1 Coríntios 10

ARC · Chapter 10/16

1Ora, irmãos, não quero que ignoreis que nossos paes estiveram todos debaixo da nuvem, e todos passaram pelo mar.

2E todos foram baptizados por Moysés na nuvem e no mar,

3E todos comeram d'um mesmo manjar espiritual,

4E todos beberam d'uma mesma bebida espiritual, porque bebiam da pedra espiritual que os seguia; e a pedra era Christo.

5Mas Deus não se agradou da maior parte d'elles, pelo que foram prostrados no deserto.

6E estas coisas foram-nos feitas em figuras, para que não cubicemos as coisas más, como elles cubiçaram.

7Não vos façaes pois idolatras, como alguns d'elles, conforme está escripto: O povo assentou-se a comer e a beber, e levantou-se para folgar.

8E não forniquemos, como alguns d'elles fornicaram; e cairam mortos n'um dia vinte e tres mil.

9E não tentemos a Christo, como alguns d'elles tambem tentaram, e pereceram pelas serpentes.

10E não murmureis, como tambem alguns d'elles murmuraram, e pereceram pelo destruidor.

11Ora todas estas coisas lhes sobrevieram em figuras, e estão escriptas para aviso nosso, para quem já são chegados os fins dos seculos.

12Aquelle pois que cuida estar em pé, olhe não caia.

13Não vos tomou tentação, senão humana; porém fiel é Deus, que vos não deixará tentar acima do que podeis, antes com a tentação dará tambem saida, para que a possaes supportar.

14Portanto, meus amados, fugi da idolatria.

15Fallo como a entendidos, julgae vós mesmos o que digo.

16Porventura o calix de benção, que benzemos, não é a communhão do sangue de Christo? O pão que partimos não é porventura a communhão do corpo de Christo?

17Porque nós, sendo muitos, somos um só pão e um só corpo: porque todos participamos do mesmo pão

18Vêde a Israel segundo a carne: os que comem os sacrificios não são porventura participantes do altar?

19Mas que digo? Que o idolo é alguma coisa? Ou que o sacrificado ao idolo é alguma coisa?

20Antes digo que as coisas que os gentios sacrificam, as sacrificam aos demonios, e não a Deus. E não quero que sejaes participantes com os demonios.

21Não podeis beber o calix do Senhor e o calix dos demonios: não podeis ser participantes da mesa do Senhor e da mesa dos demonios.

22Ou irritaremos ao Senhor? Somos nós mais fortes do que elle?

23Todas as coisas me são licitas, mas nem todas as coisas conveem: todas as coisas me são licitas, mas nem todas as coisas edificam.

24Ninguem busque o proveito proprio, antes cada um o que é d'outrem.

25Comei de tudo quanto se vende no açougue, sem perguntar nada, por causa da consciencia.

26Porque a terra é do Senhor, e toda a sua plenitude.

27E, se algum dos infieis vos convidar, e quizerdes ir, comei de tudo o que se puzer diante de vós, sem perguntar nada por causa da consciencia.

28Mas, se alguem vos disser: Isto foi sacrificado aos idolos, não comaes, por causa d'aquelle que vos advertiu e por causa da consciencia; porque a terra é do Senhor, e toda a sua plenitude.

29Digo, porém, a consciencia, não a tua, mas a do outro. Pois porque ha de a minha liberdade ser julgada pela consciencia d'outrem?

30E, se eu com graça participo, porque sou blasphemado n'aquillo por que dou graças?

31De sorte que, quer comaes quer bebaes, ou façaes outra qualquer coisa, fazei tudo para gloria de Deus.

32Portae-vos de modo que não deis escandalo nem aos judeos, nem aos gregos, nem á egreja de Deus.

33Como tambem eu em tudo agrado a todos, não buscando o meu proprio proveito, mas o de muitos, para que assim se possam salvar.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul uses the story of Israel in the wilderness as a warning against idolatry and immorality, showing that spiritual privileges do not guarantee immunity to sin. He concludes by instructing the Corinthians on how to act wisely regarding food sacrificed to idols.

Explanation

Paul recalls episodes from the Exodus — the cloud, the sea, the manna, the water from the rock — to show that even after experiencing God's protection and provision, many Israelites fell into idolatry, immorality, and complaining, and were judged. He warns that the Corinthians are not immune to the same risk simply because they are baptized Christians. The comparison between the Lord's table (the supper) and the table of demons (pagan temple banquets) reinforces that participating in idolatrous worship is incompatible with Christian fellowship. In the end, he offers practical common sense regarding meat bought at the market, always prioritizing not wounding another's conscience or giving cause for scandal. Today's lesson is to guard against spiritual self-confidence and always act with the common good in mind.

Fun facts

  • The 'rock' that followed the people in the wilderness (v.4) refers to the two occasions when Moses drew water from a rock (Exodus 17 and Numbers 20); Jewish traditions of that time already associated these rocks with a continuous source that accompanied Israel.
  • The episode of 23,000 people falling in a single day (v.8) points to Numbers 25, the Baal of Peor incident, when Israel became involved in idolatry and immorality with the Moabites.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Coríntios 10:1Paul opens a historical warning: the “fathers” (Israel in the exodus) went through a collective experience of salvation — the guiding cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea — but that did not stop many of them from falling later on.
  2. 1 Coríntios 10:2Paul calls the crossing of Israel through the sea and under the cloud that guided them in the wilderness a “baptism,” even without any real water involved. It is a comparison, showing that this people also had a kind of collective salvation, but that did not stop many of them from falling afterward.
  3. 1 Coríntios 10:3He continues the list of blessings Israel received in the wilderness: manna, called here “spiritual meat,” a supernatural food that everyone ate alike.
  4. 1 Coríntios 10:4“That spiritual Rock that followed them” picks up a Jewish tradition of the time, which held that a water-giving rock accompanied Israel through the wilderness. Paul reinterprets that tradition, saying that Rock represented Christ.
  5. 1 Coríntios 10:5Despite all these blessings, most of that generation died in the wilderness without entering the promised land — proof that having gone through spiritual experiences does not guarantee faithfulness afterward.
  6. 1 Coríntios 10:6Paul explains why he is telling this story: it serves as an “example” to warn the Corinthians not to crave the same evil things that people craved.
  7. 1 Coríntios 10:7The first sin mentioned: idolatry, recalling the episode of the golden calf, when the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play before the idol — a direct warning tied to the context of sacrificed meat in Corinth.
  8. 1 Coríntios 10:8A second example: sexual immorality, which caused the death of thousands of Israelites — the same theme addressed in chapters 5 and 6 of the letter.
  9. 1 Coríntios 10:9A third example: testing God’s patience, something that brought serious consequences on the people in the wilderness.
  10. 1 Coríntios 10:10A fourth example: complaining (murmuring) against God, which also brought severe punishment — Paul is building a list of practical warnings, not just a history lesson from the past.
  11. 1 Coríntios 10:11He sums up the purpose of the list: these ancient stories were recorded as a warning for believers living near the end of the ages, not merely as an account of the past.
  12. 1 Coríntios 10:12A direct conclusion: whoever thinks himself secure and spiritually “standing” should take heed, because excessive confidence is exactly what brought down the wilderness generation.
  13. 1 Coríntios 10:13A promise of comfort in the midst of the warning: the temptations the Corinthians face are common to any human being, and God is faithful not to let them be tempted beyond what they can bear, always providing a way of escape.
  14. 1 Coríntios 10:14After all this historical analysis, Paul gives the practical command tied to the chapter: flee from idolatry — the underlying issue behind the question of sacrificed meat.
  15. 1 Coríntios 10:15Paul invites the Corinthians, treated as people who understand the matter well, to judge for themselves the argument he is about to present concerning the Lord’s Supper.
  16. 1 Coríntios 10:16“The cup of blessing” was the name given to the cup of wine blessed at Jewish festival meals. Paul uses the term to speak of the Lord’s Supper, saying that eating from the same bread unites the church as one body.
  17. 1 Coríntios 10:17Since everyone shares the same bread at the Supper, it symbolizes that the church, even though made up of many people, is one united body — an argument against also taking part in the table of idols.
  18. 1 Coríntios 10:18He compares it to Jewish worship: those who ate the sacrifices at the temple were, in fact, partakers of the altar itself — showing that a religious meal is never neutral, it connects the participant to what is being worshipped.
  19. 1 Coríntios 10:19A rhetorical question to avoid misunderstanding: Paul is not saying the idol is anything real, nor that meat sacrificed to it has any magical power — he already made that clear in chapter 8.
  20. 1 Coríntios 10:20Paul does not say idols have power of their own, but that behind the worship of them there is a negative spiritual reality. That is why he does not want Christians taking part in those religious meals, even while knowing that the idol itself “is nothing.”
  21. 1 Coríntios 10:21But taking part in the “table of devils” (eating in pagan temples) is incompatible with taking part in the table of the Lord — it is not about the idol’s power, it is about the divided loyalty the act represents.
  22. 1 Coríntios 10:22A pointed question: do the Corinthians really want to provoke the Lord to jealousy by taking part in both tables at once? No one is stronger than He is to walk away unpunished from that choice.
  23. 1 Coríntios 10:23He repeats the saying the Corinthians used (“all things are lawful for me”) to correct it again: not everything technically permitted helps or builds up the community — a standard that matters more than individual freedom.
  24. 1 Coríntios 10:24He sums up the practical principle: instead of seeking only their own advantage, each person should think of the other’s good — the same argument as chapter 8 about the brother with a weak conscience.
  25. 1 Coríntios 10:25The “shambles” was Corinth’s meat market, which sold leftovers from pagan sacrifices mixed in with ordinary meat. Paul frees Christians to buy and eat without interrogating the origin of every piece, as long as no one raises the question in front of them.
  26. 1 Coríntios 10:26He quotes Psalm 24 to justify the freedom to eat from the market without guilt: since the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, even the meat sold there, it is not “contaminated” just for having passed near a pagan temple.
  27. 1 Coríntios 10:27If a Christian is invited to eat at the home of an unbeliever, he may eat whatever is set before him without interrogating the food’s origin for his own conscience’s sake.
  28. 1 Coríntios 10:28But if someone points out that the meat was offered in sacrifice to idols, the Christian should avoid eating it — not for his own conscience’s sake, but out of respect for the conscience of the one who pointed it out.
  29. 1 Coríntios 10:29He clarifies that the concern in this case is with the other person’s conscience, not one’s own — Paul’s personal freedom should not be limited by other people’s opinions in general, only by this specific care for the brother.
  30. 1 Coríntios 10:30A rhetorical question: if someone eats with thanksgiving to God, why should he be criticized for the very thing he is thankful for? The point is not the food itself, but its effect on those watching.
  31. 1 Coríntios 10:31He sums up the entire argument of chapters 8 through 10 in one practical rule: any everyday activity, eating, drinking, whatever it may be, should be done with the goal of glorifying God.
  32. 1 Coríntios 10:32He applies the rule socially: live in a way that causes no offense, neither to Jews, nor to Greeks, nor to the church of God — always thinking of the impact on others.
  33. 1 Coríntios 10:33Paul ends the chapter presenting himself as a practical example of this attitude: he himself tries to please everyone in every way, not seeking his own advantage but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

Chapters

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.