Qorintiyim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 10
10
1For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
2and all were immersed into Mosheh in the cloud and in the sea,
3and all ate the same spiritual food,
4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed, and the Rock was Messiah.
5However, with most of them Elohim was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness.
6And these became examples for us, so that we should not lust after evil, as those indeed lusted.
7And do not become idolaters as some of them, as it has been written, “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and stood up to play.”# Exo. 32:6
8Neither should we commit whoring, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell,
9neither let us try Messiah, as some of them also tried, and were destroyed by serpents,
10neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11And all these came upon them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come,
12so that he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall.
13No trial has overtaken you except such as is common to man, and Elohim is trustworthy, who shall not allow you to be tried beyond what you are able, but with the trial shall also make the way of escape, enabling you to bear it.
14Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry.
15I speak as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say.
16The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Messiah? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Messiah?
17Because there is one bread, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
18Look at Yisra’ĕl after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the slaughterings sharers in the slaughter-place?
19What then do I say? That an idol is of any value? Or that which is slaughtered to idols is of any value?
20No, but what the nations slaughter they slaughter to demons#See Lev. 17:7; Deu. 32:17 and not to Elohim, and I do not wish you to become sharers with demons.
21You are not able to drink the cup of the Master and the cup of demons, you are not able to partake of the table of the Master and of the table of demons.
22Do we provoke the Master to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
23All is permitted me, but not all do profit. All is permitted me, but not all build up.
24Let no one seek his own, but each one that of the other.
25You eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions because of conscience,
26for “The earth belongs to יהוה, and all that fills it.”# Psa. 24:1; Psa. 50:12
27And if any of the unbelievers invite you, and you wish to go, you eat whatever is set before you, asking no question on account of the conscience.
28And if anyone says to you, “This was slaughtered to idols,” do not eat it because of the one pointing it out to you, and on account of the conscience, for “The earth belongs to יהוה, and all that fills it.”
29Now I say conscience, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?
30But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for what I give thanks?
31Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the esteem of Elohim.
32Cause no stumbling, either to the Yehuḏim or to the Greeks or to the assembly of Elohim,
33as I also please all men in all matters, not seeking my own advantage, but that of the many, that they might be saved.
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Qorintiyim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 10: TS2009
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Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 10
10
1-5Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.
6-10The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—“First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.
11-12These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
13No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
14So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.
15-18I assume I’m addressing believers now who are mature. Draw your own conclusions: When we drink the cup of blessing, aren’t we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life, of Christ? And isn’t it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat? Don’t we take into ourselves the body, the very life, of Christ? Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is. That’s basically what happened even in old Israel—those who ate the sacrifices offered on God’s altar entered into God’s action at the altar.
19-22Do you see the difference? Sacrifices offered to idols are offered to nothing, for what’s the idol but a nothing? Or worse than nothing, a minus, a demon! I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?
23-24Looking at it one way, you could say, “Anything goes. Because of God’s immense generosity and grace, we don’t have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.” But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.
25-28With that as a base to work from, common sense can take you the rest of the way. Eat anything sold at the butcher shop, for instance; you don’t have to run an “idolatry test” on every item. “The earth,” after all, “is God’s, and everything in it.” That “everything” certainly includes the leg of lamb in the butcher shop. If a nonbeliever invites you to dinner and you feel like going, go ahead and enjoy yourself; eat everything placed before you. It would be both bad manners and bad spirituality to cross-examine your host on the ethical purity of each course as it is served. On the other hand, if he goes out of his way to tell you that this or that was sacrificed to god or goddess so-and-so, you should pass. Even though you may be indifferent as to where it came from, he isn’t, and you don’t want to send mixed messages to him about who you are worshiping.
29-30But, except for these special cases, I’m not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I’m going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed it!
31-33So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you’re eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.