In 1 Cor 10:12, the apostle Paul warned the Corinthian congregation that they would fall from salvation:
So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall (NRSV)
In spite of objections from those who advocate a form of eternal security, Paul is teaching that a true believer can lose their salvation. Responding to various attempts to get around the plain meaning of this passage, B.J. Oropeza responded thusly:
There are at least two important considerations which make this interpretation untenable. First, Paul begins 10:1-13 with the metaphors of salvation through the concepts of election and baptism-initiation in the Spirit and water (10:1-4). Elsewhere in 1 Corinthians those whom Paul addresses are considered to be saints, called, saved, cleansed, justified, sanctified, members of the body of Christ, and operating in the Spirit (e.g., 10:1, 6, 11 cf. 1:1-9, 18, 32; 4:15; 6:6, 11, 19f; 12:13). Paul stresses the solidarity of "all" of the Israelites who were called into these divine privileges indicating the genuine nature of these experiences. In Israel's tradition-history which Paul adopts, both Caleb (who made it through the journey) and Korah (who did not make it) participated in the "same" (το αυτο) exodus/wilderness experiences. Paul thus implies a common election that was experienced by all. Moreover, Paul calls the Israelites "our fathers" and transfers the salvific language of this passage to the Corinthians whom he believes are Christians. In his discourse on idol meats, Paul's language assumes the strong are genuine believers: 1) they, along with Paul, find their life through the same God and Lord (8:5-6); 2) they are not to offend the weaker αδελφος who belongs to Christ (8:11f); 3) they became Christians directly through Paul's effort (9:1ff); 4) they participate in spiritual matters and the new era (9:11, 24ff); and 5) they are members of the body of Christ (10:16ff).
Second, Paul's binary usage of the words "stand" (ιστημι) and "fall" (πιπτω) in 10:12 reinforce an interpretation that a genuine standing in grace and a real danger of falling into apostasy is at stake. Paul uses the perfect tense of ιστημι here as in Romans 11:20-22 where he gives another warning in the milieu of apostasy and high-mindedness. He also uses the word elsewhere in relation to apostasy and perseverance (Gal. 5:1ff; cf. 2 Thes. 2:14). Related to this usage is Paul’s understanding of ιστημι as denoting the idea of one’s standing in faith and grace or in the message of the Gospel (1 Cor. 15:1f; 16:13; 2 Cor. 1:24; Rom. 5:2; 11:20; Phil. 4:1; cf. 1 Pet. 5:12) . . . The idea of standing in faith might have as its basis the ancient Jewish concept of one establishing or standing on the word of the covenant (cf. Psa. 104:8-10 LXX). In the Deuteronomic tradition, standing in the covenant is set in contrast with departing from it (Deut. 29:13-18). In a broad sense, then, Paul may have understood this nuance of “stand” as pointing to the new eschatological covenant of the Christians. Hence, the converse of standing in a new covenant would be to fall away from it . . . Paul himself associates the terms “stand”/”fall” and “beware” with apostasy in some of his other letters. If the Galatian Christians stand in the liberty of Christ, they could escape falling from grace which occurs by attempting to be justified through the law (Gal. 5:1-4). Paul warns that those among them who are seeking to be justified by the law are “cut off” from Christian and “fallen from grace” (5:4: κατηργήθητε ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, οἵτινες ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθε, τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσατε.). In this letter, Paul is anxious that the Galatians will fall back into confining ritual and social practises; hence, he fears that the original gospel of liberty through the Spirit they received may have been in vain (3:4; 4:11; cf. 2:2; 2 Cor. 6:1; 1 Cor. 15:2) . . Particularly significant is that the Corinthian argument of Paul in 10:1-13 is perfectly consistent with what he does in other letters. Similar to the Corinthian situation, the Galatian warning (βλεπετε μη—Gal. 5:15 cf. 1 Cor. 10:12) is set in the situation of falling away from grace (Gal. 5:1, 4 cf. 1 Cor. 10:5, 12), being hindered from running a course (Gal. 5:7 cf. 1 Cor. 9:24ff), ad being severed from Christ (Gal. 5:5; 4:30 cf. 1 Cor. 5:5; 10:4-10). Paul also mentions leaven as a negative influence on the believers in both letters (Gal. 5:9; cf. 1 Cor. 5:7) and a condemnation on those who practise vices such as discord, dissensions, and factions. Such works of the flesh prevent one from entering the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21; 6:7-8 cf. 1 Cor. 5:8f; 6:9-10; 10:7-10; Rom. 8:12-13). In relation to apostasy, the essential difference between the two letters is that the Corinthian warning focuses on the danger of apostatising through the abuse of liberty. In Galatians the congregations were erring in the opposite extreme—they were entangled by the works of the law and needed more liberty in Christ (Gal. 3-5). For Paul, those who taught another Gospel that hindered one’s liberty in Christ were accursed and their message was a perversion and desertion or turning away (μετατιθημι) from the true Gospel (Gal. 1:6-9 c. 1 Cor. 16:22). (B.J. Oropeza, Paul and Apostasy: Eschatology, Perseverance, and Falling Away in the Corinthian Congregation [Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf & Stock, 2007], 194-95, 196-97)
