Scripture Daily

Context No. 3396 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

Context · Reflection

1 Corinthians 10:6-12: in context

6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. 9Let’s not test Christ, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents. 10Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer. 11Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.

Paul says the failures of Israel in the wilderness were written down as examples and warnings for us. Their idolatry, their immorality, their testing of God, their grumbling, all brought disaster, and Paul lays them out so that we will not repeat them. The lesson is a sobering humility.

These were God's redeemed people, brought out of Egypt, who had seen the sea parted and eaten the manna, and still they fell. And so Paul's warning: let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Past deliverance and present confidence are no guarantee against falling; in fact, the confidence that we could never fall is itself the danger. The remedy is not anxious fear but humble watchfulness, learning from those who fell before us, never presuming on our own steadiness, and depending on God to keep us standing. Our security is in him, not in our own certainty that we are past falling.

Do I take the warning of those who fell before me, holding my own standing humbly and watchfully, rather than presuming I am beyond falling?

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