Chapter 10

Let me remind you, brethren, of this. Our fathers were hidden, all of them, under the cloud, and found a path, all of them, through the sea;

all alike, in the cloud and in the sea, were baptized into Moses’ fellowship.

They all ate the same prophetic food,

and all drank the same prophetic drink, watered by the same prophetic rock which bore them company, the rock that was Christ.

And for all that, God was ill pleased with most of them; see how they were laid low in the wilderness.

It is we that were foreshadowed in these events. We were not to set our hearts, as some of them set their hearts, on forbidden things.

You were not to turn idolatrous, as some of them did; so we read, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to take their pleasure.

We were not to commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, when twenty-three thousand of them were killed in one day.

We were not to try the patience of Christ, as some of them tried it, the men who were slain by the serpents;

nor were you to complain, as some of them complained, till the destroying angel slew them.

When all this happened to them, it was a symbol; the record of it was written as a warning to us, in whom history has reached its fulfilment;

and it means that he who thinks he stands firmly should beware of a fall.

I pray that no temptation may come upon you that is beyond man’s strength.8 Not that God will play you false; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your powers. With the temptation itself, he will ordain the issue of it, and enable you to hold your own.

Keep far away, then, my well beloved, from idolatry.

I am speaking to you as men of good sense; weigh my words for yourselves.

We have a cup that we bless; is not this cup we bless a participation in Christ’s blood? Is not the bread we break a participation in Christ’s body?

The one bread makes us one body, though we are many in number; the same bread is shared by all.

Or look at Israel, God’s people by nature; do not those who eat their sacrifices associate themselves with the altar of sacrifice?

I am not suggesting that anything can really be sacrificed to a false god, or that a false god has any existence;

I mean that when the heathen offer sacrifice they are really offering it to evil spirits and not to a God at all. I have no mind to see you associating yourselves with evil spirits.

To drink the Lord’s cup, and yet to drink the cup of evil spirits, to share the Lord’s feast, and to share the feast of evil spirits, is impossible for you.

Are we, then, to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Have we powers greater than his? I am free to do what I will; yes, but not everything can be done without harm.

I am free to do what I will, but some things disedify.

Each of you ought to study the well-being of others, not his own.

When things are sold in the open market, then you may eat them, without making any enquiries to satisfy your consciences;

this world, as we know, and all that is in it belongs to the Lord.

If some unbeliever invites you to his table, and you consent to go, then you need not ask questions to satisfy your consciences, you may eat whatever is put before you.

But if someone says to you, This has been used in idolatrous worship, then for the sake of your informant, you must refuse to eat; it is a matter of conscience;

his conscience, I mean, not yours. There is no reason why I should let my freedom be called in question by another man’s conscience.

I can eat such food and be grateful for it; why should I incur reproach for saying grace over it?

In eating, in drinking, in all that you do, do everything as for God’s glory.

Give no offence to Jew, or to Greek, or to God’s church.

That is my own rule, to satisfy all alike, studying the general welfare rather than my own, so as to win their salvation.