s20 , 21.—But I say . . . Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord"s table and of the table of devils. The table is the altar, which Isaiah , as it were, God"s table at which He feasts with us, See Lev. i.; Malachi 1:12; Ambrose, Anselm, and the Council of Trent (sess. xxii. c1), where it lays down from this passage that the Eucharist is a sacrifice. For that the Apostle is dealing with the Eucharist and not with the sacrifice of the Cross appears plainly—1. Because the Victim of the Cross has passed away, and long ago creased; but the Apostle is here treating of a sacrifice of which the Corinthians were partakers daily.
2. From the phrase, "the Lord"s table," i.e, the altar. Where there is an altar there is a priest and a sacrifice, for the three are correlative terms. If, then, the Corinthians had an altar, they had also a sacrifice, and that of course none other than the Eucharist.
3. "The cup of the Lord" can only be the cup offered to the Lord, for the cup of devils is none other tha...
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud. The particle for gives the cause of what was said at the end of the preceding chapter. He means, I have said that Christians must strive after baptism in their contest, lest they become reprobates and lose the prize, as the Hebrews , after their typical baptism and heavenly food, lost slothfully through their sins the land of promise, their prize, so that out of600 ,000 , Joshua and Caleb alone entered the Promised Land. So do you, O Corinthians, take care, lest, through your sloth, and a life out of harmony with your faith and baptism, you be excluded from heaven. So Chrysostom and Anselm. The argument is from the type or figure to the thing prefigured.
Our fathers, i.e, the fathers of the Jews, of whom I am one, as many of you are, O Corinthians.
Under the cloud. This cloud was the pillar which overshadowed the Hebrews in the daytime as a cloud, and shone at night as a fire, wh...
SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER
From speaking of the contest, in which those who deny themselves and strive lawfully are rewarded, and in which the slothful and self-indulgent are condemned and put to confusion, of which the Apostle treated at the end of the preceding chapter, he goes on to the manners of the Hebrews of old, their lusts and vices, especially idolatry, its punishment and condemnation, that by such examples he may teach the Corinthians how vices and temptations, and especially idolatry, are to be guarded against.
Consequently, in ver18 he descends and returns to things offered to idols, and answers a question concerning them which had been broached in chapter viii. And—
i. He lays down that it is not lawful for them to eat of things in so far as they are offered to idols; for this would be to give consent to the sacrifice, and to profess idol worship.
ii. In ver22he points out that it is not lawful to eat of them when the weaker brethren are offended at it. Hence in ver31he reco...
And that that sea was a sacrament of baptism, the blessed Apostle Paul declares, saying, "Brethren, I would not have you ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; "and he added, saying, "Now all these things were our examples.".
Likewise in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, that all our fathers were under the cloud."
There Moses was sent by God into Egypt; here Christ was sent from the Father into the world. Moses’ mission was to lead out of Egypt a persecuted people; Christ’s was to rescue all the people of the world who were under the tyranny of sin. There the blood of a lamb was the charm against the destroyer; here, the blood of the unspotted Lamb, Jesus Christ, is appointed your inviolable sanctuary against demons.
For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant.
Now this he said, implying that they were not very well instructed in these things. And what is this which you would not have us ignorant of?
That our fathers, says he, were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual Rock that followed them: and the Rock was Christ. Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased.
And wherefore says he these things? To point out that as they were nothing profited by the enjoyment of so great a gift, so neither these by obtaining Baptism and partaking of spiritual Mysteries, except they go on and show forth a life worthy of this grace. Wherefore also he introduces the types both of Baptism and of the Mysteries.
But what is, They were baptized into Moses? Like as we, on our belief in Christ and His resurrection...
What took place, as the apostle says, was the mystery of baptism. Clearly this was a kind of baptism, where the cloud covered the people and water carried them. But the same Christ the Lord who did all these things now goes through baptism before the Christian people in the pillar of his body—he who at that time went through the sea before the children of Israel in the pillar of fire. … Through this faith—as was the case with the children of Israel—the one who walks calmly will not fear Egypt in pursuit.
