Main news for 10 December 2025

These words, written by the apostle Paul for a concrete occasion, in connection with a dispute about food sacrificed to idols, nevertheless prove suitable for guidance in other cases as well. The apostle decisively leads our reflections out of the sphere of legalism ("permitted or forbidden") into the sphere of meaning ("why," "needed or not needed," "appropriate or inappropriate").

This approach corresponds to Christian human freedom, opens paths of creativity for a person, while not denying his responsibility before God. Besides, this approach is fruitful: indeed, it is impossible to spell out all potential situations of human life at the level of "permitted or forbidden." And the apostle Paul's approach can "work" in any situation, because we can always think about whether what I am about to do will bring me closer to the goal God has given me or not, whether it will become something by which I have "come under power," such being the literal meaning of the Greek word translated as "possess" or "have power." After all, a person can give power over himself only to God.