1 Corinthians 6:12

“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.”

Paul himself had no doubt uttered this maxim at Corinth more than once: “All things are lawful to me,” applying it to acts indifferent in themselves, but which the Mosaic law had forbidden, on account of its pedagogic nature. When the question was as to the use of certain meats, or observance of certain days, or any other external prescription, the apostle said without scruple in such a case: “All is lawful to me.” This saying had not been forgotten; it suited only too well the free disposition of the Greek mind. And perhaps the perverted application which certain members of the Church made of it was ascribed even to the apostle himself. Did this maxim figure in the letter which the Corinthians had addressed to him? In any case, there is something striking in the repetition of the words in our verse; it is intended to stigmatize the abuse of the dictum stupidly employed to justify evil.

Paul therefore means: “All things are lawful undoubtedly, and I have no thought of retracting what I have said.” Then follow two restrictions which have a touch of irony: “All is lawful to me..., unless indeed it be doing evil to myself or my neighbour by the use of my liberty.” The term συμφέρειν, to contribute to the good, is completed (1 Corinthians 10:23) by οἰκοδομεῖν, to edify; there accordingly it applies to good in general, while οἰκοδομεῖν applies specially to the good of our neighbour. Here the good of our neighbour is not in question, but that of the acting subject himself; the following proposition brings out another and more special trait. Then the apostle repeats the same dictum, as if to ridicule the unintelligent and mechanical use of it; and he limits its application by the second restriction, which applies, like the first, to the individual himself: “All is lawful to me, unless it be using my liberty to the extent of alienating it.” There is an evident connection between the word ἔξεστι, is lawful, and the term ἐξουσιασθήσομαι, I will let myself be brought under the power. The regimen ὑπό τινος is certainly neuter: “by anything; ” not, “by any one. ” The reference is to everything which is included in the πάντα, all things, which precedes.

The pronoun μοι, to me, is used as in 1 Corinthians 5:12, to give the proposition the force of an axiom: Vim habet gnomes, says Bengel. Similarly the ἐγώ, I, used in the following proposition: I no longer really possess that which possesses me. This saying of the apostle reminds us of the adage of the Stoics: Mihi res, non me rebus submittere conor. Paul here puts himself at the standpoint of simple common sense. The reasonable use of my liberty cannot go the length of involving my own loss of it, or of rendering me a slave by reducing me to a thing. Thus Paul has beaten the adversary on his own ground. He has brought him to contradict himself by showing him that his principle, applied without discernment, is self-destructive. The second restriction: “I will not make myself the slave of anything,” is developed in 1 Corinthians 6:13-16.