All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 10:23 Go To 1 Corinthians 10
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
All things are lawful for me. Viz, all things that are not essentials, such as to eat of things offered to idols, not as sacred, or as things sacrificed, but as common food. So far Paul has treated of things offered to idols as such, and has forbidden the use of them. Hence, in ver14 , he bids the Corinthians fly from idolatry, i.e, the meats of ver20. But in this verse he passes on to the second case, when meat that has been offered to idols is partaken of, not formally as such, but materially, as mere food or flesh; and with regard to this he says, "All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient," Because all things do not edify. Materially, you may eat of things offered to idols considered in themselves, but if there is attached to such action the giving of offence, then you may not; see vers27 , 28 , 33. Clement (Stromata) well said: "They who do whatsoever is lawful will easily sink into doing what is unlawful." Theophylact explains this verse differently, but his explanation is beside the drift of the context.
