Did the Israelites tempt Jesus?
1 Corinthians 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
There are a couple of things we need to deal with here.
1) There is a textual variant in the verse.
2) What does the verse mean
1) Textual variant
Firstly, it must be pointed out that there is a textual variant here in this verse.
While most manuscripts do read Christ, some do read Lord and there is even a manuscript that reads God.
Lord, Christ or God
Some versions of the Bible do not read Christ in this verse but rather read the Lord. I shall cite the NASB as an example, although others have read as such.
1 Corinthians 10:9 Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes.NASB
This is because some manuscripts read Κύριον Lord, these include some manuscripts considered as important within textual criticism such as Vaticanus,
À B C P 0150 33 43 104 181 255vid 256 263 326 365 436 1175 2110 2127 2464 and 22 other minuscules, and the margin of the Harklean Syriac, the Armenian version and the Ethiopic version.
Κύριον was the reading of the Westcott & Hort text(1881), based primarily on Vaticanus.
The reading Lord was actually found in the critical text up to (and including) the 25th Edition. The critical text now reads Christ
μηδὲ ἐκπειράζωμεν τὸν Χριστόν, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν ἐπείρασαν καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἀπώλλυντο. NA28/UBS5
Chirst is the reading of the vast majority of manuscripts, including the very important witness of P46.
P46, D, E, F, G, K, L, Ψ 056 0142 0151 and 489 minuscules (including 1 6 18 35 69 88 131 205 209 323 330 424 440 451 489 517 547 614 618 629 630 796 910 945 999 1241 1242 1243 1245 1270 1315 1353 1424 1448 1505 1611 1646 1734 1738 1739 1827 1852 1854 1881 1891 1912 1982 1984 2125 2200 2400 2412 2492 2495), itar, b, d, dem, e, f, g, o, x, z and the Vulgate, the Peshitta, the main text of the Harklean Syriac, the Sahidic version, and the Bohairic version.
P46 was not discovered when the base text of the Westcott and Hort Text was produced, on which the NA text was derived from. P46 was discovered in the 1930’s and dates anywhere from the mid 2nd to the mid 3rd Century, usually dated to the end of the 2nd Century.
P46 is our earliest manuscript evidence for the verse and reads as the majority of manuscripts. So the earliest and the majority of manuscripts read Christ. The reading Christ is also found in a wide range of geographical manuscript and patristic evidence, Ambrosiaster, Ephraem Syrus, Pelagius, Augustine, Pseudo-Oecumenius, and Theophylact all use Christ. Chrysostom cites with Χριστόν three times. but it should be noted he also uses Lord once.
Ireneaus in the late 2nd Century cites Christ
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them also did, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. But all these things happened to them in a figure, and were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the world (sæculorum) has come. Wherefore let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.
1 Corinthians 10:1, etc.
Irenaeus against Heresies book 4 chapter 27.3
Both Clement of Alexandria and Origen support Christ. Origens comments are preserved in (GA1739)
At the Council of Antioch in 268 the bishops produced a letter of Hymenaeus, it is good evidence that Paul of Samosata was not aware of the reading Lord and neither were his opponents.
Lord is supported by Epiphanius, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Cassiodorus, John of Damascus, and Sedulius Scotus
Our earliest non manuscript support for the reading Christ, strangely, is Marcion. Epiphanius in the 4th century argued that Marcion had changed the reading Lord to Christ.
There are a couple of issues with the claims of Epiphanius. 1) Epiphanius clearly had manuscript evidence for Lord. However, it is an assumption that it was Marcion that changed the reading. 2) Marcion changing Lord to Christ does not align with Marcion’s theology. Marcion believed that the Old Testament God and the New Testament God were not the same God. He rejected the Old Testament based on this belief. It is unlikely that Marcion would have had a reading Lord and changed this to connect Christ with the Old Testament God. It is far more likely that Marion had the reading Christ in his manuscript(s) that he utilised.
There are a few manuscripts that read God
Codex A, 2 81 1127 1595 and 14 and 2815
It is possible that this reading arose from trying to clarify the referent Lord, maybe starting in a marginal note. This would explain the reading but is simply an assumption.
While the reading Lord is supported by some strong evidence, the weight of the evidence of P46, numerical support, the diverse range of manuscript evidence and patristic evidence would make the reading Christ much more likely to have been original.
2) What does the verse mean?
It is often claimed that the verse is referring to a time in the past when the Israelites tempted Christ in the Old Testament. This is used as evidence that Jesus is God.
1 Corinthians 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Here we see a reference to those that tempted and were destroyed by serpents.
This is a reference back to a story found in the Old Testament in the book of numbers.
Numbers 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
It is clear that this passage talks about the Israelites being killed by feiry serpents who were sent by the LORD, YHVH, God.
As this is God it is asserted that 1 Corinthians is connecting Jesus with being God who destroyed the people with serpents.
But is this really what the verse says?
The assertion is based on reading into the text that some tempted Christ and were destroyed by Serpents.
In fact, some modern translation read with this assertion already within the text.
1 Corinthians 10:9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
.
This reading makes a connection between the clause “do not tempt Christ” and the next clause in a way that makes it seem like the comparison in the verse is between who was being tested. Do not tempt Christ as some did…..this implies that some did tempt Christ, and then were destroyed by serpents. This connects Christ with God in the passage in Numbers.
This, however, is a presuppositional translation.
The verse is read is if either a second reference to Christ is found in the verse, or there is a “him” in the verse.
Do not tempt Christ as some tempted Christ and were destroyed with serpents
Do not tempt Christ as some tempted him and were destroyed by serpents.
While no translation reads any of these ways, this is how it is asserted that this is the meaning within the verse.
There of course is not second Christ or a him in the Greek text. This second referent, a connection between the referent of the first clause and the referent in the second clause litrally has to be read into the verse.
But this is an incorrect reading. The verse itself and the context of the verse show this to be incorrect. The verse is not connecting Christ to the passage in Numbers but rather the tempting. It is not about the who was tempted but rather about the action of tempting itself.
There is an instruction given not to tempt Christ in comparison to those that tempted and we were destroyed by serpents. While in the first clause we have a referent, Christ and the command not to tempt him, there is no such referent in the second clause. It simply reads as some tempted. Thus, the comparison is not to the referent of who was tempted in the passage in Numbers, but to the command not to tempt. The israelites tempted in the wilderness and were destroyed by serpents. The verse is not making a connection between the person being tempted but rather the action of tempting.
Paul is warning against tempting Christ and uses an example from the Old Testament when Israel tempted, not to make a connection between God and Christ but rather the action of tempting that he is forbidding.
If we just put the verse back into context, we will see that Paul is giving commands not to engage in actions that the Israelites engaged in back in the Old Testament.
1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
The command not to be idolaters as some were. The action of Idolatry is being forbidden.
1 Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand
The command not engage in fornication as some of them committed. The action of fornication is what is being compared here.
Paul gives yet another example in the next verse.
1 Corinthians 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
It is the action of Murmuring that is being forbidden, then an example is given where the Israelites murmured.
In these examples, we see a resulting destruction from the action that was engaged in. Paul is in no way trying to say that the Israelites tempted Christ in the Old Testament, but rather he is giving examples of things that the Chrurch should not do with examples from the Old Testament, where Israel carried out those actions and then the result of that action.
Paul is warning against tempting Christ as the Israleites had tempted, giving an example of where they tempted, and then he gives the result of that tempting.
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