1 Corinthians Lesson 8 1 Corinthians 10:7 11:16 Written about late 56 or early 57 AD In 1 Corinthians 9:1 through 10:6 (Lesson 7), Paul pointed out the reasons they should respect his authority, including his selfless service to them and the call he had been given by the Lord. Although he could have expected their financial support for his ministry to them, he had done it for nothing. However, it had been his joy to give his service away for free. He pointed out that he would become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. He encouraged them to follow his example. Finally, Paul warned them of the danger of the LORD s discipline if they were disobedient. He made the point by pointing to the example of the Exodus generation, who had been blessed and delivered by God, and yet became disobedient and died in the desert. Paul pointed out the ways in which the Exodus journey was not only history, but a type that God had recorded which spoke of the Christ and His Church. Our last verse from the last lesson was 1 Corinthians 10:6: Now these things occurred as types to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 1 Corinthians 10:7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. Paul continued to take the Exodus generation as an example of how God s people could fall from His blessings. Here he referred to the incident in Exodus 32 when Moses was a long time on the mountain with the LORD, getting the commandments, and the people forced Aaron to build them a golden calf. In the same way the Corinthians were subject to worshipping the worldly way of life. In our time, idolatry is materialism (Colossians 3:5, Ephesians 5:5). 1 Corinthians 10:8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. [a] 1 / 17
The Exodus generation also left an example of the LORD s discipline for gross sexual immorality. He refers to the incident in Numbers 25, when the Moabite women came down and offered themselves as sexual partners with the Israelite men. Many did not resist, and the LORD responded with a death sentence. 1 Corinthians 10:9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did and were killed by snakes. Here, Paul refers to the incident in Numbers 21, where the people grumbled against the LORD and His provision of Moses as leader, and water and food everyday. To adjust their attitude, the LORD sent poisonous snakes among them which killed many of them. 1 Corinthians 10:10 And do not grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. Here Paul refers to the incident in Numbers 16, where some of the people rebelled against the 2 / 17
priesthood that the LORD had set up. They were destroyed by fire. 1 Corinthians 10:11 These things happened to them as types [b] and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. Paul reaffirmed that the Old Testament was written at least as much for us (the Church) as it was for Israel. Peter made the same point in 1 Peter 1:10-12: Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you 1 Corinthians 10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don t fall! Paul warns the Corinthians against overconfidence in their own maturity and strength. He had earlier indicated that the Corinthians had a very inflated idea of their own spiritual understanding and maturity (1 Corinthians 3:1-3, 3:18). Such overconfidence could be very dangerous. 3 / 17
1 Corinthians 10:13 No 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 a way out so that you can stand up under it. The temptations to rebel against the LORD that the Exodus generation had faced were common to every generation. However, God would provide the strength and understanding to stand up to it, just as he had provided to that generation. 1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. Because of that, they could avoid idolatry, the first on the previous list of things that many in the Exodus generation had succumbed. By extension, they could also avoid the other three things on the list: sexual immorality, testing the LORD, and grumbling. 1 Corinthians 10:15-17 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. 4 / 17
At this point Paul seemed to consider that he needs to further explain his position on the eating of meat sacrificed to idols. In chapter 8 he had recommend that knowledgeable believers avoid eating it when it created temptations among those believers who still thought of it as participating in pagan worship. Paul asked them, as rational people, to consider the implications of the Christian drinking the cup and eating the bread of Communion. It is a symbol of our oneness with Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Paul also pointed out that even in the previous Jewish tradition, the eating by all from the sacrifices of the same altar (which represented the effective sacrifice to come) represented a common participation in what the altar represented (if it was partaken in faith). 1 Corinthians 10:19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? He had already stated his position on the question in 1 Corinthians 8:4 We know that an idol 5 / 17
is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. And he had already stated his opposition to eating food sacrificed to idols. He was against it because it wounded the conscience of weak believers (1 Corinthians 8:10-12) 1 Corinthians 10:20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. When a Christian openly partook of both communion and pagan sacrifices it sent a mixed message in that culture. 1 Corinthians 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord s table and the table of demons. This was a message that had to be avoided. 1 Corinthians 10:22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord s jealousy? Are we stronger than he? 6 / 17
It implied rebellion against the Lord to the uninformed. 1 Corinthians 10:23 Everything is permissible Each thing is allowed but not everything ea ch thing is beneficial. Everything is permissible Each thing is allowed but not everything each thing is constructive. I have changed to an alternate acceptable translation to better reflect the meaning here. Certainly, not everything is permissible in the Christian life. However, what he was talking about here was eating and drinking things which were offered in the pagan temple. Theologically, eating and drinking such things were allowed. But, although allowed, they were not necessarily beneficial to the body of Christ and its testimony. 1 Corinthians 10:24-26 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. 7 / 17
The highest goal is the good of others. 1 Corinthians 10:25-26 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience perception, for, The earth is the Lord s, and everything in it. [c] They were free to eat such things if there was no question raised about its significance or meaning. 1 Corinthians 10:27 If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience perception. The Greek word in all these verses which is translated conscience is συνείδησις {sün-ā'-dā-sēs} which is a combination of two words, σύν {sü'n}, which means with and εἴδω {ā'-dō} which means to perceive or see. What it refers to here is What is the way the food is seen? Is it seen as just food, or is it perceived as a means of worship? 8 / 17
1 Corinthians 10:28- But if anyone says to you, This has been offered in sacrifice, then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience erception s sake p If a believer participates in an act of eating which the unbeliever perceives as part of pagan worship, he will draw bad conclusions. This should be avoided. 1 Corinthians 10:29 -- the other man s conscience perception, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another s conscience? That doesn t mean that your own private understanding of whether or not the meat is cursed by its association with idols should be altered. 1 Corinthians 10:30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? 9 / 17
Now we can see why Paul had revisited this topic. Some self righteous people among the Corinthian believers seemed to be denouncing believers who ate such food privately, without clouding anyone s perception. This was not right either. 1 Corinthians 10:31-32 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God-- even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Paul gives the standard for measuring your own behavior. It is not the standard for measuring another believer s behavior. That is between them and the LORD. 1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as [d] I follow the example of Christ. This verse finishes the thought of the previous verses and, in my opinion should not have been placed as the first verse of a new chapter. Paul is referring to seeking the good of many that they may be saved. In that, he was just following the example of Jesus Christ. The important thought here is that we should keep our eyes on Christ, not on other people. So many problems between believers would go away if we just followed that rule. This was not the only time Paul set it down: 10 / 17
Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Ephesians 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 1 Corinthians 11:2 I praise you for remembering me in everything [e] and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you. He acknowledged that, for the most part, they had remembered his example and held on to what he had taught them about Christ. Perhaps this is a good place to acknowledge one of the difficulties with getting a tone off of Corinthians. There are many Corinthians who were fine believers, who loved and respected Paul and what he taught them and were growing in grace. Yet there were also those whose lives were headed in the wrong direction. In other words, they were just like every group of believers that ever existed. In the same letter, Paul had to scold and praise, because the people he was writing to was made up of many diverse people. At this point, Paul takes up another thorny issue which had probably been among the questions the Corinthians had asked Paul in their letter to him. Before entering this discussion, it 11 / 17
is important to remember that, in God s sight we are all equal, because we are all in Christ. However, our gifts are different. 1 Corinthians 11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. You will notice that this is not listed as a hierarchy. Otherwise it would say the head of Christ is God, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man. Furthermore the term man can mean mankind which it does here. Every Christian woman is equally under the headship of Christ as every Christian man. Ephesians 1:22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Also Ephesians 1:10b, 4:15. Ephesians gives the principal a little more fully: Ephesians 5:21-23 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. What Paul was emphasizing was the importance of authority. The first authority, which was modeled for us by Jesus Christ was the authority of God the Father. The second authority was the authority of Christ. The every man and woman (mankind) is under the authority of Jesus Christ. Every married woman is also under the authority of her husband. Guess which authority supersedes the other. Christ s! That is why the Ephesians passage says as to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11:4-7 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his 12 / 17
head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. This opens the subject of covering or uncovering the head. There has been much discussion and disagreement about what the head covering was. Some have argued it refers to hair, some have argued that it refers to a veil. There is really little discussion in the Old Testament Law about prescribed hair length for men or women. It is only discussed in three instances: 1. Someone who had taken a Nazarite vow to sanctify himself for a period, was not to cut it until after the period of his sanctification was over. It was not unusual for someone who was taking a such a vow to begin with his head shaved. (Numbers 6:2-21) 2. The High Priest must never let his hair become unkempt (Leviticus 21:10) 3. The hair of the head or beard should be trimmed evenly (Leviticus 19:27). Because of this, I have to conclude that Paul is dealing with the accepted customs and culture of that day in Corinth. I believe that it is possible that new Christians, looking for a way to declare their new status in some public way, had taken to declaring it with their hair. Women were evidently cutting their hair short (I believe nuns in the Catholic Church used to cut of their hair when they took the veil as a sign of their resignation from vanity). Evidently men were growing their hair long as a sign of humility. I think Paul is just pointing out that their customs had a basis in God s established order of things. The man s hair is short because as a leader, he must see and be seen. The woman s hair is long as a sign that she seeks to please her husband with its beauty. These were the established customs. I believe this is probably similar to the question of eating meat sacrificed to idols. The point is that the Christian should not try to shock people with a changed appearance that just makes people think they are freaks or weirdoes. They should impress people with a changed life of peace, love, and compassion. 13 / 17
1 Corinthians 11:8-9 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. This does not make one superior to the other; it only reflects God s design as recorded in Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. 1 Corinthians 11:10 For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. J. Vernon McGee admits that he does not understand this reference to angels. I will venture the possibility that this refers to the episode in Genesis 6 where fallen angels seemed to have ignored the fact that women were made by God for men alone, and instead went into them and had offspring, the Nephelim. Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. 14 / 17
1 Corinthians 11:11-12 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. Paul came back to establish that these things do not make the woman or the man superior. As we have read in Ephesians, we are to submit to one another. There is only one who is our superior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He came as a servant and to give us all things. 1 Corinthians 11:13-15 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. Paul defends the cultural norms as reasonable. However, they are to be the judges of what is reasonable. 15 / 17
1 Corinthians 11:16 But if any one think to be contentious, we have no such rule, nor the assemblies of God. I think this translation is more on the nose. By this I take the thrust of Paul s to be, You asked about proper hair styles for women, and I gave you my opinion. If you want to argue about it you can reject it. I told you to judge for yourselves. I tell you now that the churches have no rules on the superficial aspects of the outward appearance like hair, other than to remember that you represent Jesus Christ in your society. Next, Paul presses on to other questions relating to how they conduct their meetings. Remember, at this time there was no established tradition or formant for such things. We will take that up in the next lesson. [a] See Numbers 25:1-9. Scofield Note - A discrepancy has been imagined. 1 Corinthians 10:8 gives the number of deaths in one day (23,000); Numbers 25:9, the total number of deaths in the plague. (24,000) Some discrepant statements concerning numbers are, however, found in the existing manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures. These are most naturally ascribed to the fact that the Hebrews used letters in the place of numerals. The letters for Koph to Tau express hundreds up to four hundred. Five certain Hebrew letters, written in a different form, carry hundreds up to nine hundred, while thousands are expressed by two dots over the proper unit letter: e.g. the letter Teth, used alone, stands for 9; with two dots it stands for nine thousand. Error in transcription of Hebrew numbers thus becomes easy, preservation of numerical accuracy difficult. [b] The Greek word here is tupikw' {tupiko} which is a form of tuvpo {tupo}. 16 / 17
[c] Psalms 24:1 [d] The Greek word here is i"2@l which can be translated in proportion as, in the degree that. I believe that is the meaning here. Paul is certainly not claiming the perfection of Christ, but rather recommending Follow my example, in the degree that I follow the example of Christ. [e] I believe the everything here refers to Paul s example and teaching of his Corinthian ministry. 17 / 17