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1 Corinthians 6

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Believers Should Not Sue One Another 1–8

1
Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? ​
2
Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? ​
3
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life? ​
4
If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this life, do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church? ​
5
I say this to move you to shame. What, cannot there be found among you one wise man who shall be able to decide between his brethren,
6
but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
7
Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded? ​
8
Nay, but ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

The Unrighteous Will Not Inherit the Kingdom 9–11

9
Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, ​
10
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. ​
11
And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. ​

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Body 12–20

12
All things are lawful for me; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any. ​
13
Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall bring to nought both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body: ​
14
and God both raised the Lord, and will raise up us through his power. ​
15
Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. ​
16
Or know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? for, The twain, saith he, shall become one flesh. ​
17
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. ​
18
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. ​
19
Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; ​
20
for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Corinthians 6

Verse 1

go to law before the unjust — 'Dare' (tolmao) opens the rebuke. 'Go to law' is krino, to be judged, the verb that runs through vv.1–6. 'The unjust' (adikos) is the same adjective as 'the unrighteous' of v.9. For a quarrel between brothers, Matt 18:17 says 'tell it unto the church'.

Verse 2

the saints shall judge the world — 'Judge' is krino, and 'unworthy' (anaxios) occurs only here. The promise rests on Dan 7:22, 'judgment was given to the saints of the most High', and on Christ's word to the apostles that they would sit on thrones 'judging the twelve tribes of Israel' (Matt 19:28). 'Matters' is kriterion, a court of judgment ('judgmentseats', James 2:6).

Verse 3

we shall judge angels — Jude 6 speaks of angels who await judgment, 'reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day'. 'This life' is biotikos, belonging to ordinary living, found elsewhere only in Luke 21:34, 'cares of this life'. The argument is from the greater to the lesser: 'how much more' the affairs of daily life.

Verse 4

least esteemed in the church — 'Judgments' is the kriterion of v.2. 'Least esteemed' is exoutheneo, to treat as nothing, the verb of 1:28, 'things which are despised'. The verse is read as a command to appoint even the humblest believers, and as a question about setting up those the church counts as nothing. The rule behind it is stated in 5:12: 'do not ye judge them that are within?'

Verse 7

utterly a fault — Hettema, a loss or defeat, the word rendered 'diminishing' in Rom 11:12. 'Take wrong' is adikeo, formed from 'the unjust' of v.1, and 'defrauded' is apostereo, to rob, the 'Defraud not' of Mark 10:19. Christ gave the pattern: 'whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also' (Matt 5:39). Verse 8 says 'ye do wrong, and defraud'.

Verse 9

the unrighteous shall not inherit — The adjective is adikos again (v.1). 'Be not deceived' (planao) is the warning of 15:33 and Gal 6:7. Gal 5:19–21 ends a like list with 'shall not inherit the kingdom of God', and Eph 5:5 has 'whoremonger… covetous man, who is an idolater'. 'Abusers of themselves with mankind' (arsenokoites) occurs only here and in 1 Tim 1:10.

Verse 10

extortioners — The rest of the list: 'thieves', 'covetous' (pleonektes), 'drunkards', 'revilers' (loidoros) and 'extortioners' (harpax, a robber, the 'ravening' wolves of Matt 7:15). Chapter 5 names the same people for church discipline: 'a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner' (5:11). The verse repeats the exclusion of v.9.

Verse 11

such were some of you — Three verbs follow: 'washed' (apolouo, elsewhere only in Acts 22:16), 'sanctified' (hagiazo, as in 1:2, 'sanctified in Christ Jesus') and 'justified' (dikaioo). The washing is that of Titus 3:5, 'the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost'. All three are given 'in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God'.

Verse 12

brought under the power of any — 'Lawful' is exesti. 'Brought under the power' is exousiazo, to be mastered, from exousia, the 'power' of Rom 13:1. The first clause returns in 10:23, 'All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient', with 'edify not' beside it. 'Expedient' (sympheron) is what profits.

Verse 13

Meats for the belly — 'Meats' (broma) is food, the 'meat' of 3:2, and 'destroy' is katargeo, the verb of 2:6, 'come to nought'. God brings belly and food to an end, and the body 'is… for the Lord; and the Lord for the body'. 'Fornication' (porneia) is addressed in 1 Thess 4:3: 'this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication'.

Verse 14

will also raise up us — Two verbs: egeiro for Christ's resurrection and exegeiro, to raise out, for ours; the second occurs elsewhere only in Rom 9:17, 'raised thee up'. The pairing of Christ's rising and ours is made in 2 Cor 4:14, 'he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus', and Rom 8:11, 'shall also quicken your mortal bodies'.

Verse 15

the members of Christ — 'Members' (melos) is the word of 12:27, 'ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular', and of Eph 5:30, 'we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones'. 'God forbid' (me genoito) is used in 1 Corinthians only here. 'Harlot' is porne, the feminine counterpart of the 'fornicators' (pornos) of v.9.

Verse 16

one flesh — The quotation is Gen 2:24, 'shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh', which Christ also cites (Matt 19:5) and Paul applies to marriage in Eph 5:31. 'Joined' (kollao, to be glued to) is also the verb of v.17. The union of one flesh makes 'one body' with the one joined to it.

Verse 17

one spirit — The same verb, kollao, 'joined', now of the believer and the Lord, where v.16 had 'one body'. Christ prayed 'that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee' (John 17:21), and 12:13 says 'by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body'.

Verse 18

Flee fornication — Pheugo, the verb of 10:14, 'flee from idolatry', and of 2 Tim 2:22, 'Flee also youthful lusts'. 'Committeth fornication' (porneuo) is the verb of the noun in v.13. The verse puts 'every sin that a man doeth' outside the body and this sin 'against his own body'; v.19 says whose temple the body is.

Verse 19

the temple of the Holy Ghost — Naos, the sanctuary, the word of 3:16, where the church is God's temple; here it is said of the 'body', with the Spirit 'in you' as in Rom 8:9. 'Ye are not your own' is the ground of v.20; compare Ps 100:3, 'it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves'. 2 Cor 6:16 has 'ye are the temple of the living God'.

Verse 20

bought with a price — Agorazo, to buy in the market, with 'price' (time), the word rendered 'honour' in Rom 13:7. The same words stand in 7:23, 'Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men'. Peter names the price, 'the precious blood of Christ' (1 Pet 1:19), and Acts 20:28 says the church was 'purchased with his own blood'. 'Glorify' is doxazo, as in Rom 11:13.