1 Corinthians 10:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor 10:12). Again he casts down the pride of those who were puffed up by knowledge. If those who received so many gifts suffered thus, and some underwent such punishment merely for murmuring, while others suffered for tempting God, because the people showed no reverence before God despite receiving such blessings, then this will happen all the more to us if we are inattentive. Well did he say, "who thinks he stands." To rely on oneself is not to stand as one ought to stand. Such a man will soon fall. If the Israelites had not been puffed up and trusted in themselves, but had humbled themselves, they would not have endured such calamities.

Again he hints at those who were greatly puffed up by their knowledge. Even if you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. For your very confidence that you stand shows that you do not stand. It seems so to you, but in reality you do not stand. Yet even if you do stand, in pride you can easily fall.

Therefore, whoever imagines in fantasy that he stands firmly should beware of sin, lest he himself also fall. Listen to the one who says: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall,” and, “Not the one who commends himself is approved, but the one whom God commends” (2 Cor 10:18). For many thought of themselves that they had prevailed and ruled, but they became utterly outermost. Desperate men received grace, because “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jas 4:6).

This is said to those who, from their knowledge that all things are permitted, became a temptation to weak brethren. Thinking themselves greatly advanced in the teaching of the false apostles, they fell. They criticized the Apostle, while they themselves were guilty. Thus the Apostle Paul cuts off pride, lest through it they be scandalized, as the Jews were scandalized and perished.

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall,” that is, take heed, you who have imagined that you possess knowledge. Since the Corinthians also endured many insults and injuries from unbelievers and therefore probably thought highly of themselves, the apostle added: v. 13, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is human. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.”

The Nature that reigns over all threatens punishment to those who are falling, so that they may keep the beauty of the soul unharmed. To those who have fallen He stretches out His saving right hand and grants forgiveness to the repentant. For to the first He cries, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” To the others He says, “Does he who falls not rise again?” (Jer 8:4). To the latter He says, “Behold, you are well; sin no more” (Jn 5:14).

A man can easily be moved from the Lord’s right hand to His left, as the Apostle says: "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor 10:12). Until the last breath, the fate of a man inclining now here and now there remains unknown. Certainly you saw with your own eyes that Apollinarius grew old in a chaste and honorable life. He was respected for his teaching and was persecuted for a time by the Arians. Yet such a man fell into heresy, deceived by the devil. He openly teaches that the Son of God assumed flesh from above, flesh having neither soul nor mind, and he calls the Godhead of the Word a divine animation. But all this came about through the effort of the devil, who envies all men. As one of the wise has said somewhere, envy is the constant adversary of great success. Thus, through men who are celebrated and provoke great admiration, he seeks some occasion to trouble, grieve, and throw Christ’s Church into violent confusion and disorder.

The fifth guiding thought on the question of freely eating things sacrificed to idols is this: such eating is not only a stumbling block to weak brethren, but is also defilement in itself (1 Cor 10:1-33). In 1 Cor 10:1-14, the Apostle first frightens the Corinthians with examples of God’s dread judgment for turning aside to idolatry. He sets before them the living example of the Israelites, once chosen as sons of God, like Christians. "I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea" (1 Cor 10:1). "And all were baptized," in figure, "into Moses," that is, properly, into Him whom Moses prefigured, as Chrysostom says, "in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor 10:2).

Persuading the Corinthians to remain firmly and unwaveringly in the Christian faith, the Apostle again reminds them of the terrifying examples of sinful Jews, often struck down by death. He also reminds them of supposedly strong fighters, who entered the contest self-confidently and without proper caution. Such supposedly mighty fighters were those Corinthian Christians who allowed themselves to share in eating things sacrificed to idols. They saw no hostile action in this. Yet, as the Apostle had hinted earlier and explained later, sharing in eating things sacrificed to idols is equivalent to sharing in idolatry. And idolatry is service to demons. But the devil and his helpers, the demons, did not act directly upon weak Christians themselves.

In the examples already given, the lesson was this: see that you are not drawn from the banquet into idolatry, and from both into fornication, or into tempting God and murmuring. The clever men with higher views might have said or thought, "No, we understand the matter clearly and stand firm." The Apostle instructs them: "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." "Again he casts down the pride of those who were puffed up by knowledge. To rely on oneself is not to stand as one ought to stand. Such a man will soon fall. Pride, and then carelessness and love of pleasure, are the sources of evils. Therefore, if you stand, take heed lest you fall.