1 Corinthians 10
10
Chapter 10
Idols
1My Christian friends, remember what happened to our Israelite ancestors. Moses led them out of Egypt long ago. While they followed Moses, they all walked under the same cloud. All of them walked across the Red Sea. #10:1 See Exodus 14:19-22. 2It is like God baptized all of them in the cloud and in the sea. In that way, they became people who followed Moses. 3All our ancestors ate the same spiritual food. #10:3 See Exodus 16:4-30. 4All of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank water from the spiritual rock that went with them. Christ was that rock. #10:4 See Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:2-13. God gave food and drink to the Jews in the wilderness. This was a miracle that God did for them. They could see that God himself was with them. 5They all received the same help from God, but most of them did not please God. God caused most of them to die in the wilderness. #10:5 See Numbers 14:22-23; Hebrews 3:8-11.
6We must learn from those things that happened to our ancestors. We must not want to do very bad things, like they did. 7Do not worship idols, as some of them did. The Bible says: ‘The people sat down to eat and to drink. After that, they got up from their meal and they danced.’ #10:7 The people danced to worship their false gods. See Exodus 32:6.
8Nor must we ever have sex in wrong ways. Some of our ancestors did that, and 23,000 of them died in one day as a result. #10:8 See Numbers 25:1-9.
9Nor must we do bad things to see whether the Lord will punish us. Some of our ancestors did that, and God sent snakes to destroy them. #10:9 See Numbers 21:4-7.
10Do not complain against God. Some of our ancestors spoke like that, and God sent an angel of death to kill them. #10:10 See Numbers 14:1-38; 16:41.
11All these things happened to our ancestors so that we would learn from them. They are written in the Bible to teach us important lessons. We are people who live at a time when all things will become complete.
12If you think that you are standing strongly, be careful! Do not fall down! 13You may often want to do wrong things. The things that are difficult for you are difficult for other people too. Remember that God is always there to help you. He will not let any bad thing be too difficult for you. He will help you to stand against it. When you want to do something wrong, God will make you strong in your spirit. He will show you a way out, so that you do not do anything wrong.
14So, my friends, keep away from idols. Do not worship them. 15You are people who think carefully about things. So think about what I am saying to you. 16When we eat the Lord's Supper together, we remember that Christ died on our behalf. We thank God for the wine that we drink from the cup. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his blood. We also break the bread and we eat it together. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his body that died on the cross. 17We are many people, but all of us eat part of the same loaf of bread. That shows that we are one group of people. We belong together because Christ died on our behalf.
18Think about Israel's people. They eat part of the animals that the priests offer on the altar as a sacrifice. This shows that they share together in the sacrifice. 19So think about food that people offer to idols as a sacrifice. I am not saying that the idols are real gods. The food that people offer to them is not special food. 20But the people who offer food to idols are worshipping demons. They are not worshipping God when they do that. I do not want you to share in what they do to worship demons. 21If you drink anything from the cup of demons, you can not then drink wine from the Lord's cup. If you share a meal with demons, you can not also share in the Lord's meal.
22If we do things like that, we will cause the Lord to be angry. We should worship only him. You know that we are not stronger than he is!
23Some of you may say, ‘We are free to do anything that we want to do!’ But not everything is good for you to do. You may say, ‘We are free to do anything!’ But not everything helps you to be strong as a believer. 24Do not think about the things that will help you. Instead, each of you should think about what will help other people.
25You can eat any meat that people sell in the market. Do not ask questions about the meat. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. 26The Bible says this: ‘The earth, and everything in it, belongs to the Lord.’ #10:26 See Psalms 24:1
27People who do not believe in Christ may ask you to eat a meal with them. Agree to go to his home, if you want to. Then you should eat whatever food they give to you. Do not ask questions about the food. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. 28But someone there may say to you, ‘They offered this food to an idol.’ If someone tells you that, do not eat the food. It might cause trouble to the thoughts of the person who told you. 29It may not cause your own thoughts to have trouble. But the other person may not be sure if it is right to eat that kind of food.
Perhaps you will say, ‘Why should another person's thoughts decide what is right for me? I am free to do what I want. 30I thank God for my food before I eat it. If I do that, nobody should say that it is wrong for me to eat it.’
31Whatever you are doing, show that God is great. When you eat anything, or you drink anything, do it all in a way that praises God. 32Do not cause problems for other people. Whether they are Jews or Gentiles, or people who belong to God's church, live in a way that does not cause problems for them. 33Copy my example. Whatever I do, I try to make other people happy. I do not try to do what will help me. Instead, I want to help other people. I live in that way so that God will save many people.
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1 Corinthians 10
10
Warnings From Israel’s History
1Brothers and sisters, I want you to know something about our people who lived long ago. They were all led by the cloud through the desert, and they all walked through the Red Sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food, 4and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went along with them, and that rock was Christ. 5But God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the desert.
6Now those things happened as examples for us, to keep us from wanting evil things the way they did. 7So don’t worship idols, as some of them did. It is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance wildly in front of their god.” 8We shouldn’t commit sexual sins, as some of them did—and in one day, 23,000 of them died. 9We shouldn’t test the Lord, as some of them did—and they were killed by snakes. 10And don’t speak against God, as some of the people of Israel did—and they were killed by the destroying angel.
11Those things happened to them as examples, and they were written down as a warning to us. We’re living at the time when God’s work is being completed. 12So if you think you’re standing firm, be careful—you might fall. 13You’re tempted in the same way that all other human beings are. And God is faithful; he won’t let you be tempted beyond what you can endure. When you are tempted, God will provide a way out, and then you’ll be able to resist.
Sharing in the Lord’s Supper
14My dear friends, stay far away from the worship of idols. 15I know I’m talking to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16We give thanks for the cup at the Lord’s Supper. When we do, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? When we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, because we all share the one loaf.
18Think about the people of Israel. Don’t those who eat the offerings share in the worship that takes place at the altar? 19Do I mean that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No! But the sacrifices of those who worship idols are really offered to demons, not to God, and I don’t want you to have anything to do with demons. 21You can’t drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too. You can’t have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is?
The Believer’s Freedom
23You say, “I have the right to do anything,” but not everything is helpful. “I have the right to do anything,” you say, but not everything builds us up. 24No one should look out only for their own interests. Instead, they should look out for the interests of others.
25With a clear conscience you can eat anything that’s sold in the meat market. 26Scripture says, “The earth belongs to the Lord, and so does everything in it.”
27If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, with a clear conscience you can eat anything that’s put in front of you. 28But if someone says to you, “This food has been sacrificed to an idol,” then don’t eat it, for the sake of the person who told you and for the sake of conscience. 29I’m talking about the other person’s conscience, not yours. Why should my freedom be judged by what someone else thinks? 30If I’ve given thanks for my food, then I shouldn’t be blamed for eating something that I’ve thanked God for.
31So whether you eat or drink or do anything else, do it all for the glory of God. 32Don’t do anything that causes other people to trip and fall, whether Jews or Greeks or God’s church. 33Follow my example. I try to please everyone in every way. I’m not looking out for what’s good for me. I’m looking out for the interests of others, so that they might be saved.
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