'1Cor 10:14-22

Back to Contents

Avoid idol feasts (1Co 10:14-22)

In view of the dangers of idolatry, there is only one wise course to take in relation to idolatrous feasts, and that is to have nothing to do with them (1Co 10:14-15).

Those who receive bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper are united with Christ in one body and spiritually share in him (1Co 10:16-17).

Likewise in the Israelite sacrificial system those who eat the food of the sacrifices are united with the altar on which the sacrifices are offered (1Co 10:18).

Christians cannot say, therefore, that eating food in idolatrous feasts has nothing to do with idolatry. Maybe the idol is only a piece of wood or stone, but the people who make offerings to it do not see it as such. They are, in fact, sacrificing to evil spirits (1Co 10:19-20).

Just as eating food at the Lord’s Supper means having fellowship with the Lord, so eating food at idolatrous feasts means having fellowship with the idol, or worse, with the evil spirits behind the idol. Now that the Corinthians know the true meaning of eating food offered to idols, they must cease the practice at once, otherwise God might act against them in judgment (1Co 10:21-22).