1 Corinthians 6
Stay away from lawsuits and sex sins
Take Your Lawsuit to Church
1How dare you take one of your fellow believers to court over a legal disagreement. You are going to ask an unbeliever to settle your dispute when you could have asked believers to help you reach a settlement? 2Don’t you know that one day the believers will judge this world? If we are capable of doing that, what makes us incapable of trying minor cases like an argument between two people?3Hasn’t anyone told you that we will one day judge the angels. Come on, don’t you think we can settle the everyday squabbles we have with each other? 4So when you have some of those common legal disputes, are you really going to take those cases to judges who don’t have anything to do with the church?
5Shame on you! You don’t have anyone in the church who is savvy enough to settle a disagreement between fellow believers? 6So, you’re okay with one believer taking another believer to court and then airing the complaints to unbelievers? 7If you have a lawsuit like that, among believers, you’ve already lost the case. Instead of going to court, why not just accept the fact that you were treated badly? And if you were cheated, why not accept that as well, and then move on? 8But the fact is that you cheat and mistreat your own fellow believers.
These Folks Aren’t Citizens of God’s Kingdom
9Don’t you know that people who behave badly aren’t going to inherit any part of the kingdom of God? [1] That includes sex sinners, people who worship idols, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, 10thieves, greedy people, drunks, crooks, and folks who lie about others. [2] Don’t get tricked into believing otherwise. 11Some of you committed those kinds of sins. But you were washed clean and spiritually purified. Everything was made right between you and God. All of that happened in the name of our leader, Jesus the Messiah, and through the work of God’s Spirit.Your Body Doesn’t Belong to You Anymore
12“I’m free indeed to do as I please.” [3]But not everything I’m free to do would be helpful.
“I’m free indeed to do as I please.”
But I won’t get enslaved by anything I’m free to do.
13“Food is for the stomach, and stomach is for the food.” [4]
But God will get rid of them both.
The body is not for sex sins.
The body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body.
14God raised our leader. And God in his power will raise us too. 15Don’t you know that your bodies are linked to the Messiah? Should we link those bodies to a prostitute too? Absolutely not! 16Don’t you know that when you link yourself to a prostitute, the two of you become one body? That’s what the Bible says, “The man and woman become part of each other—two people, yet one.” [5] 17But the person who links to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.
18Run away from sex sins. Every other sin a person commits takes place outside the body. But people who commit sex sins are sinning against their own body.
Your Body Isn’t Yours Anymore
19Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you know that he lives inside you and that he came to you from God? Don’t you know that you don’t belong to yourself anymore? 20God owns you, and he paid a high price for you. Honor God with your body.Footnotes
The “kingdom of God” means more than just heaven. It is wherever souls serve him, whether it is in heaven or on earth. See also 1 Corinthians 15:50.
See also 1 Timothy 1:9-10.
Many Bible scholars say Paul probably was quoting a popular saying. It may also have been a saying that some fake Christian teachers were using to justify their bad behavior.
Many scholars say Paul probably was quoting another popular saying.
Paul was quoting Genesis 2:24.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Paul tells Christians in Corinth not to take their legal disputes into secular courts where they “ask an unbeliever to settle your dispute” (1 Corinthians 6:1). Do you think Paul intended that advice for Christians everywhere, for all time?
- 2
Think about some of the bad things Christians do to each other that could lead to a lawsuit. Car crash. Personal injury. Mismanagement of our investments. Dyeing our hair pink. Now weigh that against the advice Paul gave Christians in Corinth: “Instead of going to court, why not just accept the fact that you were treated badly?” (1 Corinthians 6:7). If you got a chance to discuss this matter with Paul, what would you say?
- 3
In 1 Corinthians 6:12-13, Paul seems to be taking a couple of popular sayings and using them to make a point. As you read these verses, what does it sound like Paul is trying to say?
- 4
LIFE APPLICATION. Paul said, “People who behave badly aren’t going to inherit any part of the kingdom of God.” Then he added, “That includes sex sinners, . . . homosexuals” (1 Corinthians 6:9). There’s a lot of disagreement among Christians about how to respond to what Paul said about homosexuality. What are some of the arguments you have heard people make on both sides of the discussion?
- 5
LIFE APPLICATION. Paul says, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . Honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). How do you think we can do that?
