“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #56
“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” (1 Cor. 6:12).
Paul has just finished telling us that adulterers and thieves and whatnot will not inherit the kingdom of God. So when he says here that “all things are lawful,” he is clearly not referring to the sort of thing is has just finished talking about. It would be truly odd for an apostle to argue that going to Hell was lawful, just not expedient.
In the illustration that immediately follows (“meat for the belly,” v. 13), it becomes clear that Paul is now talking about lawful things in themselves which have the capacity to bring a man under their authority in an unhelpful way. Adultery is always malum in se, evil in itself. Marriage is a lawful state, it is an ordinance of God. But sinful men often pursue it for the wrong reasons, or in the wrong way. The same goes for food and wine, more good gifts from the Lord. All foods are lawful, including processed corn, but not all foods are expedient. Paul here is concerned with being brought into bondage by something that is otherwise lawful.
If Paul is so careful about created gifts from God, for which we might come to have a disordered appetite, what would he say to a teenager who thinks smoking cigarettes is the coolest thing? He would say lawful . . . but certainly not expedient. And when the kid has been “brought under the power” of it, then it is no longer lawful. It was lawful to jump off the cliff, but it was unlawful to hit bottom. People who give their bodies extra dependencies to fight off are saying, in effect, that the normal course of Christian sanctification is way too easy for them. They want to undertake their earthly pilgrimage with one hand tied behind their back. They are so strong.