Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: Ezekiel 37-39
     New Testament Reading: 1 Corinthians 6

“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6: 12

When Paul taught on Christian liberty, the Corinthian believers mistook his instructions as an endorsement of their worldly lifestyle. They shouted “Amen” so loudly to the first part of this doctrine—in Christ we are free from serving the old master, the Law; that they drowned out the rest. In Christ, we have been freed to serve a new master, God. What Paul said and what they heard were two different things. So, he clears up the misunderstanding and presents two restrictions to keep Christian liberty within its proper bounds.

First, is the limit of Edification. “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial (v12a).The price of abusing freedom and grace is very high. This is why there was so much division in the Corinthian church.

As one who is washed, sanctified, and justified eternally by God’s grace (v11), the believer is set free. But what the Corinthians had done with that freedom was just what Paul had warned the Galatians not to do. For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love (Gal. 5:13). Christians are indeed free from the bondage of legalism, but this does not give us the right to do anything we please, regardless of its effect on others. Paul said, So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another (Romans 14:19).

Second, is the limit of Self-Control. The Corinthians needed to learn that when they indulged in their sinful desires; they were actually losing their freedom instead of enjoying it. Paul explained, Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything (v12b). Paul wanted them to realize that when they didn’t use their freedom to serve God, they unknowingly enslaved themselves to sin.

Paul had no interest in allowing the sinful patterns from which he had escaped through God’s grace to enslave him again. He didn’t ask, “What’s wrong with it?” as much as, “Is this the Lord’s will for me? Will it honor and glorify Him?”

Paul believed all things were lawful for the obedient Christian. Yet while he remained free of legalism and bondage, he had the self-discipline to refuse anything that would hinder him from fulfilling his call. Paul knew that the first person a leader must lead was himself.

Paul concluded by saying, Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body(v19-20). God sent His Son to die to redeem us from sin. One day, God will raise us from the dead as He did with Christ Jesus so that we can reign with Him forever. In the meantime, the Lord expects us to live according to His standards. And why shouldn’t He make this demand? He has bought us at the highest price, the price of His Son. How can we do less than honoring and serving Him through obedience?