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1 Corinthians 6:10-12
New Catholic Bible
1 Corinthians 6:10-12
New Catholic Bible
10 thieves, extortioners, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once such as these. However, now you have been washed clean, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
12 All Things Are Lawful for Me![a]“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not allow myself to be dominated by anything.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Corinthians 6:12 In this city of Corinth, with its reputation for corruption, some Christians claim that they have the right to free love: “All things are lawful for me!” Paul’s response gives us the first intuitions of a Christian reflection concerning what the body is for—a reflection that is totally new in this Greek environment in which the spirit is exalted while the body is denigrated almost to the point of being a slave. The Christian ethic is not locked in on disputes about what is permitted and what is prohibited. Indeed, in its eyes, all the realities of life have a meaning.
A person’s behavior cannot be reduced to a physical way of acting (v. 13). It expresses and sheds light on human and spiritual values. And since in this case one must strive to deregulate established pagan customs, Paul stresses this point especially with regard to sexuality. A new conception of the body and sexual life imposes itself on those who live in union with Christ. It concerns their whole being, which has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and is destined for the resurrection. Freedom does not authorize the corruption of life.
