It Starts Small

Chapter ten is a transition that seems to come from the “race” concept at the end of chapter 9. We should be successful in our “race” of reaching the lost and serving God in our life.

To be successful we must be self-disciplined and run according to the rules. We can learn from the examples of the Israelites from a long time ago. They were also in a “race” and failed it completely. A major reason for their failure was their lack of self-discipline. They were blessed in many many ways and still failed the race. We should learn from their example. This will help us avoid becoming prideful. It will also prevent us from repeating the same mistakes that they do.

I would say that the key verse in this section of Scripture is verse 12.

¹² So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. 

1 Corinthians 10:12

This section of the chapter warns the Corinthians. They should not become prideful. They must not abuse their blessings and Christian freedom as the Israelites did before. The Israelites fell and so can the Corinthians. This section is a history lesson from the lives of the Israelites. It is repeated again and again throughout the Old Testament. It strongly warns the Corinthians not to repeat the same pattern.

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 

1 Corinthians 10:1-4

Firstly, the Corinthians (and us) should not be unaware. They should be alert and wary because of the examples of those who have passed before them. The human condition has never changed. The human cycle does not become new without Christ. We can learn from the successes and mistakes of others so that we don’t have to repeat them ourselves.

Verses 1-4 tell of the many blessings that God poured out to them. Like us, they were indeed blessed with “every spiritual blessing” and many times these spiritual blessings even took physical form. Compare this with 1 Cor 1:4-9 where the Corinthians were “not lacking in any gift”. This is the first part of the comparison. The country of Israel was blessed immensely. The Corinthians were blessed immensely. How was Israel blessed?

“Under the cloud” – God Himself was in the cloud. He led the Israelites to and fro. He also protected them from the Egyptian hoard chasing them.

“Passed through the sea” – God liberated the Israelites out of Egypt where they were slaves for 400 years. He did this in a spectacular way. It culminated with parting the Red Sea. He let them through and then let it close to swallow up the entire Egyptian army. He saved them from the Egyptians.

“Baptized into Moses” – Doesn’t refer to baptizing in the strict sense. It is not used as a rite or ceremony by born-again Christians. Rather, it refers to the initiating of Israel under Moses. They entered into the Mosaic law and covenant. They became bound to obey Moses and the laws God revealed through him. They also received God’s protection and guidance if they kept their obligations to Him.

“Spiritual food” and “spiritual drink” – Likely referring to the manna and water from the rock. These were provided by God’s great power and love. They were physical manifestations of His divine power and spiritual blessings. It was spiritual food and drink because it taught a spiritual lesson and was supernaturally provided by God.

“Spiritual rock” – Here Paul allegorically interprets the rock providing their sustenance as Christ who is our provider. The Jews had a story. They believed the rock followed them around the wilderness. It provided them water when they needed it. Christ was their provider whether they knew it or not and He is also our provider.

So the Jews were greatly blessed by God in almost every conceivable way. They were in the perfect situation to follow the Lord. They had seen firsthand His grace in their lives. They had also received firsthand His laws. But what they do with these great gifts they had received?

⁵ Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. ⁷ Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party. ⁸ Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died. ⁹ Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ And don’t grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

1 Corinthians 10:5-10

They did not please God.

They did not follow Him.

They fell again and again.

They rebelled again and again.

They became prideful again and again.

They abused their blessings and their gifts and their freedom in God. They were not disciplined and they lacked self-control. Therefore God was not pleased with them and He laid them low. He humbled them. He did this through a series of discipline and punishment. Finally, all of them died in the wilderness except for two, before the country entered the Promised Land.

Verse 6 tells us that these things are an example for us.

The lesson we will learn from this is clear. Don’t do as the Israelites did. Don’t make the same mistakes they did. Don’t sin as they did. If we do, the result for us will be the same as the result for them. We will incur God’s wrath. This is a major reason why God included the sins of people in the Old Testament. He didn’t only focus on the successes. The failures of these people are a warning to us. They show we can fall too. We must follow God’s ways. They not only sinned, but they craved evil. They enjoyed it. They looked forward to it. They looked for chances to disobey God.

They did so in a number of ways.

Idolaters, no self-control, immorality – They became idolaters. Soon after they left Egypt, they started worshiping a golden calf at the first chance they got. Moses went onto the mountain just before this began. They blatantly disregarded God’s authority. They had seen His authority firsthand. This resulted from their hard hearts. This casting off of God’s authority was soon followed by worse sense. First, out-of-control feasting and partying. Second, out-of-control gross immorality. When we replace God with something else, we invite trouble. This replacement could be a physical idol or a figurative one. It is bound to lead to more sins. Cannot serve two masters.

What lessons can we draw from the Israelites’ mistakes in worshiping the golden calf? How can we avoid similar sins of lack of self-control, idol worship, and immorality?

They were apparently dependent on Moses for their spiritual lives. When Moses left, so left their relationship to God.

If we are dependent on a person to keep us right with God, what will happen when that person leaves? We will fall away from God. Many children who grow up in Christian families are prime examples. They seem to do great when they are under the authority of their parents. When they move away from home they often fall very quickly into some sin problems. We must have a deep relationship with Christ on our own and not rely on anyone for this.

Mixing false and true worship led them away from God. They retained some true worship forms. The sacrifices they offered were just like the ones they had offered the Lord before. A wrong and a right still makes a wrong.

Sin often happens incrementally. It occurs in situations where there is a lack of good oversight. Additionally, a lot of bad peer pressure influences it. It is unlikely that the Israelites foresaw the terrible consequences of their sins. But it happened and almost the entire camp was involved. It started step by step and surely with heavy peer pressure the whole time. It started before idol worship, but the first step we see here is idol worship.

Laziness, feasting, and partying came next. On their own, these don’t appear so bad. However, it was a degenerative situation with a complete lack of self-control. Men and women giving in completely to basic desires (goes completely against 9:27). It culminated with a wild, camp-wide immoral sexual orgy. What a sad thing. But it started long before then. They took the first step towards sin and moved towards the edge of what was acceptable.

Other sins that they committed included testing the Lord and grumbling. God punished all of these sins. This served as a warning to the rest of the Israelites and to us not to engage in these practices.

We should ask ourselves are we doing the things they were doing?

Are we worshiping idols? Perhaps the idol of success or money?

Do we lack self-control?

Are we controlled by our desires?

Are we immoral?

Do we test God?

Do we grumble?

Do you think God will deal with us differently than He did with them? In a way, yes. He may be more patient and not send a plague to us (or he may). But in the end He will deal with us the same way. If we have no relationship with Him, then our actions will show it. We will be punished as they were.

Serpents, diseases, plagues, destroying angels, marauding armies are just some of the things God punished the Israelites with. Scary? It should be! This is a warning to the Corinthians and us not to make the same mistakes they did.

¹¹ These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages^[h] have come. ¹² So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. ¹³ No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

These things happened as an example to the Corinthians. They also serve as an example to us who have lived in this “last age” after the Messiah has come.

Verse 12 is the key verse of this section. As a church, the Corinthians were very prideful. They considered that they were very gifted and intelligent and wise and had good doctrine, etc. They were so proud that they even thought it was spiritual to tolerate immorality or other problems. They saw this as a way to show their tolerant love and fully exercise their Christian freedom.

But they couldn’t be more wrong. They were flirting dangerously close with sin. Their willingness to be around sin and think they could deal with it would be their downfall. Instead of fleeing sin, they were tolerating it. At times, some members appear to have engaged in it. They exulted in it as a manifestation of Christian freedom. But the Corinthians couldn’t have been more wrong. They were in grave danger of falling. It was this serious situation that prompted Paul to warn them so strongly. The Israelites were greatly blessed and they sinned seriously, so might the Corinthians

This is a warning to us as well.

Do you think you are doing well?

Are you satisfied with your spiritual life?

Do you like to compare yourselves to others and think you are better?

Do you like to go close to the edge of what is right and wrong?

Do you tolerate sin?

Do you think you can handle temptation?

If you answer “yes” to any of these verse 12 is for you. If you answer “no” to all of these, then verse 12 is probably for you too. It is apparent that you think you stand. Pride will come before the fall and often that fall will be great.

 ¹³ No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Looking in context verse 13 is interesting. In other words, just as the Israelites were tempted so are you. The same temptations are recycled by Satan and his minions again and again. They are successful so why find new ones? The good news is that we don’t have to fall into sin. We don’t have to commit it. There is always a way out.

© Kimberlee Smith 2025 http://www.itstartssmall.com All rights reserved.