By: Nathan Steel
Read First: 1 Corinthians 6.12-20
“All things are lawful for me,” Paul repeats this statement twice in 1 Corinthians 6.12. Several translations and translation notes suggest what many scholars believe is happening here: Paul is quoting a Corinthian slogan (perhaps even language derived from an earlier teaching Paul gave about Christian freedom), which the Corinthians are using, and then responding to it. The quotation marks themselves aren’t in the original Greek manuscripts. They’re an interpretive decision based on the dialogue-like structure of Paul’s argument:
Church: All things are lawful for me.
Paul: But not all things are beneficial.
Church: All things are lawful for me.
Paul: But I will not be dominated by anything.
(For my fellow nerdy nitpickers: scholars identify several other dialogue structures throughout the letter, including 1 Corinthians 6.13; 7.1; 8.1, 4; and 10.23 — although there is some debate about exactly where some of these quotations begin and end.)
The Corinthians seem to be asking, “Am I allowed to do this?”
Paul is asking a much better question.
WHAT AUTHORITY IS OVER ME?
There’s some fascinating wordplay hidden in the Greek. The word translated “lawful” carries the idea of something being permitted or allowable. But when Paul says he won’t be “dominated”, he uses a word from the same family of words associated with power or authority. We can see Paul’s wordplay this way: “I may have authority to do this — but I won’t allow this to acquire authority over me.”
Paul returns to the same Corinthian slogan later in the letter, but this time adds that not everything is beneficial or contributes to building others up (1 Corinthians 10.23–24).
Most of us understand that Christian freedom doesn’t mean we can simply do whatever we want (nobody is arguing for Christian strip clubs). But the opposite assumption is equally unhealthy: If something is good — especially if it’s Christian — more of it must be better. Because the reality is, I can attend Bible studies while neglecting my family. I can chase emotional highs from worship services and Christian conferences while avoiding discomfort in my own mind and heart. Something doesn’t have to be inherently unhealthy for my relationship with it to become unhealthy.
Paul’s question pushes beyond, “Is this good or bad?” to “What kind of relationship am I developing with this?”
WHAT IS EMPOWERING ME?
I’ve used a bicycle analogy before to describe our relationship with the Holy Spirit. A bicycle is designed to be empowered by someone. Its need for a rider isn’t a defect. It’s part of its design.
Now imagine comparing a baby pedaling that bicycle with a roided-up Lance Armstrong. Both are technically providing power. But pretending they’re equivalent power sources would be ridiculous.
Something similar happens with the things we use to power our lives. Alcohol, pornography, scrolling social media, money, success, entertainment — even perfectly healthy things like Bible studies, worship services, and exercise — can actually provide us with something. They may provide relief, distraction, comfort, motivation, or a moment of peace. Saying that these things don’t actually do anything keeps us from understanding why we return to them amidst discomfort or pain. So the problem isn’t that these things don’t do anything. The problem is asking a finite source of power to provide something it cannot sustainably provide.
Interestingly, Paul acknowledges elsewhere in the same letter that there are other “gods” and “lords”, but contrasts them with the one God and Lord “through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8.5–6).
The question isn’t whether other things exist, possess power, or provide a semblance of relief. It’s whether I’m asking something inherently insufficient to become a sufficient coping mechanism or means of engaging life.
WHAT DOES FREEDOM ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE?
Paul doesn’t respond to unhealthy mastery by telling the Corinthians to become their own masters. He reminds them who they belong to. Our bodies are for the Lord. We are members of Christ. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are not our own (1 Corinthians 6.13, 15, 19–20). Therefore, Christian freedom isn’t freedom to live however we want. It’s freedom to live how we were designed — empowered by the Holy Spirit toward righteousness (or, right relational living with God, others, and myself). (Galatians 5.13, 16, 22–23).
And that doesn’t mean we suddenly do this perfectly.
Freedom isn’t a destination in which I finally live perfectly according to God’s design. It’s the trajectory of learning to live increasingly empowered by His Spirit.
Paul’s question isn’t simply, “Am I allowed to do this?” He’s inviting us to ask, “What is this doing to me?”
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