Lessons #343 and 344
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Prohibition of idolatry and reasons (1 Cor 10:14-22)
... 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 message of this passage of 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 that we have been considering for some time is that Believers should avoid idolatry since everything associated with it is incompatible with the Christian faith, exposes one to demons and so harms one’s fellowship with the Lord. We asserted that there are three general reasons the Holy Spirit provided through Apostle Paul about the prohibition against idolatry. We have considered in detail the first two reasons. Recall, the first is because of the uniqueness of the Lord’s Supper as described in verses 16 and 17. This uniqueness is conveyed in the significance of the elements of cup and bread used in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The cup, as we stated previously, signifies sharing in the blessings of the death of Christ that includes forgiveness of sins while the bread signifies belonging to the church of Christ. Consequently, because of the uniqueness of Lord’s Supper that believers partake that indicates they share the benefits of the death of Christ on the cross and belong to the church of Christ, they should not be involved in idolatry. A second general reason the apostle supplied to the Corinthians and so to us in verses 18 to 20, to avoid idolatry, is the nature of sacrifices that indicate a relationship between the offeror and the recipient of the sacrifices, specifically that such sacrifices offered to idols expose one to demons. This brings us to the third general reason.
A third general reason for prohibition against idolatry is its impact on a believer’s fellowship/communion with God. In other words, idolatry makes it impossible for the believer to have fellowship with the God. This third reason is derived from the two assertions of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in verses 21 and 22.
A first assertion is that it is impossible to have fellowship/communion with God when communion/fellowship with demons exists. Or put in another way, celebrating the Lord’s Supper and feasting before an idol is mutually exclusive, a person cannot do both. It is this assertion that is point of verse 21. Before we consider what Apostle Paul wrote in verse 21, we should note that the first assertion we have made is a reminder of the teaching of the Lord Jesus in His Sermon on the mount of the impossibility of showing the same level of devotion to two masters as recorded in Matthew 6:24:
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
On a surface reading of what our Lord taught in this verse, it may not appear that His teaching here has anything to do with the assertion of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:21 that we will get to shortly. But it does. This is because the Lord was concerned with materialism which we have indicated in a previous study that it is a form idolatry takes place in our modern society where most people do not worship physical idols as those in the ancient world did or those in some parts of the world still do. Consequently, a person who is materialistic is idolatrous and such a person cannot be devoted to the Lord in the same manner the individual is devoted to material things. Of course, we should be careful to understand that the Lord is not saying that a believer should never strive to make money but that the process of making money should never be such that God’s word is ignored. In other words, a believer should never put money or the process of making money ahead of his/her spiritual life. Again, a person could not possibly show the same devotion to materialism as to the Lord. It is impossible to love the world of materialism and love God at the same time or with the same intensity. This idea of loving the world and God equally is refuted by what the Holy Spirit wrote through James in James 4:4:
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
All the same, it is our declaration that first assertion of Apostle Paul is that it is impossible to have fellowship/communion with God when communion/fellowship with demons exists, which is the essence of what is given in 1 Corinthians 10:21.
The apostle is emphatic in what he stated in verse 21 that the verse begins in the Greek with a
Greek adverb (ou) that is an objective negative, denying the reality of alleged fact fully and absolutely in contrast to another Greek negative (mē) that is a subjective negative, implying a conditional and hypothetical negation. Thus, the apostle states strongly a fact that cannot be denied concerning fellowship/communion with God and fellowship/communion with demon taking place at the same time or that both are mutually exclusive. The concept of fellowship/communion is given in two related ways in 1 Corinthian 10: 21.
A first way the apostle conveyed the sense of fellowship/communion is celebrating the cup in the Lord’s Supper as we read in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too. Drinking the cup is the apostle’s way of referring to drinking the content of the cup in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This is because of the words, “drink” and “cup.” The word “drink” is translated from a Greek word (pinō) that literally means “to drink,” that is, to take in liquid as it is used in the partaking of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:28:
A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
The word is used in connection with a cup leading to the expression “to drink the cup” that means “to submit to a severe trial, or death” as it is used by the Lord Jesus in His response to the request of the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, in Matthew 20:22:
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered.
The word may have the sense of “to absorb, soak up” as the word is used in imagery with the earth in Hebrews 6:7:
Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.
It is in the sense of “to drink,” that is, to take in liquids by the mouth that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:21. The word “cup” is translated from a Greek word (potērion) that literally refers to a vessel for holding liquid and so drink from, hence means “cup” as in the giving of someone drink our Lord referenced in Matthew 10:42:
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
The literal cup can by metonymy (a figure of speech in which one thing is designated by the mention of something associated with it, e.g., White House in this country stands for the president) stand for what it contains, as for example, where “cup” represents “wine” in Luke 22:20:
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Figuratively, the word “cup” is used for the suffering and eventual violent death of the Lord Jesus in John 18:11:
Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:21, although it literally means “cup”, but it is used in the sense of that which is contained in a cup.
The word “cup” is associated first with the Lord in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 10:21 the cup of the Lord and with demons in the phrase the cup of demons. The phrase the cup of the Lord refers to the cup the Lord gives in the sense of the cup used for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. While the phrase the cup of demons is a reference to the cup used in ceremonies that are dedicated to demons. Thus, when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too, he meant to convey that a person cannot drink the content of the cup used in the celebration of the Lord’s supper and drink content of the cup used by those who sacrifice to idols in their worship of idols. The pagans who sacrificed to idols were certainly involved in drinking of wine as part of their celebration of their sacrifice to their idols. We know this because when Israel got involved in idolatry with the golden calf, they must have copied other pagans, such as the Egyptians, in that their celebration or sacrifice to the idol they made involved drinking as we may gather from Exodus 32:5–6:
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
The point is that pagans when they offered sacrifice to their idols, part of their communion/fellowship with their idols is drinking of wine. Although the pagans believed they were sacrificing to the gods, the Holy Spirit through the apostle tells us that their sacrifice is to demons. Therefore, when they drank before their idols as part of their sacrifices, they indeed had fellowship/communion with demons similar to the fellowship believers have when they celebrate the cup of the Lord’s Supper.
A second way the apostle conveyed the sense of fellowship/communion is eating of bread, which is the first element of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper given in the second clause of 1 Corinthians 10:21 you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. As we have stated, this clause is concerned with the first element of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper which is the bread that is eaten. We can demonstrate this by considering the words the apostle used in our clause.
The expression “have a part” is translated from a Greek word (metechō) that may mean “to share” as it is used in the Lord Jesus sharing in our humanity in Hebrews 2:14:
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
The word may mean “to partake” as it is used in eating in common with other believers as it relates to the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 10:17:
Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
It is in the sense of “to share” or “to partake of something in common with someone” or “to eat something in common with someone” that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:21.
The word “table” is translated from a Greek word (trapeza) that means “table,” that is, a structure or surface on which food or other things can be placed. It is used for the table upon which a meal is spread out as in the description of what Lazarus desired to eat from the table of the rich man as reported in Luke 16:21:
and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The word may refer to a place where money is kept or managed or where credit is established hence means “bank” as the word is used in the Parable of Ten Minas in Luke 19:23:
Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
The verbal phrase put my money on deposit may be translated give my money to the bank although literally the Greek reads give my money to the table. The literal translation does not make much sense unless table is recognized as bank. The word may mean “meal” as it is used to describe what the Philippian jailer, in appreciation of his salvation, set forth before Paul and Silas after the earthquake incident that led to his conversion as we read in Acts 16:34:
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
The verbal phrase set a meal before them is literally set a table before them. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:21, the Greek word is used in the sense of “a table upon which a meal is spread out” hence “a meal.”
Apostle Paul used the word “table” with the Lord in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 10:21 the Lord’s table and with demons in the phrase the table of demons. The phrase the Lord’s table is one that is used in the Septuagint for “altar” in Malachi 1:7:
“You place defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible.
This notwithstanding, the phrase the Lord’s table as used by Apostle Paul refers to celebration of the Lord’s Supper where the Lord here refers to the Lord Jesus while the phrase the table of demons refers to food involved in the celebrations of idols. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, the meal consists of the bread that is used. Therefore, we contend that when Apostle Paul wrote in the second clause of 1 Corinthians 10:21 you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons he was referring to the bread that is used in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. When pagans sacrificed to their idols their meals would include bread and part of the sacrificial meat eaten before their idols in their temples or even at private home celebrations where the names of their gods were invoked in their celebration. Anyway, by what the apostle stated about the meaning of sacrifices to idols, the pagans fellowshipped with demons. Nonetheless, because the apostle used the word “table” in connection with believers then we can be sure he was thinking of bread used in the Lord’s Supper. That aside, the apostle is emphatic regarding the impossibility of having fellowship with the Lord and demons at the same time.
Be that as it may, we have stated the first assertion of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:21 is that it is impossible to have fellowship/communion with God when communion/fellowship with demons exists. In other words, it is impossible for a believer to have fellowship with God at the same time with demons. The apostle in effect is saying that a believer cannot worship God and be involved in idolatry in any form or shape. To make clearer what is involve in what the apostle stated in verse 21, we should recognize that the apostle meant to convey the impossibility of syncretism. What is that? Some of you may ask? The best way to answer this concern is to review what we studied in the past about the concept of syncretism.
The word “syncretism” is defined in the Concise English Oxford dictionary as “the amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought.” The earliest known use of the term was in a political sense by Plutarch (A.D. 46-120), a Greek philosopher, that used it to describe the banding together of often divided peoples of Crete to face a common external enemy. The term is seen in the following quotation from Plutarch’s work:
‘for, although the Cretans were frequently at faction and feud with one another, they became reconciled and united whenever a foreign foe attacked them. This they called “syncretism” (συγκρητισμός).’[1]
The term appeared again fourteen centuries later in the work of Erasmus (1466–1536), the Renaissance humanist and scholar, that used it positively, to speak of the coming together of disparate points of view. About a half century after its use by Erasmus, the term was used by George Calixtus (1586–1656), a distinguished scholar at Helmstädt, to draw the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches together. Nonetheless, from his time, the term has generally been used in Christian writing in a negative sense of the replacement or dilution of the essential truths of the gospel through the incorporation of non-Christian elements. This syncretism, according to scholars, manifests itself differently. In the modern Western churches, it appears in the form of worship of materialism; in African churches it manifests itself in use of spiritistic power and protection; in Latin America churches in form of the rituals of the Night of the Dead; and in Asian churches in the form of the continuance of untransformed ancestral practices. In this study, we are using the term in a negative sense to mean “the incorporation into religious faith and practice of elements from other religions, resulting in a loss of integrity and assimilation to the surrounding culture.” Specifically, we are concerned with practices that have been adopted from pagan world by Christians as part of Christian worship or practice, of which there are many.
Syncretism although not a biblical term but it expresses a biblical concept. It exists in local churches in different cultures because there is always the tendency for people to maintain their cultures even after conversion to the Christian faith. But no culture is free of pagan practice ever since humans drifted from the worship of the true God. This being the case, local churches often do not recognize how syncretistic they are. Culture of a given area tends to blind believers in that area that they do not recognize that some of their cultural practices they import into the local church are not biblically based. It often requires influence of other believers from different cultures to enable believers in a local area to recognize how a familiar practice may in fact be adoption of idolatrous practice. I recall a story I heard sometimes ago where a believer from Africa had visited a church in Atlanta Georgia and was stunned to see that Christians were involved in Halloween that reminded the believer of the spirit worship, he was used to in Africa that he rejected after being saved. After he raised concern to members of the local church, they examined the whole celebration and discovered its pagan origin and so they decided to avoid such celebration. Anyway, my point is that syncretism is something that no local church could truly say that it is free from unless every of its practices has been thoroughly vetted by the Scripture. A case in point is the use of steeple in a church building that we have been a part of until recently when the Lord through series of events enlightened us of its pagan origin so that we removed it in our church building.
It is easy to be involved in syncretism since the human mind is constantly thinking of ways to be involved in idolatry although one may not recognize such involvements. That syncretism is easy to get involved with, may be demonstrated from practices of people in the early period of biblical history and Israel’s struggle with it. Syncretism was evident in the life of Laban. We find him combining the worship of the supreme God with idols. He acknowledged the supreme God when Abraham’s servant narrated his experience that led him to their house through Rebekah as stated in Genesis 24:50–51:
50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has directed.”
He also acknowledged the true God when he did not want Jacob to leave because he learned through divination that the Lord blessed him because of Jacob, as stated in Genesis 30:27:
But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”
These examples, notwithstanding, we find him involved in idolatrous practice as indicated by his possession of household gods in Genesis 31:19:
When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
Hence, Laban although believed in the true Lord was involved in syncretism because of his possession of the household gods. Of course, there is uncertainty regarding the exact meaning of the Hebrew word (terāp̄îm) translated “household gods” since they were apparently not representations of a supernatural being, but they were believed to possess some limited supernatural power. The fact that Laban who worshipped the supreme God had these things suggest he at one point became syncretistic.
The practice of syncretism in Israel is summarized in the practices of the people that were resettled in Israel after the exile of the northern kingdom as recorded in 2 Kings 17:41:
Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.
You see, we read of worshipping God and serving idols at the same time, that is, the essence of syncretism. The subtle thing about Israel’s syncretism is that they mixed practices of the pagan nations with their own in the worship of the supreme God. Thus, we find several examples of adopted pagan practices in Israel. For example, they adopted shrine prostitution, as stated in 1 Kings 14:24
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
Israel adopted witchcraft and other practices from the pagan cultures as indicated in the description given in 2 Kings 17:16–17:
16 They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
King Manasseh was one king that was completely syncretistic in that he even used the temple for idolatry, as indicated in 2 Kings 21:1–7:
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” 5 In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 7 He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
Israel’s syncretistic practices are also described in Psalm 106:35–39:
35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. 36They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. 39They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
Israel’s syncretism is in part due to the mingling with other nations, but the situation is different for local churches in different cultures. Members of the local churches are part of the culture in which they operate so that their difficulty is that of identifying and avoiding practices that are of pagan origin that would lead to syncretism. It is this kind of problem that existed in the church of Corinth the apostle wanted to combat in that some of the Corinthians would visit the temples of the gods probably because they wanted to purchase good meat or to honor a dinner invitation that is celebrated in temples of the gods. These individuals had no problem with such but the apostle wanted to convey that one who gets involved in these things are actually involved in idolatry and so should be avoided.
In any case, the Scripture forbids syncretism although as we have indicated, the word itself is not used in the Bible but that does not mean it is not forbidden. The prohibition against it in Israel is given in Deuteronomy 7:1–6:
1When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
Its prohibition in the NT is given in an indirect manner in the instruction of the Holy Spirit through the pen of Apostle Paul in the verse of our study, that is, 1 Corinthians 10:21. It is syncretism as it involves doctrine that is forbidden in Hebrews 13:9:
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.
This aside, our concern is that local churches should ensure that they identify practices that are of pagan origin that they have adopted that lead to syncretism and avoid them. A good example of syncretism is Christmas celebration where pagan practices of celebrating the birthday of their gods is adapted by the church as part of Christian celebration.
Why should believers avoid syncretism? First, because it is an attack on God’s claim to exclusive worship by His covenant people since such a practice is a violation of the first commandment as stated in Exodus 20:3–6:
3“You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Second, related to the first, is that syncretism results in ignoring God’s word, as we may gather from 2 Kings 17:15–17:
15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, “Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do. 16 They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
It is because Israel ignored God’s word that they imitated the nations around them. Third, syncretism is incompatible to the worship of one supreme God, the creator, since God claims that He is the only God in Isaiah 44:6:
“This is what the LORD says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
The same claim of only one supreme God is conveyed in 1 Corinthians 8:4–6:
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Fourth, syncretism draws God’s punishment, as Prophet Zephaniah implies in Zephaniah 1:4–6:
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests—5 those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the LORD and who also swear by Molech, 6 those who turn back from following the LORD and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him.
It seems to me that one of the reasons for the impotence of the church today involves this problem of syncretism. When local churches combine the worship of God with pagan practices, we should not expect God to manifest His power in the church since He cannot bless what He has cursed. We should understand that syncretism impacts fellowship with God. Thus, a reason not to be involved in syncretism that Apostle Paul was concerned is that it impacts fellowship with God. His main point being that a believer should not be involved in idolatry because it impacts greatly the individual’s fellowship/communion with God. In any event, a first assertion of the apostle in his third reason for prohibition of idolatry is that fellowship/communion with God is impossible when communion/fellowship with demons exists.
A second assertion of the apostle in the third reason for prohibition of idolatry is that fellowship/communion with idols provokes the Lord’s jealousy which is dangerous for believers. The provocation of the Lord to jealousy is given in the first rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 10:22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? The rhetorical question is tantamount to asserting that if a believer gets involved in idolatry that that means the individual seeks to provoke jealousy of the Lord. You see, the expression “trying to arouse” is translated from a Greek word (parazēloō) that means to cause someone to feel strong jealousy or resentment against someone hence means “to provoke jealousy, to cause to be envious.” It is in the sense of “to cause to be envious” that Apostle Paul used the Greek word in his quotation of what Moses said to Israel as communicated to him by the Lord as we read in Romans 10:19:
Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:22, it means “to provoke to jealousy.” By the way, although “envy” and “jealousy” are related but there is a difference between them. Envy is concerned with depriving another of what the individual has while jealousy concerns having the same or the same sort of thing for oneself.
The word “Jealousy” in modern English usage usually carries bad overtones but the word refers to “a strong feeling of possessiveness, often caused by the possibility that something which belongs, or ought to belong, to one is about to be taken away.” However, the word can be used in a positive sense that means “a passionate commitment to something which rightly belongs to one.” It is in this positive sense that the word is used as it relates to God. God does not tolerate any rival in the worship due Him as expressed in prohibition of idolatry in a passage we cited previously, specifically Exodus 20:5:
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me
The phrase a jealous God indicates that “jealousy” is an attribute of God that means He does not tolerate rivals. He zealously guards His character, especially His holiness and faithfulness and so He would not tolerate anyone being unfaithful to Him. To convey how zealous God guards His character, He says that His name is Jealous as we read in Exodus 34:14:
Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Consequently, when His people worship any other being, they arouse His fierce, righteous anger as we may gather from Deuteronomy 32:16:
They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols.
Apostle Paul was probably thinking of this passage in Deuteronomy 32:16 when he wrote the rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 10:22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? In effect, the apostle knows that idolatry is provoking God to jealousy. When the Lord is provoked to anger because of idolatry, the inevitable result is His judgment as conveyed in Moses’ farewell speech to Israel as recorded in Deuteronomy 6:15:
for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.
Moses warned Israel of the consequence of provoking God’s anger which is destruction. Although idolatry is not stated in this passage, but we know that idolatry is a sin that draws His jealous anger or wrath more than any other sin as indicated in 1 Kings 14:22:
Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done.
The evil or sins that provoked God’s jealous anger are related to idolatry as described in subsequent verses, that is, 1 Kings 14:23–24:
23 They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
Apostle Paul’s awareness of the fact that when God is provoked to jealousy the result is not something that anyone would want, states how dangerous it is to do so. He did this through his second rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 14:22 Are we stronger than he? The rhetorical question is a way to state that God is stronger than we humans although some commentators convey that it is difficult to determine what the apostle intended in the question. Nevertheless, we are sure the rhetorical question is a way to state that God is stronger because the apostle had made a statement to the Corinthians to indicate God is infinitely stronger than humans when he compared God’s weakness to man’s strength in 1 Corinthians 1:25:
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
The rhetorical question Are we stronger than he? should remind us that it is dangerous to provoke God’s jealousy since anyone who entangles with Him would not go free as implied in Job 9:4:
His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
The rhetorical question Are we stronger than he? should also remind us of how terrible it is to come under God’s judgment as the human author of Hebrews imply in Hebrews 10:31:
It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The apostle in the rhetorical question that we have considered intended to convey that it is dangerous to want to provoke God to jealousy through idolatry as that would draw His fierce anger on anyone that does so. In any event, the third reason idolatry is prohibited is that it impacts fellowship/communion with God and eventually would result in God’s judgment. With this we come to the end of the apostle’s reasons he gave for prohibiting idolatry. As we end our study of 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, let me remind one more time the message of the section. It is this: that Believers should avoid idolatry since everything associated with it is incompatible with the Christian faith, exposes one to demons and so harms one’s fellowship with the Lord.
09/03//21
[1] Hastings, J., Selbie, J. A., & Gray, L. H. (Eds.). (1908–1926). SYNCRETISM. In Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics (Vol. 12, p. 155). Edinburgh; New York: T. & T. Clark; Charles Scribner’s Sons.