Christians love a good debate on freedom. Can I drink? Can I play sport on Sunday? Can I attend a Muslim wedding? In Corinth, the church had questions about their freedom – many of them about food sacrificed to idols – but Paul’s answer isn’t a checklist of do’s and don’ts. Instead, he gives us a guiding principle that applies to everything in the Christian life. It is, in a sense, the universal, unifying principle of everything for all Christian behaviour. It is what we might call, ‘The Jurassic Park Principle’.

In that film, after all the wheels have come off and everything has gone wrong, the character Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, utters the film’s most famous line:

You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could, you didn’t stop to think if you should.

That is the principle that Paul cites long before that film was ever made: just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. This is the Jurassic Park principle of Christian freedom and Paul unpacks what it means for the Christian life.

Love over rights

Paul is pro-freedom. He agrees with the Corinthians when they say: “Everything is permissible.” But then he challenges them:

• “Not everything is beneficial.”
• “Not everything builds up.”
• “No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.”

In other words, just because you’re free to do something doesn’t always mean you should. There’s that governing Jurassic Park Principle.

That doesn’t mean you never express your freedom. Paul isn’t saying the Christian life is all restriction and abstinence. He’s saying that love trumps freedom. Our love for others is more important than the full expression of our freedom. Freedom may say we can but love may say we shouldn’t.

Gospel-clarity over freedom

Paul’s guiding principle is this: love trumps freedom. That means sometimes we choose not to use our freedom because it could harm someone else, particularly in the faith.

If drinking alcohol might lead another believer back into debilitating and gospel-denying alcoholism, don’t drink. If watching certain media confuses another Christian concerning the gospel, don’t watch it around them. If attending a religious event will make other people think ours is just one God among many others to be added to an existing pantheon, or that this religion is just as good as following Jesus, it may be better not to go.

It’s not about legalism – it’s about love.

Your freedom should never come at the cost of another person’s faith. If your freedom will lead another believer to fall away from Jesus, love limits your freedom. If your freedom will encourage an unbeliever to continue in unbelief or lead them to believe Jesus affirms gospel-denying things, love limits your freedom.

Glorifying God is the goal

Nevertheless, Christian freedom is real and it should be fully enjoyed where it doesn’t confuse the gospel or harm others.

• Paul tells believers they are free to buy meat in the market – even if it was offered to idols – because idols are meaningless.
• He says they are free to eat with unbelievers without concern, unless it creates confusion about the gospel.

Christian living isn’t about abstinence and asceticism, it’s about glorifying God. When God put Adam and Eve in Eden, he gave them a whole world to enjoy. He gave only one restriction: among every tree in the garden, every other food to eat and every thing to be enjoyed, God said do not eat from one. How would Adam and Eve have glorified God? By avoiding the one thing he told them not to do and fully enjoying everything else he made for them to enjoy.

No parent is pleased when they buy their child a gift that they thank them for but refuse to enjoy. It’s too special, too holy, too good to touch. We’ll just ‘thank you’ over and over again but not actually touch the thing itself. Not only would it be odd, it would be deeply frustrating as a parent. You buy the gift for the children to enjoy and you get joy out of watching your children enjoy it! God is no different. He made a world for us to enjoy and we glorify him when we actually enjoy the good gifts he gives to us. The goal of the Christian is not to limit us, but to glorify God and enjoy him (and, by extension, his stuff) forever!

But of course, glorifying God means enjoying his good gifts, but enjoying them responsibly. Wine is a good gift from God, but stops being good when it has no limits. Food is a good gift from God, but stops being good when it has no limits. Sex is a good gift from God, but stops being good when… well, you get the picture. God is glorified most when we fully enjoy his good gifts within the good limits he designed them to be enjoyed within.

And so, if drinking alcohol causes no damage to others – enjoy God’s good gift and drink with thanks to God. If eating halal food won’t imply that we think Allah is real or Mohammad is a prophet – enjoy a meal with your Muslim friends. If attending a an event won’t in any way communicate religious endorsement, go knowing that everybody is aware of your views and it may open up doors for the gospel.

Freedom isn’t a problem. Jesus is pro-freedom. The issue is when freedom is misapplied.

Freedom that glorifies God

Paul’s final word sums it all up:

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”

God is glorified when we limit our freedom for love. But He’s also glorified when we rightly enjoy the world He has given us. He doesn’t say ‘don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch’. Rather, he says freely enjoy but love others well.

The model for us, as ever, is Jesus. He gave up His freedom for our salvation. He gave up the rights that were his in Heaven for our sake. At the same time, he also celebrated, feasted, and lived joyfully under the Father’s will.

Paul, as we know, sometimes gave up his rights for the sake of the gospel and, at other times, took them up for the sake of the gospel. Jesus similarly gave up his rights in Heaven for our sake. He gave up his position to become lowly. He gave up the right to remain comfortable to endure the agony of a cross. At the same time, Jesus enjoyed things during his time on earth. He went to weddings, took part in feasts and festivals, ate and drank with his friends. The gospel isn’t about restriction, but freedom. But it is a freedom that is second to love. It is a freedom that says, just because I can doesn’t mean I should for the sake of the gospel and out of love for others.

The highest goal

Christian freedom isn’t about asserting your rights. Nor is it about restrictive rules. It’s about the glory of God. We glorify God when we enjoy his good gifts, when we obey him and when we love others well. The key is knowing when to enjoy our freedom, when God limits our freedom himself and when it is best to limit our freedom ourselves out of love for others.

This is the tricky thing about principles rather than rules. There is no hard and fast list of dos and don’ts. They require thinking about and applying in different contexts. What might be loving in one setting may be unloving elsewhere; what we are free to do in one place we might determine is better limited in another. These are all things we must think through ourselves.

Nevertheless, remember the Jurassic Park principle. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Love for others must trump the full expression of our freedom. At the same time, being free must mean you can actually enjoy your freedom.

All that means the same action in different contexts may or may not be godly. In some settings, you may fully enjoy your freedom whilst somewhere else, out of love for others, you may choose to limit yourself. Which is why Paul puts it in this all-encompassing way: whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.