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Many years ago I attended a meeting given by the late Dr. Edwin Cole. He shared with a large group of men a powerful concept that he had stumbled upon. You see in the early days of the internet search engines were not as sophisticated as they are now and one had to be extremely skillful and sometimes downright lucky when embarking on any type of search on a specific topic. Dr. Cole was a very gifted speaker and writer on Men’s issues. One particular evening he was researching the word “sex”. He typed it in and all of a sudden the most explicit images appeared on his computer screen. His natural predilection was to view the images. This great man of God intimated to literally thousands of men in attendance that the images had a profound affect upon him and the he was caught in the evil clutches of porn and porn sites in which he found the internet to not be short of even in the early days of the internet. Miraculously he remembered the text:
KJV 1 Corinthians 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
NAS 1 Corinthians 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
He had served many for years the Holy Communion to others but felt led of the Spirit to serve himself and he prayed this simple prayer. Father your word declares that I cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons and that I cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. I choose your cup today! He was freed from Satan’s grasp and he encouraged us to use the Holy Communion as a weapon against the evil one. I personally still use it today!
KJV 1 Corinthians 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
NAS 1 Corinthians 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
You can not “drink” 4095 pi,nw pino {pee’-no}
Meaning: 1) to drink 2) figuratively, to receive into the soul what serves to refresh strengthen, nourish it unto life eternal
Origin: a prolonged form of pio {pee’-o}; which (together with another form poo {po’-o}, occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses; TDNT – 6:135,840; v
Usage: AV – drink 68, drink of 7; 75
You can not be partakers {met-ekh’-o}
Meaning: 1) to be or become partaker 2) to partake
Origin: from 3326 and 2192; TDNT – 2:830,286; v
Usage: AV – be partaker 5, take part 1, use 1, pertain 1; 8
Lord 2962 ku,rioj kurios {koo’-ree-os}
Meaning: 1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord 1a) the possessor and disposer of a thing 1a1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master 1a2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor 1b) is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants salute their master 1c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS – Chapter 10 – Verse 21
Verse 21. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, etc. This does not mean that they had no physical ability to do this, or that it was a natural impossibility; for they certainly had power to do it. But it must mean that they could not consistently do it. It was not fit, proper, decent. They were solemnly bound to serve and obey Christ: they had devoted themselves to him; and they could not, consistently with these obligations, join in the worship of demons. This is a striking instance in which the word cannot is used to denote not natural but moral inability.
And the cup of devils. Demons, 1 Co 10:20. In the feasts in honour of the gods, wine was poured out as a libation, or drunk by the worshippers. See Virg. AEn. viii. 273. The custom of drinking toasts at feasts and celebrations arose from this practice of pouring out wine, or drinking in honour of the heathen gods; and is a practice that partakes still of the nature of heathenism. It was one of the abominations of heathenism to suppose that their gods would be pleased with the intoxicating draught. Such a pouring out of a libation was usually accompanied with a prayer to the idol god, that he would accept the offering; that he would be propitious; and that he would grant the desire of the worshipper. From that custom the habit of expressing a sentiment, or proposing a toast, uttered in drinking wine, has been derived. The toast or sentiment which now usually accompanies the drinking of a glass in this manner, if it mean anything, is now also a prayer: but to whom? to the god of wine? to a heathen deity? Can it be supposed that it is a prayer offered to the true God—the God of purity? Has Jehovah directed that prayer should be offered to him in such a manner? Can it be acceptable to him? Either the sentiment is unmeaning, or it is a prayer offered to a heathen god, or it is mockery of JEHOVAH; and in either case it is improper and wicked. And it may as truly be said now of Christians as in the time of Paul, “Ye cannot consistently drink the cup of the Lord at the communion table, and the cup where a PRAYER, is offered to a false god, or to the dead, or to the air; or when, if it means anything, it is a mockery of JEHOVAH.” Now, can a Christian with any more consistency or propriety join in such celebrations, and in such unmeaning or profane libations, than he could go into the temple of an idol, and partake of the idolatrous celebrations there?
And of the table of devils. Demons. It is not needful to the force of this that we should suppose that the word means necessarily evil spirits. They were not God; and to worship theta was idolatry. The apostle means that Christians could not consistently join in the worship that was offered to them, or in the feasts celebrated in honour of them.
{b} “cup” De 32:38 {*} “devils” “demons”
“For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him,” John 6:55-56
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes,” 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding,” Ephesians 1:7-8
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death,” Rev 12:11
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding,” Ephesians 1:7-8
“Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith,”1 John 5:4
“The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” Hebrews 9:13-14
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