1 Corinthians 10
10
Learn from What Happened in the Time of Moses
1I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that all our ancestors ⌞who left Egypt⌟ were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea. 2They were all united with Moses by baptism in the cloud and in the sea. 3All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4and all of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them, and that rock was Christ. 5Yet, God was not pleased with most of them, so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.
6These things have become examples for us so that we won’t desire what is evil, as they did. 7So don’t worship false gods as some of them did, as Scripture says, “The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy.” 8We shouldn’t sin sexually as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand of them died on one day. 9We shouldn’t put the Lord #10:9 Some manuscripts and translations; other manuscripts and translations “Christ.” to the test as some of them did. They were killed by snakes. 10Don’t complain as some of them did. The angel of death destroyed them. 11These things happened to make them an example for others. These things were written down as a warning for us who are living in the closing days of history. 12So, people who think they are standing firmly should be careful that they don’t fall.
13There isn’t any temptation that you have experienced which is unusual for humans. God, who faithfully keeps his promises, will not allow you to be tempted beyond your power to resist. But when you are tempted, he will also give you the ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape.
Stay Away from Worshiping False Gods
14Therefore, my dear friends, get as far away from the worship of false gods as you can.
15I’m talking to intelligent people. Judge for yourselves what I’m saying. 16When we bless the cup of blessing 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 are one body, although we are many individuals. All of us share one loaf.
18Look at the people of Israel from a human point of view. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices share what is on the altar? 19Do I mean that an offering made to a false god is anything, or that a false god itself is anything? 20Hardly! What I am saying is that these sacrifices which people make are made to demons and not to God. I don’t want you to be partners with demons. 21You cannot drink the Lord’s cup and the cup of demons. You cannot participate at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons. 22Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is?
23Someone may say, “I’m allowed to do anything,” but not everything is helpful. I’m allowed to do anything, but not everything encourages growth. 24People should be concerned about others and not just about themselves. 25Eat anything that is sold in the market without letting your conscience trouble you. 26Certainly, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything it contains is his.” 27If an unbeliever invites you ⌞to his house for dinner⌟, and you wish to go, eat anything he serves you without letting your conscience trouble you. 28However, if someone says to you, “This was sacrificed to a god,” don’t eat it because of the one who informed you and because of conscience. 29I’m not talking about your conscience but the other person’s conscience. Why should my freedom be judged by someone else’s conscience? 30If I give thanks to God for the food I eat, why am I condemned for that? 31So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God. 32Don’t cause others to stumble, whether they are Jewish, Greek, or members of God’s church. 33I try to please everyone in every way. I don’t think about what would be good for me but about what would be good for many people so that they might be saved.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. 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.