Quote:
Originally Posted by
inhisservice
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
The scripture is clear that the rock is Jesus Christ. It is also clear that Jesus said to Peter "You are a small piece of a larger rock". You once said Jesus spoke Aramaic. So He did. But when He spoke Peter He just used a Greek word.
AS I speak, I can change metaphors from time to time; it’s quite common, sometimes all within the same sentence. There no difference between Peter the Foundation and Christ the foundation.
Yes Christ is the Rock. He is also the founder; but more important to Paul a more important metaphoric image of spiritual rock. Obviously missed was my post concerning Peter the Boulder, Rock, stone, or pebble. But, here the metaphors are too important to miss.
“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud: and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud and in the sea: And did all eat the same spiritual food: And all drank the same spiritual drink: (And they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.)”
The Jews walked out of Egypt under the smoke of the pillar of fire, through the parted sea. They ate manna from heaven that saved the body but, “your fathers ate manna in the desert, and are dead.” (John 6:49). They drank from a rock from which water flowed. You may remember the miracle in the desert, Moses was commanded to “strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink.” (Exodus 17:6). Paul brings this to vividly to mind, but then he adds, “And they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them” linking it to “and the Rock was Christ.” The spiritual drink that gushed out was the blood of Christ, and the manna the body of Christ; a metaphoric connection the Real Presence of Christ, i.e. the Eucharist. The reference to water and Moses is a direct allegorical connection to baptism. Paul makes no bones of it; he places meat on the Table; a holy Altar where life sustaining flesh is served, the Lamb of God.
To Paul’s Jewish audience, this message is the same vivid one Christ gave the Pharisees on Passover. The manna their father ate didn’t bring eternal life, but there was “new bread which comes from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.“ A bread that sustains life forever. (Cf. John 6:47 seqq.)
JoeT