when testimony, conscience, or cultic participation is involved.
- Doing all to the glory of God is a vague devotional slogan detached from ordinary life. - Paul applies it concretely to eating, drinking, social settings, liberty, and relationships. The glory of God governs embodied, everyday decisions.
Discipleship Questions
- Have I mistaken spiritual privilege, knowledge, or past experience for present faithfulness?
- Where am I tempted to presume that I am stronger than I really am?
- Are there forms of idolatrous participation or divided allegiance that I have treated too lightly?
- Do I flee temptation, or do I test my strength by lingering near it?
- Am I using my liberty in ways that genuinely build others up?
- When making ordinary choices, do I think first about my rights, or about God’s glory and other people’s good?
- Do my habits and social patterns communicate exclusive loyalty to Christ?
- Am I seeking my own advantage more than the salvation of many?
Pastoral Applications
- Pastors must hold together two truths Paul refuses to separate: severe warning against presumption and deep comfort in God’s faithfulness amid temptation.
- Churches should teach that idolatry is not limited to ancient statues. Allegiance, fellowship, and ritual participation still matter, and believers must discern what competes with exclusive devotion to Christ.
- The Supper must be taught not as empty symbolism but as meaningful participation in Christ that reinforces covenant loyalty and mutual fellowship.
- Believers should be trained away from both legalistic fear and careless self-assertion. Mature liberty asks what glorifies God, edifies others, and avoids spiritual confusion.
- This chapter provides strong pastoral resources for counseling believers facing temptation. God is faithful, escape is real, and endurance is possible, but temptation must not be treated lightly.
- The church should adopt Paul’s closing principle as a missionary ethic: avoid needless offense, seek the good of others, and aim at the salvation of many.
Pastoral Trajectories
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
Imperatives
8
Very high
Imperative Themes
- Do not desire evil
- Do not be idolaters
- Do not commit sexual immorality
- Do not test Christ
- Do not grumble
- Take heed lest you fall
- Flee idolatry
- Seek the good of the other
Word Pictures (Robertson)
A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (1930–31) — public domain
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
Paul presents the church as standing in continuity with the covenant people of God. Israel’s deliverance, wilderness provisions, and failures now function as warnings for the church. Covenant privilege is real, but it never licenses rebellion. The people of God must answer grace with holy allegiance rather than presumptuous self-confidence.
The gospel shapes this chapter by showing that deliverance and covenant privileges are gifts of grace, not grounds for arrogance. Christ is the one in whom believers truly participate, and his people must not divide their allegiance. God’s faithfulness in temptation and the call to seek the salvation of many reflect the gracious, preserving, outward-facing character of the gospel.
Focus Points
- Covenant privileges and the danger of presumption
- Israel’s wilderness history as typological warning
- The continuity of God’s people across redemptive history
- The seriousness of idolatry, immorality, testing the Lord, and grumbling
- God’s faithfulness in the face of temptation
- The necessity of fleeing idolatry
- The Lord’s Supper as participation in Christ
- Sacrificial meals as expressions of fellowship
- The demonic dimension of pagan worship
- Exclusive allegiance to the table of the Lord
- Christian liberty constrained by edification and conscience
- The glory of God as the governing end of all conduct
- Seeking the salvation of others over personal advantage
- Ecclesiology
- Christology
- Sacramental theology
- Sanctification
- Perseverance
- Demonology
Cross References
And the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place before the people.
Old Testament foundation
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. And the Egyptians chased after them—all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and...
Old Testament foundation
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions. Then on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” So Moses and...
Old Testament foundation
Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted for water...
Old Testament foundation
Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!” So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters,...
Old Testament foundation
Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” So the Lord sent venomous snakes among the...
Old Testament foundation
Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness, where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”
Old Testament foundation
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.
Gospel resolution
Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.
Gospel resolution
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God— as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.
Gospel resolution
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
Thematic parallel
Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no...
Thematic parallel
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the one who loves God is known by God.
Thematic parallel
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you...
Thematic parallel
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the...
Thematic parallel
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Thematic parallel
For (γαρ). Correct text, not δε. Paul appeals to the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness in confirmation of his statement concerning himself in 9:26 f. and as a powerful warning to the Corinthians who may be tempted to flirt with the idolatrous practices of their neighbours. It is a real, not an imaginary peril. All under the cloud (παντες υπο την νεφελην).
They all marched under the pillar of cloud by day ( Ex 13:21 ; 14:19 ) which covered the host ( Nu 14:14 ; Ps 95:39 ). This mystic cloud was the symbol of the presence of the Lord with the people.
Were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (παντες εις τον Μωυσην εβαπτισαντο εν τη νεφελη κα εν τη θαλασση). The picture is plain enough. The mystic cloud covered the people while the sea rose in walls on each side of them as they marched across. B K L P read εβαπτισαντο (causative first aorist middle, got themselves baptized) while Aleph A C D have εβαπτισθησαν (first aorist passive, were baptized).
The immersion was complete for all of them in the sea around them and the cloud over them. Moses was their leader then as Christ is now and so Paul uses εις concerning the relation of the Israelites to Moses as he does of our baptism in relation to Christ ( Ga 3:27 ).
The same spiritual meat (το αυτο πνευματικον βρωμα). Westcott and Hort needlessly bracket to αυτο. Βρωμα is food, not just flesh. The reference is to the manna ( Ex 16:13 ff. ) which is termed "spiritual" by reason of its supernatural character. Jesus called himself the true bread from heaven ( Joh 6:35 ) which the manna typified.
For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them (επινον εκ πνευματικης ακολουθουσης πετρας). Change to the imperfect επινον shows their continual access to the supernatural source of supply. The Israelites were blessed by the water from the rock that Moses smote at Rephidim ( Ex 17:6 ) and at Kadesh ( Nu 20:11 ) and by the well of Beer ( Nu 21:16 ). The rabbis had a legend that the water actually followed the Israelites for forty years, in one form a fragment of rock fifteen feet high that followed the people and gushed out water.
Baur and some other scholars think that Paul adopts this "Rabbinical legend that the water-bearing Rephidim rock journeyed onwards with the Israelites" (Findlay). That is hard to believe, though it is quite possible that Paul alludes to this fancy and gives it a spiritual turn as a type of Christ in allegorical fashion. Paul knew the views of the rabbis and made use of allegory on occasion ( Ga 4:24 ).
And the rock was Christ (η πετρα δε ην ο Χριστος). He definitely states here in symbolic form the preexistence of Christ. But surely "we must not disgrace Paul by making him say that the pre-incarnate Christ followed the march of Israel in the shape of a lump of rock" (Hofmann). He does mean that Christ was the source of the water which saved the Israelites from perishing (Robertson and Plummer) as he is the source of supply for us today.
With most of them (εν τοις πλειοσιν αυτων). "A mournful understatement," for only two (Caleb and Joshua) actually reached the Promised Land ( Nu 14:30-32 ). All the rest were rejected or αδοκιμο ( 9:27 ). Were overthrown (κατεστρωθησαν). First aorist passive indicative of καταστρωννυμ, old compound verb, to stretch or spread down as of a couch, to lay low (Euripides), as if by a hurricane.
Powerful picture of the desolation wrought by the years of disobedience and wanderings in the desert by this verb quoted from Nu 14:16 .
Were our examples (τυπο ημων εγενηθησαν). More exactly, examples for us (objective genitive ημων, not subjective genitive, of us). The word τυπο (our types) comes from τυπτω, to strike, and meant originally the mark of a blow as the print of the nails ( Joh 20:25 ), then a figure formed by a blow like images of the gods ( Ac 7:43 ), then an example to be imitated ( 1Pe 5:3 ; 1Ti 4:12 ; 1Th 1:7 ; 2Th 3:9 ), or to be avoided as here, and finally a type in a doctrinal sense ( Ro 5:14 ; Heb 9:24 ).
To the intent we should not lust after (εις το μη εινα ημας επιθυμητας). Purpose expressed by εις with the articular infinitive το εινα and the accusative of general reference with επιθυμητας (lusters) in the predicate.
Neither be ye idolaters (μηδε ειδωλολατρα γινεσθε). Literally, stop becoming idolaters, implying that some of them had already begun to be. The word ειδωλολατρης seems to be a Christian formation to describe the Christian view. Eating τα ειδωλοθυτα might become a stepping-stone to idolatry in some instances. Drink (πειν). Short form for πιειν, sometimes even πιν occurs (Robertson, Grammar , p.
204). To play (παιζειν). This old verb to play like a child occurs nowhere else in the N. T. , but is common in the LXX and it is quoted here from Ex 32:6 . In idolatrous festivals like that witnessed by Moses when he saw the people singing and dancing around the golden calf ( Ex 32:18 f. ).
Neither let us commit fornication (μηδε πορνευωμεν). More exactly, And let us cease practicing fornication as some were already doing ( 1Co 6:11 ; 7:2 ). The connection between idolatry and fornication was very close (see Jowett, Epistles of Paul , II, p. 70) and see about Baal-Peor ( Nu 25:1-9 ). It was terribly true of Corinth where prostitution was part of the worship of Aphrodite.
In one day (μια ημερα). An item that adds to horror of the plague in Nu 25:9 where the total number is 24,000 instead of 23,000 as here for one day.
Neither let us tempt the Lord (μηδε εκπειραζωμεν τον Κυριον). So the best MSS. instead of Christ. This compound occurs in LXX and in N. T. always about Christ (here and Mt 4:7 ; Lu 4:12 ; 10:25 ). Let us cease sorely (εκ-) tempting the Lord by such conduct. And perished by the serpents (κα υπο των οφεων απωλλυντο). Vivid imperfect middle (cf. aorist middle απωλοντο in verse 10 ), were perishing day by day.
The story is told in Nu 21:6 . The use of υπο for agent with the intransitive middle of απολλυμ is regular. Note the Ionic uncontracted genitive plural οφεων rather than οφων.
Neither murmur ye (μηδε γογγυζετε). Implying that some of them were murmuring. For this late picturesque onomatopoetic verb see on Mt 20:11 . The reference seems to be to Nu 16:41 f. after the punishment of Korah. By the destroyer (υπο του ολοθρευτου). This word, from ολοθρευω (late verb from ολεθρος, destruction) occurs only here, so far as known. The reference is to the destroying angel of Ex 12:23 (ο ολοθρευων).
Now these things happened unto them (ταυτα δε συνεβαινον εκεινοις). Imperfect tense because they happened from time to time. By way of example (τυπικως). Adverb in sense of τυπο in verse 6 . Only instance of the adverb except in ecclesiastical writers after this time, but adjective τυπικος occurs in a late papyrus. For our admonition (προς νουθεσιαν ημων). Objective genitive (ημων) again.
Νουθεσια is late word from νουθετεω (see on Ac 20:31 ; 1Th 5:12 , 14 ) for earlier νουθετησις and νουθετια. The ends of the ages have come (τα τελη των αιωνων κατηντηκεν). Cf. Heb 9:26 η συντελεια των αιωνων, the consummation of the ages (also Mt 13:40 ). The plural seems to point out how one stage succeeds another in the drama of human history. Κατηντηκεν is perfect active indicative of κατανταω, late verb, to come down to (see on Ac 16:1 ).
Does Paul refer to the second coming of Christ as in 7:26 ? In a sense the ends of the ages like a curtain have come down to all of us.
Lest he fall (μη πεση). Negative purpose with μη and second aorist active subjunctive of πιπτω.
Hath taken (ειληφεν). Perfect active indicative of λαμβανω. But such as man can bear (ε μη ανθρωπινος). Except a human one. Old adjective meaning falling to the lot of man. Above that ye are able (υπερ ο δυνασθε). Ellipsis, but plain. There is comfort in that God is faithful, trustworthy (πιστος). The way of escape (την εκβασιν). "The way out" is always there right along with (συν) the temptation. This old word only here in N.T. and Heb 13:7 about death. It is cowardly to yield to temptation and distrustful of God.
Wherefore (διοπερ). Powerfully Paul applies the example of the Israelites to the perilous state of the Corinthians about idolatry. See on verse 7 for word ειδωλολατρεια.
As to wise men (ως φρονιμοις). No sarcasm as in 2Co 11:19 , but plea that they make proper use of the mind (φρεν) given them.
The cup of blessing (το ποτηριον της ευλογιας). The cup over which we pronounce a blessing as by Christ at the institution of the ordinance. A communion of the blood of Christ (κοινωνια του αιματος του Χριστου). Literally, a participation in (objective genitive) the blood of Christ. The word κοινωνια is an old one from κοινωνος, partner, and so here and Php 2:1 ; 3:10 .
It can mean also fellowship ( Ga 2:9 ) or contribution ( 2Co 8:4 ; Php 1:5 ). It is, of course, a spiritual participation in the blood of Christ which is symbolized by the cup. Same meaning for κοινωνια in reference to "the body of Christ." The bread which we break (τον αρτον ον κλωμεν). The loaf. Inverse attraction of the antecedent (αρτον) to the case (accusative) of the relative (ον) according to classic idiom (Robertson, Grammar , p.
488). Αρτος probably from αρω, to join or fit (flour mixed with water and baked). The mention of the cup here before the bread does not mean that this order was observed for see the regular order of bread and then cup in 11:24-27 .
One bread (εις αρτος). One loaf. Who are many (ο πολλο). The many. We all (ο παντες). We the all, the whole number, ο παντες being in apposition with the subject we (ημεις unexpressed). Partake (μετεχομεν). Have a part with or in, share in. See on 9:12 ; Heb 2:14 ; 5:13 (partaking of milk). Of the one bread (του ενος αρτου). Of the one loaf, the article του referring to one loaf already mentioned.
One body (εν σωμα). Here the mystical spiritual body of Christ as in 12:12 f. , the spiritual kingdom or church of which Christ is head ( Col 1:18 ; Eph 5:23 ).
After the flesh (κατα σαρκα). The literal Israel, the Jewish people, not the spiritual Israel (Ισραηλ κατα πνευμα) composed of both Jews and Gentiles, the true children of faith ( Ro 2:28 ; 9:8 ; Gal 3:7 ). Communion with the altar (κοινωνο του θυσιαστηριου). Same idea in κοινωνο participators in, partners in, sharers in (with objective genitive). The word θυσιαστηριον is from late verb θυσιαζω, to offer sacrifice, and that from θυσια, sacrifice, and that from θυω, common verb to slay, to sacrifice (verse 20 ).
The Israelites who offer sacrifices have a spiritual participation in the altar.
A thing sacrificed to idols (ειδωλοθυτον). See on Ac 15:29 ; 1Co 8:1 , 4 . Idol (ειδωλον). Image of a god. See on Ac 7:41 ; 15:20 ; 1Co 8:4 , 7 .
But I say that (αλλ' οτ). The verb φημ (I say) must be repeated from verse 19 before οτ. To demons, and not to God (δαιμονιοις κα ου θεω). Referring to LXX text of De 32:17 . It is probable that by ου θεω Paul means "to a no-god" as also in De 32:21 επ' ουκ εθνε (by a no-people). This is Paul's reply to the heathen who claimed that they worshipped the gods represented by the images and not the mere wood or stone or metal idols.
The word δαιμονια is an adjective δαιμονιος from δαιμων, an inferior deity, and with same idea originally, once in this sense in N. T. ( Ac 17:18 ). Elsewhere in N. T. it has the notion of evil spirits as here, those spiritual forces of wickedness ( Eph 6:12 ) that are under the control of Satan. The word δαιμονια, so common in the Gospels, occurs in Paul's writings only here and 1Ti 4:1 .
Demonology is a deep and dark subject here pictured by Paul as the explanation of heathenism which is a departure from God ( Ro 1:19-23 ) and a substitute for the worship of God. It is a terrible indictment which is justified by the licentious worship associated with paganism then and now.
Ye cannot (ου δυνασθε). Morally impossible to drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons, to partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons. Of the table of the Lord (τραπεζης Κυριου). No articles, but definite idea. Τραπεζα is from τετρα (four) and πεζα (a foot), four-footed. Here table means, as often, what is on the table. See Lu 22:30 where Jesus says "at my table" (επ της τραπεζης μου), referring to the spiritual feast hereafter.
Here the reference is plainly to the Lord's Supper (Κυριακον δειπνον, 1Co 11:20 ). See allusions in O. T. to use of the table in heathen idol feasts ( Isa 65:11 ; Jer 7:18 ; Eze 16:18 f. ; 23:41 ). The altar of burnt-offering is called the table of the Lord in Mal 1:7 (Vincent).
Provoke to jealousy (παραζηλουμεν). The very word used in De 32:21 of the insolence of the old Israelites. Quoted in Ro 10:19 . Such double-dealing now will do this very thing. Stronger than he (ισχυροτερο αυτου). Comparative adjective followed by the ablative.
Edify not (ουκ οικοδομε). Build up. Explanation of
Let no man seek his own (μηδεις το εαυτου ζητειτω). This is Paul's rule for social relations ( 1Co 13:5 ; Ga 6:2 ; Ro 14:7 ; 15:2 ; Php 2:1 ff. ) and is the way to do what is expedient and what builds up. His neighbour's good (το του ετερου). Literally, "the affair of the other man." Cf. τον ετερον in Ro 13:8 for this idea of ετερος like ο πλησιον (the nigh man, the neighbour) in Ro 15:2 . This is loving your neighbour as yourself by preferring your neighbour's welfare to your own ( Php 2:4 ).
In the shambles (εν μακελλω). Only here in N. T. A transliterated Latin word macellum , possibly akin to μαχερια and the Hebrew word for enclosure, though occurring in Ionic and Laconian and more frequent in the Latin. It occurs in Dio Cassius and Plutarch and in the papyri and inscriptions for "the provision market." Deissmann ( Light from the Ancient East , p.
276) says: "In the Macellum at Pompeii we can imagine to ourselves the poor Christians buying their modest pound of meat in the Corinthian Macellum ( 1Co 10:25 ), with the same life-like reality with which the Diocletian maximum tariff called up the picture of the Galilean woman purchasing her five sparrows." Asking no questions for conscience sake (μηδεν ανακρινοντες δια την συνειδησιν).
As to whether a particular piece of meat had been offered to idols before put in the market. Only a part was consumed in the sacrifices to heathen gods. The rest was sold in the market. Do not be over-scrupulous. Paul here champions liberty in the matter as he had done in 8:4 .
This verse gives the reason for Paul's advice. It is a quotation from Ps 24:1 and was a common form of grace before meals. Fulness (πληρωμα). Old word from πληροω, to fill, here that with which a thing is filled, whatever fills the earth.
Biddeth you (καλε υμας). To a general banquet, but not to a temple feast ( 8:10 ) which is prohibited. If a pagan invites Christians to their homes to a banquet, one is to act like a gentleman.
But if any man say unto you (εαν δε τις υμιν ειπη). Condition of third class. Suppose at such a banquet a "weak" brother makes the point to you: "This hath been offered in sacrifice" (τουτο ιεροθυτον εστιν). Hιεροθυτον, late word in Plutarch, rare in inscriptions and papyri, only here in N. T. Eat not (μη εσθιετε). Present imperative with μη prohibiting the habit of eating then.
Pertinent illustration to the point of doing what is expedient and edifying. That shewed it (τον μηνυσαντα). First aorist active articular participle (accusative case because of δια) from μηνυω, old verb, to point out, to disclose. See Lu 20:37 .
For why is my liberty judged by another conscience? (ινα τ γαρ η ελευθερια μου κρινετα υπο αλλης συνειδησεωσ;). Supply γενητα (deliberative subjunctive) after τ. Paul deftly puts himself in the place of the strong brother at such a banquet who is expected to conform his conscience to that of the weak brother who makes the point about a particular piece of meat.
It is an abridgment of one's personal liberty in the interest of the weak brother. Two individualities clash. The only reason is love which builds up ( 8:2 and all of chapter 1Co 13 ). There is this eternal collision between the forces of progress and reaction. If they work together, they must consider the welfare of each other.
Paul carries on the supposed objective to his principle of love. Why incur the risk of being evil spoken of (βλασφημουμα) for the sake of maintaining one's liberty? Is it worth it? See Ro 14:6 where Paul justifies the conscience of one who eats the meat and of one who does not. Saying grace over food that one should not eat seems inconsistent. We have this very word blaspheme in English.
To the glory of God (εις δοξαν θεου). This is the ruling motive in the Christian's life, not just having his own way about whims and preferences.
Give no occasion of stumbling (απροσκοπο). Late word and in papyri, only three times in N.T. (here; Php 1:10 ; Ac 24:16 ). See on Acts 24:16 . Here in active sense, not tripping others by being a stumbling-block, as in Sirach 32:21 , but passive in Ac 24:16 .
Mine own profit (το εμουτου συμφερον). Old word from συμφερω, to bear together, and explains use of verb in verse 23 . That they may be saved (ινα σωθωσιν). First aorist passive subjunctive of σωζω, to save, with ινα purpose clause with same high motive as in 9:22 . This is the ruling passion of Paul in his dealings with men.