1 Corinthians 6:12

Flee Sexual Immorality

6:12 “All things are lawful for me” ¹  – but not everything is beneficial. “All things are lawful for me” – but I will not be controlled by anything.

1 Corinthians 7:7

7:7 I wish that everyone was as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one this way, another that.

1 Corinthians 9:19

9:19 For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people. ² 

1 Corinthians 14:34

14:34 the women ³  should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. ⁴  Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says.

¹ sn All things are lawful for me. In the expressions in vv. 12-13 within quotation marks, Paul cites certain slogans the Corinthians apparently used to justify their behavior. Paul agrees with the slogans in part, but corrects them to show how the Corinthians have misused these ideas.

² tn Or “more converts.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. It has been supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning.

³ tn The word for “woman” and “wife” is the same in Greek. Because of the reference to husbands in v. 35, the word may be translated “wives” here. But in passages governing conduct in church meetings like this (cf. 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:9-15) the general meaning “women” is more likely.

⁴ sn For they are not permitted to speak. In light of 11:2-16, which gives permission for women to pray or prophesy in the church meetings, the silence commanded here seems not to involve the absolute prohibition of a woman addressing the assembly. Therefore (1) some take be silent to mean not taking an authoritative teaching role as 1 Tim 2 indicates, but (2) the better suggestion is to relate it to the preceding regulations about evaluating the prophets (v. 29). Here Paul would be indicating that the women should not speak up during such an evaluation, since such questioning would be in violation of the submission to male leadership that the OT calls for (the law, e.g., Gen 2:18).