Idolatry

Paul reminds the Corinthians saints of the severe eternal consequences of sin and of the fact that when
they were saved, they were cleansed and delivered from their bondage to sin (6:9-11). He now lays down
a very important principle:
“All things are lawful for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “All things are lawful for me”—but I
will not be controlled by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12).
Paul cannot be saying here that everything is lawful. He is not saying, for example, “Murder is lawful,
and so is robbery and using cocaine.” He has just given a list of some of the sins which condemn the one
who persists in practicing them:
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-
10).
Certainly these things are not right! I believe that Paul is saying, “True, everything that is lawful I could
(in theory) practice within the law. I could drink alcohol, and I could smoke a cigarette.” The question the
Christian should ask is this, “Is this practice beneficial? Will it prove to be spiritually profitable?” Or, put
another way, “Will this practice bring me under bondage?” Just because I can do something (legally, or
biblically) does not mean that I should do it. Even marriage, Paul will soon show, is something that some
saints might choose to forego, for the sake of God’s kingdom.
In the remaining verses of chapter 6, Paul mentions some of the bodily appetites which we all have.
Humans desire and require nourishment. We should remember that both food and our bodies are temporal,
and thus temporary. Just being hungry is not a compelling reason to eat, especially if it is not profitable.
This is why our Lord refused to yield to Satan’s temptation to command stones to become bread:
Envy

In the first epistle, Paul had commended the Thessalonian believers for their faith (1:3), but a faith that
fails to grow becomes stale and idle or non-productive as we are warned in the epistle of James. Thus,
being concerned about the stability and growth of the Thessalonian’s faith, he sent Timothy to strengthen
and encourage them, while they continued to pray earnestly for their growth in faith (1 Thes. 3:1-10).
Thankfully, their faith had not only grown, but it had flourished and Paul, being encouraged by this
himself, sought to encourage them by this fact as well.
A growing and abundant faith is not only needed to handle the trials of life, but it is the fountain, the
source of faithfulness for showing love to others. Thus, the apostle quickly pointed to the love each of
them had for one another. “Both faith and love were growing like well-fertilized plants, beyond what
would have been normally expected. This was an exceptional church.”7

The Characteristics of Coveting

As we search the Scriptures we learn that the coveting which is forbidden in the Tenth Commandment
(and elsewhere in the Bible) has certain characteristics, which make it possible to identify this evil in it
various forms:
(1) Coveting is a desire. It is a matter of the heart, an attitude, a matter of strong emotion. As such,
coveting is somewhat unique among the evils condemned by the commandments. The evils prohibited by
the other commandments were such that one could be tried and found guilty of committing a certain act.
This act was based upon attitudes, of course, but a society cannot convict people for what they are
thinking and feeling. The final commandment is a forbidden feeling, as it were, not a forbidden act.
(2) Coveting is a strong desire.58 Coveting is a desire, a motivation so strong that the one who covets
something will have it if there is any way possible to do so, even if it involves evil. Coveting is a
consuming desire, which is highly competitive. It is an evil attitude, which will likely lead to an evil act.
Coveting is a kind of conspiracy in one’s soul to commit evil.
(3) The coveting which the Tenth Commandment condemns is the desire to have something which
one does not have, or which one does not think he or she has enough of. In brief, coveting wants
more. It is not content with what it already has, no matter how much that might be. As Habakkuk put it,
“He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied” (Hab. 2:5).
Ecclesiastes also describes the futility of the man who is discontent with what he has:
There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to
all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, “And for whom am I
laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?” This too is vanity and it is a grievous task (Ecc. 4:8).
(4) Coveting wants not only what one does not have, but what one cannot have. Coveting wants what
is forbidden, that which belongs to another and which cannot be obtained. It is possible, of course to buy
a neighbor’s animal, but not his wife. The assumption here, I believe, is that what we covet is what we
cannot have, that is, what our neighbor either cannot give up (like his wife, or his land), or what he will
not give up.
(5) Coveting is a deliberate desire, of which one is conscious, and for which one is responsible. The
coveting which this commandment forbids is one for which the individual is responsible. In effect, the
individual is held accountable for discovering the sin, and for dealing with it. This is necessary because
no other human being can know our thoughts. God thus holds us responsible for what we determine in our
hearts and minds.
(6) The coveting which the commandment prohibits is a well defined desire. Coveting must be
distinguished from lust. Lust is a general desire. Greed is a lust for money and possessions. Coveting is a
specific, focused desire, a desire to have a particular thing, which belongs to a particular person. Greed
may desire money or material things; coveting desires our neighbor’s car, or his house, or his wife.
Coveting is lust well defined and specifically focused. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you
shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or
anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exod. 20:17).
(7) Coveting is a selfish desire, which is willing to gain at the expense of others. The covetousness
which is condemned is that which wants what one’s neighbor has. This kind of covetousness is clearly
self-centered.
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it,
it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings, Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. Do not eat
the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies; For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to
you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And
waste your compliments (Prov. 23:4-8).
(8) Coveting is a devious desire that is complex and complicated, which is often well concealed. The
heart, we are told, is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). We must expect that covetousness,
which is a matter of the heart, is deceitful and deceptive, and that it may be well disguised.
(9) Covetousness is a detrimental, destructive, desire. One of the reasons why covetousness is
condemned is because of its consistently detrimental effects. There are several dimensions of this
destructive impact of covetousness. First, covetousness hinders the generosity which God requires of
His people.
“If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD
your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but
you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever
he lacks. Beware, lest there is a base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of
remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he
may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you. You shall generously give to him, and your
heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you
in all your work and in all your undertakings (Deut. 15:7-10).
So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand
your previously promised bountiful gift, that the same might be ready as a bountiful gift, and not affected
by covetousness (2 Cor. 9:5).
The one who is covetous wants more, and thus he or she will certainly not be inclined to give of what
they already have. Covetousness is the number one enemy of generosity. Think about it for a minute. How
many occasions have you had to give to someone in need, and as you were thinking about doing so, into
your mind comes a specific item that you have always wanted, which you know you will have to give up
if you are generous. Covetousness thinks of generosity as a threat to the accumulation of things which are
strongly desired.
20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey,
or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”