Tree of Life Version
1 Corinthians 6:12
12“Everything is permitted for me”—but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permitted for me”—but I will not be controlled by anything.
1 Corinthians 6:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Context of 1 Corinthians 6:12
10thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11That is what some of you were—but you were washed, you were made holy, you were set right in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and by the Ruach of our God. “Everything is permitted for me”—but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permitted for me”—but I will not be controlled by anything. 13“Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food”—but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14Now God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 61 Corinthians 6:12 word by word
Πάντα μοι ἔξεστιν ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πάντα συμφέρει· πάντα μοι ἔξεστιν ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐγὼ ἐξουσιασθήσομαι ὑπό τινος.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 6:12
- 1 Corinthians 10:23“Everything is permitted”—but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permitted”—but not everything builds up.
- Romans 14:14I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Yeshua, that nothing is unholy in itself; but it is unholy for the one who considers it unholy.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4Therefore concerning the eating of idol sacrifices, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- 1 Corinthians 9:12If others have a share in this claim over you, shouldn’t we even more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we put up with all things so that we cause no hindrance to the Good News of Messiah.
- 1 Corinthians 10:24Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
- Romans 14:15For if your brother is grieved on account of food, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy by your food the one for whom Messiah died.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:9It wasn’t that we had no right, but rather to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate.
- 1 Corinthians 9:27Rather, I punish my body and bring it into submission, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
- Romans 7:14For we know that the Torah is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold to sin.
- Hebrews 12:15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God; and see to it that no bitter root springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.
- Jude 1:12These people are hidden rocky reefs at your love feasts—shamelessly feasting with you, tending only to themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, doubly dead, uprooted;
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 6:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12All things are lawful unto me - It is likely that some of the Corinthians had pleaded that the offense of the man who had his father's wife, as well as the eating the things offered to idols, was not contrary to the law, as it then stood. To this the apostle answers: Though such a thing be lawful, yet the case of fornication, mentioned 1 Corinthians 5:1, is not expedient, - it is not agreeable to propriety, decency, order, and purity. It is contrary to…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12All things are lawful unto me - The apostle here evidently makes a transition to another subject from that which he had been discussing - a consideration of the propriety of using certain things which had been esteemed lawful. The expression, “all things are lawful,” is to be understood as used by those who palliated certain indulgences, or who vindicated the vices here referred to, and Paul designs to reply to them. His reply follows. He had been…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-20Verses 12-20 Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, therefore is never to be made an instrument of sin. It is an honour…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12Some Christians believed they could do anything, including being sexually immoral. Paul disagrees, saying not everything is beneficial. True Christians should live disciplined lives (see 10:23; Galatians 5:13).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. All things are lawful unto me--These, which were Paul's own words on a former occasion (to the Corinthians, compare 1Co 10:23, and Ga 5:23), were made a pretext for excusing the eating of meats offered to idols, and so of what was generally connected with idolatry (Ac 15:29), "fornication" (perhaps in the letter of the Corinthians to Paul, 1Co 7:1). Paul's remark had referred only to things indifferent: but they wished to treat fornication as such, on…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Corinthians 6:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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