I don't see that I was saying that Paul believed that those things were lawful either. The quotation marks, if they are positioned correctly, suggest rather that Paul was responding to some one else's belief or statement, perhaps even a commonly held one in Corinth.Bootstrap wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 2:57 pm
In this case, I'm not sure I find the first part of these mashups convincing though. Whether or not temple prostitution was lawful according to Roman law, it was not lawful according to the Jewish law or to the new law written on our hearts. So I don't think Paul believed these things were lawful, I think he was quoting something people might think or say, a common aphorism from that time.
Perhaps it is easier to follow if it is paraphrased as we did earlier, "I can do anything I want". In the particular textual cross-reference we are looking at, "Jesus did not come to condemn the world, so there is no condemnation for anything I want do." In the other textual cross-reference, this ignores the last part of what He said to the adulterous woman, which more or less says that as a response to His forgiveness, she is to turn away from sin.
I have to leave for a bit again, but go ahead and comment if you wish.