Written ~ 08-09-2024
Read 1 Corinthians Chapter Six
1 Corinthians 6
From the very first couple of verses in chapter six, Paul has some strong words for the Corinthian believers. The words he used in verse one, “How dare you…” shows a deep discontent over how the believers were handling their legal affairs between each other. By bringing their small disagreements to a Roman court they were relying on a secular judge to rule over godly matters, and Paul wasn’t having any of it.
1 Corinthians 6:1…
1 “When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers!”
Then for a brief moment Paul goes into some “end of days” terminology, see verses 6:2-3…
1 Corinthians 6:2-3…
2 “Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? 3 Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life.”
I consulted the “Expositor’s Bible Commentary” for more insight regarding what Paul said in these two verses, I really like its explanation…
- The believers (or saints in other translations) are those who are holy ~ those consecrated and set apart for God; the same word is translated “God’s people.” They are in sharp contrast with the “ungodly” or the unsaved. In saying that God’s people (believers) will judge the world, Paul is writing eschatologically (about “end of days” events). At the second coming of Christ, God’s people, who are coheirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), will reign and judge the world with Him in His millennial kingdom (Daniel 7:22; Matthew 19:28; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 20:4).
- Paul teaches that Christians will even judge angels, though he does not specify any details (verse 6:3). He probably means that Christians, when ruling in the future with Christ, will have a part in judging the devil and the fallen angels at the Second Coming (Revelation 19:19-20; 20:10). Alternatively, Paul may mean that Christians will preside with Christ over the angelic host.
So the point Paul is trying to make is why would believers take their personal disputes to a secular judge when we have the power of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty Himself to help us with such menial matters. Paul goes on to question the believer’s motives when taking their disagreements to a secular judge.
1 Corinthians 6:4-8…
4 “If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are not respected by the church? 5 I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues? 6 But instead, one believer sues another — right in front of unbelievers!
7 Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers.”
Paul has a pretty strong point wouldn’t you say? Why would we, as believers, cheat one another? Why would we allow a dispute to get to the point of needing arbitration? If we are following Scripture and living honorably before God, wouldn’t that considerably diminish any kind of legal dispute between Christians? I think the feeling of exasperation can be felt in Paul’s words. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, so, he needed to continue his reprimand.
In the next few verses Paul sets out to remind believers that by doing wrong, a person will not inherit the Kingdom of God. That’s why Salvation is necessary, to make us right with God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11…
9 “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people — none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
That’s quite a list of sinful acts, if someone says they have given their life over to the Lord they will not be able to continue in these types of behaviors. If they do, and only God knows their heart for sure, their Salvation should be questioned. Just like the man we read about in chapter five who was sleeping with his stepmother, he claimed to be a Christian and regularly attended the church meetings. But was he truly saved? Did he really have the heart of Jesus but still able to perform such an immoral act?
If a person claims to be a Christian but is quarreling with other believers and causing division within the church, what kind of witness is that for the unsaved world? If a person claims to be a Christian and is engaged in any one of those things Paul lists in verses 6:9-10, how can they not expect us to question their Salvation? When we call upon the Name of Jesus, we are saved, we are cleansed, we have become a new person. The way we think, our actions, our behaviors, everything about us begins to change when the Holy Spirit resides within us!
For the remainder of chapter six Paul discusses sexual immorality and asks some questions that every believer must pay attention to. Since Paul had to write about such things it must have been a misconception in the church that sexual immorality didn’t “harm” anyone. The argument was that sexual relations (outside of marriage) was as natural as the stomach’s need for food. I am getting the sense that the believers in Corinth did not know the seriousness of sexual immorality and did not have the proper knowledge of the Scriptures to refrain from it. Let’s see how Paul quickly squashes those misconceptions and points them back to the Word of God.
1 Corinthians 6:12-14…
12 “You say, “I am allowed to do anything” — but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the dead by His power, just as He raised our Lord from the dead.”
So right away in verse 6:12, the believers were trying to convince themselves that they were allowed to do whatever they pleased as long as it did not overpower them. As long as they did not become slaves to whatever they were doing, everything was going to be ok. One of their arguments was that since food is made for the stomach and vice versa, what seemed obvious to them was that their bodies were made for sex, so they could do as they pleased. But Paul replies to those statements with God’s purpose for our bodies. Someday, when we get to heaven these human bodies will be done away with and we will receive heavenly bodies, our bodies have been made for the Lord! Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so will He do for us. Our bodies were made to give glory and honor to the Lord.
Paul continues…
1 Corinthians 6:15-17…
15 “Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
With sexual promiscuity ramping up in the world today, it’s no wonder there is a question about refraining from sexual immorality and its validity today, because the world’s point of view says, “everybody’s doing it, you can too.”
Waiting for marriage before engaging in sexual relations seems to be a thing of the past, even within the church! But the consequences are much greater than a lot of people want to admit. As a believer especially, we are not to use our bodies in an immoral fashion, so by uniting ourselves sexually through any other means besides marriage we have now united ourselves forever with whoever comes along. If our body and spirit is one with Christ, then we are also uniting Christ with that casual relationship or one night stand.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20…
18 “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
Remember, Paul is speaking to believers in this chapter, if there is this much confusion within the church about the affects sexual immorality has on your body, it really shouldn’t be a big surprise that non-believers are confused as well. The lines have been blurred. Many believers don’t seem to see anything wrong with living with each other before marriage or having multiple sexual partners. The world has progressed in such a way that the Scriptures have pretty much become obsolete when it comes to the matter of sexual impurity. Paul is saying very clearly that sexual immorality is a sin against our own bodies, but if we were to look deeper into the hearts of people, we would see that there just isn’t a big concern about it. With that type of attitude, each generation will learn to blur the lines of sexual immorality and promiscuity even further. And unfortunately, even kids and young adults being raised in a church environment are not immune to the downward spiral of sexual immorality. It is up to us, the believer and follower of Jesus Christ to bring the knowledge of the Scriptures back into the forefront of the world’s mind. If each generation faces a world in which the attitude that sexual immorality isn’t sin and isn’t wrong, then we need to start with our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren and teach them the Word of God! That means we need to know the Scriptures to teach the next generation how to present their bodies to the Lord with honor.
For the believer… we must realize our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Whatever activities we engage in, whether it is sexual or something else immoral, we are bringing the Lord with us, we are involving the Lord in whatever activities we are choosing. If we truly take that to heart and believe it, our behaviors will have to change.
In every Christian home we need the voice of Paul echoing these instructions from the Lord. In Romans 12:1-2 it says, “I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Past mistakes can be forgiven and wiped away. When our hearts are being transformed there needs to be evidence by the way we live that shows the world that Jesus Christ dwells within us. No longer are we to live as the world lives. We are to be set apart and stand firm on the Word of God. In Everything. No more blurred lines.
~AMEN ~