1 Corinthians 6:12 Commentary and Bible Study

Now we come to the head-on treatment of the freedom heresy. There is a close connection between what follows and what went before; it is a closely knit argument. The apostle begins, ‘All things are lawful unto me.’ Is that so? Well, there are great exceptions. There are many things that are not lawful to me. The apostle has already mentioned some, and he will mention others, so it is unlikely that these are the words of the apostle Paul. These are the words of the freedom heretics. If they are caught out in worldliness or sin they say proudly, ‘All things are lawful unto me.’ This is their catchphrase, their slogan, and he takes it up in order to address it. Now there is a measure of truth in it, but they misunderstand it. Obviously breaches of the Ten Commandments are not lawful, breaches of the moral law. Most of the sins just mentioned offend against the Ten Commandments. It does not apply to the moral law. It applies to the ceremonial law, yes; that is past. You are not bound by any food and drink regulations now, but it does not apply to the moral law. Then there are other things it does not apply to: all things are not expedient. The Greek literally means, all things do not contribute. Even things which do not break the moral law may not contribute; they do not benefit the church of God or the Christian life. In fact, they may be injurious, but they certainly do not benefit. So they are out. Well, that has laid flat the freedom heresy. There are many things which do not contribute, do not benefit. ‘All things are lawful for me, but’ – here is another exception – ‘I will not be brought under the power of any.’ Is it binding you? Some things are obvious like smoking and drinking, addiction to social media, addiction to mobile phones, addiction to things which absorb all your time: anything that brings you under its power. It is out for the believer. There is a third exception found in 1 Corinthians 10:23: ‘All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.’ Edify is to do with building a house. All things do not build up the house of the church. The very reverse. They fill it with wood, hay, and stubble, or tear it down. So there are three exceptions, or four strictly including the moral law. The freedom heresy people do not understand this. They do not know what Christian liberty means. Do you know what Christian liberty means? Christian liberty is: firstly, freedom from the ceremonial law. You are not bound by the Old Testament ceremonial law. The moral law still binds Christians, but not the ceremonies. They all pointed to Christ and ended with him. Secondly, you are free from the inevitable dominion of sin, because you have a new nature, so you have been freed from the absolute mastery and dominion of sin. Thirdly, you are free to go to Christ directly; you don't need a priest; you don't need another earthly mediator. Fourthly, you are free from condemnation, and punishment; free from hell, and from the fear of death. These are the rich freedoms of Christian liberty. It has nothing to do with being free from rules which promote godliness. The people who say ‘I claim my Christian liberty’ do not understand the ABC of the Bible and of Christian theology. They might be able to talk about all kinds of things connected with doctrine, but they do not understand the basics.