Warnings From Israel’S History
WARNINGS FROM ISRAEL’S HISTORY
1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13
Paul reminds us not to take spiritual privileges for granted.
The Christian life, according to the New Testament, holds in tension a restful assurance and a healthy fear. On the one side, we have the confidence of Romans 8:28-39; Philippians 1:6, with a promise of eternal security; but in case this assurance should dull our moral senses and generate a careless attitude, we must recall the warnings of Hebrews 2:1; 10:4-9,26-39; 12:25; 2 Peter 1:10 and 1 Corinthians 9:27.
It is this salutary reflection on the need for personal discipline in his own life that prompts Paul to deal with the prevailing mood at Corinth. The core of his warning is that religious profession, expressed in the use of the sacraments, is “no safeguard for a careless life which takes liberties with itself” (Moffatt).
The quiet reminder which Paul gives is that the Old Testament people of God had their special moments of revelation when God came uniquely near; they enjoyed their “sacraments,” as they were “baptized into Moses” (10:2) and were sustained by the life-giving water from the rock (10:4). But as they turned aside to idolatry and away from the true God, they quickly met their fate (10:5-10).
Old Testament incidents of judgment in spite of privilege (eg Amos 3:1-2) do not belong simply to the storybook of the past, Paul warns (10:11): through them we are warned today (Hebrews 3:7-19). The call is one of self-examination (10:12) and a turning away from all presumption and blind trust in religious ceremonial or any supposed “once for all” status, which makes the one who professes faith insensitive to the moral standards set by the gospel and demanded of God’s people in every age. Temptation to slackness will come, but no trial has power to overwhelm us while a way out is provided (10:13). But it is easier to find the “way out” if we refuse, in the first place, to pass through the “way in” to a compromising situation. Therefore 10:14 (see also 1 Timothy 6:11).
Notes 10:1-5: “It looks as though the Corinthians expected salvation to be automatically guaranteed to them because they had been baptized and because they shared in the Lord’s Supper” (Thrall). 10:6-10 give five examples of Israelite lapses. Can you spot them? (Numbers 11:4-6; Exodus 32:6; Numbers 25:1-9; 21:4-9; 16). The numerical discrepancy between Numbers 25:9 and 1 Corinthians 10:8 is not serious; both are round figures and we may mark Paul’s addition “in a single day.”