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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman All
Things Are Lawful? I am almost seventy four
years old here in 2025. It was
way back in 1970 when I began my earnest study of the Bible so I could
live what I learned and then pass it on to others.
That has never changed. Here's
one thing I've recently learned that has given me further insight into 1
Corinthians 6:12. Here it is
in the KJV, the version in which I began my Biblical quest.
It was one of the two thousand or so verses I memorized in the
early 1970's. "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." Here's the first part of
the same verse in the 1971 and 1984 edition of the NIV. "Everything is
permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial, "
Back in the 1970's I
asked myself if all things were really lawful or permissible for Paul to
do. I didn't quite get that
one. Yes, Paul did qualify his
statement by writing "all things are not expedient or
beneficial," but that does not nullify the fact that he wrote that
"all things are lawful or permissible."
Over time I had developed my thinking on this verse as it pertained
to the Old Testament Law of Moses in relation to God's New Testament
grace, but I've recently found a better way of thinking.
Read 1Corinthians 6:12
in the 2016 version of the NIV. "'I have the right
to do anything,' you say—but not everything is beneficial. 'I have the
right to do anything'—but I will not be mastered by anything." Do you notice how the
2016 NIV differs from the KJV and the older editions of the NIV?
Did you notice the words "you say" in the 2016 NIV?
These two words are important for our understanding.
They are there for a reason, and that is based on the Greco/Roman
culture of the first century in which Paul and the Corinthians lived.
What I've recently
learned is from Larry Hurtado's book entitled "Destroyer of the
gods," published by Baylor University Press in 2017.
The reason why the 2016 NIV adds the words "you say,"
which by the way are absent in the Greek text, is because Paul was
actually quoting a commonly used phrase from the Greco/Roman culture of
his day, something the Corinthians would have surely known.
He was saying "you (the culture at large) say all things are
lawful or permissible." He
was not saying that all things were lawful or permissible for him or for
Christians. He was simply
repeating the cultural norm of the day, something today's Greco/Roman
studies of the first century tell us. When I am better
informed about the culture and the language in which the New Testament was
written, I have a better understanding of the text of the Bible.
That has been my goal for years, and that's why I learn from those
scholars far more educated than me. With all of this in
mind, I suggest that we be humble as we share what we think the Bible is
telling us. Our education and
understanding are limited. What
we claim to believe might not be what the Bible states.
For me, that means I'm always learning, and if I have to change my
mind on certain of my beliefs, which I have done over the years, I change
my mind. It also makes me
aware of the need to hear from others in the Body of Christ, who just
might have something to teach me. As
individual Christians, our knowledge has its limitations, so to proudly
act like we know it all, is not lawful, permissible or beneficial. Postscript
Larry Hurtado is Emeritus
Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology in the
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