Lesson #14

1CORINTHIANS 10
Lesson #14
LIBERTY BUT NOT LICENSE

• Memory verse: 1Cor 10:23

• In chapter 8 Paul began to talk about Christian liberty. He continued that discussion in chapter 9. In 1Cor 10 Paul will use his discussion about Christian liberty to show us another aspect of this marvelous liberty that we have in Jesus Christ.

• Read 1Cor 10:1-5 Crossing the Red Sea
• Paul wanted to be sure that the Corinthian Christians were not ignorant. Therefore, he gives them a review of Jewish history. Why?
• Paul uses the nation of Israel as another example of Christian liberty, as we will see.
• When Paul used this kind of statement about ignorance, he was sure the people were ignorant of what he was about to tell them.
• The Corinthian church consisted of some Jews and a majority of Gentiles. The Gentiles would have been ignorant of Old Testament history.
• We know there were Jews in that church because Paul uses the phrase, “all our fathers” identifying himself with the Jews of that congregation. (1)
• Paul tells us of the time when Israel crossed the Red Sea with Moses after leaving Egypt.
• The crossing of the Red Sea represented an illustration or prefigure of the baptism of repentance that the New Testament believer has in his relationship with God when he first receives Jesus Christ into his heart and life. He is born again through repentance.
• Paul says that the Israelites were baptized unto Moses. In other words, they identified themselves with Moses in the same way as the New Testament believer identifies himself with Christ when he is born again. It was Moses’ faith that took them through the Red Sea. (Exo 13-14)
• When Paul says they were under the cloud, he is telling us that the Israelites had the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• The spiritual meat they ate was the manna in the wilderness that prefigured Jesus Christ, the living bread of life.
• The spiritual drink that they drank was the water from the rock that God gave them. That water represented the water of eternal life.
• The rock from which the water miraculous came symbolized Jesus Christ who followed them through the desert to the Promised Land.
• Notice that after Paul tells us of Israel’s experience, indicating that it parallels the believer’s experience of salvation in Jesus Christ as explained in the New Testament, he says in verse 5 that many of the Israelites did not please God.
• They did not trust God to fulfill His promise to bring them to the Promised Land. Their lack of faith kept them in the wilderness for 40 years.
• How does this story of the crossing of the Red Sea relate to Christian Liberty?
• Many of the people that came out of Egypt with Moses saw God’s great miracle at the Red Sea. They were free from Egypt because of the mercy of God. However, even though they enjoyed their new freedom from slavery in Egypt, they did not have faith to believe God.
• In other words, they abused the liberty they had and became presumptuous. Paul was telling the Corinthians that a Godly life is the proof of the faith that he speaks.

• Read 1Cor 10:6-14 Our examples
• Paul tells us his purpose for relating Israel’s history:
• The things that happened to Israel are examples to New Testament believers of what to do and what not to do in our life of faith.
• This is why it is important to study the Old Testament. Their experiences with God give us wisdom so that we can reach farther and accomplish more by standing on their shoulders and not repeating their mistakes.
• What did Israel do with their new liberty from slavery in Egypt?
• They lusted. (6) For what did they lust? The food of Egypt. (Exo 32:6)
• Egypt represents the world system.
• In other words, they were believers with liberty, but they desired the things of the world that they had just left, in place of the things of God. They wanted things that were outside the will of God for them at that time. That desire led them to the sin of unbelief.
• Lust leads to sin. In verse 6 Paul talks about their lust and in verses 7-10, he lists their sins:
• =1= idolatry
• The Israelites made a golden calf to worship. However, an idol is anything in life that takes the place of God.
• Sometimes Christians use their Christian freedom and become entangled in sin and bondage to worldly things. These things become so important that soon they drag the believer away from God and become an idol that replaces the things of God.
• =2= fornication
• The Israelites became involved with the women of Moab and worshipped their gods. (Num 25:1-5,9)
• Incidentally, there is an apparent difference in the number of those who died as a result of this sin. 1Cor says 23,000 and Num 25:9 says 24,000. The number 23,000 refers to those who died the first day, while the 24,000 refers to the total number of people who died.
• =3= presumption and pride
• Filled with pride the Israelites presumed on God’s mercy and love. They tempted God to do what they thought was best. God sent serpents to bite them. (Num 21)
• =4= murmuring or complaining
• In their pride, they were not satisfied with what God gave them. They always wanted more or something different. (Num 14:2)
• The attraction of the world system that they left back in Egypt was Israel’s problem.
• The attraction of the pleasures of the Greek world system was the Corinthian problem.
• The attraction of the pleasures of our world system of materialism and immorality are our problem today in the churches.
• Paul tells us again that Israel is our example in verse 11. In other words, we are to take this seriously because it is mentioned twice. In other words, because it is emphasized, it is a warning to us.
• Verse 12 tells us the results if we do not take seriously the warning.
• For this reason we must be very careful with out Christian liberty. It could cause us to fall into sin.
• Paul gives us another principle to add to our list for making wise decisions in the neutral areas of life:

• Principle #4 = The believer should do nothing that identifies him with the world system. (10:21)

• The world system is under the control of Satan and against God. The believer in Christ is supposed to be separate from the world system even though we live in the world.
• What was this history and warning supposed to do for a carnal, immature church?
• Paul had hope that the immature believers in Corinth would wake up and use their Christian liberty wisely to achieve a better result than Israel achieved.
• A better testimony to a non-believing world.
• A lifestyle of holiness that pleased God.
• A mature and unified church that moved forward with God.
• Believers that had strong faith and maturity to withstand the pressures from a decaying society.
• There will always be temptations in life, but the believer who is walking carefully with Christ will have God’s help to withstand the temptations of this world. (13-14)
• The temptations that are common to man: (13)
• All temptations

fall into three areas:

• Read 1Joh 2:16
• =1= The lust of the flesh.
• =2= The lust of the eye.
• =3= The pride of life.
• Eve had these same three temptations: (Gen 3:6)
• =1= The fruit was good for food that would satisfy the flesh nature.
• =2= Her eyes saw that the fruit was pleasant and appealing.
• =3= She decided that the fruit would make her wise in her life.
• Jesus endured these same three temptations: (Mat 4)
• =1= He was tempted to turn stones to bread to satisfy his fleshly hunger.
• =2= He was tempted when He saw all the kingdoms of the world that Satan offered to Him.
• =3= He was tempted to prove his position with God by jumping from the pinnacle of the temple and calling the angles to save his life.
• The way of escape out of temptation that Paul mentions in verse 13 is Jesus Christ.
• Read Heb 4:15-16
• Jesus is our High Priest. He helps us in our temptations, because he was tempted in the same three areas as we are. He, therefore, understands what we are going through.
• The two greatest temptations in the city of Corinth:
• Just as he told the Corinthian believers to “Flee Fornication” (6:18), Paul tells them to “Flee Idolatry”. (10:14)
• These two temptations were the greatest temptations in Corinth. For that reason Paul told them to run the other way as fast as they could.
• Read 1Cor 10:15-22 The story of three tables
• What is the main thought that Paul was trying to communicate in this passage?
• There are three tables from which men drink spiritually:
• =1= The table of Judaism = this represents the fellowship of Israel. (18)
• The Old Testament priests ate from the sacrifices brought to the Lord.
• In this way they identified themselves with Jehovah as God’s people.
• =2= The table of Jesus Christ = this is the table of the holy communion that represents the covenant Jesus Christ made with us through His blood, and gives us the fellowship of believers.
• When believers in Jesus Christ take communion, they identify themselves with Christ and His covenant.
• Believers also identify themselves with other believers around the communion table.
• Therefore, taking communion together unifies the church, the body of Christ.
• Notice that Paul speaks of one body and one bread (17), because division in the Corinthian church was the biggest problem.
• =3= The table of Satan = to eat meat offered to idols, identifies a person with Satan and his demons.
• An idol was nothing. Because of that fact, meat offered to idols was not adversely affected.
• However, behind the idol and all other religious systems are Satan and his demons.
• The believer in Jesus Christ cannot worship God and Satan at the same time.
• Therefore, the believer must be careful how he uses his freedom so that he does not advance the kingdom of Satan. .
• Therefore, to eat from the Lord’s table and the table of Satan, provokes the Lord to jealousy. (22)
• Read 1Cor 10:23-33 The unifying concept of love
• Through baptism (1Cor 1:13-16) and communion (15-22), the believer in Jesus Christ is part of a greater reality, the unified body of Christ in the Kingdom of God.
• With this broader perspective, the believer in Jesus Christ should realize that what he does or does not do will have an effect on God’s kingdom.
• With this broader perspective, the believer in Jesus Christ should set aside his own selfish desires and actions to favor his brothers and sisters in Christ. (22)
• The only way a believer has the ability to accomplish this is by Christian love with the help of the Holy Spirit.
• This unifying concept helps the believer make critical decisions in his life from the perspective of love.
• In our previous lesson of 1Cor, Paul introduced us to Principle #3 in the decision making process of a mature believer.
• The mature believer will always limit his spiritual liberty with an over-abiding love for other believers who may be weak and stumble as a result of our decisions.
• Paul gives an example of this principle in verses 23-28.
• If you are invited to eat at another person’s house, do not ask from where the meat came or if it was offered to idols. Just eat it.
• However, if someone at the party says that the meat came from the temple and had been offered to idols, do not eat it.
• This is liberty limited by love for a weak believer who may be offended by eating meat offered to idols.
• However, is this fair, to always let others dictate how you make decisions? (30)
• Paul gives us another principle in verse 31.

• Principle #5 = Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.
• Living by this principle means that you will not offend anyone, the Jews, the Gentiles, or the other believers in Christ. (32)
• Living by this principle means some will get saved because of your life’s testimony. (33)
• Summary and Application:
• Christian liberty is a wonderful thing. However it carries with it responsibility. This is what many Christians forget. As a result, this lack of Christian responsibility keeps them immature in their Christian life with the Lord. This is the reason Paul gives us some very important principles in this book. He wanted the Christians in Corinth to mature in their faith by developing a sense of responsibility for their decisions and actions in life.
• Christian responsibility means that the believer will not misuse his liberty to live a licentious life style that will detrimentally affect his own life, the lives of other believers in the church, the lives of non-believers around him, and the cause of Christ.
• Read 1Cor 11:1
• Paul says that by means of all these principles that he has given us, this is the way he made wise decisions in his life. He encourages the people in Corinth to follow him as he follows Christ.
• A review of the principles that we have already discussed in our study for making decisions in the neutral areas of life.

• Principle #1 = I will do nothing that places me in any kind of worldly bondage. (6:12)
• Principle #2 = I will do nothing that defiles my body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, because I have been bought with a price. (6:19-20)

• Principle #3 = I will always consider the possible consequences of my decisions on immature Christians. (8:9)
• The two final principles we add from this chapter are:

• Principle #4 = I will do nothing that identifies me with the world system. (10:21)
• Principle #5 = That which I do in life, I will do it for the glory of God. (10:31)

HOMEWORK
1CORINTHIANS 11
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of 1Cor 10
• Do you live your Christian life always with the thought of how your life affects other believers?
• Do you live your Christian life always with the thought of what kind of witness you are presenting to the world of non-believers?
• How can you improve in these two areas so as to use more wisely your Christian liberty limited by love?

• Preparation for 1Cor 11
• Read 1Cor 11:1-16
• What does this passage tell you about the role of men in the church?
• What does this passage tell you about the role of women in the church?

• Memory Verse: Eph 5:24