Lawsuits Among Believers
6 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? 2 Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men [The words men who have sex with men translate two Greek words that refer to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts.] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Sexual Immorality
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[Gen. 2:24 ] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[Or in the Spirit]
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
NOTES:
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Letter to the 1 Corinthians
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6:1–11 Christians at Corinth are suing one another before
pagan judges in Roman courts. A barrage of rhetorical questions (1 Cor 6:1–9)
betrays Paul’s indignation over this practice, which he sees as an infringement
upon the holiness of the Christian community.
6:2–3 The principle to which Paul appeals is an
eschatological prerogative promised to Christians: they are to share with
Christ the judgment of the world (cf. Dn 7:22, 27). Hence they ought to be able
to settle minor disputes within the community.
6:9–10 A catalogue of typical vices that exclude from the
kingdom of God and that should be excluded from God’s church. Such lists (cf. 1
Cor 5:10) reflect the common moral sensibility of the New Testament period.
6:9 The Greek word translated as boy prostitutes may refer
to catamites, i.e., boys or young men who were kept for purposes of
prostitution, a practice not uncommon in the Greco-Roman world. In Greek
mythology this was the function of Ganymede, the “cupbearer of the gods,” whose
Latin name was Catamitus. The term translated sodomites refers to adult males
who indulged in homosexual practices with such boys. See similar condemnations
of such practices in Rom 1:26–27; 1 Tm 1:10.
6:12–20 Paul now turns to the opinion of some Corinthians
that sexuality is a morally indifferent area (1 Cor 6:12–13). This leads him to
explain the mutual relation between the Lord Jesus and our bodies (1 Cor 6:13b)
in a densely packed paragraph that contains elements of a profound theology of
sexuality (1 Cor 6:15–20).
6:12–13 Everything is lawful for me: the Corinthians may
have derived this slogan from Paul’s preaching about Christian freedom, but
they mean something different by it: they consider sexual satisfaction a matter
as indifferent as food, and they attribute no lasting significance to bodily
functions (1 Cor 6:13a). Paul begins to deal with the slogan by two
qualifications, which suggest principles for judging sexual activity. Not
everything is beneficial: cf. 1 Cor 10:23, and the whole argument of 1 Cor 8–10
on the finality of freedom and moral activity. Not let myself be dominated:
certain apparently free actions may involve in fact a secret servitude in
conflict with the lordship of Jesus.
6:15b–16 A prostitute: the reference may be specifically to
religious prostitution, an accepted part of pagan culture at Corinth and
elsewhere; but the prostitute also serves as a symbol for any sexual
relationship that conflicts with Christ’s claim over us individually. The
two…will become one flesh: the text of Gn 2:24 is applied positively to human
marriage in Matthew and Mark, and in Eph 5:29–32: the love of husband and wife
reflects the love of Christ for his church. The application of the text to union
with a prostitute is jarring, for such a union is a parody, an antitype of
marriage, which does conflict with Christ’s claim over us. This explains the
horror expressed in 1 Cor 6:15b.
6:18 Against his own body: expresses the intimacy and depth
of sexual disorder, which violates the very orientation of our bodies.
6:19–20 Paul’s vision becomes trinitarian. A temple: sacred
by reason of God’s gift, his indwelling Spirit. Not your own: but “for the
Lord,” who acquires ownership by the act of redemption. Glorify God in your
body: the argument concludes with a positive imperative to supplement the
negative “avoid immorality” of 1 Cor 6:18. Far from being a terrain that is
morally indifferent, the area of sexuality is one in which our relationship
with God (and his Christ and his Spirit) is very intimately expressed: he is
either highly glorified or deeply offended.
BACK TO:
Letter to the 1 Corinthians
The Online Bible Study for More Topics
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