Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Suzanne Nicholson on 1 Corinthians 10:9


The best manuscripts of 1 Cor 10:9 has the Israelites in the wilderness tempting τον χριστον (the Christ) as opposed to some manuscripts which read the more ambiguous τον κυριον (the Lord). Such is an important text as it affirms the personal pre-existence of Jesus; indeed, Paul is teaching the Corinthians that, just as the Israelites in Old Testament times “tempted” Jesus, the Corinthians are doing the same! As Suzanne Nicholson wrote:

What, then, does it means to tempt Christ? In the Old Testament, one tempted God by failing to acknowledge his power and will to save, and expressed this temptation/testing by complaining against God’s guidance, and failing to see God’s glory or signs and wonders. “to test God is thus to challenge Him. It is an expression of unbelief, doubt and disobedience.” The testing of God is alluded to in 1Cor 10:9 involves the story of Num 21:4-9, in which the Israelites again grumbled against God in the desert (even after they had received manna and water) and God in return sent venomous snakes among the people. Psalm 78 also relates the various instances of grumbling in the desert; it is striking that the psalmist also takes up the motif of God as Rock (77:35)—a verse in which God is not only described as Rock, but also as Redeemer. It is likely, then, that Paul fully intends for Christ, as Rock and Redeemer, to be read into the Old Testament story here as well. The Israelites tested God/Christ by complaining and not appreciating the miraculous provisions; they challenged the idea that God was leading them to a better place (Num 21:5); Paul warns the Corinthians not to fall into the same sins (1Cor 10:6-10), one of which is to test Christ by calling into question his plan of provision and salvation. It is fitting that the reason for the Israelites’s grumbling because they are not happy with their food, either—they want to be free to eat more than the weak think is proper. Paul warns, in essence, that their appetite may lead to their destruction (Phil 3:19); by eating meat sacrificed to idols, they are participating in the table of demons.

Thus, Paul’s references to Christ’s presence in the Israelite desert wanderings serve to emphasize the continuity between the effects of sin, specifically idolatry, in the old and new covenants. What happened to the Israelites when they challenged God/Christ is no less a danger for the Corinthians, who face the same God in Christ; they must flee from idolatry. (Suzanne Nicholson, Dynamic Oneness: The Significance and Flexibility of Paul’s One-God Language [Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 2010], 83-84)