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All Things Are Lawful?
In part of today's passage we need to make a very important distinction in order to properly understand what Paul is getting at. Here's 6:12 in the ESV:
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything."
This is simply straight-out what the text says. One of the translation principles of the ESV is to translate as word-for-word as possible while still being readable. This makes it very accurate, but means that often we need to be more studious if the wording is vague. The NIV interprets more, which in this case clears up this verse a bit:
"I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything." (emphasis mine)
This little addition really clears up what is going on here: Paul is not declaring the everything is permissible for a Christian - he is quoting what the Corinthians say. Here's some further clarification from Blomberg:
"With verse 12 Paul begins a pattern that will frequently recur throughout the rest of the letter—quoting a Corinthian slogan, and thereby giving it a limited endorsement, but then at once substantially qualifying it. These Corinthian slogans (here the three sayings of verses 12–13 which the NIV encloses with quotation marks) all share four characteristics:
(a) they are short, pithy, and proverbial
(b) they reflect the libertine wing of the church
(c) Paul himself could have conceivably uttered them in some specific context
(d) apart from that context they were so misleading that abuse was almost inevitable." [1]
As we learned in yesterday's reading, the Corinthians definitely did NOT struggle with legalism. Their struggle is the opposite one: abusing Christian freedom and taking it to harmful and destructive extremes. Let's not get this wrong - as Blomberg said above, this little saying is actually quite similar to something you would hear Paul say. In Romans we even heard some really clear and good things about Christian freedom. The problem here is not that we have freedom as Christians, but that people exploit it. Rather than seeing the freedom of the Gospel as life-giving and good, many people see it as a kind of loophole. If you're asking "how much can I do before I get in trouble?", then grace just seems like permission to do whatever you want. That is what Paul is warning against here and in many other places. The truth is, everything isn't permissible. As I said, Paul is quoting here. The Bible DOES give us guidelines and boundaries for our lives in order to protect us and help us to understand who God is. There are, however, areas that the Bible doesn't address, because the Bible isn't just a big rule book. We have freedom to figure out how to work things how for the glory of God. But let us see this passage as a warning: don't simply use your freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want. That isn't freedom - it is slavery to sin and your own desires. Peter says it well in 1 Peter 2:16:
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."
All Things Are Lawful?
In part of today's passage we need to make a very important distinction in order to properly understand what Paul is getting at. Here's 6:12 in the ESV:
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything."
This is simply straight-out what the text says. One of the translation principles of the ESV is to translate as word-for-word as possible while still being readable. This makes it very accurate, but means that often we need to be more studious if the wording is vague. The NIV interprets more, which in this case clears up this verse a bit:
"I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything." (emphasis mine)
This little addition really clears up what is going on here: Paul is not declaring the everything is permissible for a Christian - he is quoting what the Corinthians say. Here's some further clarification from Blomberg:
"With verse 12 Paul begins a pattern that will frequently recur throughout the rest of the letter—quoting a Corinthian slogan, and thereby giving it a limited endorsement, but then at once substantially qualifying it. These Corinthian slogans (here the three sayings of verses 12–13 which the NIV encloses with quotation marks) all share four characteristics:
(a) they are short, pithy, and proverbial
(b) they reflect the libertine wing of the church
(c) Paul himself could have conceivably uttered them in some specific context
(d) apart from that context they were so misleading that abuse was almost inevitable." [1]
As we learned in yesterday's reading, the Corinthians definitely did NOT struggle with legalism. Their struggle is the opposite one: abusing Christian freedom and taking it to harmful and destructive extremes. Let's not get this wrong - as Blomberg said above, this little saying is actually quite similar to something you would hear Paul say. In Romans we even heard some really clear and good things about Christian freedom. The problem here is not that we have freedom as Christians, but that people exploit it. Rather than seeing the freedom of the Gospel as life-giving and good, many people see it as a kind of loophole. If you're asking "how much can I do before I get in trouble?", then grace just seems like permission to do whatever you want. That is what Paul is warning against here and in many other places. The truth is, everything isn't permissible. As I said, Paul is quoting here. The Bible DOES give us guidelines and boundaries for our lives in order to protect us and help us to understand who God is. There are, however, areas that the Bible doesn't address, because the Bible isn't just a big rule book. We have freedom to figure out how to work things how for the glory of God. But let us see this passage as a warning: don't simply use your freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want. That isn't freedom - it is slavery to sin and your own desires. Peter says it well in 1 Peter 2:16:
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."
[1] Craig Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 125.
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