1 Corinthians 6:12
Paul uses few unusual writing styles in 1 Corinthians. Some verses in 1 Corinthians do not intend to mean what the words are said. Paul is simply quoting or repeating words, saying, and writing from other sources.
When Paul uses an interrogative mood to ask where is the wise man, scholar, and philosopher in
And so in reading the passage, we should not worry about what Paul asked, what we should concern is the teaching of Paul here.
Again, when Paul makes some exclaimed statements in 4:8 by saying, “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become King!” he does not mean as the words he say. He is certainly being sarcastic, which we rarely see in Paul’s epistles, to the Corinthians here. Paul does not ridicule or scorn them but using their own boastful saying to tell them they are wrong.
Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 6:12 with the same writing style when he twice says, “Everything is permissible to me” in this verse. Paul is quoting some in the congregation who loosely apply the common saying of the Corinthian town to the church that it is alright to do anything they please.
This must truly be a well known saying as it is found twice in this immediate context and also in
But what see immediately after Paul quoted the saying is the big word “BUT”. Paul is in effect refuting the saying in general as a living rule to be observed by the
In other words, Paul is saying that what the antinomians
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:12, is teaching that the worldly saying of “Everything is permissible to me is wrong but read on and follow my advice”.
Great article