1 The exact structure of Paul's argument in these three chapters and the relation between 8.1–13, 9.1–27, 10.1–22, and 10.23–11.1 need not bother us here. On this theme, see the commentaries, ad loc., and esp. Willis, W. L., Idol Meat in Corinth: The Pauline Argument in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 (SBLDS 68; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1985)Google Scholar, and Smit, J. F. M., ‘About the Idol Offerings’: Rhetoric, Social Context and Theology of Paul's Discourse in First Corinthians 8:1–11:1 (CBET 27; Leuven/Paris/Sterling, VA: Peeters, 2000)Google Scholar. On these chapters, see further in particular Newton, D., Deity and Diet: The Dilemma of Sacrificial Food at Corinth (JSNTSup 169; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998)Google Scholar and Fotopoulos, J., Food Offered to Idols in Roman Corinth: A Social-Rhetorical Reconsideration of 1 Corinthians 8:1–11:1 (WUNT 2/151; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003), esp. 179–263Google Scholar. A review of past research is found in Fotopoulos, Food Offered to Idols, 4–37.

2 So also, e.g., Findlay, G. G., ‘St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians’, The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. 2 (ed. Nicoll, W. Robertson; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979) 727–953Google Scholar, esp. 863; Fee, G. D., The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987) 463 n. 6Google Scholar; and esp. Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 165–212.

3 Cf. Campbell, J. Y., ‘Κοινωνία and its Cognates in the New Testament’, JBL 51 (1932) 352–80Google Scholar (repr. in Campbell, Three New Testament Studies [Leiden: Brill, 1965] 1–28), esp. 356, ‘The ideas of participation and of association are both present, and the main emphasis may fall upon either of them, sometimes to the practical exclusion of the other’. On the history of interpretation of the use of κοινωνία in these verses, see esp. Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 167–212. Important contributions to the interpretation of κοινωνία and its cognates in NT are esp. Campbell, ‘Κοινωνία’; Seesemann, H., Der Begriff Κοινωνία im Neuen Testament (BZNW 14; Giessen: Töpelmann, 1933)Google Scholar; Jourdan, G. V., ‘ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ in 1 Corinthians 10:16’, JBL 67 (1948) 111–24Google Scholar; McDermott, J. M., ‘The Biblical Doctrine of KOINONIA’, BZ nf 19 (1975) 64–77Google Scholar, 219–33; Panikulam, G., Koinonia in the New Testament: A Dynamic Expression of Christian Life (AnBib 85; Rome: Biblical Institute, 1979)Google Scholar.

4 So Powers, D. G., Salvation through Participation: An Examination of the Notion of the Believers' Corporate Unity with Christ in Early Christian Soteriology (CBET 29; Leuven/Paris/Sterling, VA: Peeters, 2001) 170–8Google Scholar, esp. 171.

5 Text: Burchard, C., Joseph und Aseneth (PVTG 5; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003)Google Scholar; trans. in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2 (ed. J. H. Charlesworth; London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1985) 202–47, esp. 211–12. See also Jos. Asen. 8.11, ‘…let her eat your bread of life, and drink your cup of blessing (φαγέτω ἄρτον ζωῆς σου καὶ πιέτω ποτήριον εὐλογίας σου)’; 12.5, ‘I have sinned… My mouth is defiled from the sacrifices of the idols and from the tables of the gods of the Egyptians (μεμίαται τὸ στόμα μου ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῶν θεῶν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων)’.

6 Cf. the expression ‘bread of strangulation’ (and ‘cup of insidiousness’) in Jos. Asen. 8.5.

7 See, e.g., Exod 25.23–30; Lev 24.5–9; 1 Kgs 7.48; 1 Macc 1.22; 4.49, 51; cf. also 1 Clem. 43.2; T. Judah 21.5.

8 See, e.g., Ezek 44.16; Mal 1.7, 12; cf. T. Levi 8.16.

9 See, e.g., Herodotus Hist. 1.181.5; 1.183.1; Diodorus Siculus 5.46.7.

10 Cf. also the formulation ‘to have a part in (or “to eat from”, “to share”) the table’ (μετέχειν τραπέζης) used by Paul in v. 21 and in, e.g., Philo De Jos. 196; Plutarch Life of Brutus 13.7 (Vitae Par. 989F); Lucian Cynicus 7. Cf. also Plutarch Mor. 158C, ‘a table…is an altar of the gods of friendship and hospitality (φιλίων θεῶν βωμὸν καὶ ξενίων)’ (trans. F. C. Babbitt in LCL). On the expression ‘table of the God’, see also Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 15–17.

11 See, e.g., Plato Symp. 176A; Xenophon Symp. 2.1; Plutarch Mor. 150D; Lucian Toxaris 25. It is plausible that 1 Cor 11–14, too, should be understood against the background of such symposia; see esp. de Jonge, H. J., ‘The Early History of the Lord's Supper’, Religious Identity and the Invention of Tradition (ed. van Henten, J. W. and Houtepen, A.; Assen: Van Gorcum, 2001) 209–37Google Scholar; de Jonge, , Avondmaal en symposium. Oorsprong en eerste ontwikkeling van de vroegchristelijke samenkomst (Leiden: Universiteit Leiden, 2007)Google Scholar; Alikin, V. A., ‘The Earliest History of the Christian Gathering: Origin, Development and Content of the Christian Gathering in the First to Third Centuries’ (diss., Leiden University, 2009)Google Scholar.

12 Cf. esp. Newton, Deity and Diet, 277–90, 349–57; Fotopoulos, Food Offered to Idols, 212.

13 For the Jewish-Christian characterization of pagans as people who worship ‘demons’, see, e.g., Ps 96(95).5 (LXX), ‘all the gods of the nations are demons (πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια)’; Deut 32.17; Ps 106.37; Bar 4.7; 1 Enoch 19.1; 99.7; Jub. 1.11; T. Job 3.3; Philo De vita Mosis 1.276; Acts 17.18; Rev 9.20; Barn. 16.7; Justin Dialogue with Trypho 30.3; 55.2; 73.2.

14 Text and trans. F. H. Colson in LCL. See already Lev 7.11–15; Deut 14.22–7.

15 Cf. 1 Cor 11.17–34, esp. vv. 23–26. For a survey of the literature on the Eucharist tradition in the letters of Paul, see esp. Fee, Corinthians, 465 n. 17, and Thiselton, A. C., The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC; Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster, 2000) 752–4Google Scholar, 853–5.

16 So also, among many others, Fee, Corinthians, 466; Thiselton, Corinthians, 764; Lindemann, A., Der Erste Korintherbrief (HNT 9/I; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000) 224Google Scholar.

17 Cf. Fee, Corinthians, 468.

18 See, e.g., Rom 5.9, ‘justified by his blood (ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ)’; 7.4, ‘you have died to the law through the body of Christ (διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ)’; 3.25; 1 Cor 11.24, 25, 27.

19 See esp. Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 167–81. Cf. already Seesemann, Κοινωνία, 100, ‘Das Wort κοινωνία spielt in der griechischen Literatur eine recht große Rolle. Abgesehen von einer Reihe von Spezialbedeutungen…ist es der ständige Ausdruck für die Gemeinschaft der Menschen untereinander…’

20 Cf. Newton, Deity and Diet, 246–9.

21 Text and trans. P. A. Clement and H. B. Hoffleit in LCL. See the entire passage 642F–644D, and further, e.g., Plutarch Mor. 158C, ‘For when the table is done away with, there go with it all these other things: the altar fire on the hearth, the hearth itself, wine-bowls, all entertainment and hospitality,—the most humane and the first acts of communion between man and man (φιλανθρωπότατα καὶ πρῶτα κοινωνήματα πρὸς ἀλλήλους)’ (text and trans. Babbitt in LCL); 149F; 660B; 707C; 708D (‘A dinner party is a sharing of earnest and jest, of words and deeds [κοινωνία γάρ ἐστι καὶ σπουδῆς καὶ παιδιᾶς καὶ λόγων καὶ πράξεων τὸ συμπόσιον]’; text and trans. E. L. Minar, F. H. Sandbach, and W. C. Helmbold in LCL); Plutarch Life of Lucullus 16.3 (Vitae Par. 501E); Sir 6.10; Philo Spec. Leg. 1.221.

22 Cf. also Campbell, ‘Κοινωνία’, 357, ‘Theoretically, κοινωνία might be used with three dependent genitives, of three different kinds… Commonly there is only one genitive, and in the large majority of instances this is, as might be expected, the genitive of the thing shared. More than five out of every six genitives used with κοινωνία are of this kind’; McDermott, ‘KOINONIA’, 70, ‘The normal usage of κοινωνία and its cognates is with a genitive of the thing participated in…’

23 Cf. Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 168.

24 Plutarch Life of Dion 32.3 (Vitae Par. 972D). Text: Ziegler, K. in Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana; trans. Stewart, A. and Long, G., Plutarch's Lives (4 vols.; London: George Bell & Sons, 1883–9)Google Scholar.

25 Plutarch Mor. 45E. Text and trans. Babbitt in LCL.

26 Plutarch Life of Artaxerxes 18.6 (Vitae Par. 1020C). Text: Ziegler; trans. Stewart and Long.

27 Epictetus Diss. 3.22.63. Text and trans. W. A. Oldfather in LCL.

28 Diogenes Laertius Vitae Phil. 7.124. Text and trans. R. D. Hicks in LCL.

29 Josephus Ant. 4.204. Text and trans. H. St. J. Thackeray in LCL. For more examples of such a use of κοινωνία or κοινωνός with a genitive, see Xenophon Mem. 2.1.32 (φιλίας κοινωνός); Thucydides Hist. 7.63.4 (κοινωνοί…τῆς ἀρχῆς); Plutarch Mor. 752A (ἀφροδισίων παιδικῶν κοινωνία); Life of Brutus 13.7 (Vitae Par. 989F) (κοινωνὸς μὲν ἀγαθῶν…κοινωνὸς δ᾽ ἀνιαρῶν). The apostle Paul also seems to use κοινωνία this way throughout his letters: apart from 1 Cor 10.16, 18, and 20 (see below), see 2 Cor 1.7 (‘knowing that if you share with me the sufferings, you share also with me the consolation’ or ‘knowing that if you are my partners in the sufferings, you are also my partners in the consolation’ [εἰδότες ὅτι ὡς κοινωνοί ἐστε τῶν παθημάτων, οὕτως καὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως]); Phil 2.1 (‘If then there is…any consolation from love, any kind of fellowship from the Spirit [εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος]’); 3.10 (‘and to share with him the sufferings’ or ‘and to be his partner in the sufferings’ [(τὴν) κοινωνίαν (τῶν) παθημάτων αὐτοῦ]); Phlm 6 (‘the faith you share with us [ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεώς σου]’). Many interpreters and translators may argue that in these instances Paul uses the terms κοινωνία and κοινωνός in the sense of ‘participation in something’ rather than ‘partnership’ or ‘sharing with someone in something’, but in that case Paul would use the terms contrary to the standard sense in Hellenistic Greek. Finally, also 1 Cor 1.9 (…ἐκλήθητε εἰς κοινωνίαν τοῦ υἱοῦ ᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν) may be interpreted this way: the Corinthians are called into ‘a fellowship of believers based on their relationship with his (=God's) son Jesus Christ our Lord’. In this text Paul may not refer to a fellowship of the Corinthians with Christ (through the Spirit), an interpretation that cannot be totally excluded (cf., e.g., Isa 1.23 LXX, ‘companions of thieves [κοινωνοὶ κλεπτῶν]’) and that is supported by almost all commentators, but to a society of Christian believers established on (their faith in) Christ (cf. Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 209–11).

30 Sir 6.10.

31 Plutarch Mor. 707C. Text and trans. Minar, Sandbach, and Helmbold in LCL.

32 Plutarch Life of Lucullus 16.3 (Vitae Par. 501E). Text: Ziegler; trans. Stewart and Long. Cf. further Philo Spec. leg. 4.119, ‘…because a man ought not to be table mate with savage brutes (ὡς οὐ δέον κοινωνεῖν τραπέζης ἄνθρωπον ἀτιθάσοις θηρίοις)’ (text and trans. F. H. Colson in LCL); Plutarch Mor. 149F, ‘to share the same table with Ardalus (᾽Αρδάλῳ κοινωνεῖν μιᾶς τραπέζης)’ (text and trans. Babbitt in LCL); Ps-Clem. Hom. 8.20.1; 8.23.2. For Philo Spec. leg. 1.221 (κοινωνόν…τοῦ βωμοῦ καὶ ὁμοτράπεζον), see above.

33 Cf. Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 184–212. Willis's assumption that in vv. 18 and 20 κοινωνία/κοινωνός refers to ‘partnership’ or a ‘communal relationship’ (among Israelites or Jews in v. 18, and among pagans in v. 20) but that in v. 16 it means ‘the relationship established among members of a covenant and the obligations ensuing from it’ (209) seems to lack any conclusive evidence. Also in the case of the Christian cultic community described in v. 16 κοινωνία stands for ‘partnership’. Of course, in Paul's view Christians are also members of a (new) covenant, but that idea is not implied by the word κοινωνία itself.

34 So Campbell, ‘Κοινωνία’, 378.

35 So Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 207.

36 Cf. Fee, Corinthians, 469.

37 See further 6.15 and Rom 12.5; cf. also Eph 1.23; 2.16; 4.4, 12, 16; 5.23, 30; Col 1.18; 3.15.

38 Cf. 10.3–4.

39 Philo Spec. leg. 3.96. Text and trans. Colson in LCL.

40 Plutarch Mor. 149F. Text and trans. Babbitt in LCL.

41 Plutarch Mor. 329E. Text and trans. Babbitt in LCL.

42 Diogenes Laertius Vitae Phil. 8.35. Text and trans. Hicks in LCL. See further Plutarch Mor. 736D; Philo Spec. leg. 1.221 (see above); Ignatius Eph. 20.2; and see already Dan 11.27, ‘The two kings…shall eat at one table (LXX, ἐπὶ μιᾶς τραπέζης φάγονται)…’

43 So Fee, Corinthians, 470.

44 So, among many others, Weiss, J., Der erste Korintherbrief (KEK 5; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 9. Aufl. 1977 [1910]) 259CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Robertson, A. and Plummer, A., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 2nd ed. 1983 [1914]) 214Google Scholar (‘For we all have our share from the one bread’); Bachmann, Ph., Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther (KNT 7; Leipzig/Erlangen: A. Deichertsche Verlagsbuchhandlung Dr. Werner Scholl, 3. Aufl. 1921) 338Google Scholar (‘insgesamt ja haben wir Anteil an dem Einen Brote’); Barrett, C. K., A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC; London: A. & C. Black, 1968) 229Google Scholar (‘for we all partake of the one loaf’); Lietzmann, H., An die Korinther I/II (HNT 9; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 5. Aufl. 1969) 46Google Scholar (‘denn alle haben wir an dem einen Brote teil’); Conzelmann, H., Der erste Brief an die Korinther (KEK 5; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2. Aufl. 1981) 208CrossRefGoogle Scholar (‘denn wir alle haben an dem einen Brot teil’); Fee, Corinthians, 462 (‘for we all partake of the one loaf’); Schrage, W., Der erste Brief an die Korinther. 2. Teilband 1 Kor 6,12–11,16 (EKK 7/2; Düsseldorf: Benziger/Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1995) 430Google Scholar (‘denn wir alle haben teil an dem einen Brot’); Lindemann, Korintherbrief, 216 (‘denn wir haben alle teil an dem einen Brot’); Thiselton, Corinthians, 750 (‘for it is the one bread that we all share’).

45 So also Paul in 1 Cor 9.12 and 10.21.

46 See, among others, Blass, F., Debrunner, A., and Rehkopf, F., Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 17. Aufl. 1990) § 169Google Scholar; Moulton, J. H., Howard, W. F., and Turner, N., A Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. 3 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1963) 231Google Scholar; Bauer, W. and , K. and Aland, B., Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 6. Aufl. 1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholars.v. μετέχω, ‘Statt d. Gen. μ. ἐκ τινος: ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου μ. von ein und demselben Brot genießen’; between brackets they add a reference to ‘Thieme 29f’., that is Thieme, G., Die Inschriften von Magnesia am Mäander und das Neue Testament (Inaugural-Dissertation; Borna/Leipzig: Robert Noske, 1905) 29–30Google Scholar, but in his book Thieme does not mention any other example of μετέχειν ἐκ but only states that the verbs μετέχειν and κοινωνεῖν are for the greater part synonymous (‘Beide Verba sind Synonyma…’, 30). Cf. Bachmann, Korinther, 338, who assumes that ‘ἐκ ist vielmehr als pleonastische Bezeichnung des schon durch den Genitiv ausgedrückten Partitivverhältnisses zu verstehen’; Schrage, Korinther, 440 n. 350, agrees with Bachmann but thinks that it is also possible that it is ‘einfach Indiz der vordringenden präpositionalen Wendungen anstelle des gen. part’.

47 Cf. Robertson and Plummer, Corinthians, 214, who notice that ‘Nowhere else have we μετέχειν with ἐκ’, but they refer to 1 Cor 11.28 (there, however, ἐσθίειν ἐκ and πίνειν ἐκ), and Fee, Corinthians, 470, who characterizes the use of ἐκ with ἄρτος as ‘unusual’, but tries to reassure his readers by telling them that ‘Nothing is to be made of the unusual use of ἐκ with ἄρτος; it is a Hebraism: all eat from the one loaf’ (470 n. 35).

48 So also in Paul: see 1 Cor 9.10, ‘and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop (καὶ ὁ ἀλοῶν ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι τοῦ μετέχειν)’ (NRSV), and 10.30, ‘If I partake [sc. of food and drink] with thankfulness (εἰ ἐγὼ χάριτι μετέχω), why should I be denounced because of that for which I give thanks?’ (NRSV). See also, e.g., Herodotus Hist. 1.143.3, ‘nor indeed did any save the men of Smyrna ask to be admitted (sc. into the temple) (οὐδ᾽ ἐδεήθησαν δὲ οὐδαμοὶ μετασχεῖν ὅτι μὴ Σμυρναῖοι)’ (text and trans. A. D. Godley in LCL); cf. 1.144.1 and 3 (…ἐξεκλήισαν τῆς μετοχῆς); and P. Oxy. XII. 1408, l. 26, ‘there are many methods of giving them (viz. robbers) shelter: some do so because they are partners in their misdeeds, others without sharing in these yet… (οἱ δὲ οὐ μετέχοντες μὲν κα[…)’ (cited in Moulton, J. H. and Milligan, G., The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and other Non-literary Sources [London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1972 (1930)]Google Scholars.v. μετέχω). The very formulation (ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου μετέχομεν) makes it unlikely that 1 Cor 10.17b also has the object implied (e.g. bread or food); a phrase like ‘For because of the one bread we all partake of bread (or: food)’ does not make sense.

49 See Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., and Jones, H. S., A Greek–English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon, 9th ed. 1968 [1940])Google Scholars.v. μετέχω 7, who refer to a text in the Revenue Laws of Ptolemy Philadelphus (col. 14, ll. 9–11) and to a passage in Herodotus Hist. 8.132 (see below).

50 Grenfell, B. P. and Mahaffy, J. P., Revenue Laws of Ptolemy Philadelphus (Oxford: Clarendon, 1896)Google Scholar col. 14, ll. 9–11. Translation mine.

51 Herodotus Hist. 8.132.2. Text and trans. Godley in LCL.

52 Plutarch Mor. 64 D. Text and trans. Babbitt in LCL.

53 Plutarch Life of Galba 19.7 (Vitae Par. 1061 E). Text: Ziegler; trans. Stewart and Long.

54 Cf. also Kern, Otto, Die Inschriften von Magnesia am Maeander (Berlin: Spemann, 1900)Google Scholar no. 116, l. 16 (τοῖς μετέχουσιν).

55 Cf., among others, Thieme, Inschriften, 29–30 (see above, n. 46); Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary, s.v. μετέχω; Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth, 196–7.

56 See Liddell, Scott, and Jones, Lexicon, s.v. ἐκ III.6; Bauer and Aland, Wörterbuch, s.v. ἐκ 3f. Examples of such a use of ἐκ are found in, e.g., Homer Od. 15.197, ‘Friends from old we declare ourselves to be by reason of our father's friendship (ἐκ πατέρων φιλότητος)’ (text and trans. A. T. Murray and G. E. Dimock in LCL); Herodotus Hist. 3.29.3, ‘When he was dead of the wound (τὸν μὲν τελευτήσαντα ἐκ τοῦ τρώματος) the priests buried him…’ (text and trans. Godley in LCL); Xenophon Anab. 2.5.5; Philo De Jos. 184; Luke 12.15; Acts 19.25; Rom 4.2; Gal 2.16; Rev 16.10.

57 Cf. Fee, Corinthians, 469.

58 As de Jonge seems to do; see his ‘Early History’, 209, ‘“The Lord's Supper”…established the unity of the congregation…’ (cf. 210–11, but see p. 213, where de Jonge speaks of the κοινωνία ‘with Christ and with one another’). However, the unity of the Christian congregation is not ‘established’ by a Christian meal, neither did it ‘come about through the participants’ drinking from the cup and eating the bread', as de Jonge assumes (209), but just the other way round: by eating and drinking together the Christians express their solidarity and their unity, a unity brought about by their common belief in the beneficial effects of the death of their Lord Jesus Christ.