The Table of the Lord Has Real Boundaries

Paul calls the wilderness generation “our fathers” while writing to a church largely made up of Gentiles: Israel’s ancestors have become theirs. The cloud went before the camp and then moved behind it to stand between Israel and Egypt (Exodus 13:21; 14:19–20), and the sea opened in Exodus 14:22.

“Unto Moses” is eis ton Mosen, the same construction as being baptized “into Christ” in Romans 6:3. Exodus 14:31 ends the crossing with the people who “believed the LORD, and his servant Moses”. Their passage through water joined them to a leader.

The food is the manna of Exodus 16. Psalm 78:24–25 calls it “the corn of heaven” and says “man did eat angels’ food”. “Spiritual” here points to its source, given by God from above, not to a food without substance.

Water came from a rock twice, at Rephidim early in the journey (Exodus 17:6) and at Kadesh near its end (Numbers 20:11), and later Jewish tradition spoke of a well that travelled with Israel. The Song of Moses calls God himself “the Rock” (Deuteronomy 32:4, 15), the likelier root of Paul’s identification.

“Overthrown” is katastronnymi, to strew about, the scattering of bodies across the ground; the Greek of Numbers 14:16 uses it of the wilderness generation. “Many” is understatement: of the adults who left Egypt, only Caleb and Joshua entered the land.

“Examples” is typoi, patterns or figures, the word Romans 5:14 uses of Adam as “the figure of him that was to come”. The lust in view is the craving of Numbers 11, where the people wanted meat and the place was named Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of craving.

Exodus 32:6. The feast before the golden calf followed burnt offerings and peace offerings: it was a sacrificial meal before an idol, the very thing Corinth was debating. “Play” renders a Hebrew verb, tsachaq, which can mean revelry, dancing or sexual play, as in Genesis 26:8.

Numbers 25 joins the two sins of this chapter. The Moabite women “called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods” (25:2), and sexual immorality followed. Sex and sacrificial meals came together at Baal-peor as they did in Corinth’s temples.

Numbers 21:5–6: the people complained about the manna, “this light bread”, and fiery serpents bit them. “Tempt” is ekpeirazo, to put to the test, the verb of Jesus’ reply to the devil, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:7). The manuscripts divide between “Christ” and “the Lord”.

“Murmur” is gongyzo, a word that sounds like grumbling. “The destroyer” recalls the destroying angel of the Passover (Exodus 12:23). The likeliest event is Numbers 16:41–49, where the congregation murmured after Korah’s fall and a plague swept the camp.

“Ensamples” is typikos, by way of pattern. “The ends of the world” is literally “the ends of the ages”, plural, as though two ages meet in Paul’s generation. Romans 15:4 says the same of the Scriptures: “written for our learning”.

“Thinketh” is dokei, the verb of 8:2, “if any man think that he knoweth”. Paul gave the same warning in Romans 11:20: “thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear.” The one most at risk is the one sure of his footing.

“Temptation” is peirasmos, which also means a test. “Common to man” is anthropinos, ordinary, human-sized. “A way to escape” is ekbasis, the way out, used of a pass leading out of a valley; the Greek has the article, the exit that comes with that particular trial.

“Wherefore” is dioper, a strong “therefore” that Paul also used at 8:13, and both times it introduces Paul’s conclusion about idol food. “Flee from” is pheugo with apo, to run away from, keeping a distance rather than testing how close one can come.

“Wise men” is phronimoi, the word Paul used with sarcasm in 4:10, “ye are wise in Christ”. Here he appeals to it seriously: they are sensible enough to follow the argument. “Judge ye” hands them the verdict, as though they were the jury.

“The cup of blessing” is a Jewish phrase for the cup over which thanks was said after a meal, at Passover the third cup. The cup comes before the bread here, as in Luke 22:17 and the Didache, the reverse of 11:23–25. “Communion” is koinonia, sharing.

“One bread” is one loaf, broken and shared. The Didache, an early church manual, prays over the bread: as this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and gathered to become one, so gather thy church. The loaf becomes a picture of the body.

“Israel after the flesh” means the historical people and their worship. Leviticus 7:15 required the worshipper to eat the peace offering, and Deuteronomy 12:18 says “thou must eat them before the LORD thy God”. Eating from the sacrifice made the worshipper a sharer in the altar.

Both questions expect the answer no, and they restate 8:4. The Greek uses the small word ti, something, as in 3:7, where neither planter nor waterer is “any thing”. Paul has not changed his mind about the idol’s nature.

The words come almost exactly from the Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:17: “They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not.” Psalm 106:37 says the same. “Devils” is daimonia, demons. “Fellowship” is koinonos, a sharer, the partner word of verse 16.

Malachi 1:7 and 1:12 call the altar in Jerusalem “the table of the LORD”. Each cup and each table stands for a host, and Paul sets them side by side. “Ye cannot” is flat: not “ought not”, but cannot.

Deuteronomy 32:21, again from the Song of Moses, has God say, “They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God.” “Stronger” is ischyroteroi, a jab at those in Corinth who counted themselves the strong. The strength needed would have to exceed God’s.

The slogan of 6:12 returns. This time the second limit is oikodomeo: not all things build up, which recalls 8:1, “charity edifieth”. The oldest manuscripts lack “for me” in both clauses, making it a general maxim rather than a personal boast.

“Wealth” in 1611 meant weal, well-being, not money. The Greek has no noun at all, only “that of the other”, to tou heterou: seek what belongs to the other person’s good. The King James supplied the noun.

“Shambles” is makellon, a loanword from the Latin macellum, the market for meat and fish; an inscription from Corinth names such a market. “Asking no question” is anakrino, the examining verb of 2:15 and 9:3: hold no preliminary inquiry into the meat.

Psalm 24:1. The Tosefta (Berakhot 4:1) cites this verse to teach that a blessing must be said before enjoying anything, since everything belongs to God. Paul uses the psalm the same way: the meat is God’s before it is anyone’s offering.

“Bid you” is kaleo, to invite, the word for a dinner invitation in Luke 14:8. “Ye be disposed” leaves the decision to go with them. “Whatsoever is set before you, eat” echoes Jesus’ instruction to the seventy in Luke 10:8, “eat such things as are set before you.”

The oldest manuscripts have hierothyton here, the polite pagan term, “sacred offering”, rather than the Jewish coinage of 8:1; the speaker uses his own vocabulary. They also lack the repeated line about the earth being the Lord’s.

“The other” is heteros, the other person present. “Liberty” is now eleutheria, freedom, not the exousia, right, of 8:9. The question may be Paul’s own, explaining why he yields, or an objector’s protest; the Greek gives no signal either way.

“By grace” is chariti, which also means “with thanks”, as in grace before meals. The verse can be read, “If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I slandered over what I give thanks for?” “Evil spoken of” is blasphemeo, as in Romans 14:16.

The Mishnah (Avot 2:12) has a saying close to this: “let all thy deeds be for the sake of Heaven.” The verb “ye do” is the widest possible: eating and drinking are named, and then everything else is swept in with them.

“Give none offence” is aproskopoi, without causing stumbling, the word of Philippians 1:10, “without offence”. The Greek says Jews and Greeks, and then names the church of God as a third body alongside them.

“Profit” is sympheron, the “expedient” of verse 23 and 6:12. The next verse, 11:1, finishes this sentence; the chapter break, made by Stephen Langton in the thirteenth century, cuts it off from the paragraph it concludes.