Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he? 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
Idols are not a thing of the past. We often scoff at the insistence that idols infiltrate our common existence today, but do not be deceived. Paul in writing to the church at Corinth was dealing with a pagan practice that connected a meal with a cultic act of worship. The sacrificial offering of the Lord's Supper is to be taken as the body of Christ without being joined to that which is sinful and demonic. Participating in a sacrifice offered to demons is fundamentally equating that a demon or demons have control over your life. G.K. Beale writes, "At the very least, the idol worshipers are those who are identified in some spiritual manner with the demons instead of Christ." (G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry, 229). That which is demonic has no place in the Christian life, since our Master and Lord is none other than Jesus Christ. This does not mean that spiritual evil and the demonic do not exist in our world. We don't have to turn far in our reading or scanning of news to see rampant darkness in our world.
Paul is speaking tenderly to his brothers and sisters in Christ in this part of 1 Corinthians. He is calling them to flee, to run away entirely from the idols that would captivate their hearts and minds and thus lead them into darkness and ruin. This direct calling to run from idolatry is for us as well. We may not worship wooden carved idols or stone sculptures of deities but we have our own idols. Maybe its money, lust, even a desire to do your best on the job that has consumed you. As Pastor Mike said in his sermon today, an idol is that which consumes you. I would add that an idol is that that which we put ultimate trust and value in beyond all else. One of the ways you can understand your own idols is by gauging what things, relationships or priorities when taken away would cause you to be destroyed. For many of us, it's not even the bad things of culture that we run to as idols but we hold too tightly (death grip) to the good things God has given to us. Children, a good job, a spouse, even a steady income and hobbies that often lead us into idolatry, placing the blessings of God on a pedestal, further thinking that we are owed these gifts for our efforts.
For three excellent works on the topic of idolatry and issues surrounding 1 Corinthians, check out:
G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry
Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1-2 Corinthians
Timothy J. Keller, Counterfeit Gods: When the Empty Promises of Love, Money, and Power Let You Down
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