1 Corinthians 10:1 Commentary and Bible Study

This first verse really continues straight from the last verse of chapter 9. Furthermore brethren, in addition to what we have said, consider this, ‘I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud.’ I would not have you to be unknowing, ignorant of a vital and a most important fact, which guides your understanding of Scripture. The argument is going to run along these lines: ‘In Corinth, you are very pleased with yourselves.’ It was in many ways a good church. We always emphasise that. Sometimes, the faults of the church at Corinth are so exaggerated that they seem a pack of rogues. There were problems; there were faults, and yet the apostle does commend them in many ways. So the majority of them were earnest believers. However, there was quite a lot of pride in the church: ‘We have heard the gospel; we have been converted; we have found Christ, and have had some measure of Christian experience,’ and then in comes the worldly pride, ‘and furthermore, we are Greek Christians. We have a tremendous heritage; we have been trained in philosophy and argument, and oratory. We have so many fine orators. Nobody thinks like we, Greeks, do. Combine that with conversion, and you see we are rather fine people.’ I don't think anybody actually said it, but that was obviously in their minds. ‘What therefore has the Book of Exodus got to do with us, or Genesis? What could they know, way back then? Most of them were lost in the wilderness. They were not at our level of spiritual advance. They were not as accomplished as we are. They had been a former brickyard rabble, delivered from Egypt, from slavery. They were not refined or cultured people. What can they teach us?’ And so the apostle is going to say, ‘Just a minute. Look at the spiritual experience they had. Look at the demonstrations of power, that were accorded them, such as we do not have, even in the apostles’ day. Look at what they were able to see, and the kind of preaching they had under Moses, and the great deliverances that were almost equivalent to the assurance of our ordinances like Baptism and the Lord's Supper. They had far more than you realise. They were so privileged; they saw so much, and yet they fell. So you may fall too. Don't be proud, you Corinthians.’ It is not what the apostle actually says, but it is implicit right through the passage. Now some of the exodus generation were converted, but most of them did not know God in a real and spiritual sense, and yet all, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, failed and fell in the wilderness period. The unconverted fell and even the converted were under a measure of judgement from God because of their failings. So, ‘Be warned, take heed lest you fall’, is going to be the argument of the passage. It really follows from verse 27 of chapter 9: the pummelling and the keeping in subjection of the body, its earthly lusts and worldly desires. Here is how crucial it is: no matter how much advance you make, you are still vulnerable to a fall. Most were not converted, but it was nevertheless a church, but not like the New Testament church. A congregation under the New Testament is supposed to consist of regenerate believers. We are supposed to take into church membership, only those who have a credible profession of faith, and a life to go with it. Of course we are human; we make mistakes. We may take in people who are deluded about their conversion, or misled, so we cannot achieve a perfect regenerate membership, but we are to strive for it. That is the standard for the New Testament. Whereas in the Old Testament, when the Jewish nation was the church, there were saints and sinners mixed together. But even with unconverted people in the congregation, it was still representative of the New Testament church. All their experiences there – how God dealt with them: rewarding their faith, punishing their sin – were, because they were a representative church, parallel to our experiences, spiritually. Listen to one of the advantages of the fathers. ‘All our fathers were under the cloud’, that is Exodus 13. They were led by the pillar of cloud by day, which was also their protection from the heat, and they were defended by that same pillar, which was a pillar of fire by night. They never made up their own minds where they would go, or where they would travel. They were led by God entirely.