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1 Corinthians 10: What the Passage Says

87 claims across 33 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What 1 Corinthians 10 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul reminds the Corinthians that everyone in Israel came out of Egypt under the cloud and through the sea, yet many were struck down in the wilderness, and he lists their failures as warnings. He tells the church to run from idol worship, promises that God is faithful and will provide a way out of temptation, and argues that sharing the cup and bread of the Lord cannot be combined with sharing the table of demons. He then gives practical direction about buying meat in the market and eating at an unbeliever's house, telling them to stop eating if someone points out the food was offered to an idol. He closes by telling them to do everything for God's glory and to avoid tripping up Jews, Greeks, or the church.

Claim by Claim

  1. 10:1
    • Paul does not want the brothers to be ignorant of what follows
    • Paul addresses his readers as brothers
    • All of our fathers were under the cloud
    • All of our fathers passed through the sea
  2. 10:2
    • All of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea
  3. 10:3
    • All of them ate the same spiritual food
  4. 10:4
    • All of them drank the same spiritual drink
    • They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them
    • That rock was Christ
  5. 10:5
    • God was not pleased with most of them
    • They were struck down in the wilderness
  6. 10:6
    • These things became examples for us
    • The purpose is that we should not crave evil things
    • Those people craved evil things
  7. 10:7
    • Paul commands them not to become idolaters
    • Some of those people were idolaters
    • It is written that the people sat down to eat and drink
    • It is written that the people rose up to play
  8. 10:8
    • Paul says we should not commit sexual immorality
    • Some of those people committed sexual immorality
    • Twenty-three thousand fell in one day
  9. 10:9
    • Paul says we should not put Christ to the test
    • Some of those people tested him
    • Those who tested him were destroyed by serpents
  10. 10:10
    • Paul commands them not to grumble
    • Some of those people grumbled
    • Those who grumbled were destroyed by the destroyer
  11. 10:11
    • These things happened to them as examples
    • These things were written for our admonition
    • The ends of the ages have arrived upon us
  12. 10:12
    • The one who thinks he stands should watch out that he does not fall
  13. 10:13
    • No temptation has taken hold of you except what is human
    • God is faithful
    • God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear
    • God will provide, along with the temptation, a way out
    • The purpose of the way out is that you may be able to endure it
  14. 10:14
    • Paul calls them his beloved
    • Paul commands them to flee from idolatry
  15. 10:15
    • Paul speaks to them as to sensible people
    • Paul tells them to judge what he says
  16. 10:16
    • Paul asks whether the cup of blessing that we bless is not a sharing in the blood of Christ
    • We bless the cup of blessing
    • Paul asks whether the bread that we break is not a sharing in the body of Christ
    • We break the bread
  17. 10:17
    • There is one bread
    • We who are many are one body
    • We all partake of the one bread
  18. 10:18
    • Paul tells them to look at Israel according to the flesh
    • Paul asks whether those who eat the sacrifices are not partners in the altar
  19. 10:19
    • Paul asks what he is saying
    • Paul asks whether an idol is anything
    • Paul asks whether what is sacrificed to idols is anything
  20. 10:20
    • What the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons
    • What the Gentiles sacrifice, they do not sacrifice to God
    • Paul does not want them to become partners with demons
  21. 10:21
    • You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons
    • You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons
  22. 10:22
    • Paul asks whether we are provoking the Lord to jealousy
    • Paul asks whether we are stronger than he is
  23. 10:23
    • All things are lawful
    • Not all things are beneficial
    • All things are lawful
    • Not all things build up
  24. 10:24
    • No one should seek his own good
    • Each should seek the good of the other
  25. 10:25
    • Eat whatever is sold in the meat market
    • Ask no question on account of conscience
  26. 10:26
    • The earth belongs to the Lord
    • The fullness of the earth belongs to the Lord
  27. 10:27
    • If an unbeliever invites you and you want to go, eat whatever is set before you
    • Ask no question on account of conscience
  28. 10:28
    • If someone tells you that this has been offered in sacrifice to an idol, do not eat it
    • The reason not to eat is for the sake of the one who told you
    • The reason not to eat is for the sake of conscience
    • The earth belongs to the Lord
    • The fullness of the earth belongs to the Lord
  29. 10:29
    • Paul means the conscience of the other person, not your own
    • Paul asks why his freedom should be judged by another person's conscience
  30. 10:30
    • Paul asks, if he partakes with grace, why he is spoken evil of concerning that for which he gives thanks
  31. 10:31
    • Whether you eat or drink or do anything else, do it all for the glory of God
  32. 10:32
    • Give no offense to Jews
    • Give no offense to Greeks
    • Give no offense to the church of God
  33. 10:33
    • Paul pleases all people in all things
    • Paul does not seek his own profit
    • Paul seeks the profit of the many
    • Paul's purpose is that they may be saved

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

10:1
The cloud and the sea are from the Exodus story: the pillar of cloud that led Israel out of Egypt, and the sea that parted so the people could cross on dry ground (Exodus 13 to 14). Paul assumes his readers, most of them not Jewish, already know it well enough to follow the allusion.
10:2
"Baptized unto Moses" is Paul's own coinage, formed on the way early Christians spoke of being baptized into Christ. Passing under the cloud and through the water is described as the act that bound that generation to Moses as their leader.
10:3
In 1611 "meat" meant food of any kind, not flesh in particular; the old sense survives in "sweetmeat." The food in view is the manna of Exodus 16.
10:4
Water came from a rock twice in the story, at Rephidim near the start of the journey (Exodus 17) and at Kadesh near its end (Numbers 20). Jewish teachers of Paul's time accounted for the two accounts by speaking of a rock, or a well given by it, that traveled with Israel through the desert, and Paul draws on that picture. The Greek verb behind KJV "followed" means accompanied or went along with, not trailed behind.
10:5
"Overthrown" here means struck down dead. The reference is to the generation that left Egypt and died over forty years in the desert without reaching the promised land (Numbers 14).
10:6
KJV "lust" in 1611 meant any strong craving and was not restricted to sexual desire. The craving in view is the demand for meat in Numbers 11.
10:7
The quotation is Exodus 32:6, the feast held around the golden calf. "Rose up to play" translates a word covering dancing and revelry that can carry a sexual edge; the Greek leaves the range open, and the rendering keeps it open too.
10:8
The incident is at Peor, where Israelite men joined Moabite women in the worship of their god and a plague followed (Numbers 25). Numbers gives the number of dead as twenty four thousand, Paul as twenty three thousand. Readers noticed the difference in antiquity, and there is no agreed explanation.
10:9
The reference is Numbers 21:4 to 9, where poisonous snakes came among the complaining Israelites. Some ancient copies of this verse read "the Lord" or "God" where others read "Christ"; the manuscripts are divided.
10:10
"The destroyer" is the agent of death, spoken of in Exodus 12:23 at the Passover and behind the plague that follows the rebellion in Numbers 16. KJV "murmur" means to complain under the breath rather than openly.
10:11
"Ensamples" is an older spelling of examples. "The ends of the world" translates a phrase meaning the ends of the ages: the point where the long stretch of past history arrives at its goal, not the edge of the earth.
10:13
KJV "suffer" means allow, an old sense of the word. The one Greek word here covers both temptation, an enticement to do wrong, and testing, a trial that shows what a person is made of; the passage draws on both.
10:16
"The cup of blessing" was the ordinary Jewish name for the cup over which thanks was said at a meal, and particularly for the third cup at Passover. KJV "communion" translates koinonia, a share in something held in common; in 1611 it did not name a church service.
10:17
"One bread" means one loaf. Bread was baked in round flat loaves and torn by hand rather than sliced, so a single loaf passed around a table was a natural image of a single group.
10:18
"Israel after the flesh" means Israel reckoned by birth and ancestry. Under Israel's law most sacrifices were eaten, part by the priests and part by the worshipers, so those who ate the meat were counted as having a stake in what was done at the altar.
10:20
KJV "devils" is the 1611 word for what is now called demons; the New Testament speaks of one devil but many demons. "Gentiles" translates a word meaning the nations, that is, everyone not Jewish. The line echoes Deuteronomy 32:17.
10:21
Temples in Corinth had dining rooms where meat from sacrifices was served at private dinners, and written invitations to such meals survive on papyrus. Paul is talking about attending those dinners, not only about eating temple meat elsewhere.
10:22
The wording echoes Deuteronomy 32:21. Jealousy here is a wronged partner's reaction to unfaithfulness, not envy of what someone else has.
10:23
"All things are lawful for me" looks like a slogan some in Corinth were using, which Paul quotes back to them before qualifying it; that is why the rendering sets it off. KJV "expedient" means beneficial or useful, with no hint of cutting corners, and "edify" means to build up, from the word for erecting a building.
10:24
KJV "wealth" in 1611 meant welfare or well being, not money. The noun is supplied by the translators; the Greek says only "the other's."
10:25
"Shambles" was the English word for a butcher's row or meat market. In Corinth this was the macellum, the public market, where a good deal of the meat on sale came from animals killed in temple sacrifices, which is what makes the question live.
10:26
Quoted from Psalm 24:1. "The fulness thereof" means everything that fills it.
10:27
"Bid you to a feast" simply means invites you to a meal, in a private house rather than a temple. "Disposed to go" means if you feel like going.
10:28
KJV "shewed" is the old spelling of showed and here means pointed it out. The speaker could be another guest, a believer or not. Some ancient copies do not repeat "for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof" at the end of this verse.
10:29
"Liberty" means freedom, specifically Paul's freedom to eat what he likes. He is asking why his own freedom should be limited by another person's scruples, and answering the question by choosing to limit it anyway.
10:30
KJV "by grace" translates a word that can mean thanks, thankfulness, or a favor given. The sense is taking part in the meal with thanks said over the food.
10:31
To honor God means to live so that people see how good he is.
10:32
KJV "offence" here has nothing to do with hurt feelings. The underlying word is about tripping someone up, putting a block in the path where a person walks. "Gentiles" renders "Greeks," Paul's usual shorthand for people who are not Jewish.
10:33
KJV "profit" means benefit or advantage generally, not money.

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