קורינתים א׳ 10

1 Corinthians 10 is addressed to Christians who thought they were safe. They had knowledge, they had the sacraments, they knew an idol was nothing, and some of them were going to dinners in pagan temples to prove it. Paul answers with a history lesson. Our ancestors, he says, had it all: the cloud, the crossing of the sea, which was a kind of baptism, bread from heaven and water from a rock, which was a kind of communion, and Christ himself was the rock. And their bodies were scattered across the desert, because they made a calf and sat down to eat and drink and play, because they slept with the women of Moab, because they tested the Lord and grumbled against him. Those stories were written down for us, Paul says, the people on whom the end of the ages has arrived, so let the one who thinks he is standing watch his feet. Then comes the promise that has steadied more people than almost any other in the New Testament: no temptation has taken you that is not common to everyone, and God is faithful and will always leave a way out. From there the argument turns to the table. The cup we bless is a sharing in Christ's blood, the bread a sharing in his body, and because there is one loaf we are one body; a temple feast is a sharing with demons, and you cannot sit at both tables. In ordinary life, eat what the market sells and what your neighbor serves, and stop only when someone else's conscience is on the line. Do it all, Paul ends, for the glory of God.