10:9. We must not tempt the Lord.

This verse, and its context, make it clear

that it is not at all wise to test the Lord. People regularly ignore Gods
commands, as they are free to do, for this is mans day (1 Cor. 4:3). But there is
a day coming when God will hold people to account, and we will all want to be
found righteous on that day. Although the verb tempt is present subjunctive, it
has the intensifier ek as a prefix, and thus the translation must is considered
appropriate (cp. ESV; NRSV; RSV; The Source NT; Gods New Covenant).

Many translations read Christ instead of Lord and use this verse as a support
of the Trinity. Some Greek manuscripts read Lord, some read God, and some
read Christ, and furthermore, the Church Fathers are divided as well, because
different Fathers quoted the verse differently, clearly because they were reading
manuscripts that differed from one another. The subject of textual criticism is
very involved, and it is common that scholars differ in their opinions as to which
texts are original and which texts have been altered. In this case, there are early
texts that read both ways, so the job of determining the original reading from
textual evidence becomes more difficult. Although there are a wide variety of
manuscripts, even old ones, that read Christ, as Bart Ehrman points out, These
arguments, however, are not persuasive. In fact, we know that most Christians
had no difficulty at all in understanding how Christ could have been active in the
affairs of the ancient Israelites. Most of them believed he was actively involved
and read his involvement into Old Testament narratives on every possible
occasion (The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture; pp. 89, 90). Ehrman goes on
to point out why the text would have been changed to read Christ and shows
that the Alexandrian text is usually considered more accurate, and the
Alexandrian texts (Sinaiticus, B.C. 33) read Lord. We agree with Ehrmans
conclusions and the authors of the English versions that read Lord, and believe
Lord was the original reading.
As it is translated in versions that take the word Lord as original, there is no
Trinitarian inference or support (cp. ASV, Amplified Bible, GWN, NASB, NIV,
NJB, Rotherham, RSV, etc.). There is only a Trinitarian inference if the
manuscripts that read Christ are considered original.
Every translator will testify to the importance of context in determining the
correct translation of Scripture. We feel the context makes it clear that Lord is
the correct reading. Although there are many times that the Israelites were said
to tempt God or Yahweh (often translated the LORD) in the Old Testament,
there is not even a single reference to tempting Christ. Furthermore, there is not
even a reference to tempting adonay, the generic word for lord. The
Israelites tempted their God, Yahweh, never Christ.

By reading the 1 Corinthians 10:9carefully, we obtain a vital clue to its meaning

and the proper translation. The verse says that when the Israelites tempted the
Lord, they were destroyed by serpents. This phrase allows us to find the exact
record in the Old Testament that is being referred to. In Numbers 21:5, the
Israelites spoke against God and then Yahweh sent venomous snakes among
them (21:6). In the record of this event in the Old Testament, God
and Yahwehare both mentioned, but Christ is never mentioned, neither is the
generic Hebrew word for lord. Furthermore, there is no scripture anywhere in
the Old Testament that says Christ poured out his wrath, and certainly not by
sending serpents. Thus, if some Greek texts read the Lord and others read
Christ, the context points to Lord as the correct interpretation.
There are some commentators, however, who assert that the context mentions
Christ because 1 Cor 10:1 says that the Israelites drank of the rock, and the rock
was Christ. We would first point out, as we have in the commentary, that
actually 1 Cor 10:1 militates against the reading Christ in 1 Cor 10:9, because 1
Cor 10:1 says that the Christ was coming in the future, in which case he could not
have been tempted by the Israelites (seecommentary on 1 Cor 10:1). In fact, we
know that Christ followed the Israelites by 1400 years. When Balaam the prophet
said the Messiah was coming in the future (Num. 24:17), no one protested and
said he was with them at that very time. In fact, all the Old Testament prophecies
of the Messiah coming in the future were never contested, or clarified as if they
meant only that he would come in the flesh in the future but was with them at
that time as a spirit.
[For more discussion on this verse, see Bart Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption
of Scripture, pp. 89, 90; Don Snedeker, Our Heavenly Father has No Equals; pp.
441, 442].
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