You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Corinthians 10:21-22)

The Greatest Rhetorical Question

A rhetorical question is a self-evident statement. The apostle Paul challenges the saints at Corinth to flee idolatry because the Christian life cannot be yoked with the sacrifice of demons. Like Israel of old, it is impossible to worship God and idolatry. Jesus told His disciples it is impossible to serve God and mammon. When someone obeys the gospel of Christ, they decide to devote their lives to the one true God, abandoning all other gods, whether literal or figurative. The child of God must not have fellowship with the practices of the world.

Paul admonishes the saints to realize they cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and engage in the works of the flesh. Worship must be central to God alone. Trying to balance the Christian life while living in the same manner of the world is ridiculous. Provoking the Lord to jealousy is because of the hypocrisy of the deceived heart. Then Paul offers the greatest rhetorical question of all time. “Are we stronger than God?” How utterly impossible. It is incredible to consider anyone trying to think they can best the Lord God. The first man was created when God took dust and formed man from that dust. All the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket and are nothing more than dust on the scales. God can pick up the earth as though it were a grain of sand. The Lord has a name for every star in the heavens. God knows how much water is on the earth.

There is no comparison between man and God. It is ludicrous for a man to think he is stronger than God. What an impossible idea. One of the greatest achievements of human technology is the International Space Station, which orbits the Earth. What comparison is that tiny speck of reflective light to a man standing on earth when he beholds the beauty of the heavenly hosts put in place by the will of God? Are we stronger than He? Is there any wisdom man has achieved that will marvel at the expanse of God’s creation? Man alone is lost. It is not in the spirit of humanity to know the right answers. What is right and wrong must come from a higher being. The foolishness of man is when he thinks he is stronger than God.  

The Bible is ridiculed as an out-date and out-of-touch book. Men think they are smarter than the Bible. God’s wisdom is preserved in the pages of the Bible as the highest wisdom man can find. There is nothing and no one that can match the wisdom of the Bible. When men reject the Bible as truth, they believe (falsely) they are stronger than God. What foolishness. A man can reject the Bible all his life, and when he dies, he will come face to face with the same message he called foolishness. No man is stronger than God. There is no book wiser than the Bible. If you reject the Bible and deny God, you are a fool. God sent His only begotten Son to bring you life and show you His power in dying. Submit to the will of God. Fighting against God is useless.