bodies, vs. 13. 14. It is because of this intimate relation of our bodies to Christ as his members, that forDication is so great a crime, inconsistent with our union to him as partakers of his Spirit, vs. 15-17. It is, in a pecuUar manner, a sin against the body, destructive of its very nature, v. 18. The body is a temple in which the Spirit dwells, but it ceases to be such if profaned by licentiousness, v. 19. BeUevers must remem- ber that they, even their bodies, are the objects of redemp tion, having been purchased by the blood of Christ, and therefore they should be devoted to his glory, v. 20.
12. 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.
Having in the preceding paragraph declared that the im- moral cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and having given special prominence to sins against the seventh commandment, the Apostle comes in this paragraph to consider the ground on which the violations of that commandment were defended or palliated. That ground was a gross perversion of the principle of Christian liberty. Paul was accustomed to say in reference to the ceremonial or positive enactments of the Jewish law, and especially in reference to the distinction be- tween clean and unclean meats, " All things are lawful to me." As the Greeks and Romans generally regarded fornication as belonging to the class of things indifferent, that is, not im- moral in themselves ; it is not surprising that some of the Corinthians educated in that belief should retain and act on the principle even after their profession of Christianity. They reasoned from analogy. As it is right to eat all kinds of food which are adapted to the stomach, so it is right to gratify any other natural propensity. Paul's answer to this argument is twofold. He first shows that the principle of Christian liberty in things indifferent is to be restricted in its application ; and secondly, that there is no analogy between the cases men- tioned. Food is a thing indifferent ; whereas fornication is in its own nature a profanation and a crime.
The first limitation to which the principle " all things are laAvful " is subject in its application to things indifferent, is expediency. All lawful things are not expedient. It is both absurd and wicked to do any thing which is injurious to our- selves or others, simply because it is not in its own nature sin-