“‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12)
Many people in our fallen and chaotic world these days may revel in the opening verses of Paul’s in this portion of his Epistle. All things are lawful seems to be the mantra of millions just as it appears to have been among some in the Church at Corinth. To them I seems to have become an excuse to engage in sexual immorality.
What Paul adds this slogan is a caution and warning to believers of taking such an attitude, and really, a warning to anyone living their lives in such a manner. The danger is that any person can be become enslaved by what they choose to do or consume, if what he or she seeks to embrace is embodied in selfishness and self-gratification. Anyone can become a slave to anything, money, alcoholic beverages, food, the adrenaline rush, and, especially immoral sexual behavior.
Paul’s words fly in the face of what our modern cultural values as acceptable and appropriate. Our culture, through the media, promotes the idea that sexual immorality is good in almost all the forms it takes. In fact morality itself, what is right and wrong, is relative based on what the individual decides is true. Thus millions scorn and ridicule any idea that there is an Almighty God who governs the universe and to whom all are accountable. They maintain that they are accountable only to the self. And as such, they have become their own god.
These days many so-called Christian churches and believers would take exception to Paul’s teaching to flee sexual immorality. Although Paul states that “All things are lawful for me” he is referring to adiaphora, things that are non essential for the faith, things that are neither right nor wrong, spiritually neutral.
But Paul teaches us that sexual relationships and acts, however, do not fall into this category. This is because the body of each baptized believer, the entire person belongs to the Lord. The Corinthian believers had to hear these words because most of them had come to faith out of a pagan culture. Although there were rules, laws, and taboos which governed everyday social and business interactions, immorality was the norm. Fornication and prostitution were common as was homosexual activity, though the latter was frowned upon. Christians were called to shun all such sinful acts and ungodly lifestyles.
And yet, our modern social standards are as corrupt as those of ancient Corinth. Thus when it comes to sexual behavior, we must shun the teaching and propaganda that come to us through the media, academia, and the health care industry. We must listen to the Lord and abide by His word. Paul tells us that in a marriage a man and a woman become one flesh. Such marriage is God’s standard and rule. There is no debating the issue. We cannot rely on feelings, or social standards. We cannot do as we please or what feels good or pleasurable. Christians should not act like the world in any way since we are no longer part of it. Those who continue in sexual immorality or promote it as normal, show by their actions that they are not of the Lord. Sexual immorality dishonors God, for it is idolatry, in which the self is worshipped. It has no place in His temple.