In chapter six, Paul addresses two significant issues affecting the Corinthian church, beginning with the troubling practice of believers taking one another to civil courts to settle disputes. He expresses concern that Christians would bring their conflicts before secular judges rather than resolving matters within the church community, suggesting that this reflects a failure to live out the values and wisdom that should characterize followers of Christ. Paul argues that believers, who will one day share in judging even greater matters, should be capable of resolving smaller disputes among themselves.
The chapter then shifts to address issues of sexual immorality and the broader question of how believers should view their own bodies. Paul reminds the Corinthians that while some behaviors might be technically permissible, not everything that is permitted is beneficial or wise. He strongly emphasizes that the body is not meant for sexual immorality but belongs to the Lord, and that believers have been bought at a great price through Christ’s sacrifice.
The chapter concludes with a powerful theological statement about the body being a temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul urges the Corinthians to honor God with their bodies, recognizing that their physical existence is not separate from their spiritual life but is deeply connected to their identity as people who belong to God.
Chapter 6 (BBE)
1 How is it, that if any one of you has a cause at law against another, he takes it before a Gentile judge and not before the saints?
2 Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things?
3 Is it not certain that we are to be the judges of angels? how much more then of the things of this life?
4 If then there are questions to be judged in connection with the things of this life, why do you put them in the hands of those who have no position in the church?
5 I say this to put you to shame. Is there not among you one wise man who may be able to give a decision between his brothers?
6 But a brother who has a cause at law against another takes it before Gentile judges.
7 More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss?
8 So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers’ property.
9 Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,
10 Or is a thief, or the worse for drink, or makes use of strong language, or takes by force what is not his, will have any part in the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you; but you have been washed, you have been made holy, you have been given righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
12 I am free to do all things; but not all things are wise. I am free to do all things; but I will not let myself come under the power of any.
13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will put an end to them together. But the body is not for the desires of the flesh, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body:
14 And God who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead will do the same for us by his power.
15 Do you not see that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? how then may I take what is a part of the body of Christ and make it a part of the body of a loose woman? such a thing may not be.
16 Or do you not see that he who is joined to a loose woman is one body with her? for God has said, The two of them will become one flesh.
17 But he who is united to the Lord is one spirit.
18 Keep away from the desires of the flesh. Every sin which a man does is outside of the body; but he who goes after the desires of the flesh does evil to his body.
19 Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the Holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves;
20 For a payment has been made for you: let God be honoured in your body.
Important Verses
1 Corinthians 6:1 Paul questions why believers would take disputes against one another before secular courts instead of resolving them within the church community.
1 Corinthians 6:12 He introduces the principle that not everything permissible is truly beneficial, encouraging discernment rather than relying solely on personal freedom.
1 Corinthians 6:15 Paul explains that believers’ bodies are members of Christ, making immoral behavior incompatible with their identity in him.
1 Corinthians 6:19 This verse presents the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing that believers do not belong to themselves but to God.
1 Corinthians 6:20 The chapter closes with the call to glorify God with one’s body, recognizing that believers were bought at a price through Christ.
