For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
Paul has just warned that even preachers stand in danger. Now he turns to Israel's story to press the warning home. A whole nation once enjoyed God's visible care, yet most of them died in the desert.
The opening word ties this verse to the argument before it. It does not start a new topic. Some older English versions read "Moreover," which hides the link; the ESV keeps "For."
In our English version the first word of the chapter is "Moreover." But the word is really just "For." That shows that what follows is a direct illustration of the point he is making. The great mass of Israel had the outward forms of their holy religion. Yet they missed its living power completely, because they had no faith.
The phrase covers everyone who bore the name of Israel, not only those who truly trusted God. That is why the word "all" carries such weight here.
Notice first the expression "our fathers." It is not used here, as it often is, for God's true and chosen people. It describes the whole nation. Not all who come from Israel are truly Israel, yet all who bore that name were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. The LORD's power in dividing the Red Sea gave the people, who had despaired before, the confidence to follow Moses to the other side. True faith in God Himself kept Joshua and Caleb for the promised land. This faith of the eyes in Israel is a picture of "faith upon evidences," or "rational conviction." It is often found in people who, sadly, show no sign of true life toward God.
Paul himself calls these events types, or examples for us. So we may read them as pictures. The cloud and the sea each did something different for Israel.
The apostle goes on to say, "now these things were our types." That gives us God's own warrant to read Israel's baptism "in the sea and in the cloud" as a picture. Nothing could be more meaningful or practical. They began their wilderness journey as a people baptized in this way. In the picture, they were a people dead to Egypt and all that belonged to it. The cloud and the sea were to them what the cross and grave of Christ are to us. The cloud kept them safe from their enemies. The sea separated them from Egypt. In the same way, the cross shields us from all that could be against us, and we stand at heaven's side of the empty tomb of Jesus.
Once through the sea, everything changed. They had a new place, a new leader and new food.
1 Cor. 10 tells us how the children of Israel "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." It was as if the wall of water on each side, and the cloud resting on the water, made a dark tunnel for them to pass through. What a deliverance! No more Pharaoh, no more Egypt. On the other side of the Red Sea they were under the leadership of Moses, with supplies from heaven: water from the struck rock to drink, and the daily manna for food.
The Corinthians prized their gifts and standing. Paul points them to Israel to show what such advantages cannot promise.
Israel stands here as a warning to those who professed Christ. Did the Corinthians boast of their privileges and gifts? He shows them how little safety such institutions as baptism and the Lord's supper give to those who rest in them. ... The danger was not only for preachers, but for all who professed the name — not some of them, but all. Look at the ancient people of God. In the same way, they trusted not in God but in His acts and in the rites He had given them, their own special favours. And this was so from the beginning, not only in later days of cold and dead formality. The heart of unbelief is so ready to depart from the living God.
The line here is thin, but it decides everything. The reality is one thing; the sign of it is another.
He does not say that we can share in the death of Christ and perish. He says that it is possible to share in the symbols of His death and perish. In this way he exposes the trap that most of the Christian world has fallen into: a sacramental system where salvation depends on taking part in baptism and the Lord's Supper.
- Link. The verse opens with "For." Israel's history is not a new subject. It is the proof of the warning Paul has just given.
- Gift. The cloud and the sea were a real rescue: shelter from enemies, separation from Egypt. They were to Israel what the cross and grave of Christ are to us.
- Reach. The word "all" covers the whole nation, not just the believing few. Every one of them shared the privilege.
- Result. Yet most fell in the desert. Sharing the outward signs of rescue is not the same as sharing its life.
- Warning. Baptism and the Lord's Supper cannot make a person safe. They are the signs; only faith holds what they picture.
and all were baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
Paul reminds a confident church at Corinth of something that happened to Israel at the Red Sea. He calls it a baptism. So what does it mean to be baptized to a man? And why press that old story on people who already had Christian baptism and the Lord's table?
One writer traces the whole idea of baptism in Scripture back to this scene:
Take up what Scripture teaches about baptism, and I think you will find that it nearly always, if not always, means being brought into a place. "They were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." That is, they were brought right into relationship with Moses as their leader. The cloud and the sea marked that connection. It stood in contrast with their earlier slavery to Pharaoh.
The same point holds for the Christian side of the picture:
At that point they definitely committed themselves to the authority and leadership of Moses; just as in Christian baptism, which is in the Name of the Lord Jesus, we are definitely committed to His authority and leadership.
The small preposition carries weight. Israel could hardly be baptized into Moses, and that fact settles how the same Greek word should be read elsewhere:
The Greek preposition means "unto" (or "to") as often as "into." Which sense it carries depends on the context, or on the nature of the case. Water baptism is plainly in view in 1 Corinthians 10:2, as a warning to the baptized at Corinth. It is impossible to think that the Israelites were baptized into Moses… Baptism is the symbol of profession. Reality depends on faith, which might, or might not, be true of the person baptized. To say "into" therefore goes beyond God's word. It implies that the rite itself gives life, and Scripture gives no warrant for that.
Each of the two had its own work, and each has a Christian counterpart:
They began their wilderness journey as a people baptized in this way… In other words, in picture they were a people dead to Egypt and to everything that belonged to it. The cloud and the sea were to them what the cross and grave of Christ are to us. The cloud kept them safe from their enemies. The sea separated them from Egypt. In the same way the cross shields us from all that could be against us, and we stand at heaven's side of the empty tomb of Jesus.
The order matters. Blood had already sheltered Israel, and they were still in Egypt:
They were under the shelter of the blood. But they did not get out of Egypt until they had crossed the Red Sea. That crossing pictures the death of Christ and the destruction of all enemies. They are safe, but not saved. The blood shelters them from judgment. Yet they must pass through the waters of death before they appear as a delivered people.
Israel walked across on dry ground; the water stood on either side and the cloud was overhead. Neither one soaked them.
The force of "baptism" in the New Testament does not depend on the manner at all. When Israel were "baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," they were not immersed in either. To read immersion into the passage would turn its solemn meaning into absolute folly. In that wonderful way they were broken off from their past in Egypt and taken into Moses' school.
Four times in these verses Paul says all — and then says most of them fell in the desert. That is the point of the comparison:
Israel stand here as a warning to those who professed Christ. Did the Corinthians boast of their privileges and gifts? This passage shows how little security such institutions as baptism and the Lord's supper give to those who rest in them… To presume on the Lord's institutions is fatal, whether the one that begins the Christian path or the one repeated after it… To my mind the aim is to guard those who were baptized, and who joined in the Lord's supper, from the illusion that all was therefore right and safe. The warning stands so that they may not sin grievously and perish miserably.
- Leader. Baptism to Moses brought Israel out from under Pharaoh and into open connection with Moses as their leader. Christian baptism commits us in the same way to the Lord Jesus.
- Unto. Commentators read the word as "unto," not "into." Baptism is the symbol of profession. Whether that profession is real depends on faith.
- Cloud and sea. The cloud shielded them; the sea cut them off from Egypt. Together they were to Israel what the cross and grave of Christ are to us.
- Safe, then delivered. The blood sheltered them in Egypt; the sea brought them out. Shelter from judgment and deliverance from Egypt are not the same thing.
- All — and yet. Every one of them was under the cloud and passed through the sea. Yet shared privilege gives no security to those who rest in it, and that is why Paul set this story before a confident church.