1 Corinthians

10:14-22

4. Eating food offered to idols, 8:1-11:1

vii] Idolatry and Christianity

In Chapters 8-10 of first Corinthians, Paul deals with the issue of attending pagan religious celebrations at the Idol temples in Corinth. In his first letter (presumably there was a first letter, now lost, although this is disputed) he had told the church to abstain from idolatry and immorality. The response of many of the members was to oppose this advice on the basis that, as they were now members of Christ's church and worshiping the true God, then their attendance at functions in the local temple was neither here nor there. The idol represented nothing, so where was the problem? In dealing with the issue, an issue put to Paul in a letter from some members of the Corinthian church, Paul first of all points to the necessity of considering the weaker brother. It may be that there is no god associated with the idol, but the weaker brother may not see it that way and so may be led into sin. "Do not cause anyone to stumble."

In Chapter 10 Paul begins by noting the real danger present in attending meals in the idol temples by drawing on the example of Israel, v1-13, and now he applies this example, stating that such attendance is incompatible with the Christian life, v14-22. There is an actual identification with idol worship by those who attend it. There may be no god in the idol, but there are powers of darkness there. "You cannot have a part with the Lord's table and the table of demons." Paul does not denounce eating as such; "the earth is the Lord's and everything in it." The issue concerns associating with evil and so becoming one with it. "I do not want you to be participants with Demons."

This passage concludes Paul's words on the issue of participating in feasts at the local pagan temple, 8:1-10:22. The following passage, 10:23-33, deals with the related issue of eating meat from the market place, meat possibly offered to idols. For Paul, this is not such a serious problem.

So, the issue is simple enough. The Corinthian libertines "were arguing for the right to attend pagan feasts and were trying to build up others by having them attend as well. Paul says No. Not only is the latter action totally unloving - and Christian behavior is based on love, not knowledge - but the action itself is totally incompatible with life in Christ as it is celebrated at the Lord's Table. Thus he appeals, exhorts, and finally warns that such attendance is absolutely forbidden", Fee.

In clear terms Paul gives his instructions regarding the Corinthians' association with idolatrous worship, v14-15. dioper "therefore" - therefore, for this reason, so then. Given that God's chosen people were not spared, but perished in the wilderness on account of their idolatry, "therefore" the Corinthians need to take the warning and "have nothing to do with idolatry", Barclay.

agaphtoi mou "my dear friends" - beloved of me. An affectionate address which is followed by a firm command.

feugete (feugw) pres. imp. "flee" - As of someone escaping a life-threatening situation. "Shun the worship of idols", RSV.

apo + gen. "from [idolatry]" - Here expressing separation, "away from", so reinforcing the "flight" as a physical moving away from a situation of great danger, a keeping away from celebrations, festivals and public occasions associated with pagan temple worship.

wJV "-" - [I say] as, like [to wise]. Is Paul being facetious? Most commentators think this is a straightforward appeal, "I appeal to your common sense", Thiselton, but possibly with a touch of irony, "I appeal as to the wise", taking "wise" to be a self-designation of the Corinthian libertines. They view themselves as "sensible", pragmatically wise, so "I am speaking as to sensible men (people)", Barrett.

krinate (krinw) aor. imp. "judge" - "Decide for yourselves whether what I say is reasonable or not", Barclay.

uJmeiV pro. "for yourselves" - you. Emphatic, so "you yourselves decide".

Paul now supports his instruction by establishing that in worship there is a participation with the divine, v16-18. Such is true of the communion service, v16, and this for the whole church community, v17.

ouci "[is] not" - This negation is used in a question expecting a positive answer.

thV eulogiaV (a) "[the cup] of thanksgiving" - of blessing. Paul's rather condensed words need expanding; "the cup of wine we share in the communion service, for which we give God thanks, does it not represent a participation in what Christ has done for us on the cross in the shedding of his blood?" The "cup of blessings" is a technical term for the cup of wine, at the end of the Passover meal, over which a thanksgiving / blessing / grace was offered to God.

o} "for which" - which. "The cup of blessing, which we bless", Moffatt.

ulogoumen (eulogew) pres. "we give thanks" - we bless. Paul is actually amplifying the term "cup of thanksgiving", "namely the cup of wine over which we offer our thanksgiving to God." The thanksgiving / blessing / grace used in the Passover meal was "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the vine." These words were soon Christianized; "We give thee thanks, our Father, for the holy vine of David they servant, which thou hast made known to us through Jesus thy Servant, thine be the glory for ever", Didache. So, the thanksgiving/blessing is Godward; "we offer a blessing", Thiselton.

koinwnia (a) "a participation" - a fellowship, participation. "Receives an interest in", Barrett. Barrett argues that a believer's participation is "in the benefits of Christ's passion." Surely here the participation is an identification with Christ's sacrifice - we die with Christ that we may rise with him. Thiselton argues that the stress is on a "communal participation" in the redemptive work of Christ, a "common participation", Barrett. Such is true (cf. v17), but not the point here.

aiJmatoV tou Cristou "the blood of Christ" - The genitive "of Christ" is adjectival, possessive. "The redemptive sacrifice of Christ."

ton arton (oV) acc. "[is not] the bread" - Properly nominative, but has become accusative by attraction into the case of the relative pronoun o}n, Zerwick #19.

tou swmatoV (oV) "in the body [of Christ]" - of the body. As above; " "the loaf of bread we break and share in the communion service, does it not represent a participation in what Christ has done for us on the cross in the offering of his body?" The word "represent" is not in the text and does, of course, encapsulate the Roman / Protestant divide. Christ used both Passover elements, bread and wine, to represent his sacrifice for sin. In the Passover meal these elements serve to illustrate the meal before the passing over of the angel of death and Israel's subsequent escape from Egypt. Eating and drinking expresses identification with this redemptive event. A believer similarly participates in Christ's atoning sacrifice through faith, which in the communion service is expressed in the eating of the elements - a feeding on Christ. From the second century onward, as the Christian church became increasingly Gentile, there was a tendency to forget the Passover imagery which lay at the core of the eucharist and drift toward the idea that the elements themselves were the body and blood of Christ (the doctrine of transubstantiation), rather than that they simply represented Christ's atoning sacrifice.

oJti "because" - Here expressing cause/reason, although it is unclear whether it points back (Thiselton) or forward (Barrett). Paul established in v16 that in the communion service there is participation with the divine. Now he establishes that this participation is communal. His intended implication is not obvious. Is Paul arguing that a similar communal participation occurs in pagan worship (although actually a participation with demons v21), or is he simply implying that attendance at pagan feasts etc. "fractures the unity" of the congregation, Barnett? "Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are (although we are many), are one body", Goodspeed.

gar "for" - Believers are in union one with another because/for they share together in the person and work of Christ. "For it is the one bread that we all share", Thiselton.

metecomen (metecw) pres. "partake" - [all] partake, consume. Somewhat more specific than just "eat" food, so "eat together = share", descriptive of "communal participation", Thiselton.

ek "of [the one loaf]" - out of, from. Semitic use, functioning as a partitive genitive, as NIV, rather than expressing the sense "all eat from the one loaf", so Fee, cf. Zerwick #80.

"This verse brings a historical proof (but one extending into Paul's own day) by citing the practice of Israel", Conzelmann, namely that in worship there is a participation with the divine. If Israel's worship was not an empty act then obviously attendance at idolatrous festivals is not an empty act, as some of the Corinthians have argued.

blepete (blepw) pres. imp. "consider" - look at. "Look at actual Jewish practice and belief", Barclay.

kata + acc. "-" - [Israel] according to [flesh]. Meaning not spiritual Israel or eschatological Israel, but historic Israel. ouc "[do] not" - Used in a question expecting a positive answer.

oiJ esqionteV (esqiw) pres. part. "those who eat" - the ones eating. The participle functions as a substantive. By eating the sacrificial meat the worshippers "make a profession of (identify with) the same religion", Zerwick.

tou fusiasthriou (on) gen. "[participate in] the alter" - of the alter. "By the alter Paul most likely means the Lord God of Israel himself to whom the sacrifice had been offered", Barnett.

Paul now qualifies his argument, by providing further explanation, indicating that he is not suggesting that it is possible to commune with real gods in pagan sacrifices and idol worship, but it is indeed possible to commune with Satan and his minions in pagan worship, v19-20. Thiselton argues that Paul "wants to prevent the church from entering the epistemological world within which (but only within which) these things do become real." From a postmodern perspective it is possible to argue this way, but it is likely that pagan worship, for Paul, has no reality, psychologically, sociologically, ...... Paul's argument is that behind the froth and bubble there lies dark spiritual powers. There is something more dangerous in idol worship than an alternate value system.

ti "[do I mean then]?" - what [therefore am I saying]?" Forming an interrogative sentence. What, then, do I mean to assert?", Cassirer.

oJti "that" - Here introducing a dependent statement of stating, expressing what he is not asserting.

eidwloquton (oV) "a sacrifice offered to an idol" - something offered to an idol.

ti "anything" - a certain something. The REB draws out the thought nicely, although too specifically; "that meat consecrated to an idol is anything more than meat."

eidwlon (on) "an idol [is anything]" - idol. "Or that an idol itself has any real existence [other than being a lump of wood or stone]", Barclay.

alla "No, but" - but, and. Here a strong adversative. "But what I do declare is", R&P.

oJti "that" - Here introducing a dependent statement of stating, expressing what he is asserting, namely that "malignant spiritual forces are present when idolatrous acts are performed", Naylor.

a} quousin ta eqnh "the sacrifices of pagans" - the things which the Gentiles sacrifice. The ta eqnh is usually regarded as a gloss which seeks to remove the misconception that the subject could be Jews at temple worship. The variant reading is also grammatically incorrect in that a plural neuter subject takes a singular verb, cf. Fitzmyer. Although the subject remains undefined, it is quite possible that "Israel", rather than "Pagans/Gentiles", is in Paul's mind. When Israel worshipped the Golden calf in the wilderness it was not God that they worshipped.

daimonioiV (on) dat. "[are offered] to demons" - [they sacrifice] to demons. Dative of indirect object. Paul only rarely mentions the supernatural powers of darkness, cf. 1Tim.4:1, 10:20.

kai ou qew/ "not to God" - Possibly "and to a no god", R&P, alluding to Deut.32:17, although it is more likely Paul means "and not to God". "Israel may have thought that they were offering sacrifices to God with the golden calf as a festival to the Lord, but they were not", Garland, see above.

ginesqai (ginomai) pres. inf. "[I do not want you] to be" - to become. The infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of the verb "I do [not] will/wish".

koinwnouV (oV) "participants" - participants, sharers [of demons]. The sense, as above, expresses something more than just "associating with", but rather "entering into union with / become sharers with"; "I do not want you to become partners of the demons", Fitzmyer.

pinein (pinw) "[you cannot] drink" - [you are not able] to drink. The infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of the verb "you are [not] able".

pothrion kuriou "the cup of the Lord" - Given the context, a reference to the Lord's Supper is probably intended with Paul's focus on "Christ's blood-shedding", Barrett. This we participate in as does an idol-worshipper participate in the libation poured out before the idol.

daimoniwn (on) gen. "demons" - The genitive is obviously adjectival, possibly possessive "the cup that belongs to the demons", or relational "the cup which brings you into fellowship with the demons", R&P.

"too" - Clearly Paul is establishing the point that a believer cannot fellowship with demons and at the same time fellowship with the Lord. "You cannot drink from the cup of demons and still drink from the cup of the Lord", CEV.

metecein (metecw) pres. inf. "have a part in" - [you are not able] to partake. Complementary infinitive.

trapezhV (a hV) gen. "the table" - of table [of the Lord]. Genitive after a partitive verb. Again, a reference to the Lord's Supper is probably intended, "table" being used for "alter", Mal.1:7, 12, although without the implication that the Lord's Supper itself is an offering/sacrifice for sin. Yet, Paul may not have the communion service in mind as both "cup" and "table" have cultic uses and this is quite possibly how Paul is using the words. A person "shares in / participates in" the substance of worship, whether pagan or Christian.

"Paul soberly cautions against provoking the jealousy of the Lord against those who worship the gods instead of him and who allow themselves thereby to become the haunt of demons. Do they think they are stronger than the Lord?", Barnett.

h] "-" - or. Possibly introducing an alternative; "or (if you think that you can eat of Christ's table and of the table of demons) are we going to provoke His jealousy?", R&P, although in Greek rhetoric this conjunction should be translated in a way which reflects its rhetorical function, cf. Thiselton; "What! do we intend to rouse the Lord's jealousy?", Moffatt.

parazhloumen (parazhlow) pres. "are we trying to arouse [the Lord's] jealousy?" - do we make jealous. The present tense is durative, although possibly a deliberative subjunctive. It is likely that Paul is quoting scripture, namely Deuteronomy 32:21 ("the Lord" = Yahweh, although Paul most likely has Christ in mind). "Do we mean to provoke the Lord to jealousy", Cassirer.

mh "-" - no. Introducing a question expecting a negative answer. "Only if we are stronger than he could such an attempt be made with impunity; as it is, it is madness to act in such a way as deliberately to court the wrath of the Almighty", Bruce.

1 Corinthians Introduction

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