What is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 10:18? Consider the people of Israel Paul invites the Corinthian believers to look back at God’s chosen nation. Throughout Scripture, Israel serves as a living lesson for the church (Romans 15:4). By saying “Consider,” Paul urges careful reflection—just as Moses told the people to “remember the days of old” (Deuteronomy 32:7). Their history with sacrificial worship is not a distant story but a pattern that still speaks. When Israel gathered at the tabernacle or temple, they were meeting the LORD on His terms (Leviticus 17:5-6). This backdrop frames Paul’s argument against flirting with idolatry in pagan temples (1 Corinthians 10:1-7, 14). Are not those who eat the sacrifices In Israel’s sacrificial system, certain offerings provided food for priests and, at times, the worshipers themselves (Leviticus 7:15-18; Deuteronomy 12:17-18). Eating was never a mere meal: • It acknowledged God’s provision—He supplied both animal and altar. • It sealed covenant loyalty—participants testified that they belonged to Yahweh (Exodus 24:8-11). • It reinforced community—families and priests shared in a holy celebration (Deuteronomy 14:22-27). Paul’s rhetorical question reminds the Corinthians that participation communicates allegiance. Just as Israelites expressed devotion by consuming the sacrifice, Christians testify to Christ when they partake of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). Fellow partakers in the altar? To be a “fellow partaker” (koinōnos) is to share in something or someone. In Israel, eating from the altar meant sharing in the altar’s holiness and, by extension, fellowship with the God who sanctified it (Leviticus 6:25-26). Paul will soon warn that eating at pagan tables joins the participant to demons (1 Corinthians 10:20-21). The logic is simple: • Altar → object of worship • Food from altar → tangible participation • Participant → united to the altar’s deity For believers, the true altar is the cross of Christ (Hebrews 13:10). Sharing His table is exclusive; we cannot dine with the Lord one moment and with idols the next. summary Paul uses Israel’s sacrificial meals to show that eating from an altar unites the eater with the god represented there. The Israelite who ate holy meat declared loyalty to Yahweh; the Christian who shares the bread and cup declares loyalty to Christ. Therefore, any participation in idolatrous feasts compromises that exclusive fellowship. 1 Corinthians 10:18 teaches that worship is never neutral—our tables tell the world whose altar, and whose Lord, we claim. |
    |