1 Corinthians 6:15-17: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, The two will become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

1 Corinthians 10:21-22: 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. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

The Bible regularly links eating and sex. Sex forms a one-flesh relationship, and eating also binds us together because we all partake of the same loaf or roast or dish. Sex and food are two central images of union in Scripture.

Against this background, we can read these two passages from 1 Corinthians together. In the first, Paul warns about sexual sin, particularly prostitution. Paul doesn’t object to this on the basis of the seventh commandment, though he could. He condemns sexual sin on the grounds of union with Christ.

The key is the last two verses: Sexual union with a prostitute makes us one body with her, but the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. We are united to Jesus, and Paul says that any illicit sexual union is a violation of that union. You are a member of Christ, and it is incongruous to make yourself a member of a harlot.

1 Corinthians 10 is also talking about the union we have with Christ, a union that is signified and effected at this table. And Paul again appeals to this union to condemn illicit unions, this time a union with the table of demons. If we partake of the table of the Lord, then it is incongruous for us to also partake of the table of the Lord.

Paul introduces a bit of marital imaginer in 1 Corinthians 10. The Lord is joined to those who eat at His table, and if we eat at His table and then run off to eat at the table of demons, we are provoking our Husband to jealousy.

It seems justified, then, to read 1 Corinthians 10 in the light of 1 Corinthians 6. When we do that, we realize that this table is a weekly exhortation to sexual purity. As Paul could have said but didn’t: You cannot eat of the table of the Lord and the table of a prostitute. You cannot be one flesh with Jesus in this bread and wine and also make yourself one flesh with a prostitute. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?