In his typological reading of the exodus (1 Corinthians 10), Paul warns the Corinthians not to commit the sins that their fathers committed in the wilderness, specifically idolatry and sexual immorality. By these, and by their grumbling, the Israelites tested the Lord and provoked His anger.<\/p>\n
These are the same sins highlighted throughout the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. Jesus warns the churches of Balaamites and of Jezebel, who teach the Christians to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to indulge in porneia<\/em>, sexual infidelity. He warns that these sins can provoke Him to anger and lead to the removal of the lampstand of the church.<\/p>\n The parallel is suggestive. It suggests that the first century Christians saw themselves in a wilderness situation, tempted by particular wilderness sins. That assumption seems to guide Hebrews as much as 1 Corinthians 10 and Revelation 2-3. It does not<\/em> describe the permanent condition of the church. It is specific to the apostolic generation. <\/p>\n The typology seems to work like this: By the cross and resurrection, Jesus has enacted the ultimate Pascha and exodus. He has led His people out of the Egypt of Israel, and, more abstractly, the Egypt of a world under the reign of sin and death. In the decades immediately after Jesus, the church is not yet in the Promised Land. For a generation, they move through the wilderness, and they have to persevere in following the new Moses if they want finally to enter the new world. The danger is that they will grow weary of the wilderness, turn back to Egypt (paganism or Judaism), grumble about their hardships and provoke the Lord\u2019s anger. The danger is that they will fall in the wilderness before reaching their goal, as so many of their fathers did when they came from Egypt.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his typological reading of the exodus (1 Corinthians 10), Paul warns the Corinthians not to commit the sins that their fathers committed in the wilderness, specifically idolatry and sexual immorality. By these, and by their grumbling, the Israelites tested the Lord and provoked His anger. These are the same sins highlighted throughout the letters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-1-corinthians","category-bible-nt-revelation"],"yoast_head":"\n