Warning Against Idolatry

1 Corinthians 10

1 For I want you to know, brothers, 1 that our fathers were all under b the cloud, and all c passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and d all ate the same e spiritual food, 4 and f all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for g they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as h they did. 7 i Do not be idolaters j as some of them were; as it is written, k "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." 8 l We must not indulge in sexual immorality m as some of them did, and n twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ 2 to the test, o as some of them did and p were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, q as some of them did and r were destroyed by s the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but t they were written down for our instruction, u on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore v let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. w God is faithful, and x he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

14 Therefore, my beloved, y flee from idolatry. 15 I speak z as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 a The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? b The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are c one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider d the people of Israel: 3 e are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that f an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice g they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 h You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and i the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and j the table of demons. 22 k Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? l Are we stronger than he?

  1. Cross References
    Exodus 13:21
    And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
  2. Cross References
    Exodus 14:22
    And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
  3. Cross References
    Exodus 16:15
    When the people of Israel saw it, they said to ...
    Exodus 16:35
    The people of Israel ate the manna forty years,...
    Deuteronomy 8:3
    And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed y...
    Nehemiah 9:15
    You gave them bread from heaven for their hunge...
    Nehemiah 9:20
    You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and ...
    Psalms 78:24
    And he rained down on them manna to eat and gav...
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 78:25
    Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.
    Psalms 105:40
    They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
    John 6:31
    Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'
  5. Cross References
    Exodus 17:6
    Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
  6. Cross References
    Numbers 14:29
    Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness,...
    Numbers 14:37
    The men who brought up a bad report of the land...
    Numbers 26:64 - 65
    But among these there was not one of those list...
    Psalms 106:26
    Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them ...
    Hebrews 3:17
    And with whom was he provoked for forty years? ...
    Jude 1:5
    Now I want to remind you, although you once ful...
  7. Cross References
    Numbers 11:4
    Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat!
    Numbers 11:33 - 34
    While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague.
    Psalms 78:18
    They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
    Psalms 106:14
    But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert.
  8. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 10:14
    Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
  9. Cross References
    Exodus 32:4
    And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
  10. Cross References
    Exodus 32:6
    And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
  11. Cross References
    Exodus 32:6
    And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
  12. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 6:18
    Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
    Acts 15:20
    But should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
  13. Cross References
    Numbers 25:1
    While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.
  14. Cross References
    Numbers 25:9
    Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
    Psalms 106:29
    They provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
  15. Cross References
    Numbers 21:5
    And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.
    Exodus 17:2
    Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord ?
    Exodus 17:7
    And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?
    Psalms 78:18
    They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
  16. Cross References
    Numbers 21:6
    Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
  17. Cross References
    Numbers 14:2
    And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
  18. Cross References
    Numbers 14:29 - 37
    Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me.
  19. Cross References
    Exodus 12:23
    For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
    2 Samuel 24:16
    And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
    1 Chronicles 21:15
    And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
    Psalms 78:49
    He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
  20. Cross References
    Romans 4:23
    But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone.
  21. Cross References
    Romans 13:11
    Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
  22. Cross References
    Romans 11:20
    That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
    2 Peter 3:17
    You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
  23. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 1:9
    God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
  24. Cross References
    Daniel 3:17
    If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
    2 Peter 2:9
    Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.
  25. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 10:7
    Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
  26. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 8:1
    Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up.
  27. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 11:25
    In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
    Matthew 26:27 - 28
    And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you.
  28. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 11:23 - 24
    For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.
    Matthew 26:26
    Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body.
    Acts 2:42
    And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
    Acts 20:7
    On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
  29. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 12:12 - 13
    For just as the body is one and has many member...
    1 Corinthians 12:20
    As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
    Romans 12:5
    So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and...
    Ephesians 4:4
    There is one body and one Spirit - just as you ...
    Ephesians 4:16
    From whom the whole body, joined and held toget...
    Colossians 3:15
    And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...
  30. Cross References
    Romans 1:3
    Concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
    Romans 4:1
    What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
    Romans 9:5
    To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
    2 Corinthians 11:18
    Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.
  31. Cross References
    Leviticus 3:3
    And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the Lord, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails.
    Leviticus 7:15
    And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning.
    Hebrews 13:10
    We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
  32. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 8:4
    Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one.
  33. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:17
    They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
  34. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 6:15 - 16
    What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
  35. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:38
    Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you; let them be your protection!
  36. Cross References
    Isaiah 65:11
    But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny.
  37. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:21
    They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
  38. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 6:10
    Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.
    Ezekiel 22:14
    Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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