1 Corinthians 10

Warnings from Israelʼs Pastⓘ

Warning from Israel in the wilderness¹✦I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea. ²✦They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³✦They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴✦and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵✦Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶✦These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did. ⁷✦Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.”^{a 8}✦We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹✦We should not test Christ,^b as some of them did, and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰✦And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.^c

¹¹✦Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. ¹²So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall. ¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

Flee from Idolatryⓘ

Flee idolatry: the Lord's table¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar? ¹⁹Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too. ²²Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

All to Godʼs Gloryⓘ

Eat freely, but for others' good²³“Everything is permissible,”^d but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying. ²⁴No one should seek his own good, but the good of others.

²⁵Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, ²⁶for, “The earth is the Lordʼs, and the fullness thereof.”^e

²⁷If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience. ²⁸But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience—^{f 29}the other oneʼs conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone elseʼs conscience? ³⁰If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. ³²Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God— ³³as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.