Sitting in Ephesus, Paul found himself 240 miles away from Corinth where God had used him to plant a congregation. But now he was troubled as he learned from some members of Chloe's household about the problems this young congregation was facing. A letter had to be written to the church before it was too late.
Among his many goals in this letter we know as First Corinthians, Paul sought to teach these relatively new converts that if they set their hearts on evil things their conversion to Christ and their being nurtured by Christ would not protect them from falling. In other words, just being a disciple of Christ did not give them the right or the liberty to continue to practice idolatry, to engage in sexual immorality, to test the Lord or to grumble.
Paul also knew that his task was complicated by the fact that these Corinthian Christians were aware of their liberty in Christ which they summed up by the phrase "everything is permissible for me."(1) How could Paul demonstrate that although Christians are free in Christ, this does not give them the liberty to engage in evil practices? 1 Corinthians 10 is the result.
Paul knew what he had taught the Christians at Corinth. He knew that if he could begin with a common starting point which both he and his readers shared, he could use scripture to lead them to the realization that their liberty in Christ did not permit them to willfully sin.
But what common starting point to use? Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians is so simple and beautiful. He simply recounts history, but not just any history. He tells the story of how previously the Lord had overthrown those willful sinners within God's people who had displeased the Lord by their idolatry and other sinful acts when He turned them over to the Destroyer. But when had this happened? It happened during the years of Israel's wandering in the desert.
Paul anticipated that some Christians might object by saying that “we are Christians and they were Jews. It’s not the same for us.” Paul knew that in order for his argument to work, he had to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt to those in Corinth that the people he was talking about stood on common ground with them. He had to prove to them that Israel's relationship with God paralleled their own relationship. And therefore if God could overthrow His own people who had sinned from within the ranks of Israel, the Lord could also cast away His people at Corinth who insisted on sinning. For this reason, Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 emphasizes that "all" of Israel experienced those same things which put them on a par with the Christians at Corinth, nevertheless God was not pleased with all of them.
Paul's message is clear, just because you have been saved, this fact does not give you the right to deliberately continue to sin. If you do, the Lord can still hand you over to destruction. Although the Christian is free, he or she is not free to sin.
A Secondary Message for Today's World - Paul's Understanding of Salvation
There is also another message which, although it was not Paul's objective, is nonetheless a very important message for today's doctrinally diverse Christian world. 1 Corinthians 10 stands as a beacon to Paul's understanding of conversion. It stands as a corrective to a modern world that has misunderstood Paul's teachings regarding salvation by faith in Christ.
What we are referring to is the key that made Paul’s argument convincing to that original Christian audience. In order for Paul's argument to have carried any persuasive power with the Corinthians, he had to prove to them beyond any shadow of a doubt that Israel had stood on equal footing with them.
Why did the Corinthians view their relationship with God so confidently? If you could have asked those Christians, “how do you know that you are saved from destruction”, what would they have answered? They would have said something and Paul knew what it was. After all, he had taught them the Gospel. Their hope was based on their relationship and inclusion in Christ. But how could Paul equate and root Israel’s experiences with their Christian’s confidence that comes from salvation through Jesus? Unless he could prove this to his readers, his argument would fall and lack any persuasive power.
Paul placed Israel and the church at Corinth on equal ground by insisting Israel had experienced those same milestones in Christ in which their own hope rested. He accomplished this by paralleling the Israelites’ Exodus and wilderness wanderings with the conversion experience and the subsequent nourishment from Christ that the Corinthians trusted in. By paralleling Israel’s "baptism" in the Red Sea (2) and her experiences in the wilderness with Christian baptism and the nourishment Christ provides, Paul proved to his readers that “those Israelites stood on common ground with you."
Although the force of his argument to them depended upon identifying common ground between Israel and Christians, he also inadvertently taught us that both he and his readers regarded baptism and being nourished by Christ as being evidences or signs testifying to one's saved standing before God. This is what Paul believed, there was no need to correct this.
Paul did, however, correct the false notion that just because you have been baptized, this guarantees your salvation. In other words, one can look back to one’s baptism into Christ and the subsequent nourishment that Christ provides as evidence of my salvation by faith in Christ. But these things do not protect me from falling away if I insist on sinning.
(1) Scholars generally agree that this phrase which is found in 1 Corinthians 6:12 and 1 Corinthians 10:23 was a guiding slogan for at least some in the Corinthian congregation.
(2) One would not naturally consider the crossing through the Red Sea as being baptism (an immersion). After all, the point of that crossing is that they did not get wet and drown! Notice how Paul anticipates this thought and points out that the Israelites were surrounded by water on both sides as well as a canopy of water above. The Israelites were “immersed” in water!
Barry Newton, Copyright © 1998