Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Corinthians · About this commentary
Do All to the Glory of God
1 Corinthians 10:23-33
23 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are profitable. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things build up. · WEB
Having forbidden the temple meal, Paul gives strikingly relaxed rules for the market and the dinner party — with one exception, made for someone else's sake.
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are profitable. "All things are lawful for me," but not all things build up 1 Corinthians 10:23.
The slogan from chapter six returns 1 Corinthians 6:12, granted again and qualified again — and this time the second qualification is build up, the word that has governed the whole discussion since knowledge was set against love 1 Corinthians 8:1. Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor's good 1 Corinthians 10:24 is the rule that replaces the slogan, and it is the principle Christ himself embodies Romans 15:2–3 Philippians 2:4.
Whatever is sold in the butcher shop, eat, asking no question for the sake of conscience, for "the earth is the Lord's, and its fullness" 1 Corinthians 10:25–26.
After the severity of the previous paragraph this is remarkably free. Do not investigate the meat's history; buy it and eat it. And the ground is a psalm about God's ownership of everything Psalms 24:1: food does not belong to the idol whose altar it crossed, because it never stopped belonging to God. The same liberty extends to accepting an unbeliever's invitation — eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions 1 Corinthians 10:27. Scrupulous interrogation is not holiness, and the letter declines to make believers awkward guests.
But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," don't eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience 1 Corinthians 10:28.
One exception, and its trigger is not the food but a person speaking. Once someone has raised it, the situation has changed — and Paul makes the reason explicit: conscience, I say, not your own, but the other's conscience 1 Corinthians 10:29. The abstention is never for the eater's purity. His own conscience remains free, which is why he can then ask why is my liberty judged by another conscience? and why am I denounced for something I give thanks for? 1 Corinthians 10:30 — genuine questions, protecting the strong from being scolded into thinking the food was ever the problem.
Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God 1 Corinthians 10:31.
The principle that resolves the whole three-chapter argument, and it is larger than the question that produced it. The test is not permitted or forbidden but whether the act can be done to God's glory — a standard that covers the market, the dinner party, and everything the letter has not mentioned.
Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, to Greeks, or to the assembly of God; even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved 1 Corinthians 10:32–33.
Three audiences, and the church is one of them. I please all men would be a damning admission in another context; here it is defined by what follows — not seeking his own advantage, aiming at their salvation. That is the difference between accommodation and flattery, and it is why the next sentence can be be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ 1 Corinthians 11:1.
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