1st Corinthians Chapter 6 verse 12 Holy Bible

1st Corinthians 6 : 12 Bible Verse Songs

• Freedom by Zach Williams

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 12-20. - The inexcusable sin and shame of fornication. Verse 12. - All things are lawful unto me. The abruptness with which the phrase is introduced perhaps shows that, in the letter of the Corinthians to St. Paul, they had used some such expression by way of palliating their lax tolerance of violations of the law of purity. By "all things," of course, is only meant "all things which are indifferent in themselves." They erroneously applied this maxim of Christian liberty to that which was inherently sinful, and thus were tempted to "make their liberty a cloak of viciousness." St. Paul, as Bengel observes, often, and especially in this Epistle, uses the first person generally in gnomic or semi-proverbial sentences (1 Corinthians 6:15; 1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Corinthians 10:23, 29, 30; 1 Corinthians 14:11). But. This is St. Paul's correction of too broad a formula. Are not expedient. St. Paul illustrates this in 1 Corinthians 8:8-10. We have no right to do even that which is innocent, if it be disadvantageous to the highest interests of ourselves or others. "He alone," says St. Augustine, "does not fall into unlawful things who sometimes abstains by way of caution even from lawful ones." Will not be brought under the power. The play of words in the original might be imitated by saying, "All things are in my power, but I will not be brought under the power of any." In other words, "boundless intemperance" may become a tyranny. The pretence of moral freedom may end in a moral bondage. "Obedience is better than freedom? What's free?The vexed foam on the wave, the tossed straw on the sea;The ocean itself, as it rages and swells,In the bonds of a boundless obedience dwells." I will be master even over my liberty by keeping it under the beneficent control of law and of charity.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) All things are lawful unto me.--This was probably a statement which the Apostle had himself made; at all events, the freedom which it expresses was very dear to him, and it may have been misused by some as an argument for universal license. St. Paul, therefore, boldly repeats it, and proceeds to show that it is a maxim of Christian liberty, which does not refer to matters which are absolutely wrong, and that even in its application to indifferent matters it must be limited, and guarded by other Christian principles. "The eating of things sacrificed to idols (see Note on 1Corinthians 8:4), and the committing fornication," were two subjects of discussion closely connected with heathen worship; and it may seem astonishing to us now that because St. Paul had maintained the right of individual liberty concerning the former, he should perhaps have been quoted as an authority for liberty regarding the latter, yet it is a matter of fact that such a mode of reasoning was not uncommon. They were both regarded as part and parcel of heathen worship, and therefore, as it were, to stand or fall together, as being matters vital or indifferent. (See Acts 15:29, and Revelation 11:14, as illustrations of the union of the two for purposes respectively of condemnation and of improper toleration.) We must not regard the use of the singular "me" as being in any sense a limitation of the principle to the Apostle personally. "Paul often speaks in the first person singular, which has the force of a moral maxim, especially in this Epistle (1Corinthians 6:15; 1Corinthians 7:7; 1Corinthians 8:13; 1Corinthians 10:23; 1Corinthians 10:29-30; 1Corinthians 14:11)" (Bengel). The words refer to all Christians. . . .