1 Corinzi 10
Nuova Riveduta 2006
L’esempio d’Israele nel deserto
10 (A)Non voglio infatti che ignoriate, fratelli, che i nostri padri furono tutti sotto la nuvola, passarono tutti attraverso il mare, 2 furono tutti battezzati nella nuvola e nel mare, per essere di Mosè; 3 mangiarono tutti lo stesso cibo spirituale, 4 bevvero tutti la stessa bevanda spirituale, perché bevevano alla roccia spirituale che li seguiva; e questa roccia era Cristo. 5 Ma della maggior parte di loro Dio non si compiacque: infatti furono abbattuti nel deserto.
6 Or queste cose avvennero per servire da esempio a noi, affinché non siamo bramosi di cose cattive, come lo furono costoro, 7 e perché non diventiate idolatri come alcuni di loro, secondo quanto è scritto: «Il popolo si sedette per mangiare e bere, poi si alzò per divertirsi»[a]. 8 Non fornichiamo come alcuni di loro fornicarono, e ne caddero in un giorno solo ventitremila. 9 Non tentiamo Cristo[b] come alcuni di loro lo tentarono, e perirono morsi dai serpenti. 10 Non mormorate come alcuni di loro mormorarono, e perirono colpiti dal distruttore. 11 Ora, [tutte] queste cose avvennero loro per servire da esempio e sono state scritte per ammonire noi, che ci troviamo nella fase conclusiva delle epoche. 12 Perciò, chi pensa di stare in piedi guardi di non cadere.
13 Nessuna tentazione vi ha colti, che non sia stata umana; però Dio è fedele e non permetterà che siate tentati oltre le vostre forze; ma con la tentazione vi darà anche la via d’uscirne, affinché la possiate sopportare.
La cena del Signore contrapposta agli altari pagani
14 (B)Perciò, miei cari, fuggite l’idolatria.
15 Io parlo come a persone intelligenti; giudicate voi su quel che dico. 16 Il calice della benedizione, che noi benediciamo, non è forse la comunione con il sangue di Cristo? Il pane che noi rompiamo non è forse la comunione con il corpo di Cristo? 17 Siccome vi è un unico pane, noi, che siamo molti, siamo un corpo unico, perché partecipiamo tutti a quell’unico pane. 18 Guardate l’Israele secondo la carne: quelli che mangiano i sacrifici non hanno forse comunione con l’altare? 19 Che cosa sto dicendo? Che la carne sacrificata agli idoli sia qualcosa? Che un idolo sia qualcosa? 20 Tutt’altro; io dico che le carni che i pagani sacrificano[c], le sacrificano ai demòni e non a Dio; ora io non voglio che abbiate comunione con i demòni. 21 Voi non potete bere il calice del Signore e il calice dei demòni; voi non potete partecipare alla mensa del Signore e alla mensa dei demòni. 22 O vogliamo forse provocare il Signore a gelosia? Siamo noi più forti di lui?
23 (C)Ogni cosa [mi] è lecita, ma non ogni cosa è utile; ogni cosa [mi] è lecita, ma non ogni cosa edifica. 24 Nessuno cerchi il proprio vantaggio, ma ciascuno cerchi quello degli altri. 25 Mangiate di tutto quello che si vende al mercato, senza fare inchieste per motivo di coscienza; 26 perché al Signore appartiene la terra e tutto quello che essa contiene[d]. 27 Se qualcuno dei non credenti v’invita, e voi volete andarci, mangiate di tutto quello che vi è posto davanti, senza fare inchieste per motivo di coscienza. 28 Ma se qualcuno vi dice: «Questa è carne di sacrifici», non ne mangiate per riguardo a colui che vi ha avvertito e per riguardo alla coscienza [perché al Signore appartiene la terra e tutto quello che essa contiene]; 29 alla coscienza, dico, non tua, ma di quell’altro; infatti, perché sarebbe giudicata la mia libertà dalla coscienza altrui? 30 Se io mangio di una cosa con rendimento di grazie, perché sarei biasimato per quello di cui io rendo grazie?
31 Sia dunque che mangiate, sia che beviate, sia che facciate qualche altra cosa, fate tutto alla gloria di Dio. 32 Non date motivo di scandalo né ai Giudei, né ai Greci, né alla chiesa di Dio; 33 così come anch’io compiaccio a tutti in ogni cosa, cercando non l’utile mio ma quello dei molti, perché siano salvati.
Footnotes
- 1 Corinzi 10:7 +Es 32:6.
- 1 Corinzi 10:9 Non tentiamo Cristo, alcuni mss. Non tentiamo il Signore.
- 1 Corinzi 10:20 Così TR e M; NA che essi sacrificano…
- 1 Corinzi 10:26 +Sl 24:1; 50:12.
1 Corinthians 10
The Message
10 1-5 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.
6-10 The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—“First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.
11-12 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
14 So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.
15-18 I assume I’m addressing believers now who are mature. Draw your own conclusions: When we drink the cup of blessing, aren’t we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life, of Christ? And isn’t it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat? Don’t we take into ourselves the body, the very life, of Christ? Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is. That’s basically what happened even in old Israel—those who ate the sacrifices offered on God’s altar entered into God’s action at the altar.
19-22 Do you see the difference? Sacrifices offered to idols are offered to nothing, for what’s the idol but a nothing? Or worse than nothing, a minus, a demon! I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?
23-24 Looking at it one way, you could say, “Anything goes. Because of God’s immense generosity and grace, we don’t have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.” But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.
25-28 With that as a base to work from, common sense can take you the rest of the way. Eat anything sold at the butcher shop, for instance; you don’t have to run an “idolatry test” on every item. “The earth,” after all, “is God’s, and everything in it.” That “everything” certainly includes the leg of lamb in the butcher shop. If a nonbeliever invites you to dinner and you feel like going, go ahead and enjoy yourself; eat everything placed before you. It would be both bad manners and bad spirituality to cross-examine your host on the ethical purity of each course as it is served. On the other hand, if he goes out of his way to tell you that this or that was sacrificed to god or goddess so-and-so, you should pass. Even though you may be indifferent as to where it came from, he isn’t, and you don’t want to send mixed messages to him about who you are worshiping.
29-30 But, except for these special cases, I’m not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I’m going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed it!
31-33 So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you’re eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.
1 Corinthians 10
King James Version
10 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
18 Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
19 What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
28 But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:
29 Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?
30 For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
Copyright © 2006 Società Biblica di Ginevra
2005 by Public Domain
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson