Returning to the subject of food sacrificed to idols, Paul now considers the situation from the perspective of what the breaking of bread means for the inhabitants of the Kingdom and therefore for the Church. The apostle naturally understands perfectly well that this is not merely a symbol. For him, the meaning of the breaking of bread lies...
Returning to the subject of food sacrificed to idols, Paul now considers the situation from the perspective of what the breaking of bread means for the inhabitants of the Kingdom and therefore for the Church. The apostle naturally understands perfectly well that this is not merely a symbol. For him, the meaning of the breaking of bread does not lie in like-minded people or people of the same faith gathering at one table to take part in a sacred meal. It is not a demonstration of one's views or faith, although faithfulness to the risen Christ is of course taken for granted. The breaking of bread is what, spiritually, makes the Church the Church: one spiritual body sharing one life with the Risen One (vv. 16–17). That is why participation in pagan cults, in “idolatry,” is inadmissible for a Christian (vv. 14–15). In saying this, Paul also appeals to Israel's experience as the people of God, where such participation had always been regarded as apostasy (v. 18).
The point is not that these cults suddenly acquire some power in themselves (v. 19). The point concerns people who prefer to turn to created spirits, to “demons,” rather than to God, who created everything, including those very spirits (vv. 20–21). No spirits have power over a person in themselves, but they can receive it if the person turns to them and prefers a relationship with them to a relationship with God. The two cannot be combined, for these relationships lay hold of the whole person. A choice therefore has to be made, and it must be unambiguous so as not to “provoke the Lord” (vv. 21–22).
The apostle evidently views relationships with spirits in the same way as relationships with people: no “demon” can cause spiritual harm to a person by itself, just as no human being can. Everything depends solely on a person's relationship with those who happen to be near, whether spirits or people.
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10:14 Flee from idolatry - And from all approaches to it.
10:16 The cup which we bless - By setting it apart to a sacred use, and solemnly invoking the blessing of God upon it.Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ - The means of our partaking of those invaluable benefits, which are the purchase of the blood of Christ. The communion of the body of Christ - The means of our partaking of those benefits which were purchased by the body of Christ - offered for us.
10:17 For it is this communion which makes us all one. We being many are yet, as it were, but different parts of one and the same broken bread, which we receive to unite us in one body.
10:18 Consider Israel after the flesh - Christians are the spiritual "Israel of God." Are not they who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar - Is not this an act of communion with that God to whom they are offered? And is not the case the same with those who eat of the sacrifices which have been offered to idols?
10:19 What say I then - Do I in saying this allow that an idol is anything divine? I aver, on the contrary, that what the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. Such in reality are the gods of the heathens; and with such only can you hold communion in those sacrifices.
10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils - You cannot have communion with both.
10:22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy - By thus caressing his rivals? Are we stronger than he - Are we able to resist, or to bear his wrath?