- Warnings From Israel's History
- 1
- For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our
- forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
- 2
- They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
- 3
- They all ate the same spiritual food
- 4
- and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual
- rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
- 5
- Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them;
- their bodies were scattered over the desert.
- 6
- Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from
- setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
- 7
- Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written:
- "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."
- 8
- We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--
- and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
- 9
- We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes.
- 10
- And do not grumble, as some of them did--
- and were killed by the destroying angel.
- 11
- These things happened to them as examples and were written down
- as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
- 12
- So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
- 13
- No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
- And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
- But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out
- so that you can stand up under it.
- Idol Feasts and the Lord's Supper
- 14
- Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
- 15
- I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
- 16
- Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation
- in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation
- in the body of Christ?
- 17
- Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body,
- for we all partake of the one loaf.
- 18
- Consider the people of Israel:
- Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
- 19
- Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything,
- or that an idol is anything?
- 20
- No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God,
- and I do not want you to be participants with demons.
- 21
- You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too;
- you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.
- 22
- Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
- The Believer's Freedom
- 23
- "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial.
- "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive.
- 24
- Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
- 25
- Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,
- 26
- for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
- 27
- If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go,
- eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.
- 28
- But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice,"
- then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you
- and for conscience' sake --
- 29
- the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours.
- For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience?
- 30
- If I take part in the meal with thankfulness,
- why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
- 31
- So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
- 32
- Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--
- 33
- even as I try to please everybody in every way.
- For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many,
- so that they may be saved.