1 CORINTHIANS 6:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
'Everything is permissible for me'—but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible for me'—but I will not be mastered by anything. — Paul quotes what appears to be a Corinthian slogan, likely derived from misunderstanding his own teaching on freedom in Christ. The repetition frames two crucial qualifications: beneficence (sympherei = conducive to building up) and mastery (exousiasthēsomai = dominated, enslaved). Freedom is not absolute autonomy but responsible stewardship; the Christian is free to serve Christ, not free to be enslaved to appetite or vice.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 6:12
Here he glances at the gluttons. For since he intends to assail the fornicator again, and fornication arises from luxuriousness and want of moderation, he strongly chastises this passion. It cannot be that he speaks thus with regard to things forbidden, such not being “lawful:” but of things which seem to be indifferent. To illustrate my meaning: “It is lawful,” he says, “to eat and to drink; but it is not expedient with excess.” And so that marvellous and unexpected turn of…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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