KJV: 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.
YLT: Ye are not able the cup of the Lord to drink, and the cup of demons; ye are not able of the table of the Lord to partake, and of the table of demons;
Darby: Ye cannot drink the Lord's cup, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the Lord's table, and of the table of demons.
ASV: Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.
It is inconsistent for a Christian to partake in the Lord"s Supper and to take part in pagan religious feasts. In the former he eats and drinks in union with Christ, and in the latter he is in union with demons who direct the devotees to worship idols. What the Lord promotes and what the demons promote are opposite. This inconsistency must be obvious to "wise men" ( 1 Corinthians 10:15). Christians have a unique relationship with the Lord and with fellow believers, which the Lord"s Supper symbolizes. It Isaiah , therefore, inappropriate for us to have a similar association with demons and unbelievers ( 1 Corinthians 10:20-21), which participation in pagan cultic events involves. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
1 Corinthians 10:11-22 - Have No Fellowship With Evil
By the end of the world is meant the end of one great era and the beginning of another. The Jewish dispensation was passing, the Christian age coming. What gracious encouragement shines in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13! Our faithful God! The tempter must get permission before assailing us, Luke 22:32. No temptation is unprecedented, and as others have conquered so may we, Hebrews 4:15. The pressure of temptation is always accompanied by a corresponding store of grace, if only our eyes were open to perceive it.
To abstain from idol feasts was the clear duty of all Christians. By partaking of heathen sacrifices which were offered to demons, they became one with the demons and their votaries; just as in the Lord's Supper we show our oneness not only with the Savior but with each other. It was clear, therefore, that the Corinthian Christians could not consistently partake of idol feasts and the Lord's Supper. What an incentive is given here to frequent and reverent participation in the Lord's Supper! It proclaims our union with Him and His people, and it gives us a distaste for all that is alien to its spirit. [source]
Chapter Summary: 1 Corinthians 10
1The sacraments of the Jews are types of ours; 7and their punishments, 11examples for us 13We must flee from idolatry 21We must not make the Lord's table the table of demons; 24and in all things we must have regard for our brothers
Greek Commentary for 1 Corinthians 10:21
Ye cannot [ου δυναστε] Morally impossible to drink the Lord‘s cup and the cup of demons, to partake of the Lord‘s table and the table of demons. [source]
Of the table of the Lord [τραπεζης Κυριου] No articles, but definite idea. Τραπεζα Trapeza is from τετρα tetra (four) and πεζα peza (a foot), four-footed. Here table means, as often, what is on the table. See Luke 22:30 where Jesus says “at my table” See allusions in O.T. to use of the table in heathen idol feasts (Isaiah 65:11; Jeremiah 7:18; Ezekiel 16:18.; Ezekiel 23:41). The altar of burnt-offering is called the table of the Lord in Malachi 1:7 (Vincent). [source]
The cup of devils [] Representing the heathen feast. The special reference may be either to the drinking-cup, or to that used for pouring libations. [source]
The Lord's table [] Representing the Lord's Supper. See 1 Corinthians 11:20sqq. The Greeks and Romans, on extraordinary occasions, placed images of the gods reclining on couches, with tables and food beside them, as if really partakers of the things offered in sacrifice. Diodorus, describing the temple of Bel at Babylon, mentions a large table of beaten gold, forty feet by fifteen, standing before the colossal statues of three deities. Upon it were two drinking-cups. See, also, the story of “Bel and the Dragon,” vv. 10-15. The sacredness of the table in heathen worship is apparent from the manner in which it is combined with the altar in solemn formulae; as ara et mensa. Allusions to the table or to food and drink-offerings in honor of heathen deities occur in the Old Testament: Isaiah 65:11; Jeremiah 7:18; Ezekiel 16:18,Ezekiel 16:19; Ezekiel 23:41. In Malachi 1:7, the altar of burnt-offering is called “the table of the Lord.” [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Corinthians 10:21
Mark 1:34Devils [δαιμόνια] The Rev., unfortunately, and against the protest of the American committee, retains devils instead of rendering demons. See on Matthew 4:1. The New Testament uses two kindred words to denote the evil spirits which possessed men, and which were so often east out by Christ: διάμων , of which demon is a transcript, and which occurs, according to the best texts, only at Matthew 8:31; and δαιμόνιον , which is not a diminutive, but the neuter of the adjective δαιμόνιος ,of, or belonging to a demon. The cognate verb is δαιμονίζομαι to be possessed with a demon, as in Mark 1:32. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Perhaps δαίω , to distribute, since the deities allot the fates of men. Plato derives it from δαήμων , knowing or wise. In Hesiod, as in Pythagoras, Thales, and Plutarch, the word δαίμων is used of men of the golden age, acting as tutelary deities, and forming the link between gods and men. Socrates, in Plato's “Cratylus,” quotes Hesiod as follows: “Socrates: You know how Hesiod uses the word? Hermogenes: Indeed I do not. Soc.: Do you not remember that he speaks of a golden race of men who came first? Her.: Yes, I know that. Soc.: He says of them,But now that fate has closed over this race,They are holy demons upon earth,Beneficent, averters of ills, guardians of mortal men.'”After some further conversation, Socrates goes on: “And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he called them demons, because they were δαήμονες (knowing or wise )Now, he and other poets say truly that, when a good man dies, he has honor and a mighty portion among the dead, and becomes a demon, which is a name given to him signifying wisdom. And I say, too, that every wise man who happens to be a good man is more than human ( δαιμόνιον ) both in life and death, and is rightly called a demon.” Mr. Grote (“History of Greece”) observes that in Hesiod demons are “invisible tenants of the earth, remnants of the once happy golden race whom the Olympic gods first made - the unseen police of the gods, for the purpose of repressing wicked behavior in the world.” In later Greek the word came to be used of any departed soul. In Homer δαίμων is used synonymously with θεός and θεά , god and goddess, and the moral quality of the divinity is determined by the context: but most commonly of the divine power or agency, like the Latin numen, the deity considered as a power rather than as a person. Homer does not use δαιμόνιον substantively, but as an adjective, always in the vocative case, and with a sorrowful or reproachful sense, indicating that the person addressed is in some astonishing or strange condition. Therefore, as a term of reproach - wretch! sirrah! madman! (“Iliad,” 2:190,200; 4:31; ix., 40). Occasionally in an admiring or respectful sense (“Odyssey,” xiv., 443; xxiii., 174); Excellent stranger! noble sir! Homer also uses δαίμων of one's genius or attendant spirit, and thence of one's lot orfortune. So in the beautiful simile of the sick father (“Odyssey,” 5:396), “Some malignant genius has assailed him.” Compare “Odyssey,” x., 64; xi., 61. Hence, later, the phrase κατὰ δαίμονα is nearly equivalent to by chance. We have seen that, in Homer, the bad sense of δαιμόνοις is the prevailing one. In the tragedians, also, δαίμων , though used both of good and bad fortune, occurs more frequently in the latter sense, and toward this sense the word gravitates more and more. The undertone of Greek thought, which tended to regard no man happy until he had escaped from life (see on Matthew 5:3, blessed )naturally imparted a gloomy and forbidding character to those who were supposed to allot the destinies of life. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In classical Greek it is noticeable that the abstract τὸ δαιμόνιον fell into the background behind δαίμων , with the development in the latter of the notion of a fate or genius connected with each individual, as the demon of Socrates; while in biblical Greek the process is the reverse, this doctrine being rejected for that of an overruling personal providence, and the strange gods, “obscure to human knowledge and alien to human life,” taking the abstract term uniformly in an evil sense. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, of Sicily, developed Hesiod's distinction; making the demons of a mixed nature between gods and men, not only the link between the two, but having an agency and disposition of their own; not immortal, but long-lived, and subject to the passions and propensities of men. While in Hesiod the demons are all good, according to Empedocles they are both bad and good. This conception relieved the gods of the responsibility for proceedings unbecoming the divine nature. The enormities which the older myths ascribed directly to the gods - thefts, rapes, abductions - were the doings of bad demons. It also saved the credit of the old legends, obviating the necessity of pronouncing either that the gods were unworthy or the legends untrue. “Yet, though devised for the purpose of satisfying a more scrupulous religious sensibility, it was found inconvenient afterward when assailants arose against paganism generally. For while it abandoned as indefensible a large portion of what had once been genuine faith, it still retained the same word demons with an entirely altered signification. The Christian writers in their controversies found ample warrant among the earlier pagan authors for treating all the gods as demons; and not less ample warrant among the later pagans for denouncing the demons generally as evil beings” (Grote, “History of Greece”). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
This evil sense the words always bear in the New Testament as well as in the Septuagint. Demons are synonymous with unclean spirits (Mark 5:12,Mark 5:15; Mark 3:22,Mark 3:30; Luke 4:33). They appear in connection with Satan (Luke 10:17,Luke 10:18; Luke 11:18,Luke 11:19); they are put in opposition to the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:20,1 Corinthians 10:21); to the faith (1 Timothy 4:1). They are connected with idolatry (Revelation 9:20; Revelation 16:13,Revelation 16:14). They are special powers of evil, influencing and disturbing the physical, mental, and moral being (Luke 13:11,Luke 13:16; Mark 5:2-5; Mark 7:25; Matthew 12:45). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]
1 Corinthians 10:15Wise [φρονίμοις] See on wisdom, Luke 1:17; see on wisely, Luke 16:8. The warning against the sacrificial feasts and the allusion in 1 Corinthians 10:3suggest the eucharistic feast. An act of worship is sacramental, as bringing the worshipper into communion with the unseen. Hence he who practices idolatry is in communion with demons (1 Corinthians 10:20), as he who truly partakes of the Eucharist is in communion with Christ. But the two things are incompatible (1 Corinthians 10:21). In citing the Eucharist he appeals to them as intelligent (wise) men, concerning a familiar practice. [source]
1 Timothy 4:1Doctrines of devils [διδασκαλίαις δαιμονίων] Better, teachings of demons. Comp. James 3:15. Διδασκαλία teachingoften in Pastorals. A few times in Paul. See on 1 Timothy 1:10. Δαιμόνιον demononly here in Pastorals. Very frequent in Luke: in Paul only 1 Corinthians 10:20,1 Corinthians 10:21. Teachings proceeding from or inspired by demons. The working of these evil spirits is here specially concerned with striking at the true teaching which underlies godliness. It is impossible to say what particular form of false teaching is alluded to. [source]
2 Timothy 2:6Must be first partaker [δεῖ πρῶτον - μεταλαμβάνειν] Better, Must be the first to partake. His is the first right to the fruits of his labor in the gospel. The writer seems to have in his eye 1 Corinthians 9:7, where there is a similar association of military service and farming to illustrate the principle that they who proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel. Μεταλαμβάνειν to partake, oP, and only here in Pastorals. Paul uses μετέχειν . See 1 Corinthians 9:10,1 Corinthians 9:12; 1 Corinthians 10:17,1 Corinthians 10:21,1 Corinthians 10:30. [source]
Revelation 9:20Of the works [εκ των εργων] For this use of εκ ek after μετανοεω metanoeō see Revelation 2:21; Revelation 9:21; Revelation 16:11. By “works” Negative purpose clause with ινα μη hina mē and the future active of προσκυνεω proskuneō as in Revelation 9:5.Devils Both in the O.T. (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 96:5; Psalm 106:37) and in the N.T. (1 Corinthians 10:21) the worship of idols is called the worship of unclean spirits. Perhaps this is one explanation of the hideous faces given these images. “The idols” See Daniel 5:23 for this picture of heathen idols. The helplessness of these idols, “which can neither see nor hear nor walk” (α ουτε βλεπειν δυνανται ουτε ακουειν ουτε περιπατειν ha oute blepein dunantai oute akouein oute peripatein), is often presented in the O.T. (Psalm 115:4; Psalm 135:15-18). [source]
Revelation 9:20Devils [τα δαιμονια] Both in the O.T. (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 96:5; Psalm 106:37) and in the N.T. (1 Corinthians 10:21) the worship of idols is called the worship of unclean spirits. Perhaps this is one explanation of the hideous faces given these images. “The idols” See Daniel 5:23 for this picture of heathen idols. The helplessness of these idols, “which can neither see nor hear nor walk” (α ουτε βλεπειν δυνανται ουτε ακουειν ουτε περιπατειν ha oute blepein dunantai oute akouein oute peripatein), is often presented in the O.T. (Psalm 115:4; Psalm 135:15-18). [source]
What do the individual words in 1 Corinthians 10:21 mean?
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 2nd Person Plural
Root: δύναμαι
Sense: to be able, have power whether by virtue of one’s own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favourable circumstances, or by permission of law or custom.
Greek Commentary for 1 Corinthians 10:21
Morally impossible to drink the Lord‘s cup and the cup of demons, to partake of the Lord‘s table and the table of demons. [source]
No articles, but definite idea. Τραπεζα Trapeza is from τετρα tetra (four) and πεζα peza (a foot), four-footed. Here table means, as often, what is on the table. See Luke 22:30 where Jesus says “at my table” See allusions in O.T. to use of the table in heathen idol feasts (Isaiah 65:11; Jeremiah 7:18; Ezekiel 16:18.; Ezekiel 23:41). The altar of burnt-offering is called the table of the Lord in Malachi 1:7 (Vincent). [source]
means, as often, what is on the table. See Luke 22:30 where Jesus says “at my table” See allusions in O.T. to use of the table in heathen idol feasts (Isaiah 65:11; Jeremiah 7:18; Ezekiel 16:18.; Ezekiel 23:41). The altar of burnt-offering is called the table of the Lord in Malachi 1:7 (Vincent). [source]
Representing the heathen feast. The special reference may be either to the drinking-cup, or to that used for pouring libations. [source]
Representing the Lord's Supper. See 1 Corinthians 11:20sqq. The Greeks and Romans, on extraordinary occasions, placed images of the gods reclining on couches, with tables and food beside them, as if really partakers of the things offered in sacrifice. Diodorus, describing the temple of Bel at Babylon, mentions a large table of beaten gold, forty feet by fifteen, standing before the colossal statues of three deities. Upon it were two drinking-cups. See, also, the story of “Bel and the Dragon,” vv. 10-15. The sacredness of the table in heathen worship is apparent from the manner in which it is combined with the altar in solemn formulae; as ara et mensa. Allusions to the table or to food and drink-offerings in honor of heathen deities occur in the Old Testament: Isaiah 65:11; Jeremiah 7:18; Ezekiel 16:18, Ezekiel 16:19; Ezekiel 23:41. In Malachi 1:7, the altar of burnt-offering is called “the table of the Lord.” [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Corinthians 10:21
The Rev., unfortunately, and against the protest of the American committee, retains devils instead of rendering demons. See on Matthew 4:1. The New Testament uses two kindred words to denote the evil spirits which possessed men, and which were so often east out by Christ: διάμων , of which demon is a transcript, and which occurs, according to the best texts, only at Matthew 8:31; and δαιμόνιον , which is not a diminutive, but the neuter of the adjective δαιμόνιος ,of, or belonging to a demon. The cognate verb is δαιμονίζομαι to be possessed with a demon, as in Mark 1:32. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Perhaps δαίω , to distribute, since the deities allot the fates of men. Plato derives it from δαήμων , knowing or wise. In Hesiod, as in Pythagoras, Thales, and Plutarch, the word δαίμων is used of men of the golden age, acting as tutelary deities, and forming the link between gods and men. Socrates, in Plato's “Cratylus,” quotes Hesiod as follows: “Socrates: You know how Hesiod uses the word? Hermogenes: Indeed I do not. Soc.: Do you not remember that he speaks of a golden race of men who came first? Her.: Yes, I know that. Soc.: He says of them,But now that fate has closed over this race,They are holy demons upon earth,Beneficent, averters of ills, guardians of mortal men.'”After some further conversation, Socrates goes on: “And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he called them demons, because they were δαήμονες (knowing or wise )Now, he and other poets say truly that, when a good man dies, he has honor and a mighty portion among the dead, and becomes a demon, which is a name given to him signifying wisdom. And I say, too, that every wise man who happens to be a good man is more than human ( δαιμόνιον ) both in life and death, and is rightly called a demon.” Mr. Grote (“History of Greece”) observes that in Hesiod demons are “invisible tenants of the earth, remnants of the once happy golden race whom the Olympic gods first made - the unseen police of the gods, for the purpose of repressing wicked behavior in the world.” In later Greek the word came to be used of any departed soul. In Homer δαίμων is used synonymously with θεός and θεά , god and goddess, and the moral quality of the divinity is determined by the context: but most commonly of the divine power or agency, like the Latin numen, the deity considered as a power rather than as a person. Homer does not use δαιμόνιον substantively, but as an adjective, always in the vocative case, and with a sorrowful or reproachful sense, indicating that the person addressed is in some astonishing or strange condition. Therefore, as a term of reproach - wretch! sirrah! madman! (“Iliad,” 2:190,200; 4:31; ix., 40). Occasionally in an admiring or respectful sense (“Odyssey,” xiv., 443; xxiii., 174); Excellent stranger! noble sir! Homer also uses δαίμων of one's genius or attendant spirit, and thence of one's lot orfortune. So in the beautiful simile of the sick father (“Odyssey,” 5:396), “Some malignant genius has assailed him.” Compare “Odyssey,” x., 64; xi., 61. Hence, later, the phrase κατὰ δαίμονα is nearly equivalent to by chance. We have seen that, in Homer, the bad sense of δαιμόνοις is the prevailing one. In the tragedians, also, δαίμων , though used both of good and bad fortune, occurs more frequently in the latter sense, and toward this sense the word gravitates more and more. The undertone of Greek thought, which tended to regard no man happy until he had escaped from life (see on Matthew 5:3, blessed )naturally imparted a gloomy and forbidding character to those who were supposed to allot the destinies of life. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In classical Greek it is noticeable that the abstract τὸ δαιμόνιον fell into the background behind δαίμων , with the development in the latter of the notion of a fate or genius connected with each individual, as the demon of Socrates; while in biblical Greek the process is the reverse, this doctrine being rejected for that of an overruling personal providence, and the strange gods, “obscure to human knowledge and alien to human life,” taking the abstract term uniformly in an evil sense. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, of Sicily, developed Hesiod's distinction; making the demons of a mixed nature between gods and men, not only the link between the two, but having an agency and disposition of their own; not immortal, but long-lived, and subject to the passions and propensities of men. While in Hesiod the demons are all good, according to Empedocles they are both bad and good. This conception relieved the gods of the responsibility for proceedings unbecoming the divine nature. The enormities which the older myths ascribed directly to the gods - thefts, rapes, abductions - were the doings of bad demons. It also saved the credit of the old legends, obviating the necessity of pronouncing either that the gods were unworthy or the legends untrue. “Yet, though devised for the purpose of satisfying a more scrupulous religious sensibility, it was found inconvenient afterward when assailants arose against paganism generally. For while it abandoned as indefensible a large portion of what had once been genuine faith, it still retained the same word demons with an entirely altered signification. The Christian writers in their controversies found ample warrant among the earlier pagan authors for treating all the gods as demons; and not less ample warrant among the later pagans for denouncing the demons generally as evil beings” (Grote, “History of Greece”). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- This evil sense the words always bear in the New Testament as well as in the Septuagint. Demons are synonymous with unclean spirits (Mark 5:12, Mark 5:15; Mark 3:22, Mark 3:30; Luke 4:33). They appear in connection with Satan (Luke 10:17, Luke 10:18; Luke 11:18, Luke 11:19); they are put in opposition to the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Corinthians 10:21); to the faith (1 Timothy 4:1). They are connected with idolatry (Revelation 9:20; Revelation 16:13, Revelation 16:14). They are special powers of evil, influencing and disturbing the physical, mental, and moral being (Luke 13:11, Luke 13:16; Mark 5:2-5; Mark 7:25; Matthew 12:45). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
See on wisdom, Luke 1:17; see on wisely, Luke 16:8. The warning against the sacrificial feasts and the allusion in 1 Corinthians 10:3suggest the eucharistic feast. An act of worship is sacramental, as bringing the worshipper into communion with the unseen. Hence he who practices idolatry is in communion with demons (1 Corinthians 10:20), as he who truly partakes of the Eucharist is in communion with Christ. But the two things are incompatible (1 Corinthians 10:21). In citing the Eucharist he appeals to them as intelligent (wise) men, concerning a familiar practice. [source]
Better, teachings of demons. Comp. James 3:15. Διδασκαλία teachingoften in Pastorals. A few times in Paul. See on 1 Timothy 1:10. Δαιμόνιον demononly here in Pastorals. Very frequent in Luke: in Paul only 1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Corinthians 10:21. Teachings proceeding from or inspired by demons. The working of these evil spirits is here specially concerned with striking at the true teaching which underlies godliness. It is impossible to say what particular form of false teaching is alluded to. [source]
Better, Must be the first to partake. His is the first right to the fruits of his labor in the gospel. The writer seems to have in his eye 1 Corinthians 9:7, where there is a similar association of military service and farming to illustrate the principle that they who proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel. Μεταλαμβάνειν to partake, oP, and only here in Pastorals. Paul uses μετέχειν . See 1 Corinthians 9:10, 1 Corinthians 9:12; 1 Corinthians 10:17, 1 Corinthians 10:21, 1 Corinthians 10:30. [source]
For this use of εκ ek after μετανοεω metanoeō see Revelation 2:21; Revelation 9:21; Revelation 16:11. By “works” Negative purpose clause with ινα μη hina mē and the future active of προσκυνεω proskuneō as in Revelation 9:5.Devils Both in the O.T. (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 96:5; Psalm 106:37) and in the N.T. (1 Corinthians 10:21) the worship of idols is called the worship of unclean spirits. Perhaps this is one explanation of the hideous faces given these images. “The idols” See Daniel 5:23 for this picture of heathen idols. The helplessness of these idols, “which can neither see nor hear nor walk” (α ουτε βλεπειν δυνανται ουτε ακουειν ουτε περιπατειν ha oute blepein dunantai oute akouein oute peripatein), is often presented in the O.T. (Psalm 115:4; Psalm 135:15-18). [source]
Both in the O.T. (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 96:5; Psalm 106:37) and in the N.T. (1 Corinthians 10:21) the worship of idols is called the worship of unclean spirits. Perhaps this is one explanation of the hideous faces given these images. “The idols” See Daniel 5:23 for this picture of heathen idols. The helplessness of these idols, “which can neither see nor hear nor walk” (α ουτε βλεπειν δυνανται ουτε ακουειν ουτε περιπατειν ha oute blepein dunantai oute akouein oute peripatein), is often presented in the O.T. (Psalm 115:4; Psalm 135:15-18). [source]