“Know you
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?”
asked Paul
the apostle as he addressed the Corinthian church members concerning
evil doers. He added how they were not to “be
deceived” because “neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
In chapter six and verse twelve of First
Corinthians, Paul shared with the church members how, “All
things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient”
where we read:
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.
The verse begins, “All
things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient:”
Paul began
with the words, “All things” which
means “each, every, any, the whole, everyone, and everything”
“are lawful”
which refers to “what is right and according to the law” “unto
me” which
means “unto Paul”, “but”
which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated “all
things”
which means “each, every, any, the whole, everyone, and everything”
“are not expedient”
or “are not profitable, expedient or beneficial”. Paul concluded
that anything was “lawful”
for him, but not everything was “beneficial” or helpful to him.
The
verse goes on to say, “all
things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power
of any.” Paul
continued with the words, “all
things” which
means “each, every, any, the whole, everyone, and everything”
“are lawful” which
refers to “what is right and according to the law” “for
me” or
“for Paul”, “but”
which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated “I
will not”or
“Paul would not” “be brought
under the power”
or “beneath the authority or mastery”
“of any” which
refers to “of a certain one”. Paul reiterated that anything was
“lawful” for
him, but he purposed not to be “mastered” or “controlled” by
anything.
When
we think through these words from Paul, we see the freedom he enjoyed
to do anything he desired, however, just because he could do anything
did not mean he would anything. Though permissible, not everything
was beneficial to Paul, and when we have a relationship with Jesus
Christ, the same should be true for us. There are “temporal” and
“carnal” things which are available to us, however, they are not
profitable to our walk with Jesus. We are to be witnesses to the
world as Christians, and though things are “lawful” or
“permissible” to us, let us determine whether they are
“beneficial” to our witness of Him.
Next
time Paul shares how, “the
body... is for the Lord”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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