1 Corinthians 10:15 - Meaning and Application

In this passage, Paul urges a general warning against idolatry, especially against eating food offered to pagan idols as part of idol worship. He begins by appealing to their own judgment: “I speak to wise people; judge for yourselves what I say” (1 Corinthians 10:15). The Corinthians prided themselves on wisdom and careful reasoning, so Paul leaves it to their conscience to see whether his argument is sound. This is not beneath an inspired teacher. In fact, truth often lands with more force when hearers are asked to test it for themselves.

Paul then argues from the Lord’s Supper. “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” This holy meal is a sign of fellowship with God and with Christ. When believers eat and drink, they profess friendship with Christ, whose body was broken and whose blood was shed to bring forgiveness and God’s favor. In that sense, the Lord’s Supper is a feast on Christ’s sacrifice. Those who truly receive it by faith share in Christ and, through him, in one another.

That is why Paul says, “Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17). The broken loaf points to Christ’s broken body, who is the true bread from heaven. By partaking of one loaf, believers show that they belong to one another and are joined to Christ. The outward elements also make a public confession of that inward communion. This is the real meaning of the holy rite.

Paul confirms this by pointing to Jewish worship and custom. He says, “Consider the people of Israel according to the flesh: are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?” Those who were allowed to eat from the offerings were counted as sharing in the sacrifice. They were treated as people set apart to God and in covenant with him. So eating from the sacrifice was a sign of communion with the God to whom it was offered.

He then applies this to idol feasts. Some may have argued that an idol is nothing, and that food offered to it is still just ordinary food. Paul allows that the food itself is not changed in its nature. If someone who knows nothing of the offering is given the food, it is fit to eat. But eating it as part of pagan worship is another matter. It means sharing in that worship, and so sharing in fellowship with demons, since the Gentiles offered their sacrifices to demons. To feast on those sacrifices was to take part in the offering and to show honor to the false god to whom they were given.

Paul also says this kind of conduct is a denial of Christian loyalty. “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21). To join in the Lord’s feast is to confess communion with Christ. To join in pagan feasts built around idol sacrifice is to confess fellowship with demons. Those two loyalties cannot stand together. A person who holds to Christ must give up fellowship with demons, and a person who chooses demon worship renounces Christ. It is a clear contradiction to sit at both tables.

This warning also reaches beyond pagan temples. If anyone gives themselves to gluttony, drunkenness, or any known and willful sin, they turn their own table into a kind of table of demons. Such a person cannot truly share in the cup and table of the Lord. They may use the sign, but they do not have what the sign means. No one can be in real fellowship with Christ and his church while living in fellowship with Satan. That is why we must watch carefully that every sin and every idol is given up when we come to the Lord’s table.

Paul ends by reminding them that God is jealous for his honor: “Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” (1 Corinthians 10:22). Many Corinthians likely treated these pagan feasts as harmless, but Paul warns them not to be careless. God will not share his worship with rivals. He is a jealous God, and he will not give his glory to another, nor allow it to be given away.

Those who join themselves to other gods make the Lord jealous (Deuteronomy 32:16). Before anyone does that, they should ask whether they are stronger than he is. It is a dangerous thing to stir up God’s anger unless we could stand against his power. But who can stand before him when he is angry? (Nahum 1:6).

This should warn all who keep loving sin and stay close to it, while still claiming fellowship with Christ. Is that not a way of provoking his jealousy and anger? We should think carefully about God’s great power, and let that keep us from doing anything that displeases him. Shall we awaken almighty wrath? And how would we endure it? Are we a match for God? Can we resist his power or control it? If not, why would we turn that power against ourselves by provoking him to jealousy? No, let us fear his power, and let that fear keep us from every act that stirs him up.