Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10.1–10.33

“For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (Exod 13:21; 14:22). By the example of the Jews, who gave offence through their negligence, he wants us to be careful; and so he says they were under the cloud, because all the things that were done were done as a figure of us, so that they had the image of our truth. For, covered by the cloud and kept safe from their adversaries, they are said to have been baptized, since they were freed from death. For while those, that is, the Egyptians, died in the sea, these, with Moses leading, passed over safely and were rescued from death, which is what baptism grants. For their past evils were not imputed to them, but, purified through the sea and the cloud, they were prepared to receive the law and the form of our future sacrament.

“And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” He calls the manna and the water which flowed from the rock (Exod 16:15; 17:6) spiritual, because they were not produced by the law of the world, but created for a time by the power of God without a mixing of elements, containing in themselves a figure of the future mystery which we now receive in commemoration of Christ the Lord. Therefore it was also called the bread of angels, because it was created by the power by which the angels subsist; signifying this, that one was to come from heaven who would feed spiritually. Hence too the manna first came from heaven on the Lord's day, to fill the people. The rock, however, is called 'following', and is understood to be Christ. For where human help failed them, Christ was present; so he followed, so that where it failed he would come to their aid. For it was not the rock that gave the water, but Christ.

“But with most of them God was not well pleased.” He said this because they did not understand the benefit they had received. “For they were laid low in the desert” (Num 26:65). It is fitting that one who has obtained great things and distrusts in small ones should not only fail to obtain these but also lose those. Since, then, he exhorted them above to better things, and says that he himself labours to come worthily to the promise, now, to bind and persuade them by the terror of this example, he says that the Jews then received God's gift and grace in the same way as we have; and that because they were careless and doubtful of God's promise, they were laid low in the desert; so as to show that he afflicts himself for this reason, lest he be found among their number, and that therefore they must labour to become his imitators.

“Now these things were done as a figure of us, so that we might not be desirers of evil things, as they also desired.” This is the sense and reasoning that I mentioned above. “Nor be servants of images, as some of them were.” Now he touches those who, reclining in an idol's temple, thought it was not a sin. “As it is written (Exod 32:6): The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play”: before the idol, of course; so that those who feasted in an idol's temple might not think themselves free of guilt. For while Moses was on the mountain with God, the image of the calf having been made, after the offering for its dedication, “the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” This is self-indulgence, because, always taking their pleasure, they were found unfaithful in the things of God. And so he instructs us, lest by consenting to self-indulgence in an idol's temple we fall into this distrust.

“Nor let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and twenty-three thousand men fell in one day” (Num 25:1). This was repaid to them when they defiled themselves with the Midianite women; for God's anger arose against them, which was quieted by the zeal of Phinehas the priest, who had zeal for God, so that more would not die. “Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents.” Those who disparaged God are said to have tempted Christ, because it was Christ who spoke to Moses. Indeed, so that we may not be found in the same case, he warns that we not be handed over to the devil, of whom the serpents bear the figure.

“Nor grumble, as some of them grumbled” (Num 14:1). To grumble is to complain falsely to one another about those set over them and their rulers, as far as the sense of the place is concerned; for grumbling can also arise from a just cause. “And they perished by the destroyer.” That is, they passed into the place of Judas, anticipating him; for, betraying Christ, he was destroyed from the number of the apostles by God the judge. By these examples he calls us to a more correct life, so that by his warnings we may deserve either a reward, if we are obedient, or a heavier punishment if disobedient. For there is no doubt that those who sin will be subjected to greater torments, to whom the punishments of sinners were reported precisely so that they would not sin.

“Now all these things happened to them as a figure; but they were written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” We are the ends of the ages; for these things are known to have been done then, concerning their recompense, so as to be an example to us, who were to be in the faith of Christ in the last age. For they were done for our benefit, so that if, through the terror of these things, we remain in the fear of God, we may receive the glory promised to them; if not, their punishment will be doubled for us, because greater knowledge of the law makes one more guilty.

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” He says this to those who, presuming on the knowledge by which it is lawful to eat everything, were a stumbling block to the weak brothers; and who, thinking they were making some progress through the teaching of the false apostles, had grown worse, and judged the Apostle, though they themselves were guilty. He enlarges on their pride, then, lest they be tempted through it, as the Jews were tempted and perished.

“Let no temptation seize you except a human one.” And so, by disparaging the Apostle, they seem to tempt the Lord; for then too, when they disparaged Moses and doubted him, they are said to have tempted God. For whatever is not held as proven is tested; therefore, so that this temptation may be uprooted, he warns them with terror. But he exhorts that a human temptation may seize them; for a human temptation is to distrust man because of hope in God, since vain is hope in man; so that in necessity or affliction one does not despair of God by seeking human help, as the Jews also did, who, doubting God, begged for the aid of idols. This is human help, because the gods of the pagans are earth, and human error invented their worship. To suffer for Christ, then, is a human temptation, by which one makes progress with God. “But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will also make with the temptation a way out, so that you can bear it.” He calls God faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, because God promised to give the heavenly kingdom to those who love him; and he must give it, because he is faithful. Therefore he will be present to those afflicted for him, and will not allow so much to be inflicted that they cannot bear it; but he will make either the temptation cease quickly, or, if it is prolonged, give the strength to endure; otherwise he will not give what he promised, because the sufferer would be conquered. For man is subject to weakness, and there would be no one to receive it; but because God, who promised, is faithful, he comes to help, so as to fulfil what he promised. Indeed the Lord wants the days to be shortened so that the elect may be saved and be able to obtain the kingdom of God (Matt 24:22). Yet how is one helped by God if he is allowed to be tempted only as much as he can bear? He is plainly helped, when no more is allowed to be laid on him than he is known to be able to bear; so that one who is known to be unable to endure beyond three days is not left without bread on the fourth day.

“Therefore, dearly beloved, flee from the worship of idols.” He exhorts them even now to abstain from all association with idolatry, so that not only hope but also the mind may be taken away from it, lest by this a temptation against God be born. For no one who frequents an idol's temple hopes for nothing from it; and to hope from it is to doubt God, as Saul too, having abandoned God, who was angry with him because of his sin, turned to idolatry, hoping for something from it (1 Sam 28). This both harmed him in the present and provided avenging Gehenna for the future.

“As wise men, judge for yourselves what I say.” He adds examples so as to persuade more easily; for those whom words do not satisfy, examples usually persuade.

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing of the blood of the Lord? The bread which we break, is it not a sharing of the body of the Lord? Because there is one bread, we many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread and of the one cup.” Since we are one, members of one another, he says we ought to think one thing; so that one faith may have one mind and one work.

“Consider Israel according to the flesh”: that is, learn, you who see God, how carnal things, that is, idolatry, behave. “Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?” For as we, partaking of one bread and one cup, are sharers and partners in the body of the Lord, so those who eat the sacrifices are sharers in the altar of error.

“What then do I say? That what is sacrificed to an image is anything? Not that an image is anything; but what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons.” An image is truly nothing, because it is seen to be the likeness of a dead thing; but under the cover of images the devil is worshipped. “I do not want you to become sharers with demons.” He shows that this is not only what is seen in an idol's temple, but that there is a hidden mystery of iniquity, which Satan invented to corrupt faith in the one God. Hence the apostle John too says in his letter: “For this the Son of God came, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot share in the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” As the Lord also says: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt 6:24); for one who drinks the cup of demons insults the cup of the Lord; and when he shares in the table of demons, he raises a clamour against the table of the Lord, that is, the altar, and crucifies the Lord's body. For Christ was crucified precisely to destroy the works of the devil. One who does the works of the devil, then, opposes Christ.

“Or do we provoke the Lord Jesus to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” It hardly happens that a lowly person is jealous of a powerful one; for he knows that what could be envied in the other does not befit him; but one envies an equal or nearly equal. Therefore the Apostle said that men cannot be jealous of the Lord Jesus, because they know him to be Lord; if not, the one they are jealous of, lest he be Lord, will not seem to them worthy to be called Lord. For out of jealousy Satan invented idolatry, so that men, denying God the Lord, might serve idols as gods and lords. “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient.” He says all things are lawful according to the law of nature; for all things are clean. For the subject was foods and meat sacrificed to idols. For how can things forbidden and prohibited be called lawful, when here he indicates that even things permitted are sometimes not expedient? As the apostle Peter says: “If this is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry” (Matt 19:10).

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things build up.” The sense is the same: it is lawful to eat all things, but what is sacrificed to idols does not build up, because it makes a brother stumble, as was said above; and therefore one must sometimes refrain from lawful things, so as to do good. This is why he refused to accept support from them, though it was lawful for him, knowing that it was not expedient.

“Let no one seek his own, but what is another's.” It is true that when someone reclines in an idol's temple he satisfies his own will and puts a stumbling block before a brother of weak conscience. Therefore one must hasten, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to prefer what is necessary for our neighbour's salvation to what is necessary for our own will; as the same Apostle, the vessel of election and spiritual physician, says: “not seeking what is useful to me, but what is useful to many” (1 Cor 10:33).

“Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking nothing for conscience' sake; for the earth is the Lord's and its fullness.” To show that all things are clean, he confirmed it by the example of the twenty-third Psalm; for what is the Lord's cannot be unclean. And since above he said of foods, “All things are lawful”, he at once went on: “Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking nothing for conscience' sake.” He added this so that the conscience might be free; for though something may be polluted by an accident, that is, by an offering to an idol, yet when the buyer does not know this, he suffers no scruple, and is clean before God.

“If any of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you go, eat whatever is set before you, asking nothing.” That is, eat simply what is set before you, not asking where it comes from.

“But if anyone says, 'This is sacrificial', do not eat, for the sake of the one who pointed it out, and for conscience' sake. Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other's.” He speaks this to the perfect, who, despising idolatry, can hold that eating of a sacrifice is nothing, being sure that what is eaten under the name of God the Creator cannot pollute; but because another, who serves idols, will boast that you eat of sacrifices as if you venerated idols, therefore it ought not to be eaten. For that man will rejoice in his own conscience, because he sees you gladly seeking what has been sacrificed to idols. “For why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?” He says this because, since his conscience is free from devotion to an idol, what need is there for it to be thought that he eats things sacrificed to idols for the sake of veneration? For he is judged no different from one who worships idols, when he does not shrink from what has been offered to an image.

“If, then, I am a sharer in grace, why am I blasphemed for that for which I give thanks?” That is, if I share in the grace of God, because I eat in his name, what need is there for anyone to think that I am devoted to an idol, since I do not shrink from what has been offered to the idol? That is, I am blasphemed. So he both blasphemes me and rejoices in his idol's temple; while he thinks me a sharer, he has occasion to remain in error, and a bad example is given to the brothers. For if it is commanded in the law that groves and altars and pillars and the idols themselves be broken, see whether it is not a sin not only not to do these things but even to take part in such banquets; therefore it is not expedient to eat of things sacrificed.

“Whether, then, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” By what follows he declared that to eat in an idol's temple, with whatever conscience, is hostile to God; for these things are dedicated to the devil to the reproach of the one God. For to eat and drink and do anything to the glory of God is this: that a meal is celebrated with moderation under the invocation of the Creator; for something is done to the glory of God when God is praised in the acts and conduct of a Christian, or when the procreation of children is hoped for from God.

“Be without offence to Jews and Greeks and to the church of God.” He teaches that our conduct must be so tempered that no one suffers a stumbling block in it. Offence is given to the Jews when they see that a Christian, who says he accepts the law and the prophets, does not shrink from idols, which they abhor. But to the Greeks, that is, the gentiles, this is the offence, if in what they are they are not only not rebuked but even become more eager, when their offerings to idols are not avoided. And a stumbling block arises for the church of God when it sees some of its number cleaving to things hostile to God.

“As I also please all in all things, not seeking what is useful to me, but what is useful to many, so that they may be saved.” To please all in all things is to act without causing anyone to stumble, for the advance of their benefit, so that it may be useful both to them and to him.