Testament was written to teach Christians about
faithfulness. Another way to say it is that Christian
faithfulness is aided by the lessons garnered from the Old
Testament. Or this -- Christianity cannot be understood
apart from the teaching of the Old Testament, apart from
learning the lessons of the Old Testament.
The point was that the Corinthians, like the Ancient
Israelites, should not trust in their baptism alone. Paul
said, "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take
heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). Clearly, Paul
meant that anyone who thought that s/he had a secure
standing before the Lord because of baptism needed to think
again, and to repent of such presumption, lest he fall. He
had in mind those Corinthian leaders who had opposed him by
teaching the wisdom of the world as if it were the wisdom
of Christ. He had previously accused them of sexual
immorality, here he accused them of idolatry and,
ultimately, of faithlessness. This attack by Paul was
directed at those who had broken covenant with God, and who
had been leading the Corinthian church astray.
This doesn't mean that God doesn't protect and preserve His
people. He does! It does not mean that baptism is not
important, or that it is not an aid to faithfulness,
because it is! Baptism is important and it is an aid to
faithfulness. But that doesn't mean that God's people get
to escape difficulties in this life. It doesn't mean that
Christians escape testing and the need for the personal,
ongoing discipline and practice of faithfulness. God
accomplishes His purposes, not ours. God tests His people
to prove them -- and to improve them. God accomplishes His
will, not ours. God does persevere with the saints, and
part and parcel of God's preservation is His ongoing
testing and our ongoing perseverance in faithfulness.
The old adage should be rewritten, "Once saved, always
being saved." God's salvation is a process. This does not
negate the fact that there is an historical moment of
personal rebirth in the lives of saints. Rather, it puts
that moment in a larger context. God's plan of salvation
began before time itself and will culminate when the New
Jerusalem comes down from heaven (Revelation 21:2). It has
begun but it has not finished. It's ongoing, moment by
moment, 24/7. And it's not just that God is engaged moment
by moment, but that God's people must be similarly engaged
in the process. Once God begins a thing it will be
completed, but Paul's point was that salvation is in the
process of completion. It was both a done deal and yet
still in process. Sometimes Paul spoke of salvation as a
fact, and sometimes he spoke of it as a process not yet
finished.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13 Paul turned his attention from the
faithless to the faithful. Part of the confusion we find in
this chapter (and elsewhere) is the result of the fact that
Paul was speaking (writing) to two different groups of
people, both of whom were members of the Corinthian church.
That is what Paul was talking about in the first five
verses -- the difference between faithful Christians and
faithless Christians. Some of Paul's words were aimed at
the faithful Christians and some were aimed at the
faithless Christians. Our task is to discern the difference.
As the Kingdom continues to unfold, some of the faithful
will be revealed to actually be faithless, and some of the
faithless will join the ranks of the faithful. There is
some traffic between these two groups, and that is the
issue that Paul is getting at.
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond
your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide
the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (1
Corinthians 10:13). The temptation is real and effects both
groups -- the faithful and the faithless. Note the abrupt
change in tone. Paul has turned from addressing those with
whom God was not pleased to those who had faithfully
received the strength of Christ in order to provide for
them what they could not provide for themselves.
God tests everyone, the faithful and the faithless. And the
way in which people respond to those tests points to the
difference between the faithful and the faithless. The
faithful are encouraged and strengthened in the midst of
trials and difficulties, the faithless are not. The
faithful lean upon Jesus, who carries them to safety. The
faithless do not, nor do they find safety. The trials of
the faithful are productive, whereas the trials of the
faithless are destructive.
God's faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, provides the model
for faith. God's people are saved by God's faith in His
Son, Jesus Christ, who will not -- cannot -- fail to bring
all of His people into the Kingdom. The purpose of
temptation, the trials and difficulties of the saints, is
to drive them to greater dependence upon Jesus Christ, who
provides the only safe passage through the troubles of this
life. Those who will not rely upon Jesus Christ are driven
away in anger and frustration -- their own anger and
frustration, I should add. God does not make them mad,
rather they get mad at God and/or His people of their own
accord.
----------------------------------------------------
Phillip A. Ross, author of many Christian books, has been a
pastor for over 25 years. Loaded with information about
historic Christianity, Ross founded
http://www.Pilgrim-Platform.org in 1998. His book on First
Corinthians in 2008 shows Paul's opposition to worldly
Christianity. Arsy Varsy -- Reclaiming the Gospel in First
Corinthians, Ross's book, shows how Paul turned the world
upside down.
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