“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #111
“I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say” (1 Cor. 10:15).
This cryptic statement is the segue between Paul’s discussion of the Israelites failures in the wilderness (given as examples to new covenant Christians), and his detailed theological discussion of the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. He says that he is speaking to wise men, and he wants them to evaluate or judge what he says. We need to remember Paul’s earlier rejection in this letter of a particular kind of wisdom—the wisdom of this world will be no good at all.
There are many things that could be said here, but I will content myself with simply two. The first is that believers must go into their celebrations of the Lord’s Supper armed and equipped against the temptation to idolatry. The second thing is that we live in a world where covenantal partaking happens in many different ways. Paul says here that faithful believers have koinonia with the blood and body of Jesus Christ (v. 16). He says that the Israelites were partakers of the koinonia sacrifices at the altar (v. 18). And he says that, despite the idols not being anything, those who sacrifice there have koinonia with devils (v. 21). Koinonia fellowship is everywhere, which is why we always have to be prepared to fight idolatry.