Paul brings to an end here the
discussion he began in 8:1, “Now about food sacrificed to idols.”
Paul’s conclusion includes these
points:
1) A cultic meal
or the Lord’s Supper is a sacred meal focused on fellowship with the deity.
2) The deity who
is honored at a cultic meal is present.
3) Idolatry is a
demonic experience
This corrects the now obvious false
teaching of the Corinthians already mentioned:
1) Idols are
nothing (8:4-6) so:
a. It does not
matter what you eat (Application: the Corinthians can eat meat sacrificed to
idols.)
b. It does not
matter where you eat it (Application: the Corinthians can eat in the temples of
idols)
2) Corinthians
can eat in cultic meals of the idols as long as they also eat at the Lord’s
table.
10:14
- An absolute prohibition
“Therefore” indicates Paul is going to
take all that was just said and bring it to a conclusion. Paul has just stated the following:
1) Chapter 8 –
The Corinthians have knowledge and freedoms but they are being used in a self
serving way
2) Chapter 9 –
Paul has rights as an apostle but he tempers those rights with love and concern
for others. The rights and positions do
not guarantee success or approval.
3) Chapter 10 –
Example of
4) Then Paul says
in Chapter 10:14, “Therefore . . .”
The conclusion of chapter 8-10 – Flee
from idolatry
Notice the use of “dear friends”. Paul is concerned with the Corinthians
success.
Fleeing, in this case, was God
providing a way out of your temptation mentioned in 10:13.
10:15
– Paul appeals to their own good sense
Verse 14 is abrupt and to the
point.
Now Paul begins to support his decision
with obvious information:
1. The reasonable
basis of chapters 8-10
2. The
Corinthian’s Experience with the Lord’s supper
3. Another OT
example
4. Demonic
presences
5. The Lord isn’t
willing to share
Paul does consider them to be “sensible
people”. In 11:13 and 14:20 he tells
them to “judge for themselves”. What he
means there is they are “sensible” enough to agree that Paul is right! In 4:10 he used this in a sarcastic tone.
10:16
– Paul appeals to their own experience with the Lord’s Supper
We can learn a lot of what Paul
believes about the Lord’ Supper in these verses but no everything he believes
because the topic here is the cultic meals and not the Lord’s Supper.
The word “participation” in the NIV is the word koinania “koinania” in the Greek, which means
“fellowship, or participation”. The
basic meaning is “to share with someone in something.” The use of this word appears to be
suggesting by Paul that there was a kind of fellowship or bonding of the
worshipper with the deity at these feasts including the feast of the Lord’s
Supper
Also, the deity is assumed to be
present at the feast or the Lord’s Supper.
The eating is not causing the
fellowship, but is a celebration of the fellowship with the Lord which is seen
in the believers being together. In
other words the fellowship is with the Lord and is seen in the one loaf and in
the union of one group of believers
“The cup of thanksgiving” should be
“the cup of blessing.” “The cup of
blessing” was a Jewish term that referred to the last prayer of a meal. It was the cup that the Lord used at the Last
Supper to introduce the New Covenatn
10:17
– Paul appeals to the unity or oneness of the believers as a group.
10:18
– Paul appeals to the OT example of
This comes from the people eating their
tithe in the presence of the Lord in Deuteronomy 14:22
This was similar to the pagan meals
that followed a sacrifice. The Jewish
people would follow the sacrifice with a meal also.
10:19-20 – The same spiritual realities
of the OT continue yet in the NT
Idols are not gods, they are demons
10:21 – Participation
in one cultic meal makes it impossible to participate in the other
10:22 – A
couple of rhetorical questions to show any other opinion is ridiculous