Not everything that is allowed is good for me. bible online

Here (the apostle) points to gluttons. Intending to reprove the one who has given in to adultery, which comes from satiety and immoderation, he strongly strikes this passion. Here he is not talking about forbidden foods - they are not permissible - but about those that seem indifferent. For example: you can, he says, eat and drink, but you shouldn’t - with immoderation. And this is what is wonderful and surprising: as he does in many other places, so here he shows the reverse side of the subject and explains that sometimes what is in our power is not only useless, but also reveals not power, but slavery. And in the first place, he rejects this as unprofitable, saying: not for the benefit, and secondly, as from leading to the opposite: "nothing should possess me". The meaning of his words is as follows: you, he says, are powerful; keep your power and see that you do not become a slave to this desire. Whoever properly uses it has dominion over it; and whoever surrenders to him immoderately has no power, but becomes a slave, and immoderation rules over him. Do you see how he proved that he who considers himself a ruler is himself under power?

Thus, often Paul, as I said earlier, turns the objections in the opposite direction - he did the same here. Behold, each of the Corinthians says: I have power to be full; and he says: You do this, not as a ruler, but as one who is under power. If you are intemperate, then you do not have power over the womb, but it has power over you. The same can be said about money and everything else.

Homilia 17 on 1 Corinthians.

St. Clement of Alexandria

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me

If it is permissible to choose any life, then obviously [one should choose] a life of continence.

Stromata.

St. Theophan the Recluse

All life is the essence, but not all for the benefit: all the life is the essence, but I will not be possessed from what

All mi fly essence. Judging by the fact that the following verse, which is directly related to the present, speaks of brasnas, it is suggested that in the words: all mi fly essence, it is said: I can eat all kinds of food. But one can understand here in general the pleasure of all the senses - sight, hearing, smell and touch, and the satisfaction of all bodily needs, except for food, and sleep, and rest, and cooling and washing, in general, all the comforts of the flesh. The apostle here represents a person who, having surveyed all these pleasures, says: all mi fly essence. That is, I can use all this freely. Perhaps such a speech was borrowed from the lips of the Apostle himself, who left a law that knitted: and preached complete freedom in this respect to all. But while Saint Paul added: to the point that your freedom will not be the guilt of the flesh(Gal. 5, 13), others forgot this limitation and focused more on freedom and freedom and, perhaps, really did not constrain themselves in any way, not only by law, but also by the measure of prudence. Since this kind of freedom is very dangerous, because, by developing the sensual life, it thereby diminishes and completely extinguishes the spiritual life, and especially because, by preparing lustful excitations, it exposes the danger of falling into fornication, in which death, Saint Paul hastens to bring such people to reason. He takes a saying from each of those: sya mi fly essence, and says, as it were: yes, all life is the essence, but not all for the benefit, all the life is the essence, but I will not be possessed from what. He puts two restrictions on the freedom to use everything: the first is usefulness, the second is not to be possessed by anything.

God gave you a body and placed in it the needs necessary to maintain its life, and outside, in nature, He dispersed the blessings that satisfy these needs. Use everything. God's blessing on that is already pronounced by the very fact that all this has been created, and created for you. But use only within the limits of benefit. If we had one bodily life, then we could interpret it this way: within the limits of benefit for the body. But since we are not only a body, but also a soul, it must be added: within the limits of benefit and for the soul. And the first will already limit many things, both in relation to the types of pleasures, and in relation to their measure and other features. But when we add the second, it will cross out a lot from the list of what seemed fly eat. And this is in the natural order of life. If, however, we take into account the order of the grace-filled life, which begins with self-denial and is conducted entirely in the form of seeking the highest, philosophizing about the things above, and not about the earthly, then only the most essential things will remain by themselves, all the rest will be considered not for the benefit and as a result this is related to not flying to eat, although at first it might not be so. Thus, it is obvious that the Apostle knits without binding: he does not impose external bonds of the law, but lays down the commandment of strict self-restraint.

Second limitation: I will not be possessed from what. In our body there is some kind of law of habit, according to which the pleasure, now tasted, tomorrow at the same hour again will be required by the body. If you satisfy him tomorrow, then on the third day the demand will be repeated with greater force. Further and further, finally, a habit is formed - a need to satisfy the body in a certain way and to a certain extent, which replaces a simple natural need. Habit is a connection. Whereas natural need only demands and does not knit, custom knits, appointing the object, the time, and the measure. The more habits, the more connections and bonds. It is possible to impose several habits on any simple need and thus be bound hand and foot. This is the same as, dreaming of freedom, to be in shameful slavery to your sensuality. This is incomparably worse than the slavery of the law. For don't touch, don't taste, touch below everything had a good moral purpose. This is what the Apostle warns against: let everything fly to you; but do not bind yourself with anything. Wake up like a bird soaring freely in the air spaces. But this leads to the same thing, to which the limitation of usefulness also leads. In order not to be bound by sensual habits, one must deny oneself sensual pleasures, allowing only the essential ones.

Theodoret seems to mean in this passage the limitation of sensual pleasures in general; and St. Chrysostom is a restriction regarding some dishes. Here are his words: “Here the Apostle speaks against gluttons. Intending to again denounce fornication and knowing that this fornication comes from satiety and immoderation, he strongly strikes this passion. It is possible, he says, to eat and drink, but it is not healthy to eat and drink immoderately. He rejects this, firstly, as unprofitable: not all good, and secondly, as from leading to opposite: but I will not be possessed from what. The meaning of his words is as follows: you are powerful; keep your power and see that you do not become a slave to this desire. Whoever properly uses it has dominion over it; and whoever surrenders to it immoderately has no power, but becomes the slave of immoderation. If you are not temperate, then you do not have power over the womb, but it has power over you.

The First Epistle to the Corinthians of the Holy Apostle Paul, Interpreted by St. Theophan.

Rev. Ephraim Sirin

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me

I can do everything to eat, but nobody because of the food let it not rule over me.

Commentary on the Epistles of the Divine Paul.

Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful

Since before he spoke about the one who committed adultery and will soon speak about him again, he introduces the speech about gluttony: for the passion of fornication mainly comes from gluttony. So he says: I am allowed to eat and drink, but it is harmful for me to eat and drink in excess.

Everything is allowed to me, but nothing should possess me

I am, he says, master of food and drink; but if I use them in excess, I will become their slave instead of a master. For whoever uses them properly is the master over them; on the contrary, whoever falls into immoderation is no longer their master, but their slave, because in this case satiety becomes his tyrant. Do you see how the apostle showed him who thought himself a ruler to those who were subject? Look: each of the Corinthians said: I can indulge in pleasures; but the apostle says: You do not surrender to them because you have power over them, but because you yourself are subject to their power. For as long as you remain intemperate, you do not have power over the stomach, but the stomach over you.

Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians of the Holy Apostle Paul.

Bliss. Theodoret of Kirsky

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me

You say this because you do not live under the law, but you are autocratic and have free will. However, it is not useful for you to use this right in any case. For as soon as you do something inappropriate, you lose this right and become a slave to sin.

Interpretations on the Epistles of the Apostle Paul.

Ambrosiast

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me

Under all he is allowed Paul is referring to that which comes from the law of nature and which is also lawful for his fellow apostles, but not from the law of Moses. For Moses forbade many things because of the stubbornness and hardness of heart of the unbelievers.

On the Epistles to the Corinthians.

Lopukhin A.P.

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me

The apostle, no doubt, in Corinth, as in other places, taught about the freedom of a Christian in things that are morally indifferent, which earlier, in pedagogical forms, were forbidden in the law of Moses. This expression "everything is permissible to me!" represents, probably, the motto with which the apostle spoke, and therefore it was imprinted in the minds of the Corinthians. But, unfortunately, they began to extend the application of this principle to such phenomena, which were by no means indifferent from the point of view of Christian morality. Therefore, the Apostle considers it necessary to limit the application of the said principle. It can take place only where through it no harm is done to a person guided by this principle. This is the first. Secondly, it is necessary to abandon the application of this principle where there is a danger of losing one's freedom and finding oneself in the thrall of some habit.

Art. 12-20 Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me. Food for the belly, and the belly for food; but God will destroy both. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God resurrected the Lord, He will also resurrect us by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members from Christ to make them members of a harlot? Yes, it will not! Or do you not know that he who has sex with a harlot becomes one body with her? But he who unites with the Lord is one spirit with the Lord. Flee fornication; every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit that dwells in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your soul, which are God's

Ap. already in 9 tbsp. pointed out that there were people in Corinth who believed that they could enter the Kingdom of Heaven without lagging behind those sins in which they had previously lived. Now Ap. He speaks in more detail about this error, having, however, mainly in mind one sin - intemperance or unchastity. This sin was excused by many Corinthians by virtue of the principle of Christian freedom and St. refutes such a view, pointing to the great harm for a person who is in this sin and to the great responsibility of such a person before God.

Explanatory Bible.

Olga asks
Answered by Viktor Belousov, 03/20/2013

Olga asks:"Hello! Could you please explain to me in as much detail as possible the meaning of 1 Corinthians 6:12. The fact is that many non-believers and New Age people believe that this phrase can be equated in meaning with the slogan of the Satanist Aleister Crowley Do, what you want - this will be the law. Moreover, they claim that this verse completely crosses out the Bible in particular, the Commandments and only confirms its contradiction. So how do you really understand the verse and what should such people answer on this topic?"

Peace be with you, Olga!

In order to take a closer look at this text, we need its environment:

1 How dare anyone among you, dealing with another, sue the ungodly, and not the saints?
2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? But if the world be judged by you, are you not worthy to judge unimportant things?
3 Do you not know that we will judge the angels, much less [the deeds] of this world?
4 But you, when you have worldly litigation, appoint [your judges] those who do not mean anything in the church.
5 To your shame I say, Is there not one wise man among you who can judge between his brothers?
6 But brother goes to law with brother, and moreover before unbelievers.
7 And it is already very humiliating for you that you have lawsuits among yourselves. Why would you rather not be offended? Why would you rather not endure hardship?
8 But you [yourselves] offend and take away, and moreover from the brothers.

/ Problem - litigation among members of the church /

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor malakias, nor sodomists,
10 Neither thieves, nor covetous men, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor predators shall inherit the kingdom of God.

/ Exhortation - that sin and the Kingdom of God are incompatible /

11 And such were some of you; but washed, but sanctified, but justified by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.

/ When they came to the Church - people changed their way of life /

12 Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me.

/ Repeating the same thought - Christians have freedom, but this is not a reason to sin. Sin is something that is not useful and that possesses a person (causes addiction) /

13 Food for the belly, and the belly for food; but God will destroy both. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

/ The contrast of the material and the spiritual - the material is changeable and subject to decay, the spiritual will be eternal /

14 God raised the Lord, He will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I, then, take away the members from Christ, that I may make [them] the members of a harlot? Let it not!

/ Is it necessary to pass from life (spiritual) to death (with everything sinful) /

Any biblical text can be perverted. If a "non-believer" or "new age" specifically wants to interpret the text in reverse, he can do it. Even modern state laws, which were written more than a couple of thousand years ago, can be interpreted in many ways. Especially the letters of Paul.

Important - pray for wisdom from the Lord so that He reveals to you those words that will be correctly understood by a particular person.

God's blessings
Victor

Read more on the topic "Interpretation of Scripture":

At each Liturgy we hear fragments from the Four Gospels and the Apostolic Epistles. Do they match in meaning? Sometimes they match, sometimes they don't.

In the liturgical reading of the Week of the Prodigal Son, we see a remarkable case of the semantic correspondence between the apostolic and the gospel conception. The well-known gospel story about a man who threw all his young strength into the fire of depravity, feasting with harlots at the expense of his parents, receives an ascetic interpretation in the reasoning of the Apostle Paul about the passions.

“Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is lawful to me, but nothing shall possess me” (1 Corinthians 6:12). The words of the apostle in meaning resemble the answer of the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin to the question: “what is the art of the sculptor?” “Take a block of marble and cut off everything superfluous from it,” the master replied. Paul, that great sculptor of the salvation of the soul, also uses a similar principle of cutting off the unnecessary. He places two limits on the freedom of the Christian. First, every deed must be done for the benefit of the salvation of mine and my neighbor. Second, a person must be the master of his desires, and not a slave.

We, in general, everything is permissible, according to Paul. The freedom of a person, although wider than his capabilities, can be realized if not in deeds, then in words, and if not in words, then in thoughts. As they say: if I don’t do it, then at least I’ll dream.

However, your freedom, both active and mental, should be taken under your own control. Thoughts can come true and become deeds. And it's a disaster if a wrong and harmful thought has taken possession of a person. Unbelted freedom, escaping from the control of the individual, turns into arbitrariness and bristles with bestial passions. Such demonic freedom, having gone outside, knocks down all the restrictions on its drunken path and threatens everyone around with severe lack of freedom. And above all, to the bearer of it himself, because in the whirlwind of anarchic freedom of feelings and thoughts, passions are born and grow stronger, to which his seeming unfulfilled freedom begins to serve.

But Christian freedom is not like that. She cannot serve other gods. She serves the one Master and obeys the voice of the Heavenly Father. That is why Paul calls to focus the ray of our freedom on the image of our salvation. The fire of grace on the tree of the heart should burn out a complex pattern of the transformation of a person into a new creature, singing a new song to its Creator. And this new man cannot use his freedom for evil or serve other masters. He is God.

Remember the prodigal son. Premature receipt of an inheritance was, as we see, permissible for him. But is it good? As soon as he received it, he immediately became not the owner, but the possessed. The imaginary joy of freedom turned into tears of cruel slavery.

“Food for the belly, and the belly for food; but God will destroy both. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Cor. 6:13), Paul continues. Having expressed a warning about passions in general, he mentions the most important of them - gluttony and fornication.

Food and the belly exist for each other, and their function is limited to the time of this age. Therefore, Paul says simply and briefly: "Food for the stomach, and the stomach for food." As for fornication, here it is no longer possible to say the same: fornication for the body, and the body for fornication. Not! "The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." Christ became incarnate in order to enter not only into spiritual, but also into bodily communion with us. Through the body we partake of Christ in the Sacraments of the Church. And this communication will no longer be destroyed, but will move into a new dimension. According to Christ, we will drink new wine with Him in the Kingdom of God.

Paul develops his thought. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members from Christ to make them the members of a harlot? Let it not be!” (1 Cor. 6:15) Indeed, according to Paul, the Church is the Body of Christ (see: Eph. 1:23). And we believers are members of this Body (see: 1 Cor. 12:27). By giving our body to fornication, we rip off the members from the Body of Christ and defile them. Scary? Very scary! But this is precisely the mystical meaning of all debauchery. Therefore, fornication has always been an integral part of pagan orgies and satanic cults. Fornication is always a slander against the sacred and the abduction from God of what was created by Him and belongs to Him.

This happens especially clearly when a person sins with a harlot. “Or do you not know that he who has sex with a prostitute becomes one body with her? for it is said, the two shall be one flesh. But he who is united with the Lord is one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:16, 17). Paul, speaking of fornication, quotes the words spoken by the Lord about marriage. Why? Because both there and here the union of two bodies forms one out of two. Only in legal marriage does bodily union fulfill the commandment of God, and in fornication it serves Satan.

It is interesting that the apostle here identifies the body with the spirit. Why so? Because “even there the body is not without a soul, but here the spirit is not without a body,” explains St. Theophan (the Hermit), interpreting this passage. Indeed, the body lives in the spirit, and the spirit lives in the body. Man is a spiritual and bodily being. And fornication is not only a sin of the flesh, as many believe, but also a spiritual crime.

This is precisely the sin of the gospel prodigal son, who squandered his estate with harlots. Therefore, it is said about him that he did all this, having gone "to the far side." At that moment he was infinitely far from God.

Paul's last piece of advice is amazing. “Flee fornication” (1 Cor. 6:18), he says. This is perhaps the only case when Paul calls not to fight sin, but to run away from it.

One of the saints said that fornication is a passion that cannot be looked into the eyes. And indeed, of all the feats that the saints lifted, the most terrible in their torment were generated precisely by the struggle against fornication. Rev. John the Long-suffering, fighting with fornication thoughts, buried himself waist-deep in the ground, so that the lower part of his body festered and swarmed with worms. Rev. Martinian, being tempted by the harlot, entered the burning fire and stood there until he was burnt half to death. Saint Mary of Egypt endured unbearable suffering for seventeen years in a lifeless desert, so that the spirit of fornication departed from her. One monk smeared his clothes with the pus of a decomposed corpse and walked around in it until God healed him of fornication.

That is why Paul advises to flee from fornication. The direct struggle with this passion is too terrible. Are you sure you can handle it? If not, then you better run. Flee from bad thoughts and from every source of temptation.

So the prodigal son fled from slavery to a certain inhabitant of a "far country". He fled, for the fight had long since been lost. He had only one choice: run or die.

The current passage ends with Paul's call to glorify God in both soul and body: "Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:20). The glorification of God in a purified body and soul is the end and pinnacle of Christian achievement. Here is the victory over passions and gaining true freedom. With this feast, which represents the rejoicing of the Kingdom of God, the parable of the prodigal son ends.

Let the Heavenly Father wait for our return! Let the angels, the servants of God, wash us from passions, and dress us in clean clothes of grace. May we also be received there, where a mysterious feast is celebrated, angelic singing is heard, and joyful exclamations greet every prodigal son who has returned home.

Sergey Komarov

Question: Explain, please: “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me.

I specifically picked up my book "Assault on Supreme Sovereignty" now, because there is an explanation of this text of Scripture here. Let me briefly read some passages and reflect on them a little. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:12, i.e. he makes the statement: "Everything is permitted to me... but nothing should possess me." I abbreviate with ellipsis. Once again: "Everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me." There are two words here: "everything" and "nothing". Almost everything that is not written in the Word of God in a categorical form of prohibition is permissible. I believe that many churches, individual pastors, are wrong here in that they touch on those controversial issues that are not in Scripture, that are not specifically covered in Scripture. And when a person gets carried away and interprets these texts of Scripture, he starts a community, or a family, or drives himself into such dead ends. Therefore, I want to repeat: everything that is not written in the Word of God in the categorical form of a ban, clearly, in black and white, is in principle permissible. However, with equal categoricalness, it can be said that everything, even given for life and piety, becomes forbidden if it begins to possess me, i.e. dominate and dominate. I believe this is a very accurate spiritual view, exactly what the apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote this text: "nothing shall possess me." What can have me? Yes, whatever. Even the adrenaline that I get now, sitting in front of the camera and realizing that several hundred or several thousand people will watch this broadcast. Even that can possess me. Therefore, everything that will possess a person is impermissible. Who is able to track this fine line from the permitted to the forbidden, if not the person himself? Look, the Apostle Paul, for example, was allowed to have a wife as a companion, like the other apostles. He specifically writes about it. He was allowed to live from the gospel, as he himself teaches. However, he did not take advantage of all this. Why? Theoretically and theologically, he had the right to do so. But, based on the calling and the requests that the Holy Spirit put before him, he knew that he should not do this. Now the most important thing: Paul understood that he personally should not do this, although other apostles had wives, had families and lived from the gospel. I emphasize that he himself personally understood that God was somehow holding him back, and therefore he did not use this power. But the most important thing is next. Paul never required such behavior from other people, never made it the standard of New Testament ministry and consecration. It was his personal walk before God, and he understood that God was keeping him here from taking advantage of this right or power granted to him. Now, when we touch on, let's say, jewelry or bijouterie that the sisters use or some other things that are looked at differently in churches. I would like to say that in some cases God dressed up His people, as Ezekiel in chapter 16 amazingly tells about it. This is not an allegory! It is indeed God who says: “I put on you a patterned dress, shod you in morocco sandals, girded you with linen, covered you with a silk veil, dressed you in clothes, put your wrists on your hands, a necklace on your neck, gave you a ring on your nose and earrings to your ears and on your head a beautiful crown. God describes His bounty and His wealth towards His people, with what love He dressed them up and took part in their feasts. In other cases, by the way, to the same people, and the same God, unchanging in the Word, says: "Take off your ornaments." It's not as simple as we think. It sometimes seems to us that if we write down certain rules of what is permissible and what is not permissible, everything will be decided. But this is far from true. Therefore, I would like to say this: these changes, as if God changes His mind or His attitude, do not say anything about the variability of God. Quite the contrary: they prove different states of society. For this reason, God remains unchanged, His attitude towards people remains unchanged. But people are changeable. Therefore, looking at the spiritual state of society, the Lord says: “Take off your jewelry. You are not in that state." Take off your jewelry, you are not in that spiritual state, it harms you. You exalt yourself. You have become proud. You have become arrogant. Take it off, it destroys your spirit man. A person standing next to him, he may need it on the contrary. Because when we read Ezekiel the people were humiliated, they were in bondage, their sense of dignity was crushed. The Lord comes, enriches, raises, respects a person, dresses up a person, returns holidays, fun. Because He understands: a person needs to be lifted up. For this reason, it is not so simple. If everything were so simple, - here it is possible, but here it is impossible. What is possible and what is not is expressed in the Holy Scripture in a very specific, understandable language. Everything else is a fine line between what is allowed and what is forbidden.

Olga asks:"Hello! Could you please explain to me in as much detail as possible the meaning of 1 Corinthians 6:12. The fact is that many unbelievers believe that this phrase can be equated in meaning with the slogan "Do what you want." Not enough Moreover, they argue that this verse completely crosses out the Bible in particular, the Commandments and only confirms its contradiction. So how do you really understand the verse and what should such people answer on this topic?

Answered by Viktor Belousov.

Peace be with you, Olga!

In order to take a closer look at this text, we need its environment:

/ Problem - litigation among members of the church /

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor malakias, nor sodomists,
10 Neither thieves, nor covetous men, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor predators shall inherit the kingdom of God.

/ Exhortation - that sin and the Kingdom of God are incompatible /

11 And such were some of you; but washed, but sanctified, but justified by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.

/ When they came to the Church - people changed their way of life /

12 Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me.

/ Repeating the same thought - Christians have freedom, but this is not a reason to sin. Sin is something that is not useful and that possesses a person (causes addiction) /

13 Food for the belly, and the belly for food; but God will destroy both. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

/ The contrast of the material and the spiritual - the material is changeable and subject to decay, the spiritual will be eternal /

14 God raised the Lord, He will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I, then, take away the members from Christ, that I may make [them] the members of a harlot? Let it not!

/ Is it necessary to pass from life (spiritual) to death (with everything sinful) /

(1 Corinthians 6:1-15)

Any biblical text can be perverted. If the "unbeliever" specifically wants to interpret the text the other way around, he can do it. Even modern state laws, which were written more than a couple of thousand years ago, can be interpreted in many ways. Especially the letters of Paul.

Important - pray for wisdom from the Lord so that He reveals to you those words that will be correctly understood by a particular person.

God bless!