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?

PARAPHRASE.

offerings to imaginary deities and not to God, and I would not have you reckoned as persons having a common interest with heathens, in imaginary 21 deities and the worship paid to them. You will doubtless admit, that you cannot consistently drink a cup of liquor in honour of the Lord as we do in the Eucharistical rite, and a similar cup of liquor in honour of imaginary deities. But then, neither can you consistently participate in a banquet attached to the worship of the Lord as the Eucharistical rite is, and in a similar banquet attached to the worship of imaginary deities as an idol-feast is ; because, it is evident from what I have said that in public estimation, you will be regarded as doing honour to imaginary deities as much by this action as by the former. Or even admitting as you will probably argue, that whatever you may appear to do, you do not really intend by participating in idol-feasts to express any worship of imaginary deities, is it right in us as Christians, though intending to preserve a just reverence for God, to place ourselves in situations in which we shall be regarded as shewing divine reverence to imaginary deities, and thereby risk the exciting of the jealous anger of the Lord, which he has declared himself to entertain against those who show divine reverence to any being but himself? Again, is it safe in us to

22

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:

23

PARAPHRASE.

place ourselves in situations in which we are in danger of insensibly losing the proper and exclusive reverence of God, and which danger may be inferred from the command which God has given us not to worship even him under any similitude, lest we should transfer to the similitude the reverence due to him only? Are we more able to protect ourselves from idolatry than he is to protect us from it, who, knowing our infirmity, has thus pointed out to us extreme caution as the only means of security? I do not say, that there is any unlawfulness in the food itself. For I admit, that it is lawful for me or any one, as a Christian, to eat of all things fit for food; but my Christian character is not equally promoted by my eating indiscriminately of all things fit for food. I admit that it is lawful for me or any one as a Christian to eat of all things fit for food; but the Christian society is not equally cemented by my eating indiscrimi24 nately of all things fit for food: and in pursuing the Christian profession, let no one seek to promote his own interest exclusively, but, let each one with his own, seek to promote that of every other fellow Christian. For these two reasons then, on the ground of prudence, abstain from feasts in an idolatrous temple, but eat without scruple what

25

26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.

be

27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye 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:

PARAPHRASE.

ever is sold in the shambles, asking no questions as to whether it may or may not have been previously offered in sacrifice to idols, with a view to satisfying your conscience respecting the lawfulness of eating 26 of it. For you may safely do it on the principle that the earth and all its contents belong to God. 27 And if one of the unbelieving heathens invites you to a feast at his own house, and you are inclined to go to it, eat indiscriminately of whatever is set before you, asking no questions on the ground of 28 conscience. But if, in such case, any one say to you respecting any food thus set before you, "this has been offered in sacrifice to idols and therefore cannot lawfully be eaten by Christians," eat not of it on account of him who makes the remark, and of the conscientious scruple stated. For as I before observed that you may safely eat any food, notwithstanding any improper use it may have been applied to, on the principle that the earth and all its contents belong to God, so, now, I say that your abstaining from any particular food for the above reason is no real loss, as God can provide you with sufficient other food which is not so circumstanced, since the earth and all its contents belong to God.

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.

PARAPHRASE.

29 But observe, that I am not speaking of one's own conscientious scruple, in which case the eating would be manifestly unlawful; but the conscientious scruple expressed by the other party whether Christian or infidel, on which account I should think it right to abstain from eating, that I may not, in the one case, force the doubtful conscience of a Christian brother, or, in the other, be thought to compromise my duty from a motive of self-indulgence. For since I am at liberty to eat or not, why in reason should this liberty of mine be so used as that my conduct as a Christian should be condemned as inconsistent, by the conscientious judgment of any other person? And if my intention is really to partake of the food with an expression of thankfulness to God, why in reason should I do it in such a way that in a matter in which my design is really to express thanks to God, I should be misrepresented by others as an inconsistent Christian, and so, as far as they are concerned, fail in making that public expression of my thanks which is necessary to the consistency of my 31 character? Therefore, seeing from this that a just regard to the value of your own characters as consistent Christians, requires that you should

30

pay at

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.

CHAPTER XI.

1 Be ye.followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

32

PARAPHRASE.

tention to the conscientious judgments of others, make it a rule, whether you eat, or drink, or do any other thing in which you are at liberty to use your own pleasure, to do it in a way effectually to promote the glory of God, by exhibiting yourselves as uniformly devoted to his service. Resolve to be without a failure in your characters in the estimation of all men, both Jews and Gentiles as unbelievers, and of both of them as Christians form33 ing the Church of God; as I also, in all things in which I am at liberty to use my own pleasure, choose to satisfy the judgments of all others in preference to my own, not seeking, in my Christian profession, to promote my own religious advancement only, but that of others conjointly with my own, in order that they may be ultimately saved. 1 Be imitators of me in this matter, as I also am of Christ, who from zeal towards God voluntarily encountered sufferings for the purpose of promoting the knowledge of him among the less informed.

1

2

But, brethren, passing from this topic on which