Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Corinthians 10:1

"For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;" — 1 Corinthians 10:1 (ASV)

Moreover, brethren,...—Better, For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant. From the strong statement of personal self-distrust with which the previous chapter concludes, the Apostle now passes on to show that Jewish history contains solemn examples of the falling away of those who seemed to stand strong in divine favor and privilege.

The same kind of dangers still beset God’s people, but they will never be greater than the strength which God will give to bear them. These thoughts are then applied to the immediate subject in hand, namely, partaking of meat which had been used in the heathen temples.

The subject is, as it were, taken up from 1 Corinthians 8:13, where an expression of personal willingness to forgo a right led the writer aside to the subject which occupies 1 Corinthians 9. Uniting 1 Corinthians 11:1 with the last verse of this chapter, the general outline of the argument is as follows:—

1. 1 Corinthians 10:1–11: The history of the Jewish Church contains examples which ought to be warnings against self-confidence.
2. 1 Corinthians 10:12–14: These thoughts should make the Christians distrustful of themselves, but not hopeless.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:15–17: The unity of the Christian body with Christ, as expressed and realized in the Holy Communion, renders impossible a communion of the same body with the objects of idolatrous worship.
4. 1 Corinthians 10:18–22: Any partaking of idolatrous feasts would involve union to such extent as would compromise, just as Israel’s partaking of sacrificial offerings involved union with the altar of Jehovah.
5. 1 Corinthians 10:23 – 1 Corinthians 11:1: An enunciation of the principles deduced from the foregoing considerations which should guide the Corinthian Christians in their partaking of meat which might have been offered to idols.

That you should be ignorant.—The thought here is not that his readers were at all likely to be ignorant of the mere historical fact which he now recalls, and with which they were doubtless quite familiar, but that they were probably unmindful of the spiritual lessons which are to be learnt from such a grouping of the facts as the Apostle now gives, and of the striking contrast between the enjoyment of great privileges by all (five times emphatically repeated) and the apostasy of the greater part of them.

The Apostle assumes their familiarity with the facts referred to, and does not feel it needful to mention that of the “all,” literally only two (Joshua and Caleb) gained the ultimate approval of Jehovah.

Our fathers.—These words need not limit the reference of this teaching to the Jewish Christians only. It would include all Christians by right of spiritual descent.