Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and perished by the serpent.
μηδε εκπειραζωμεν τον χριστον καθως και τινες αυτων επειρασαν και υπο των οφεων απωλοντο
6 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Here he points to yet another transgression, about which he also speaks near the end of the Epistle, accusing the Corinthians of disputing about signs, murmuring against trials, and saying: When will the good things come? When will the rewards come?
Paul speaks of those who spoke against God as tempting Christ, because Christ was the One who spoke to Moses. Therefore, so that we too may not be found in the place of the erring, he instructs us not to hand ourselves over to the devil, of whom the serpents are a type.
Each of the events mentioned by the apostle he presented as corresponding to the things in which the Corinthians sinned. First, he pointed to evil desire, from which most evils are born. Then he pointed to idolatry and gluttony, from which the first also arose, because the Corinthians too, enslaved to gluttony, held feasts in idol temples. He also mentioned fornication and showed the number of those killed for it, thereby sowing fear of punishment in the mind of the fornicator. Among them, too, those deemed worthy of lesser gifts murmured because they had not been deemed worthy of all. Those speaking in various tongues tempted the Lord, using this gift in church more from ambition than from necessity.
The fifth guiding thought concerning the free eating of idol-sacrificed food is this: such eating is not only a stumbling block for weak brethren, but is itself a defilement (1 Cor 10:1-33).
In 1 Cor 10:1-14, the Apostle first frightens the Corinthians by examples of God's dread judgment against turning aside to idolatrous worship. He gives the living example of the Israelites, once chosen, like Christians, as sons of God.
"I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, that your fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea" (1 Cor 10:1). "And all were baptized," in a typological sense, "into Moses," that is, properly into the One Whom he prefigured, as St Chrysostom says.
They were baptized "in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor 10:2). "And all ate the same spiritual food," that is, the miraculously sent manna (1 Cor 10:3).
"And all drank the same spiritual drink," miraculously drawn from the rock. "For they drank," in a typological sense, "from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4).
"But with many of them," the Apostle observes, "God was not well pleased, for they were struck down in the wilderness" (1 Cor 10:5).
In the history of the Hebrews, saved and then destroyed for murmuring, idolatry, and fornication with pagans, the Apostle points to types for future times. He observes that hidden in them is "instruction for us," Christians, "upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor 10:11).
The Apostle therefore beseeches the Corinthians to flee pagan temptations, which are so numerous at feasts, and to abandon all self-confidence. Let them not think that they cannot be compared with the Hebrews, as though they would not yield to sinful temptations at pagan idol-feasts.
"Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. My beloved, flee from idolatry" (1 Cor 10:14).
Despite the multitude of God's mercies and gifts to the Hebrews, they were nevertheless punished when they turned away from God and were drawn by base desires, gluttony, sensual pleasure, and the like.
Will not Christians be punished all the more if they turn away from Christ by participating in the eating of idol-sacrifices?
According to the words of Bishop Theophan, in the example of the Hebrews "the Apostle points to the cause that drew the clever Corinthians to tables of idol-sacrifices. He gives them a hint to enter into themselves and see what is truly at work.
Are higher views really reconciling them to sacrificial meat, or is it gluttony? In the same way, many among us often cover violations of various Church rules with supposedly higher views. Yet for the most part they do so out of love for low pleasures of various kinds.
So too the apostate Hebrews, after casting the calf and offering sacrifice to it, ate, drank, began to sing songs, and made merry in every way (Ex 32:6).
But another example cited by the Apostle could especially apply to the Corinthians. In Corinth idolatrous worship flourished together with the kind of corruption into which the Hebrews fell when they sacrificed to Baal (Num 25).
Drawing a general conclusion from all the examples, St John Chrysostom says: "One must not only suffer, but also endure everything that happens courageously and with complete gladness.
If this is not present, punishment will overtake those who murmur." Thus it overtook Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who were swallowed by the earth (Num 16), as well as by other divine punishments.
Fearful were the punishments of the Hebrews, which serve as instruction for Christians. In them the whole purpose of God's divine economy for the salvation of men is concentrated.
Yet still more terrible will be the punishments of those who fall away from Christ, for they will be without end. Together with their punishment, the age of this life will end, and eternal life will begin.
The circumstance of the Israelites being struck by serpents determines the event to which the Apostle points. From Mount Hor the Israelites set out toward the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom.
Becoming fainthearted, they began to murmur against God and Moses, saying: "Why have you brought us out of Egypt into the wilderness, where there is neither bread nor water? Is it to kill us here?"
For this God was angered and sent serpents upon them (Num 21:5-6).
In Psalm 77, St David describes all the ways by which the Israelites angered God in the wilderness. He called the Israelites' desire for better foods a tempting of God: "They tempted God... and said, 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?'" (Ps 77:18-19).
St Paul takes this expression, "they tempted," from the circumstance of which the prophet speaks, and transfers it to the occasion when the Israelites faintheartedly complained about the scarcity of food. Strictly speaking, that was murmuring.
Thus here too the matter concerns food. The speech of the murmurers is also the same: "Can God?" only with greater doubt.
By the words "let us not tempt Christ," the Apostle hints that the Corinthians were somehow guilty of this. Yet exactly how cannot be shown with certainty from the epistle.
Oecumenius writes that they tempted Christ by demanding signs. Perhaps such an incident occurred during the first preaching. With such an extraordinary faith, signs were necessary, and the Apostles were armed with them.
Yet this demand was so natural that it cannot fully be called a tempting of the Lord.
St Chrysostom says that "the Apostle here points to yet another transgression, accusing the Corinthians of murmuring against trials and saying: 'When will the good things come? When will the rewards come?'"
It is very likely that in these two verses, "let us not tempt" and "do not murmur," the Apostle hints at the Corinthians' faintheartedness, against which he later encourages them (verse 13).
But there is no need to seek precision, because the Apostle's purpose in citing these examples is only this: to impress that one cannot live without caution merely because one has been called and baptized.
This is clear also from examples whose application is understandable. Some offer yet another thought: to tempt the Lord means to throw oneself into dangers with the curious thought, "I shall see whether God will deliver me."
Those who ate idol-sacrifices exposed themselves to various moral temptations. Perhaps they thought: the Lord will deliver us, or, let us see whether Christ will deliver us when danger approaches.
Therefore the Apostle says to them: let us not tempt Christ.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 13 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS