complete verse (1 Corinthians 10:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 10:23:

  • Uma: “Some of you say: ‘ Since the Lord God has freed us from the punishment of our sins, we can do whatever we wish.’ That is true, but I [emphatic] say: if we do what we want, not everything will be useful/beneficial to/for us. We can do whatever we wish, but not everything strengthens our hearts or others’ hearts.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There are people who say, ‘We (excl.) can do anything we (excl.) want to.’ That is true, but not all is good and not all makes people’s trust in God strong.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It is allowable, they say, that we (incl.) do anything which is good, and that’s really true. But for my part, what I say is: there are many things which are not good to do because they are not helpful. Even though that it’s possible for us (incl.) to do anything, there are many things done that do not strengthen the believing of our companions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There are among you those who are saying, ‘I am at-liberty to do whatever I want.’ It is admittedly true that we are at-liberty, but all that we do doesn’t lead to our betterment and neither do they (i.e. the things we do) strengthen the faith of our fellows.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Someone else says, ‘It’s allowable for us to do anything, as long as God has not forbidden it.’ Admittedly so, but not all of these things are beneficial or that which strengthens believing/obeying.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Now we are not under the commands of the law which the Jews walk by. Now we are able to do what we want to do. But not all we could do is what is proper for us to do. Let us not want to do what would spoil the hearts of our fellow man.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:23

Most modern translations put quotation marks around the phrase All things are lawful to indicate that it was probably a saying used in Corinth. A similar saying was quoted in 6.12, with an additional word in the Greek that Revised Standard Version translates “for me.” The first sentence, then, may be translated as “There is a saying that says, ‘We…’ ” or “Some people say, ‘We…’ ” or “You say ‘We….’ ” Here “We” (Good News Bible) is implicit and may be added in translation to make the meaning clearer. The Greek does not explicitly refer to law, though this Greek word translated lawful is often used where Jewish rules and regulations are involved (see, for example, Mark 6.18; 10.2). The verb means “it is permitted” or “is proper.”

If we understand Paul to be quoting a current saying in Corinth, it may be necessary in translation to state by whom the saying is spoken. Good News Bible has the impersonal “they,” and Bible en français courant has “certain (people).” It is also possible to have “You say….” Such a translation can be justified by Paul’s use of an indirect imperative “Let no one” in verse 24, and a direct imperative “You are free to eat” in verse 25 (see the comments on these verses).

On not all things are helpful, see comments on 6.12.

The second half of the verse closely parallels the first. However, build up (Good News Bible “is helpful”) in this second half probably refers to the act of strengthening the Christian community as a whole. Paul uses here the common metaphor of constructing a building to mean adding strength to the common life of the church. Compare 8.1, 10 where the same word is used in a similar sense. So Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates this as “but not everything helps the (Christian) community.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .