1 Corinthians 10:21

1 Corinthians 10:21. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of the devils. Even the rabbins laid it down as a fixed principle, that to drink the wine of a libation to idols was to apostatise from the true faith. It is not only an incongruous and abhorrent fellowship, but it is an impossible fellowship; we cannot be Christ's and Belial's at one and the same time: the rightful Sovereign and the base usurper cannot shake hands.

Note. If ever the sacrificial theory of the Lord's Supper might be expected to be put prominently forward, one would think it should have been here, if such were its true character. But here it is held forth in a very different light, as a feast upon a sacrifice, and a feast not laid upon an altar, but spread upon a “ table ” Never, in fact, is the word “altar” used in the New Testament to express that at which the Lord's Supper is celebrated (for no one who understands exegesis will call Hebrews 13:10 an exception). And considering how frequent in the New Testament is the reference to Old Testament sacrifices, in immediate connexion with the sacrifice of Christ, can this avoidance of all that could suggest a sacrificial character in the Lord's Supper be other than intentional? In a word, if the Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice, the New Testament language about it is just what we should expect: if it is, that language is unaccountable.