Bs – The Truth About Idolatry 10: 14-22

The Truth About Idolatry
10: 14-22

The truth about idolatry DIG: What is meant by drinking “the cup of blessing” and “breaking bread?” How is that “sharing in the body of the Messiah?” Why mention that the Levites ate the sacrifices offered by the Israelites in this context? How do these two illustrations relate to Paul’s call to avoid participation in the feasts at pagan temples?

REFLECT: Idolatry can take many forms. What kinds of “idols” do you see people “worshiping” by those around you? What is a contemporary parallel of how these examples and warnings apply to you? Have you ever found yourself attached to an “idol?” What steps can you take to guard against that happening again?

If anything gets between you and God, He wants it out of the way.

Paul is now getting ready to bring his lengthy section of eating meat sacrificed to idols to a conclusion. In these verses we discover beyond any doubt the specific issue that began in 8:1. As Paul has made clear, idolatry, immorality, and grumbling against God are not gray areas – they are outright sins (to see link click Br – Blessings and Abuses of Freedom in Messiah). Believers had no freedom in regard to such things. Next, the apostle explains why the sin of idolatry is especially offensive to God. It is not a moral issue to eat meat sacrificed to an idol; but it is a serious sin to engage in any form of idol worship. Some of the Corinthians were taking their freedom in Messiah too far, and were becoming involved in the wickedness of idolatry. They were free to attend pagan functions, but were not free to participate in pagan idolatry. Paul strongly rebukes those who would do that.²⁶⁴

Paul could not state his conclusion more clearly. Therefore, my dear friends, run away from (Greek: pheugo, present imperative is durative, meaning continue to run) idolatry! The preposition from (Greek: apo) instead of (Greek: ek, meaning out of) implies that Paul is not calling them out of idolatry, but encouraging them to “run away from” idolatry (10:14). The command to “run away from” idolatry here matches the prohibition to “run away from sexual immorality” in 6:18. The two are intertwined in Paul’s mind (Romans 1:18-32; Galatians 5:19-21); Colossians 3:5; First Peter 4:3). The Corinthians were not yet bogged down in the miry swamp of idolatry and in need of being extricated, but they did need to be warned that they were walking into spiritual quicksand. Idolatry is like radioactive waste: it requires them to run away from this area immediately to avoid contamination and certain death.²⁶⁵

Paul never asks for mere blind obedience: he always labors to secure obedience as a result of thorough conviction. Now Paul seeks to show them how sensible it is based upon their own experience of the Lord’s Supper. I speak to you as sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying (10:15). The Corinthians prided themselves on their wisdom (Second Corinthians 11:19); now Paul appeals to it. He did not have to demonstrate the point. They could see it for themselves.²⁶⁶

Idolatry is Inconsistent (10:16-18): Paul now moves to an important step in his argument: the Lord’s Supper. This becomes the key to his climactic argument. His words give us the impression that participating in the Lord’s Supper is a regular practice among faithful believers. It is commanded by our Lord (Luke 22:19 and 1 Cor 11:24-25) to remind us of His sacrifice for us and our oneness with Him and with fellow believers. The “cup of blessing” over which we make the b’rakhah (Hebrew: blessing) – isn’t it a sharing (Greek: koinonia, meaning fellowship) in the bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah? The third cup of the Passover Seder is called the cup of redemption, or the cup of blessing (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Kk – The Third Cup of Redemption). And the bread we break, isn’t it a sharing in the body of the Messiah (10:16)? Both of these rhetorical questions begin with ouchi, which means that a “yes” answer is anticipated.

Because there is one loaf of bread, Yeshua said: I am the bread of life (John 6:35), we who are many constitute one body, since we all partake of the one loaf of bread (10:17). Because we are one with Messiah we are one with each other. As we come into fellowship with Messiah through the Lord’s Supper, we come into fellowship with each other in a unique way: The person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (6:17). All believers stand on the same ground at the foot of the cross, as forgiven sinners who possess eternal life (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer).²⁶⁷

Look at physical Isra’el, literally, “the Isra’el according to the flesh” (10:18a). This is the key verse for evaluating those who believe in Replacement Theology, that the Gentile Church has replaced the Jews as “the true Isra’el,” or “the new Isra’el.” In the present verse the argument goes as follows: does Paul use the phrase “according to the flesh” to imply the existence of a different Isra’el “according to the Spirit?” Paul contrasts these two phrases in Romans 1:3-4, 8:4-5, and Galatians 4:29; and these are the only places where the phrase, “according to the Spirit” appears in the entire B’rit Chadashah; although 19 other places where the phrase “according to the flesh” is found, one can usually imagine an alternative “according to the Spirit.” However, it is in Romans 11:17-24, in his analogy with cultivated and wild olive trees, that Paul expresses most clearly his understanding of Isra’el in the present Dispensation of Grace as consisting of three groups – branches of the cultivated tree which have been cut off and remain off (non-Messianic Jews), branches of the cultivated olive tree which have been cut off and then grafted back into their own olive tree (Messianic Jews), and wild olive branches that have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree (Gentile believers, see Romans 11:23-24). Thus, physical Isra’el is a subset consisting of the first two of these three groups: non-Messianic Jews plus Messianic Jews. Nowhere in the B’rit Chadashah is the Church called “the true Isra’el” or “the new Isra’el.” For more on this see the commentary on Romans Da – The Redemption of Isra’el.²⁶⁸

Again, Paul uses Isra’el to illustrate his point. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the Altar (10:18b)? When the Israelites brought their sacrifices to the Bronze Altar (see the commentary on Exodus Fa – Build Altar of Acacia Wood Overlaid with Bronze), some of the offerings were burnt as the sacrifice, some of the offering was eaten by the priests, and some of it was eaten by those who offered it. In those offerings, everyone was involved with the sacrifice, with ADONAI and with each other.

Likewise, to sacrifice to an idol is to identify with it, to participate with the idol and with all others who sacrifice to it. Religious ceremonies, whether believers or pagans, involve participation of the worshipers with the object of their worship and with each other. Thus, it is completely inconsistent for believers to participate in any expression of worship that is apart from and contrary to their Lord.²⁶⁹

Idolatry is demonic (10:19-21): Much worse than being inconsistent, idolatry is demonic. So, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols has any significance in itself? or that an idol has significance in itself? No, what I am saying is that the things which pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice not to God but to demons; and I don’t want you to become sharers of the demons (10:19-20)! Since idols do not exist, the Corinthians cannot become sharers with idols. But demons do exist, and pagan sacrifice is demonic. However, the Corinthians would become sharers with demons if they willingly participated in pagan sacrificial feasts.²⁷⁰ All altars, all sacrifices, and all worship that is not intended to serve the true and living God are actually, although not necessarily consciously or intentionally, devoted to demons. As these wicked angels, under the leadership of Satan, rule the entire world, so they are the originators of the spiritual darkness of which idolatry is the most terrible evidence. Hence, all idol sacrifices, whatever the pagan ideas concerning them may be, are actually sacrifices to demons (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37 and 95:5).²⁷²

Fundamental allegiance was at stake. You can’t drink both a cup of the Lord and a cup of demons, you can’t partake in both a meal of the Lord and a meal of demons (10:21). Paul is not giving advice but stating a fact. Yeshua made it clear that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24 NASB). It is not simply that we should not . . . but we cannot! It is impossible to do both at the same time. It must be one or the other. We will hate the one and love the other, or we will hold to the one and despise the other. When we fellowship with the Lord, we cannot fellowship with demons, or vice versa.²⁷³

It’s as if Paul is saying: You can’t have it both ways. That’s exactly what Isra’el did in the wilderness. They worshiped the true God, and then turned around and worshiped a false idol (see the commentary on Exodus Gq – The Golden Calf Incident). That’s exactly what the pagan Gentile do. By saying that they wanted to worship God, but worshiped an idol instead, the Corinthians would provoke God to jealousy.

Idolatry is offensive to the Lord (10:22): Idolatry is inconsistent, demonic, and offensive to the Lord. It will make the Lord jealous. Paul alludes to the Song of Moses: They aroused My righteous zealousness with a non-god and provoked me with their vanities (32:21a CJB). The reason that idols are not to be worshiped is that ADONAI is a jealous or zealous God. The Hebrew term qanna’ combines the two concepts of jealousy and zeal (not envy or suspicion).²⁷³ So, zeal, or zealousness, meaning a passionate devotion to, would be a better term to use than jealous, which has negative, even petty connotations. Therefore, idolatry would cause God’s zeal to burn like a husband’s zealousness would burn against an unfaithful wife (Hosea 2:2-5).

Paul’s final question: We aren’t stronger than He is, are we (10:22)? Is obviously rhetorical. Does the idol foolishly think he is more powerful than YHVH? God will not allow idolatry to go unpunished; therefore, no one can escape. Even His own children will not escape His severe discipline if they persist in worshiping any sort of idol. Some of the Corinthians had done that and had paid with their health, or even their lives: This is why some among you are weak and sick, and some have died (11:30)!

What does this passage mean for us today since we probably have no inclination to eat meat sacrificed to idols? If I was traveling and found myself in a country where there were people actually worshiping an idol, I would be more inclined to take a picture of it than to bow down and worship it. But does this mean that I am no longer susceptible to the temptation to worship idols? No, all it really means is that I’m not tempted to worship that kind of idol. Like Isaiah, I have figured out the inconsistency of cutting down a tree and using part of it make a fire and cook food, and part of it to make a phony god, saying: Save me for you are my god! (see the commentary on Isaiah Hy – Worship the LORD, Not Idols).

If an idol is whatever takes the place of God in my affection, then all of us continue to be tempted by worshiping idols. Just as in a primitive society a person might make an idol of any material, in our day we may make an idol out of anything – our work, our family, our body, our house, our hobby, or even our religion. If anything besides ADONAI gets our best thoughts, our tears, our feelings, and our energy – are we not just more sophisticated idolaters?²⁷⁵

Dear Heavenly Father, What a wonderful blessing it is to have You as our awesome father, always watching over His children (Hebrews 13:5). It is easy for us to point the finger at others and call them wrong, just as Isaiah looked at Israel’s sins and called them wrong. Woe to those who . . . (Isaiah 5:8, 11) and Oy to those who. . . (Isaiah 5:18, 20, 21). Yet Isaiah was wise when he saw the holiness of God, He said, “Oy to me! For I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:4).

Isaiah was so wise to look inside himself and to move from finger pointing at others to seeing his own sin. Idol worship is both worship of stone or wooden “gods” and living to please oneself over living to please God. ADONAI, You alone are worthy of giving You our best, and loving You with all we have. And Yeshua said to him: You shall love ADONAI your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38). You are a joy to love and to put first in my life! I bow in humble worship of You. In Yeshua’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen