1 Corinthians 10:15

I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. Appeal to their own judgment to weigh the argument-namely, That as partaking of the Lord's supper involves a partaking of the Lord himself, and partaking of the Jewish sacrificial meats involved a partaking of the altar, and as the pagans virtually sacrifice to devils, to partake of an idol feast, with belief in idols as entities, is to have fellowship with devils. We cannot divest ourselves of the responsibility of 'judging' for ourselves. The weakness of private judgment is not an argument against its use, but its abuse. We should the more diligently search the infallible Word, with every aid, above all with prayer, for the Spirit's teaching (). If an inspired apostle not only permits but urges men to judge his sayings by Scripture, much more should fallible ministers now do so. TO WISE MEN - referr...

15._I speak as to wise men. _As he was about to take his argument from the mystery of the Supper, he arouses them by this little preface, that they may consider more attentively the magnitude of the thing. (573) “I do not address mere novices. You understand the efficacy of the sacred Supper in it we are ingrafted into the Lord’s body. How unseemly a thing is it then, that you should enter into fellowship with the wicked, so as to be united in one body. At the same time, he tacitly reproves their want of consideration in this respect, that, while accurately instructed in the school of Christ, they allowed themselves in gross vice, as to which there was no difficulty in forming an opinion....

15-22 Did not the joining in the Lord's supper show a profession of faith in Christ crucified, and of adoring gratitude to him for his salvation ? Christians, by this ordinance, and the faith therein professed, were united as the grains of wheat in one loaf of bread, or as the members in the human body, seeing they were all united to Christ, and had fellowship with him and one another. This is confirmed from the Jewish worship and customs in sacrifice. The apostle applies this to feasting with idolaters. Eating food as part of a heathen sacrifice, was worshipping the idol to whom it was made, and having fellowship or communion with it; just as he who eats the Lord's supper, is accounted to partake in the Christian sacrifice, or as they who ate the Jewish sacrifices partook of what was offered on their altar. It was denying Christianity; for communion with Christ, and communion with devi...

Verse 1 Corinthians 10:15. _I SPEAK AS TO WISE MEN_] The Corinthians valued themselves not a little on their _wisdom_ and various gifts; the apostle admits this, and draws an argument from it against themselves. As ye are _so wise_, surely ye can see the propriety of abominating idolatry of every kind: for an idol is nothing in the world, and can do nothing _for_ you and nothing _against_ you....

I SPEAK AS TO WISE MEN ... - I speak to people qualified to understand the subject; and present reasons which will commend themselves to you. The reasons referred to are those which occupy the remainder of the chapter....

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1 _Warnings against over confidence in relation to idolatry and other temptations._ 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1 MOREOVER; rather, _for. _He has just shown them, by his own example, the necessity for strenuous watchfulness and effort. In continuance of the same lesson, he teaches them historically that the possession of great privileges is no safeguard, and that the seductions, even of idolatry, must not be carelessly despised. Although the connection of the various paragraphs is not stated with logical precision, we see that they all bear on the one truth which he wants to inculcate, namely, that it is both wise and kind to limit our personal freedom out of sympathy

I SPEAK AS TO WISE MEN,.... That is, what he was now going to say concerning the Lord's supper, and the communion which believers have with Christ in it, which they as Christians must have knowledge of; and concerning the participation of the altar the Israelites had, who ate of the sacrifices of it, which many of them, being Jews, as such must know; and therefore being fully persuaded of the propriety and pertinency of the instances he was about to produce, and of the justness of his reasoning upon them, he appeals to the Corinthians, as men of wisdom and understanding in these things, and makes them themselves judges thereof: JUDGE WHAT I SAY; consider and weigh the matter well, and you will discern and judge that what I say is proper and pertinent, just and right....

1 Corinthians 10:15. _I Speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?_ After they had offered the beasts as sacrifices to their idols, it was the custom to sell the carcases in the shambles. Christian men, going into the market to buy meat, and asking no questions, bought and ate portions of these sacrifices, and they did no wrong whatever. But there were some in the church who were very tender of conscience, and who said, «I

7. WARNINGS AND EXHORTATIONS CHAPTER 10 _ 1. Warnings from Israel's past history. (1 Corinthians 10:4)._ 2. Exhortations. (1 Corinthians 10:15). The same subject is continued with this chapter. The concluding paragraph of the previous chapter is illustrated from Israel's history, as the professing people of God. What happened unto them has a typical meaning for us. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples (types), and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world (ages) are come.” He speaks of “our fathers (Israel's fathers) were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” God had delivered them out of Egypt; the cloud covered them and the

Paul now deals directly with the problem of idol sacrifice. He appeals to the analogy of the Supper. The Eucharistic cup brings the worshipper into fellowship with Christ's blood, the loaf into fellowship with His body. Participating in the one loaf the many worshippers become one. So the eating of the Israelite sacrifices effects communion with the altar (so Philo, not OT). Let these analogies be applied. Neither the sacrifice nor the idol are real. But the sacrifices are offered to the demons not to God (Deuteronomy 32:17), and thus bring the participants into fellowship with demons. This involves an intolerable incompatibility; they cannot combine the Lord's cup and table with those of the demons. What madness to rouse the Lord's jealousy by giving Him such a rival (Deuteronomy 32:21)! are the