What Does 1 Corinthians 10:23 Mean?
All things are open to me, but not all things bring together. All things are open to me, but not all things build up.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.THE KEY
Permission does not guarantee contribution: what is allowed can still fail to carry shared life forward or build it up.
THE MEANING
This verse holds freedom beside its effect: an option can be permitted and still fail to contribute to shared life. What reaches another person may leave them no stronger, even when no rule forbids it. Freedom here has room for both choice and consequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that permission by itself makes an action beneficial. Being allowed does not mean it contributes or builds.
THE ROOT
συμφέρει
sympherei
GROWS FROM
σύν + φέρω (syn + pherō)
σύν (syn, together) + φέρω (pherō, carry): to carry or bring together. συμφέρει (sympherei) means that something contributes, benefits, or is advantageous.
“bring together” in this verse is sympherei. The word behind “expedient” carries the sense of bringing something together or contributing to a good. The verse asks what an action adds to shared life, beyond whether it is permitted.
ALSO GROWS
symphérō: To bring together, contribute, or benefit.
συμφέρω
This verb reveals the contributing sense underneath “expedient”: freedom can carry something forward for others.
symphéron: What is beneficial or advantageous.
συμφέρον
It names the benefit an action contributes, making its effect part of the verse’s measure of freedom.
οἰκοδομεῖ
oikodomei
GROWS FROM
οἰκοδομ- (oikodom-), from οἶκος (oikos) + δομέω (domeō)
οἶκος (oikos, house) + δομέω (domeō, build): to build a house. οἰκοδομεῖ (oikodomei) means “builds up.”
“build up” in this verse is oikodomei. The verb behind “edify” pictures house-building: something can be permitted yet leave no structure standing for anyone. The verse makes the effect concrete, what passes through freedom may or may not add strength to shared life.
ALSO GROWS
oikodomē: A building, or the act of building up.
οἰκοδομή
This noun carries the same house-building image, showing that “edify” names constructive work rather than mere approval.
oikodomos: A builder.
οἰκοδόμος
The builder belongs to the same word family, making visible the people and shared life that the verse’s building image concerns.
THE PATTERN
Permission does not establish an action’s value; its contribution to shared life is also visible in whether it builds.
Through wisdom a house is built, and through discernment it is set firm.So then let us pursue the things that move toward wholeness, and the things that build one another up.Let no rotten word come out of your mouth, but whatever is good for building up where there is need, that it may give favor to those who hear.THE THREAD
Now as touching the things slaughtered for idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.“Edifieth” here is οἰκοδομεῖ (oikodomei, builds up), the same Greek verb as in 1 Corinthians 10:23. Its contrast, knowledge can inflate, while love builds, shows that the verse’s building image concerns what an action leaves standing in shared life.
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