Knox Bible

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Let me remind you, brethren, of this. Our fathers were hidden, all of them, under the cloud, and found a path, all of them, through the sea;

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all alike, in the cloud and in the sea, were baptized into Moses’ fellowship.

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They all ate the same prophetic food,✻

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and all drank the same prophetic drink, watered by the same prophetic rock which bore them company, the rock that was Christ.✻

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And for all that, God was ill pleased with most of them; see how they were laid low in the wilderness.

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It is we that were foreshadowed in these events. We were not to set our hearts, as some of them set their hearts, on forbidden things.

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You were not to turn idolatrous, as some of them did; so we read, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to take their pleasure.✻

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We were not to commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, when twenty-three thousand of them were killed in one day.✻

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We were not to try the patience of Christ, as some of them tried it, the men who were slain by the serpents;✻

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nor were you to complain, as some of them complained, till the destroying angel slew them.✻

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When all this happened to them, it was a symbol; the record of it was written as a warning to us, in whom history has reached its fulfilment;

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and it means that he who thinks he stands firmly should beware of a fall.✻

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I pray that no temptation may come upon you that is beyond man’s strength.✻ Not that God will play you false; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your powers. With the temptation itself, he will ordain the issue of it, and enable you to hold your own.

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Keep far away, then, my well beloved, from idolatry.

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I am speaking to you as men of good sense; weigh my words for yourselves.

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We have a cup that we bless; is not this cup we bless a participation in Christ’s blood? Is not the bread we break a participation in Christ’s body?

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The one bread makes us one body, though we are many in number; the same bread is shared by all.✻

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Or look at Israel, God’s people by nature; do not those who eat their sacrifices associate themselves with the altar of sacrifice?

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I am not suggesting that anything can really be sacrificed to a false god, or that a false god has any existence;

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I mean that when the heathen offer sacrifice they are really offering it to evil spirits and not to a God at all. I have no mind to see you associating yourselves with evil spirits.

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To drink the Lord’s cup, and yet to drink the cup of evil spirits, to share the Lord’s feast, and to share the feast of evil spirits, is impossible for you.

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Are we, then, to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Have we powers greater than his?

I am free to do what I will; yes, but not everything can be done without harm.

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I am free to do what I will, but some things disedify.

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Each of you ought to study the well-being of others, not his own.

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When things are sold in the open market, then you may eat them, without making any enquiries to satisfy your consciences;

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this world, as we know, and all that is in it belongs to the Lord.✻

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If some unbeliever invites you to his table, and you consent to go, then you need not ask questions to satisfy your consciences, you may eat whatever is put before you.

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But if someone says to you, This has been used in idolatrous worship, then for the sake of your informant, you must refuse to eat; it is a matter of conscience;

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his conscience, I mean, not yours. There is no reason why I should let my freedom be called in question by another man’s conscience.

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I can eat such food and be grateful for it; why should I incur reproach for saying grace over it?✻

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In eating, in drinking, in all that you do, do everything as for God’s glory.

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Give no offence to Jew, or to Greek, or to God’s church.

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That is my own rule, to satisfy all alike, studying the general welfare rather than my own, so as to win their salvation.