Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 a way out so that you can endure it.
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks 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 share the one loaf.
Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

• 1 Corinthians 10:1-33

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 ‘Privileges, poorly executed, are not blessings’: “The possession of privileges is not everything. All those who were with Moses in the wilderness had privileges of a high order. Did they not all pass through the Red Sea and so escape from their powerful and cruel foes? Did they not all drink water that gushed from the flinty rock? Were they not all fed with manna from heaven? Yet their privileges did not save them, for while they had the five privileges mentioned in these four verses, they fell into the five great sins we read about in verses 6-10. And so their privileges, instead of being a blessing to them, only increased their condemnation.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Corinthians 10:4 ‘Jesus – the Rock’: “The Israelites were supplied with water from the rock of Meribah both at the beginning (Ex 17:1–7) and toward the end of their desert wanderings in the Pentateuch narrative (Nu 20:2–13). Jewish legend referred to a water-supplying ‘rock’ which traveled alongside the people throughout their 40-year journey. Paul did not endorse this account as literal history but affirmed that a supernatural ‘Rock’ had indeed accompanied them, and that ‘Rock’ was Jesus.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 10:5 ‘God was not pleased’: “In spite of this, God was not pleased with most of them, disciplining them severely. Because of their perpetual disobedience and ungratefulness, God struck them down in the wilderness (see Num 14:1-38). Thus, being recipients of God’s kindness is no guarantee of avoiding his disciplining hand for our rebellion.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 10:6-11 ‘worldliness puts us in danger’: “The worldliness in the Corinthian church was putting them in danger of divine chastisement. Therefore, Paul warns them to consider the example of the Israelites and not to desire evil things as they did (10:6). Specifically, he urges them to avoid idolatry (10:7), sexual immorality (10:8), and complaining (10:10). These sins led to the downfall of the Israelites (see, e.g., Exod 32:1-6; Num 16:41-50; 2s:1-15), and they can lead to ours. Paul tells his readers, ‘These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction.’ The apostle didn’t want lessons of old to be lost on the Corinthians. What happened to Israel was included in the pages of Scripture as a warning for their benefit-and for ours.
“Christians are those on whom the ends of the ages have come (10:11). The consequences are high for any believers in the church age who choose to follow the sinful example of Israel’s wilderness generation. Remember God’s warning to the Galatians: ‘God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap’ (Gal 6:7).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 10:6 ‘our examples’: ”They died in the wilderness because of their failure of self-discipline and consequent indulgence of every desire (see … 9:27). Four major sins characterized them: idolatry (v. 7); sexual immorality (v. 8); testing God (v. 9); and complaining (v. 10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 10:9 ‘tempt Christ’: “Numbers 21 records this story of the people questioning the goodness and plan of the One carrying them through the wilderness, the Protector and Provider, the spiritual Rock, Christ pre-incarnate (see … v. 4). serpents. See Num. 21:6; cf. 11:30.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 10:11-12 ‘The Corinthians had failed’: “The Corinthians had become overconfident in their spirituality; so Paul directed their attention to the example of the Israelite people. He pointed out that although the Israelites had consumed the same spiritual food and drink as the Corinthians, they had failed to please God (vv. 3-4). They had fallen into sins of idolatry and sexual immorality, complaining against God and tempting him. To ‘tempt’ (Gk. ekpeirazō, lit. ‘to put to the test’) God is to try or test his patience thoroughly (v. 10). The Israelites had pushed God to the limit by constantly compromising his commands. Paul admonished the Corinthians to exercise caution, for they were beginning to place confidence in their own spiritual state and were thus susceptible to falling into sin just as the Israelites had done.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 10:13 ‘Self-Control’: “Self-discipline is essential to personal development, spiritual growth and Christian service. However, self-discipline does not ‘just happen’ or appear as a natural trait. People must practice self-control in order to lead disciplined lives. For the Christian woman, God’s unlimited power can be added to limited human willpower to develop divine discipline. Divine discipline requires a personal action to receive the Holy Spirit’s power.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 10:13 ‘God is faithful to the tempted.’: “God is also faithful to the tempted. The faithfulness of God is operating to deliver us also from the temptations that bother us.
“Some poor, suffering Christians say, ‘I feel all boxed in, as if there was a wall all around me.’ Someone has pointed out that when you can’t escape to the right, the left, forward or backward, you can always go up. God’s faithfulness is the way out, because it’s the way up, you can be sure of that. Your temptation is common to everybody. If you’re on the borderline of the victorious life and you say, ‘Under the circumstances in which I live, I just can’t make it,’ remember God says your temptation is common to all.
“My father was a tough English farmer. I was proud of the strength of my father. But when he got a cold, he became the biggest baby in the world. He would say that nobody ever had a cold like his. My poor, little, old German mother could get so sick that she would go limping around, pale and tired out, yet she had to keep going. But when my big, tough father got sick, he laid down and called for her, and she had to wait on him. He thought that the kind of cold he got was unique, but it was a just a cold in his nose.
“Likewise, we think we’re tempted above all others. We should remember, however, that there have been saints that have crossed the briar patch where we are now, and they got out all right. If we believe God, we’ll make it too.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God II

1 Corinthians 10:13 ‘tried and tempted’: “Paul offered several comforts by which fainting spirits may be revived. First, none of us have been tried in any unusual way. We may think we have been tried more than others, but it is only our lack of knowledge of the trials of others that leads us to imagine our trials are unique. Second, we have a far better source of comfort than that: ‘But God is faithful.’ We are not faithful in the full sense of the term. But God is faithful to all his promises. What more do we need than the faithfulness of God to banish from our minds all dark forebodings?
“Further comfort for a tried and tempted believer arises from God’s power, God’s judgment, and the restraint God puts on the temptation-‘he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.’ God has power to limit temptation. This is clear from the experience of Job. Who besides God knows how much we are able to bear? That God is master of the situation gives us great comfort.
“Comfort also can be found in that God makes a provision for the tempted, a way of escape for his people-‘with the temptation he will also provide a way out.’ There is a proper way to escape from a temptation. There are many improper ways, and woe to the person who makes use of any of them. But there is only one proper way out, and that is the way God has made. The right way is always of God’s making and; therefore, any of us who are now exposed to temptation or trial are not to make our own way of escape out of it. Finally, we can take comfort in the support God supplies in the trial-‘so that you may be able to bear it.’ Sometimes our way of escape is not to avoid the trial but to be able to bear it, knowing that if we must have the trial we will only have the beneficial part of it.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Corinthians 10:13 ‘Flee from sensuality’: “Whenever the New Testament lingers on the subject of sensual temptation, it gives us one command: RUN! The Bible does not tell us to reason with it. It does not tell us to think about it and claim verses. It tells us to FLEE! I have discovered you cannot yield to sensuality of you’re running away from it. So? Run for your life! Get out of there! If you try to reason with lust or play around with sensual thoughts, you will finally yield. You can’t fight it. That’s why the Spirit of God forcefully commands, ‘RUN!’”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Bedside Blessing

1 Corinthians 10:16 ‘cup of blessing’: “The proper name given to the third cup during the Passover Feast. At the last Passover with the disciples, Jesus used the third cup as the symbol of His blood shed for sin. That cup became the one used to institute the Lord’s Supper. He set the cup apart as a token of salvation blessing before passing it to the 12 (see … Luke 22:17, 20). communion. Means ‘to have in common, to participate and have partnership with.’ The same Gr. word is used in 1:9; 2 Cor. 8:4; Phil. 2:1; 3:10. Commemorating the Lord’s Supper was a regular and cherished practice in the early church, by which believers remembered their Savior’s death and celebrated their common salvation and eternal life which reflected their perfect spiritual oneness. the blood of Christ. A vivid phrase used to represent Christ’s sacrificial death and full atoning work. See … Rom 5:9. See Acts 20:28; Rom. 3:25; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:20; 1 Pet. 1:19; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 5:9. the bread. This symbolized our Lord’s body as the cup symbolized His blood. Both point to His death as a sacrifice for the salvation of men.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 10:18 ‘Observe Israel’: “In the OT sacrifices, the offering was on behalf of all who ate (see Lev. 7:15–18). By such action, the people were identifying with the offering and affirming their devotion to God to whom it was offered. Paul was, by this, implying how any sacrifice made to an idol (see vv. 7, 14) was identifying with and participating with that idol. It is completely inconsistent for believers to participate in any such worship (v. 21).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 10:21-22 ‘Lord’s cup – symbolic of relationship’: “The cup of libation poured at the end of pagan feasts in honor of the sponsoring deity was incompatible with drinking the cup of the Lord. The Lord’s cup, symbolic of the believer’s relationship to God, excluded the possibility of any relationship to demons. Furthermore, sharing the bread of the Lord, which was symbolic of the believer’s commitment to Christ’s body—the church—barred them from communing (and therefore being bound) with people who communed with demons (v. 17). Attendance at pagan feasts therefore violated both the vertical dimension of their relationship to God and the horizontal dimension of their relationship to each other.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 10:23-24 ‘Choosing to be a Positive Influence’: “I don’t have a particular problem with alcohol. I get that Jesus turned water into wine. I understand that alcohol has been around and is legal for people of a certain drinking age established by the individual states. I take issue with the prevalence of alcohol abuse.
“And so I decided long ago that since I could not see any way that it was going to help me and it wasn’t something I would miss, I would choose not to drink. Besides, if l don’t drink with a friend who has a problem keeping his drinking under control, I might influence him in a positive way to get help.
“Another thing I have tried to choose carefully is my speaking venues. It’s a concern my friend James Brown shares with me as a fellow believer. We both get quite a few requests to speak at corporations and have debated to what extent we should look at the values of the company or its products to determine where to speak or evaluate the impact we might have by speaking there. In certain instances, speaking at a particular company might be permissible, but might cause someone who doesn’t know Christ to question our witness or values, so in those situations we’ve each declined.”

• Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker, Uncommon Life – Daily Challenge (excerpt from devotion for 10 February)

1 Corinthians 10:25 ‘Archaeology’: “Archaeological finds are rich in Corinth, in the city that existed in Paul’s day. Corinthian ruins include the marketplace and a stone bench identified as the bema, the judgment seat where Paul was brought before the proconsul Gallio. Also from Corinth is an inscription mentioning Gallio. Everywhere he went, Paul was in touch with Roman authorities, either because he was in trouble with them, or because they were protecting him, or both. Inscriptions from Corinth identify the meat market, and also name ‘Lucian the butcher.’ Butchers and meat markets recall Paul’s writing to the Corinthian church over the issue of eating meat from the market that had been sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 10:25).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

1 Corinthians 10:25 ‘Cults and Superstitions’: “Meat was eaten frequently in connection with religious sacrifices. Birds were sacrificed often; oxen on special occasions. Leftover meat was kept by the priests and worshipers. What they did not use themselves would be sold in the marketplace, with or without information that it had been sacrificed. Paul warned against eating this meat in a pagan temple, but allowed it to be eaten in a household (1 Cor. 8:10; 10:25).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

1 Corinthians 10:29 ‘our liberty judged by another’: “Offending a weaker brother with one’s freedom will cause the offended person to condemn us.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 10:31 ‘do all to God’s glory’: “Paul’s exhortation to ‘do all to the glory of God’ is more than pious idealism. It is an integral part of the sacred revelation and is to be accepted as the very Word of Truth. It opens before us the possibility of making every act of our lives contribute to the glory of God.  Lest we should be too timid to include everything, Paul mentions specifically eating and drinking. This humble privilege we share with the beasts that perish. If these lowly animal acts can be so performed as to honor God, then it becomes difficult to conceive of one that cannot.
“That monkish hatred of the body which figures so prominently in the works of certain early devotional writers is wholly without support in the Word of God. Common modesty is found in the sacred Scriptures, it is true, but never prudery or a false sense of shame. The New Testament accepts as a matter of course that in His incarnation our Lord took upon Him a real human body, and no effort is made to steer around the downright implications of such a fact. He lived in that body here among men and never once performed a non-sacred act. His presence in human flesh -sweeps away forever the evil notion that there is about the human body something innately offensive to the Deity. God created our bodies, and we do not offend Him by placing the responsibility where it belongs. He is not ashamed of the work of His-own hands.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

1 Corinthians 10:31 ‘A Disciplined Body’: “If you struggle with weight control, God’s Word has both encouragement and admonishment:
1. Be accepting. God designed your physical make-up. Refrain from criticizing his creation (Ps 139:13–16).
2. Be grateful. God has given you a triumphal new nature at your conversion. You are admonished to give thanks to God who gives you victory in the Lord Jesus Christ (1Co 15:57).
3. Be careful. The Bible, speaking for moderation and against gluttony, condemns overindulgence (Pr 23:20–21). Resist extra helpings and rich foods that add additional inches.
4. Be disciplined. Achieving temperance in eating will strengthen other areas in your life. Paul proclaimed that although all things were lawful for him, he refused to be mastered by anything (1Co 10:23) because all things were not beneficial to him (1Co 6:12).
5. Be active. Regular exercise will help you to reach and maintain your ideal weight. Activity also improves productivity, cardiovascular stamina and mental alertness. The writer of Hebrews encourages believers to run with perseverance (Heb 12:1; see also 1Ti 4:8).
6. Be persistent. Just as Paul finished the race (2Ti 4:7), you, too, can persevere if you set a goal and move forward victoriously to achieve it!”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

My Thoughts

Paul reminds the Corinthians that their loose worship of God – sexual immorality, misuse of Lord’s Supper, and such… These things had consequences.

The Corinthians have not seen Jesus in the flesh.  They may have seen some miracles, but not like when Jesus had His ministry, but the Israelites that saw the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the manna from Heaven, were the same people who died in the wilderness.  They had shown God their lack of faith and their inability to follow instructions and obey God.

We should learn from that generation’s mistakes.  We should flee from sexual immorality and idolatry.  Paul reminds them of those who died from the snake bites and those who died from the plague that was set off by their sexual immorality with the Midianite prostitutes.  Both of those are sins of the flesh in that we use our bodies to perform something that is immoral.

But the third problem that the ancient Israelites had was complaining.  They whined.

Is it a sin to whine and complain?  Yes, in that what we complain about is that God has not done for us what we think God should do.  Study that last sentence carefully.  We are saying, in our constant whining is that we do not trust the provision that God gives us and we think we can do better.  And equal to those thoughts, we think God did it wrong.

We can bring our petitions to God, but we should never cross that line.

We are not God.  God is perfect.  And we should be content with what God gives us.  If we want more, we better have a great reason, and we better be ready to hear God say, “No.”  He might require us to wait.

I have made many suggestions to my bosses, who were far from perfect.  They would say something about how that was the most idiotic idea he had ever heard and then storm from the room.  The next day, the boss would return and tell the entire department in a large group meeting exactly what I had suggested.  He would make a big deal about how it had come to him in a dream.  Then after he left the room, a couple of old-timers would double over laughing.  They had overheard the conversation the previous day and they admired how the boss didn’t even change an adjective in what I had suggested.  He quoted me verbatim.  And then he had called me an idiot.  The only problem with the idea was that he had not thought of it, thus his fictional dream during the night.

God does not steal our ideas.  I think God led us to the idea in the first place.  But when we are told “no” and then months or years later, what we requested of God comes to pass, we learn in that waiting period that it was really God’s idea.  But as you study the details of what you thought was your idea, you find all the imperfections are gone.  You find that the original idea needed some fixes here or there and you find that the timing was wrong back then, but perfect now.  This was definitely God’s plan.

Now, Paul reminds us to flee idolatry and what is sexual immorality other than a form of idolatry.  Our bodies become one body in the church as we partake in communion.  Paul says that food sacrificed to demons is for demons, and worshipping God, I want nothing to do with demons.  But since God is the true God, anything sacrificed to that demon is indeed nothing.  Yet, we should keep our worship of God according to what Jesus taught His disciples.  If not, we could be the next group to wander in the wilderness until we get the message.

Then 1 Corinthians 10:23 is profound.  As Christians, everything is permissible, but is it beneficial?  If it is not beneficial, why are we straying from what God has ordained?  We need to stay on the narrow path, not because we are in trouble when we stumble, but we have stumbled and others who watch us stumble might get confused with our actions that we know are freely made.

As far as communion is concerned, we should follow Paul who follows Christ.  And we must also consider all our actions in the same vein.  Paul was not perfect, but He was a good example to follow.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Warnings from Israel’s History 1. What is a contemporary parallel of the way these examples and warnings apply to you?
“2. What temptations do you most consistently have to face? Hence, does verse 13 encourage or frustrate you? How so?
1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1 Idol Feasts and the Lord’s Supper / The Believer’s Freedom 1. Idolatry can take many forms. What are two ‘idols’ you see that are ‘worshiped’ by people around you? When do you find yourself attracted to this idol? How can you guard against that?
“2. As for making judgment calls in grey areas, what principles have you found most helpful?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

First Corinthians 10 has two sets of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.