Tag Archives: 1 Corinthians

…And the Rock was Christ

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A wall painting in the mid-3rd century Dura Europos synagogue (Syria) depicts Moses striking the rock which then provides water for the 12 tribes of Israel in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. The rock followed the Israelites throughout the 40 years they spent in the wilderness, providing the water they needed until they entered the Promised Land.


All our ancestors were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual rock, which was following them, and the rock was Christ. (1 Cor. 10:1-4)

The story of Moses striking the rock and producing water for the thirsty Israelites in the wilderness is told twice in the Old Testament–perhaps the same event is reported twice? Or some suggest that the first (temporary) provision of water was supplemented by a second (more permanent) provision of water.

The first version of the story is in Exodus 17. The people complain to Moses that there is no food in the wilderness; God then provides manna and quail to the people on a daily basis. The people then complain that there is no water to drink and accuse Moses of leading them out into the wilderness to die of thirst. God instructs Moses to strike a rock with the staff he used in his combat with Pharoah in Egypt and water gushes out of the rock.

The second version of the story is in Numbers 20. In this version, the people have refused to enter the Promised Land because they do not believe that God will give them the military victory over the current inhabitants, so God promises that none of the Israelites then alive will ever enter the Promised Land; only their children will enter. After the people turn back into the wilderness, Moses’ sister Miriam dies and the people complain again that there is no food or water. (Some early commentators suggest that their hunger and thirst are directly a result of their mourning for Miriam.) So Moses strikes a rock and water gushes out; this is, presumably, the rock that then follows the Israelites throughout the rest of their wanderings in the wilderness.

St. Paul understands the rock that followed the Israelites –which provided enough water every day for several thousand people and animals — to be Christ himself. The food and water and the rock in the wilderness are “types” of Christ; they foreshadow and are dress rehearsals for the gifts that Christ will give in the New Testament and in the Church. Just as the Lord made the world out of the water in Genesis 1 and refashioned the world during the Flood, he now gives enough water in the wilderness to sustain the people, even though they “grumble” and “murmur” against him.

Early Christian preachers warned their congregations not to grumble or murmur against the Lord who feeds them at the altar with the Body and Blood of Christ. Grumbling and murmuring are persistent human foibles–we keep complaining about people who don’t think as highly of us as they should, about situations in which we are treated unfairly, about leaders and bosses who don’t appreciate what we have to offer. How best to combat these temptations to grumble and mutter and complain? Instead of grumbling, these early preachers suggest that we give thanks for the opportunities that we have been given. Focus on how the glass is half-full rather than how it is half-empty.

Our families and friends get tired of hearing us complain about something all the time. Grumbling leads only to more grumbling, these preachers say; giving thanks results in more thanksgiving!

But grumbling so much easier, most of the time! In order to give thanks, we have to look at ourselves and figure out what we can do to improve the situation. That takes energy. That takes work. And then we have to actually do whatever it is that might improve our situation. So much easier to just grumble and expect someone else–like Moses?–to fix whatever is wrong. But that doesn’t get us any closer to where we want to be, does it?

Test by Fire

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 Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello. (12th century, Byzantine) The lake of fire described in Rev. 20:15 is populated by monks, bishops, members of the imperial family, and Turks.

If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones … [what each has contributed] will be revealed in fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, such as it is. If anyone’s construction work survives, that person will receive wages; if anyone’s work burns, that person will suffer a penalty; the person will, however, be saved … as if through fire. (1 Cor. 3:12-14)

Our work will be tested by fire. Sounds ominous. Dangerous. Even if there is the promise that the person will be saved by passing through the fire that destroys whatever the person has built. Ouch.

This idea of being tested by spiritual fire is rooted in ancient Greek construction and subcontracting practices: a subcontractor’s work would be tested by fire to see if it was up to the client’s expectations and the needs of the building itself. If the work failed the test–stonework and masonry could crack or was otherwise destroyed or damaged by the fire–the subcontractor didn’t get paid and a new builder was hired.

This idea–which also appears in 1 Peter 1:7–was often used in the medieval justification of the doctrine of purgatory as it developed. Debates between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic theologians relied on this “test by fire” idea but the Orthodox said that the Roman Catholics took the idea too literally. In his response to the Latins about purgatory, St. Mark of Ephesus wrote that the punishment of the dead was internal, not external. (Recent Roman Catholic teaching has come to agree with this.) The dead suffered from sadness, conscious shame, and remorse, as well as their uncertainty about their future. According to St. Mark, even the biblical descriptions of eternal fire and worms in Hell were to be taken as allegories rather than as descriptions of external physical punishments and suffering. St. Mark insisted that the true suffering of the damned was the ignorance of God.

“Tested by fire” is also a way to describe how difficult circumstances before death can force people to give up false ideas about themselves and honestly face themselves. This kind of forced self-examination can help people admit who they are and the true effects of their behavior, thus enabling an honest re-orientation or re-direction of their lives and efforts.

It is facing the truth about yourself–when you can no longer do anything about it–that is the “punishment” of the dead, according to St. Mark of Ephesus. Maybe “the consequences of their actions” is a better way to phrase it than “punishment.” This “testing by fire” on earth anticipates and eases the testing by fire–however we might understand that–after death.

Read the first sermon of St. Mark of Ephesus about purgatory here.

Demonstrative Proof

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Adam and Eve, a mosaic in the Basilica of San Marco in Venice, Italy, was created between 1200 and 1250. On the left, the Word of God (the Last Adam) prepares to fashion Eve from the first Adam’s rib; on the right, Adam knows his wife Eve.

And I came to you, brothers and sisters, not with the advantage of rhetoric and wisdom …. not with persuasive words of wisdom but in the demonstrative proof of the Spirit and power. (1 Corinthians 2:1, 4)

St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that he did not preach to them and among them with fancy words and Greek philosophy but simply, relying on the Spirit of God to demonstrate the power and truth of his words. His sermons wouldn’t win an oratory prize, he says. But his sermons did win their hearts.

A third-generation Christian bishop, Irenaeus of Lyons, wrote a Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching to accomplish the same thing that St. Paul was aiming for: teaching or reminding new converts the basic Christian understanding of the world and how to relate to it from a Christian perspective. His other famous work, Against Heresies, refutes the teachings of several different heretical sects that claimed to be Christian; in both works, St. Irenaeus establishes fundamental principles of theology and biblical interpretation that still guide Christian readers and thinkers.

Irenaeus was born in Smyrna. He was taught the Faith by St. Polycarp, who had been taught by the Apostle John. In the Demonstration, St. Irenaeus reviews salvation history in the Old Testament and then cites several Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, explaining how Christ fulfilled them. St. Irenaeus writes

This, beloved, is the preaching of the truth, and this is the manner of our redemption, and this is the way of life, which the prophets proclaimed, and Christ established, and the apostles delivered, and the Church in all the world hands on to her children. This must we keep with all certainty, with a sound will and pleasing to God, with good works and right-willed disposition.

One of St. Irenaeus’ most interesting ideas is that of “recapitulation,” in which he teaches that Christ and his mother summarize and set right everything that went wrong with Adam and Eve; he points out that Christ is the Second (Last) Adam and Mary is the Second Eve:

For in what other way could we have partaken in the adoption of sons, unless we had received from him [God the Father] fellowship with himself through the Son? Unless his Word, having been made flesh, had entered into fellowship with us?

For this reason, he also passed through every stage of life, restoring fellowship with God to all [stages of life]….

The human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first created man received amendment by the correction of the First-begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death.

St. Paul and St. Irenaeus both want to demonstrate how God has acted in the past to save his people and how God continues to act in the lives of his chosen. Those who have experienced God’s acts of deliverance are called to demonstrate this by responding appropriately. Most of the rest of the first letter to the Corinthians is about what this demonstrative response to God appropriately looks like.