1 Corinthians 6:12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
12 “Everything is lawful for me,”[a] but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is lawful for me,” but I will not let myself be dominated by anything.(A)
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- 6:12–13 Everything is lawful for me: the Corinthians may have derived this slogan from Paul’s preaching about Christian freedom, but they mean something different by it: they consider sexual satisfaction a matter as indifferent as food, and they attribute no lasting significance to bodily functions (1 Cor 6:13a). Paul begins to deal with the slogan by two qualifications, which suggest principles for judging sexual activity. Not everything is beneficial: cf. 1 Cor 10:23, and the whole argument of 1 Cor 8–10 on the finality of freedom and moral activity. Not let myself be dominated: certain apparently free actions may involve in fact a secret servitude in conflict with the lordship of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 10:23
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
23 “Everything is lawful,” but not everything is beneficial.[a] “Everything is lawful,” but not everything builds up.(A)
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- 10:23–24 He repeats in the context of this new problem the slogans of liberty from 1 Cor 6:12, with similar qualifications. Liberty is not merely an individual perfection, nor an end in itself, but is to be used for the common good. The language of 1 Cor 10:24 recalls the descriptions of Jesus’ self-emptying in Phil 2.
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