1 Corinthians 6:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

First, he turns them away from it as unprofitable, saying, "not profitable." Second, he turns them away from it as leading to the opposite: "I will not be brought under the power of anything."

The meaning of his words is this: you have authority to eat, he says. Preserve your authority, and see that you do not become a slave of this desire.

He who uses it properly has authority over it. But he who gives himself to it without measure does not have authority. He becomes a slave, and excess rules over him.

Do you see how he proved that the one who considers himself master is himself under authority?

Thus Paul often, as I said earlier, turns objections to the opposite side. He did the same here.

Look: each of the Corinthians says, I have authority to be satiated. But he says, you do this not as a master, but as one under authority.

If you are intemperate, you do not have authority over the belly. The belly has authority over you. The same may be said of money and everything else.

Do you see how the Apostle has shown that the one who considered himself in authority is under authority?

Consider this: each of the Corinthians said, It is permitted me to give myself to pleasures. But the Apostle says: you give yourself to them not because you have authority over them, but because you yourself are subject to their authority.

So long as you remain intemperate, you do not have authority over the belly. The belly has authority over you.

"All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of anything." I have authority to do everything, both good and evil.

But I must not be brought under the power of any evil. It is not profitable for me to become the slave of any sin.

The Apostle gives two limitations to this expression. He says that everything is permitted, but only what is profitable. Everything is permitted, but only to such a measure that a man remains master over the satisfaction of his needs.

He must not allow anything in his body to rule over him.

Moreover, this permissibility can apply only to indifferent things, such as food, drink, and clothing. It cannot apply to fornication, which some of the Corinthians regarded as a matter of nature and a need of the flesh.

In refuting this, the Apostle reveals the true meaning of fornication. He shows its harmful side: it attaches a man to a sinful woman and defiles the members of his body, which are, among other things, properly members of Christ.

Regarding the other limitation, the meaning of the Apostle's words, according to St. John Chrysostom, is this: "You have authority to eat. Preserve your authority, and see that you do not become a slave of this desire.

He who uses it properly has authority over it. He who gives himself to it without measure does not have authority, but becomes a slave of excess.

If you are intemperate, then you do not have authority over the belly. It has authority over you."

In particular, the Apostle strikes gluttony by showing its complete purposelessness. In the future life, where they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mt 22:30), there will also be no desires of the belly.

Therefore one preparing for the future life must become accustomed not to gluttony, but to self-restraint.

Thus those act wisely who gradually diminish their food and generally detach themselves from all the arrangements of this present life. In this way they may pass into the other life unbound by any ties.

Perhaps this saying was taken from the mouth of the Apostle himself. He had left behind the law that bound men with, “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” and he preached to all full freedom in this respect.

Yet when Saint Paul added, “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh” (Gal 5:13), others forgot this limitation. They fixed their attention more on freedom and lack of constraint.

Perhaps in reality they restrained themselves by nothing, not only by no law, but not even by the measure of prudence.

Such freedom is very dangerous. By developing sensual life, it thereby diminishes spiritual life and may extinguish it altogether. It is especially dangerous because, by preparing lustful excitements, it exposes one to the danger of falling into fornication, in which there is death.

Therefore Saint Paul hastens to bring such people to their senses. He takes up the saying of each of them, “All things are lawful for me,” and speaks as if to say: yes, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

He sets two limits to the freedom of using everything. The first is profit; the second is that one should not be mastered by anything.

God gave you a body and placed in it needs necessary for the maintenance of its life. Outside it, in nature, He scattered the good things by which these needs are satisfied. Use everything.

God's blessing upon this has already been uttered by the very fact that all this was created, and created for you. But use it only within the bounds of profit.

If we had only bodily life, this could be interpreted as within the bounds of profit for the body. But since we are not body only, but also soul, one must add: within the bounds of profit for the soul also.

The first will already limit much, both with regard to the kinds of pleasures and with regard to their measure and other circumstances.

But when we add the second, it will strike many things from the list of what seemed lawful. This is so even in the natural order of life.

If we take into account the order of life in grace, then only what is essentially necessary will remain of itself.

For this life begins with self-denial and is conducted wholly in view of seeking the things above and setting the mind on heavenly things, not on earthly things.

Everything else will be counted unprofitable. For this reason it will be assigned to what is not lawful, although at first it might not have seemed so.

Thus it is clear that the Apostle binds without imposing external bonds. He does not lay on the outward bonds of the law, but he sets forth the commandment of strict self-limitation.

The second limitation is this: “I will not be brought under the power of anything.” In our body there lies a certain law of habit.

According to it, a pleasure tasted today will tomorrow be demanded again by the body at the same hour. If it is satisfied tomorrow, then on the third day the demand will be repeated with greater force.

So it goes further and further, until at last a habit is formed. This is the need to satisfy the body in a certain way and measure, replacing the simple natural need.

Habit is a bond. Natural need only demands and does not bind, but habit binds. It appoints the object, the time, and the measure.

The more habits there are, the more bonds and fetters there are. One may attach several habits to every simple need and thus be bound hand and foot.

This is the same as dreaming of freedom while living in shameful slavery to one's own sensuality. This is incomparably worse than the slavery of the law.

For “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” all had good moral purposes.

It is against this that the Apostle warns: let all things be lawful for you, but bind yourself by nothing. Be like a bird freely soaring in the spaces of the air.

Yet this leads to the same result as the limitation by profit. In order not to bind oneself by sensual habits, one must deny oneself sensual pleasures and admit only those that are essentially necessary.

Theodoret seems to understand this passage as limiting sensual pleasures in general. Saint Chrysostom understands it as a limitation concerning foods alone.

Here are his words: “Here the Apostle speaks against gluttons. Since he was about to rebuke fornication again, and knew that this licentiousness comes from satiety and lack of measure, he strikes this passion forcefully.

One may, he says, eat and drink, but it is not profitable to eat and drink immoderately. He turns them from this, first as unprofitable, saying, ‘Not all things are profitable.’

Then he turns them from it as leading to the opposite, saying, ‘But I will not be brought under the power of anything.’ The meaning of his words is this: you have authority to eat. Preserve your authority.

Take care not to become a slave of this desire. Whoever uses it properly has authority over it. Whoever gives himself to it immoderately has no authority, but becomes a slave of immoderation.

If you are not temperate, then you do not have authority over the belly, but it has authority over you.”