1 Corinthians 10

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ou thelō hymas agnoein ('I do not want you to be ignorant') is a standard Pauline disclosure formula. The 'cloud' (nephēlē) is the pillar of cloud from Exodus 13:21-22. Paul says 'our ancestors' (hoi pateres hēmōn) even though most Corinthians were Gentiles — he identifies the church with Israel's story. The fivefold repetition of pantes ('all') in verses 1-4 is emphatic: everyone received the blessings, yet most fell.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Exodus 13:21-22. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. Paul reads the Red Sea crossing typologically as a 'baptism' — immersion into a new identity under Moses's leadership, just as Christian baptism brings immersion into Christ. The passive ebaptisanto ('were baptized') can also be read as middle voice ('baptized themselves'). The phrase eis ton Mōusēn ('into Moses') parallels 'into Christ' in Romans 6:3 and Galatians 3:27.

Translator Notes

1. The 'spiritual food' (pneumatikon brōma) is the manna of Exodus 16. Paul calls it 'spiritual' not because it was immaterial but because it came from the Spirit's provision. The parallel with the Lord's Supper is likely intentional.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Exodus 16 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. The claim hē petra de ēn ho Christos ('the rock was Christ') identifies the pre-incarnate Christ as the source of Israel's sustenance in the wilderness. The 'rock that followed' (akolouthousēs petras) draws on a Jewish rabbinic tradition (found in Tosefta Sukkah 3:11 and later sources) that the well of Miriam (based on Numbers 20:1-11 and 21:16-18) traveled with Israel through the desert. Paul christianizes this tradition by identifying the rock with Christ.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Echoes Numbers 20:1-11. See the TCR's OT rendering for the Hebrew behind this passage and the translation rationale.

Translator Notes

1. The understatement ouk en tois pleiosin ('not with most of them') is darkly ironic — of the entire Exodus generation, only Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land (Numbers 14:29-30). The verb katestrōthēsan ('they were spread out, laid low') pictures corpses scattered across the desert floor (Numbers 14:29).
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] This verse quotes Numbers 14:29-30 — see the TCR rendering of that passage for the Hebrew source text and translation decisions.

Translator Notes

1. The word typoi ('types, examples, patterns') establishes Paul's hermeneutical method: Old Testament events are typological patterns that prefigure and instruct the church. The reference to 'desiring evil things' (epithumētas kakōn) echoes Numbers 11:4-34, where Israel's craving for meat brought divine punishment.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Numbers 11:4-34. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. Paul quotes Exodus 32:6, the golden calf incident. The verb paizein ('to play, to revel') in context implies both feasting and sexual activity associated with the idol worship. The connection to the Corinthian situation is direct: participating in temple meals (8:10) is the same pattern of idolatrous feasting that destroyed Israel.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Exodus 32:6. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. The reference is to the Baal Peor incident (Numbers 25:1-9), where Israelite men had sexual relations with Moabite women and worshiped their gods. Numbers 25:9 gives the death toll as 24,000; Paul says 23,000, possibly distinguishing those who died 'in one day' from the total, or following a different tradition.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Numbers 25:1-9 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. The SBLGNT reads 'Christ' (ton Christon) rather than 'the Lord' — Paul identifies the pre-incarnate Christ as the one Israel tested in the wilderness (cf. v. 4, 'the rock was Christ'). The reference is to Numbers 21:5-6, where Israel's complaints about food and water resulted in venomous serpent attacks.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Echoes Numbers 21:5-6. See the TCR's OT rendering for the Hebrew behind this passage and the translation rationale.

Translator Notes

1. The verb gongyzō ('to grumble, to murmur') is onomatopoeic — it sounds like what it describes. The 'destroyer' (olothreutēs) may refer to the angel of death from Exodus 12:23 or to the plague of Numbers 16:41-50. The reference is probably to Korah's rebellion and its aftermath (Numbers 16-17), where grumbling against God's appointed leaders brought deadly consequences — directly relevant to the Corinthians' disrespect of Paul.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] This verse quotes Exodus 12:23 — see the TCR rendering of that passage for the Hebrew source text and translation decisions.
3. [TCR Cross-Reference] This verse quotes Numbers 16:41-50 — see the TCR rendering of that passage for the Hebrew source text and translation decisions.
4. [TCR Cross-Reference] This verse quotes Numbers 16-17 — see the TCR rendering of that passage for the Hebrew source text and translation decisions.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase eis hous ta telē tōn aiōnōn katēntēken ('upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived') reveals Paul's eschatological framework: the church lives at the climax of history, the point toward which all previous ages were directed. The 'ends' (telē) is plural — multiple ages converge in the present eschatological moment.

Translator Notes

1. A single, devastating sentence aimed at Corinthian overconfidence. The person who 'thinks they stand' (ho dokōn hestanai) — who considers themselves spiritually secure — is precisely the one most at risk. Israel thought their spiritual privileges guaranteed safety; they were wrong.

Translator Notes

1. The word peirasmos can mean 'temptation' (enticement to sin) or 'trial/testing' (hardship that tests faith). The declaration pistos de ho theos ('but God is faithful') echoes 1:9. God's faithfulness guarantees three things: temptation will not exceed capacity, an escape route (ekbasis, literally 'a way out') will be provided, and endurance (hypenenkein, 'to bear up under') will be possible. Note: the promise is endurance, not removal of the temptation.

Translator Notes

1. The address agapētoi mou ('my beloved') softens the command with affection. The imperative pheugete ('flee!') — the same urgent command as 6:18 regarding sexual immorality — demands immediate, decisive separation. Paul does not say 'be careful around idolatry' but 'run from it.'

Translator Notes

1. The phrase hōs phronimois legō ('I speak as to sensible/prudent people') may be mildly ironic — the Corinthians pride themselves on wisdom, so Paul appeals to that self-image. The imperative krinate ('judge, evaluate') invites their own assessment of his argument.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase to potērion tēs eulogias ('the cup of blessing') is a technical term from the Jewish Passover meal — the third cup, over which a blessing was pronounced. The word koinōnia ('participation, communion, sharing') from 1:9 now describes the believers' relationship to Christ's blood and body through the Lord's Supper. This is not merely a memorial but genuine participation in Christ's sacrifice. Paul mentions the cup before the bread, which may reflect Corinthian liturgical order.

Translator Notes

1. The logic moves from Eucharistic participation to ecclesial unity: shared bread creates shared body. The plural hoi polloi ('the many') becoming hen sōma ('one body') is the Eucharistic foundation of Paul's body-of-Christ theology (developed further in chapter 12).

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ton Israēl kata sarka ('Israel according to the flesh') means ethnic/historical Israel. Paul draws on the principle that eating sacrificial food creates koinōnia with the altar — and by extension, with the deity worshiped there. This establishes the analogy for idol-feasts in the next verses.

Translator Notes

1. Paul anticipates the objection: 'Are you contradicting chapter 8, where you said idols are nothing?' He is not. The idol is indeed nothing (8:4), but that does not mean idol-worship is harmless.

Translator Notes

1. Paul draws on Deuteronomy 32:17 (LXX): 'They sacrificed to demons (daimoniois) and not to God.' While idols themselves are nothing, the spiritual reality behind pagan worship is demonic. Participation in temple feasts creates koinōnia with these demonic powers — the same kind of real participation that the Lord's Supper creates with Christ.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] This verse quotes Deuteronomy 32:17 — see the TCR rendering of that passage for the Hebrew source text and translation decisions.

Translator Notes

1. The parallel structure — potērion kyriou / potērion daimoniōn, trapezēs kyriou / trapezēs daimoniōn — makes the incompatibility absolute. The 'table of the Lord' (trapezēs kyriou) echoes Malachi 1:7, 12, where it refers to the altar. Paul draws a direct equivalence between the Lord's Supper and temple meals: both create real spiritual bonds, and the two bonds are mutually exclusive.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Malachi 1:7. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. The verb parazēloumen ('to provoke to jealousy') echoes Deuteronomy 32:21, where Israel provoked God's jealousy through idol worship. The final question — mē ischyroteroi autou esmen ('are we stronger than he?') — is chilling: do you really want to compete with God?
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Deuteronomy 32:21. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. Paul returns to the Corinthian slogan from 6:12, now with a new second qualifier: ou panta oikodomei ('not all things build up'). The criterion shifts from personal freedom to community edification. The verb oikodomeō ('to build up') has been a key word since 3:9-17 — the question is always: does this action build the community or damage it?

Translator Notes

1. This concise principle — mēdeis to heautou zēteitō alla to tou heterou ('let no one seek their own but that of the other') — summarizes the entire ethical argument of chapters 8-10. Rights yield to love; freedom serves the neighbor.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek makellon (from Latin macellum) is the public meat market. Archaeological remains of the macellum have been found in Corinth. Paul's practical ruling: buy and eat marketplace meat freely — do not investigate whether it was previously offered to an idol. The phrase mēden anakrinontes ('not examining, not investigating') uses the judicial verb from 2:14-15, here meaning 'don't interrogate the meat's history.'

Translator Notes

1. Paul quotes Psalm 24:1 (23:1 LXX). The theological principle: since everything belongs to the Lord, no food is inherently contaminated. God's ownership of all creation provides the basis for Christian freedom in dietary matters.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Psalms 24:1. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. Second practical scenario: a dinner invitation from a pagan. Paul permits acceptance (kai thelete poreuesthai, 'and you wish to go' — attendance is optional, not required). The same rule applies: eat without investigating. Social meals with pagans are not forbidden — Paul does not advocate separation from the wider culture.

Translator Notes

1. Third scenario: someone at the meal explicitly identifies the food as hierothyton ('offered in sacrifice' — a more neutral term than eidōlothyton, 'idol-offered'). The speaker might be a pagan host who thinks the religious origin adds value, or a weak believer troubled by the association. Either way, Paul says abstain — not because the food is inherently contaminated but di' ekeinon ('for the sake of that person').

Translator Notes

1. Paul clarifies: it is the other person's conscience (tēn tou heterou) that matters in this situation, not your own. The rhetorical question about freedom being judged by another's conscience (vv. 29b-30) may voice the Corinthians' own objection, which Paul has been anticipating.

Translator Notes

1. This continues the Corinthian objection: 'If I pray over the food and eat with gratitude, why should anyone criticize me?' Paul allows the objection to stand but redirects the conversation to the overriding principle in the next verse.

Translator Notes

1. This verse provides the supreme criterion that resolves all the cases: panta eis doxan theou poieite ('do everything for the glory of God'). The word doxa ('glory') corresponds to the Hebrew kavod — to glorify God is to treat God as the weightiest reality in every decision. Eating, drinking, and all of life become acts of worship when oriented toward God's glory.

Translator Notes

1. The adjective aproskopoi ('blameless, giving no offense, not causing to stumble') extends the principle to three audiences: Jews, Greeks, and the church. Paul envisions a life so shaped by love that it creates no unnecessary obstacles for anyone — the same missionary flexibility described in 9:19-23.

Translator Notes

1. Paul's final appeal points back to his own example (chapter 9): he seeks to tou sympheron ('the advantage') of tōn pollōn ('the many') rather than his own. The purpose clause hina sōthōsin ('so that they may be saved') reveals the ultimate motivation behind all of Paul's ethical teaching on food, freedom, and rights: the salvation of people.