1 Cor. 10:13. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man; and God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide relief, so that you may be able to endure it.
With the words "let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" he frightened them. Meanwhile, there were those who had already endured many temptations. Lest such people say: "why do you frighten us? We have endured many temptations and have not sinned," he says: the temptation that has overtaken you is only small and moderate, for what is small is everywhere called human. Then he comforts them again, persuading them to look to God, Who is faithful, that is, true and will not lie. For He promised: "Come..., you who labor..., and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Therefore, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but will arrange it so that a temptation proportionate to your strength will overtake you. Indeed, every temptation will be beyond your strength if He does not help and does not create relief from the temptation, "with the temptation," that is, relief that is swift and simultaneous with the coming of the temptation upon you, so that with swift relief it will become bearable for you. For he said: "will also provide the relief, so that you may be able to endure," that is, the temptation will seem light and manageable to you.
1 Cor. 10:14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Since he had given them a sufficient rebuke, he now softens it by calling them beloved. However, he forbids them to eat food sacrificed to idols not only because it is harmful to the brethren, but condemns this practice in itself, calling it idolatry, and demanding a swift departure from it, for he says: "flee."
1 Cor. 10:15. I speak to you as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
Having called their deed idolatry, he ascribed to them a great crime. Now he softens the severity of his word and makes the guilty themselves the judges (which is characteristic only of one who is undoubtedly confident in the truth of his words), and says: I do not need other judges; you, as intelligent people, judge for yourselves.
1 Cor. 10:16. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ?
The blessing, that is, the thanksgiving. For, holding the cup in our hands, we bless and give thanks to Him Who poured out His Blood for us and deemed us worthy of ineffable blessings. He did not say "participation" (μετοχή), but "communion" (κοινωνία), in order to express something greater, namely the closest union. His words have this meaning: what is in the Cup is the very same thing that flowed from the side of Christ, and when we receive it, we enter into communion, that is, union with Christ. Are you not ashamed, Corinthians, to run over to the cup of idols from that very Cup which delivered you from idols?!
1 Cor. 10:16. The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the Body of Christ?
What the Lord did not suffer on the cross (for His bone was not broken: John 19:33–36), He now suffers, being broken for us. For he says: "which is broken." The words "communion of the Body of Christ" mean: just as that Body is united with Christ, so we too through this Bread are united with Him.
1 Cor. 10:17. One bread, and we many are one body.
Before this he said: "a communion of the Body." But one who has communion with someone is not one and the same with him, but other. Now he declares something greater and says that we are that very body. For what is this bread? The Body of Christ. What do those who partake of it become? The Body of Christ — not many bodies, but one body. For just as bread is made one from many grains, so also we, despite our multiplicity, become one body of Christ.
1 Cor. 10:17. For we all partake of one bread.
That is why it also constitutes a unity. How then shall we not preserve love and not be in union because of this? God gives us His Body precisely in order to unite us both with Himself and with one another. Since the original nature of the flesh has been corrupted by sin and has lost life, He gave us His own flesh, sinless and life-giving, yet similar to ours, so that by partaking of it we might be mingled with it and live, as far as possible, without sin.
1 Cor. 10:18. Look at Israel according to the flesh: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants of the altar?
From the simplest example, learn that what you are doing is communion with idols. He said "Israel according to the flesh," because Christians are according to the spirit. Note this as well: he did not say of the Jews that they are partakers of God, but participants of the altar. For what was consecrated to God was placed upon the altar and burned. But concerning the Body of Christ he expressed it differently: it is a communion of the Body of Christ; for we become not participants of the altar, but partakers of Christ Himself. But fearing lest the listeners come to the thought that just as God, who receives the sacrifice from the Jews, could cause harm, so too the idols receiving the sacrifice from the pagans could harm those who do not offer sacrifices, he added the following.
1 Cor. 10:19. What then am I saying? That an idol is anything, or that food offered to idols means anything?
I turn you away from idols not because they have the power to do harm or good, for they are decidedly nothing, but because the sacrifice offered to them does not go to your Master. Therefore he continues.
1 Cor. 10:20. No, but that the pagans, when they offer sacrifices, offer them to demons, and not to God.
So, do not resort to the enemies of your Master. For if you had left the royal table and gone over to the table of the condemned, you would undoubtedly have sinned, not because it harmed you or benefited you, but because your action would have appeared as an insult to the royal table.
1 Cor. 10:20. But I do not want you to be in communion with demons.
For if those who partake of the mystical table become communicants with Christ, then those who participate in the demonic table obviously are in communion with demons.
1 Cor. 10:21. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.
In the form of an exhortation he said: "I do not want you to be in communion with demons." Lest this exhortation be disregarded, he now expresses the same thought in a negative form: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons." By the names alone he proves that one must necessarily abstain from food offered to idols.
1 Cor. 10:22. Shall we dare to provoke the Lord? Are we stronger than He?