Commentary on 1 Corinthians

Aquinas, Thomas

Section 39 of 80

Underlined text was edited by AI to fix errors.

Chapter 10

Members of Christ

Lecture 1 Warning from Israel’s history

10:1 For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud: and all passed through the sea. [n. 517]

10:2 And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud and in the sea:

10:3 And all did eat the same spiritual food: [n. 519]

10:4 And all drank the same spiritual drink (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ).

10:5 But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. [n. 521]

517. Above he warned them to abstain from the food of idols, first in order to avoid the scandal of weaker brothers (chapter eight); second, because of his own example, who refrains from accepting living expenses for the sake of others (chapter nine). Here, by a third argument he warns them about the same thing from the consideration of the punishment of the Jews who venerated idols in the desert, where, by the example of their punishment, he first warns them to refrain from committing similar sins; second, he particularly warns against eating food sacrificed to idols, where he says, wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from the service of idols (1 Cor 10:14). In the first part, he first shows what befell the Jews in ancient times; second, the reason why, since it happened that way not only for them, but for our correction: these things were done in a figure of us (1 Cor 10:6);

third, so that they would be careful of the example of those people, he concludes at wherefore, he who thinks that he stands (1 Cor 10:12).

Therefore, the punishment should be feared, the reason remembered, and caution applied. In the first part, he first lists the benefits of grace allotted to them while living in Egypt; second, he lists the even better things given to them in the desert, at and all did eat the same; third, he lists the scourges inflicted because of their ingratitude at but with most of them, God was not well pleased.

518. In the first section he refers to three benefits. First, the protection of the cloud; second, the crossing of the Red Sea, at and all passed through the sea; third, the purification of baptism, at and all in Moses were baptized.

Therefore he says I would not have you, as though saying: you should act as I have warned you. For the receiving the sacraments of the Church does not suffice for you when you sin afterwards, just as neither did the benefits of God keep the Jews from being punished afterward.

For I would not have you ignorant. This can be read two ways. In one way, about the good and the bad together; in another way, about the bad in particular.

The first way goes as follows: I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers, the founders of our faith, were all, both good and bad, under the protecting cloud. The Lord went ahead of them to show the way by day in a column of cloud (Exod 13:21). Or else, under the cloud could mean under figure and shadow. The law having the shadow of future things (Heb 10:1). And, once their enemies had drowned, all passed through the Red Sea, not from one shore to the other, but to the same one from which they crossed a certain bay of the sea. And all in Moses, that is, under the leadership of Moses, were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, that is, they were purged of ignorance by having seen those signs; or, they were purged of vices by faith, namely, in the drowning of the Egyptians. The people of the Lord feared, and they believed in the Lord and his servant Moses (Exod 14:31). Or, they were baptized, that is, they received the sign of baptism. For baptism depends upon water and the spirit: unless someone has been reborn from water and the Spirit (John 3:5). However, the cloud is the symbol of the Spirit, but the sea is the symbol of water, as Damascene says.

519. Next, when he says and all did eat the same spiritual food; after the benefits shown to Israel when leaving Egypt, here he traces the benefits shown in the desert. And first, the benefit of manna; second, the benefit of water, at and all drank the same; third, the drink’s miraculous origin, at and they drank; fourth, the signification of this origin, at and the rock.

He says therefore, and all did eat the same spiritual food, namely, manna from heaven. But he calls it spiritual, although it was bodily, because it was miraculously given; and this is found in Wisdom: you have given them bread from heaven (Wis 16:20). And all drank the same spiritual drink, namely, water from the rock. Speak to the rock and it will give you water. He struck the rock, and waters flowed out (Num 20:8). And they drank of the spiritual rock, which is called spiritual because of the miraculous effect, for the sake of a sign of the future.

The rock that followed them. There are two ways to understand followed, that is, satisfied their desire: he gave to them their desire (Ps 78:29). He brought forth water out of a rock for them (Isa 48:21). Or that followed them, that is, which signified the following truth. And the rock was Christ, not by his substance, but by signification: here is the stone which the builders rejected (Matt 21:42).

520. In another way it can be read as concerning the good, in a nutshell like this: I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers, the founders of our faith, were all spiritually good men. For which reason he says, our fathers, not theirs, were under the cloud, (the same interpretation as before), and all did eat the same spiritual food, that is, the Body of Christ spiritually understood as a sign. For which reason, they ate the same spiritual food, that is, the same as we eat, but a different bodily food than we eat; and this, meaning the ancestors who believed in Christ. They ate Christ spiritually, according to this: believe and eat. And all drank the same spiritual drink, namely the Blood of Christ, in a sign. Thus he speaks about a sign and a drink that through faith were spiritual, not bodily. And they drank of the spiritual rock (the same reading as before). This is the food and drink to seek, because it is sufficient: wherefore he says all did eat; unfailing, because they ate the same thing; useful, because it was spiritual food and drink: which is noted in the very word ‘spiritual’.

521. Next, when he says but with most of them, after the benefits he deals with the scourges. And first the offense; second, the punishment, at for they were overthrown.

Therefore he says but with most of them, as though saying: the Jews enjoyed all these benefits, but with most of them God was not well pleased: namely, the ones who offended God; and to only two men, Caleb and Joshua, was it granted to reach the promised land (Num 14:24). I have no desire for you (Mal 1:10).

Lecture 2 Israel a figure for us

10:6 Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things, as they also coveted. [n. 522]

10:7 Neither become idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. [n. 524]

10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them that committed fornication: and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. [n. 526]

10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and perished by the serpents. [n. 527]

10:10 Neither murmur, as some of them murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. [n. 528]

10:11 Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. [n. 530]

522. Above he showed what befell the ancient Jews; here he shows that it was not for them alone, but for our correction that it happened this way.

He first shows that the things mentioned happened for our correction from sin; second, that because of this also these were written, at now all these things happened to them.

In the first part, he shows that these things happened for this, that we might be held back from sin: first from the sin of the heart; second from the sin of action, at neither become idolaters; third, from the sin of the mouth, at neither murmur, as some of them.

523. In the first section, he begins by deterring through punishment; second, from this he urges against guilt, at that we should not covet; third he recalls the evildoers to memory, at as they also coveted.

Therefore he says now these things were done in a figure of us, not invented, but truly done. In a figure, I say, so that we, considering their sufferings, should not covet evil things, as they also coveted, about which it is said: they coveted their desire in the desert (Ps 106:14). It is also said that the common people were inflamed by the desire for flesh (Num 9:4).

And it should be noted that just as in good things what is represented is a far better thing than the figure itself, like the kingdom of heaven is compared with the promised land; so also in bad things, the thing that is represented is far worse than the signifying figure. And according to Augustine, those punishments which they suffered were a figure of Gehenna, which is a greater punishment than anything. But here it has to do with the more knowledgeable ones among the Corinthians, who, out of desire, were eating meats in the temple of an idol, and they were giving scandal to the weaker ones. Wherefore, they were like Jews desiring meat in the desert, for which reason they were deserving of a similar punishment.

524. Next, when he says, neither become idolaters, he urges against sin of action, where he deals with three sins. The first is idolatry; the second, fornication, at neither let us commit fornication; the third, of divine temptation, at neither let us tempt.

525. In the first, he first advises against the vice of idolatry; second, he turns them away by an example, at as some of them; third he explains what is implied in the example, at as it is written.

Therefore he says, neither become idolaters, gorging on the food of idols in honor of idols, or a scandal to the weak, as some, i.e., idolaters, were to those people: and they made a calf in Horeb, and they adored a carved thing (Exod 32:4; Ps 106:19). As it is written: the people sat down, that is, certain of the people, to eat and drink before the idol, like those who eat the food of idols in veneration of idols, and rose up to play, that is to have games, like dances and things of that nature, in veneration of this idol. But they rose up to play, that is, to adore the idol, which is like the play of children, who make pretend things out of mud.

526. Next, when he says, neither let us commit fornication, he touches on the sin of fornication, where first he urges them to avoid such a sin; second, he deters them by the example of guilt, at as some; third, by the example of their punishment, at and there fell in one day.

Therefore he says neither let us commit fornication, as certain among you do—as seen above: it is absolutely heard that there is fornication among you (1 Cor 5:1)—as some of them committed fornication with the Midianites, that is (Num 25:1ff), and there fell in one day three and twenty, or rather four and twenty thousand; but a greater number does not exclude a smaller one, which is why it is not said here with precision, or perhaps there is a defect in the writings.

527. Next, when he says neither let us tempt Christ, he refers to the sin of testing God, which he urges against first, in word; second, in example, at as some of them; third, by punishment, at and perished by the serpents.

Therefore he says neither let us tempt Christ, by distrusting his power, like those among you who disbelieve in the resurrection, as some of them tempted God or Christ in Moses by saying: how could he ever lay a table in the desert? And thus they perished by the serpents, until the brass serpent was raised up, at the sight of which they were healed (Num 21:8ff). Do not test the Lord your God (Deut 6:16).

528. Next, when he says, neither murmur, after the sin of the heart and of action, he deters them from the sin of the mouth. There he first dissuades them from the vice of murmuring; second he brings in certain people as an example, first of guilt, at as some of them; second, of punishment, at and were destroyed by the destroyer.

Therefore he says neither murmur against me, or inferiors against superiors. Keep yourselves from murmuring (Wis 1:11). As some of them murmured against Moses. All the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses, and thus they were destroyed by the destroyer, namely by an angel, who struck them outside the borders of the land. They were cut down, and have gone down into hell (Bar 3:19).

529. It should be noted about the fact that they were baptized in Moses (1 Cor 10:2), that John Damascene in On Baptism, Book Four, distinguishes nine kinds of baptism, taking baptism in the broad sense. First is the water of the flood, concerning which we read in Genesis (Gen 6:11ff); second, the Red Sea (Exod 14:15); the third is the water of expiation (Num 19:20ff); fourth the baptism of John (Matt 3:6); fifth, the baptism with which Christ was baptized (Luke 3:21); sixth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples: but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5); seventh, the baptism of repentance and contrition: he who washes after touching the dead (Sir 34:30); eighth, the baptism of blood: I have a baptism that I shall be baptised with, and how I am distressed until it shall be accomplished (Luke 12:50); the ninth is the baptism of water and the Spirit: unless someone is reborn of water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5); baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19).

530. Next he says now all these things happened to them in figure, and having held that the events mentioned were done for our sake, he here shows that for our sake also they were written. And first, what it is in signification; second, what it is in correction, at and they were written. Therefore he says: now all these things, as though saying: those things happened to them, and not only on account of their sins, and not for themselves, but all these things happened to them in figure, of us that is: for that was the time of figures.

531. Next when he says and they are written for our correction, he mentions that they were written for our correction. There he develops three things working toward our correction. The first is the examples of the ancients, which are noted in the Scriptures; the second is the reason for their examples, which is our correction; the third is the last age, which is the end of the world.

Therefore he says and they were written for our correction, because whatever things were written, were written for our instruction (Rom 15:4). We, I say, upon whom the ends of the world are come, that is, the sixth age, which is the last age of those laboring (1 John 2:18). My little children, it is the last hour. Because, therefore, we are in the last age of the world, we should be corrected by so many examples of those who went before. Or upon whom the ends of the world are come, that is, in whom by the faith and love of Christ, there is an end to secularity, for it is said: our conversation is in heaven. For which reason temporal things are not promised in the time of grace, like in the time of the Law. Wherefore neither are people marrying or given in marriage: seek first the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33). But our ancestors were marrying. If you are willing and will hear (Isa 1:19).

Thus here we have sure examples, which are written; useful ones, because they are for our correction; and lasting ones, because upon whom the ends of the world are come.