Moses Taiwo

Paul's Rhetoric in 1 Corinthians 10:29b-30 Moses Taiwo

The two questions Paul asked in 1 Cor 10:29b-30 are so intriguing that they must have puzzled the apostle himself, and his readers. This is because the manner these questions were introduced into the discussion of food offered to idols in 1 Cor 8-10 appear neither suitable to the context nor directly answered by Paul's explanations that precede and follow. However, this book maintains that Paul deliberatively introduced the two rhetorical questions into the discourse as a tour de force to disarming the strong in their wrong use of freedom, and a raison detre for choosing not to eat idol food becasue of his concerns for the weak brother. The underlying principle is that, according to Paul, all things are permissible for me but all things do not benefit; all things are permissible for me but all things do not uplift" (1 Cor 10:23). "