1 Corinthians 6
6
Lawsuits Before Unbelievers.#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. 1How can any one of you with a case against another dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment instead of to the holy ones? 2#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. Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?#Wis 3:8; Mt 19:28; Rev 20:4. 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? Then why not everyday matters? 4If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters, do you seat as judges people of no standing in the church? 5I say this to shame you. Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough to be able to settle a case between brothers? 6But rather brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers?
7Now indeed [then] it is, in any case, a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?#Mt 5:38–42; Rom 12:17–21; 1 Thes 5:15. 8Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers. 9#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. Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes#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. nor sodomites#15:50; Gal 5:19–21; Eph 5:5. 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.#Ti 3:3–7.
Sexual Immorality.#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). 12“Everything is lawful for me,”#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. but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is lawful for me,” but I will not let myself be dominated by anything.#10:23. 13“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both the one and the other. The body, however, is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; 14God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.#Rom 8:11; 2 Cor 4:14.
15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ’s members and make them the members of a prostitute?#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: love of husband and wife reflect 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. Of course not!#12:27; Rom 6:12–13; 12:5; Eph 5:30. 16[Or] do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For “the two,” it says, “will become one flesh.”#Gn 2:24; Mt 19:5; Mk 10:8; Eph 5:31. 17But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.#Rom 8:9–10; 2 Cor 3:17. 18Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body.#Against his own body: expresses the intimacy and depth of sexual disorder, which violates the very orientation of our bodies. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple#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. of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?#3:16–17; Rom 5:5. 20For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.#3:23; 7:23; Acts 20:28 / Rom 12:1; Phil 1:20.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
1 Corinthians 6
6
The Report About Lawsuits
1When one of you is in a dispute with another believer, how dare you take them to court to be judged by ungodly people! Why don’t you ask the Lord’s people to help you settle it? 2Don’t you know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? Since you’re going to do that, don’t you think you can judge small cases? 3Don’t you know that we’re even going to judge angels? We should certainly be able to judge the things of this life! 4So if you’re in a dispute with someone, should you ask people that the church doesn’t even respect to settle it? Of course not! 5You should be ashamed. Is it possible that none of you are wise enough to settle disputes between believers, 6so that they’re taking each other to court instead, in front of unbelievers?
7Just by getting into a lawsuit with another believer, you’ve already lost. Wouldn’t it be better to be treated wrongly instead? Wouldn’t it be better just to be cheated? 8Instead, you’re cheating and doing wrong yourselves, and you’re doing it to your own brothers and sisters. 9Don’t you know that people who do wrong won’t inherit God’s kingdom? Don’t be deceived. People who commit sexual sins, or who worship idols or commit adultery, or men who sleep with other men, 10or thieves or greedy people, or those who are often drunk or tell lies or cheat, will not inherit God’s kingdom. 11Some of you used to do things like that. But you were washed and made holy and right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Report About Sexual Sins
12Some of you are saying, “I have the right to do anything.” That may be true, but not everything is helpful. If you say, “I have the right to do anything,” you should also say, “But I won’t be controlled by anything.” 13Some of you are saying, “Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is meant for food, and God will destroy both of them.” But you can’t say the same thing about the body and sexual sins. The body is meant for the Lord, and the Lord is meant for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us up too. 15Don’t you know that your bodies are part of Christ himself? Should I take a part of Christ and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16Don’t you know that when you have sex with a prostitute, you become one with her in body? Scripture says, “The two will become one.” 17But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one with him in spirit.
18So keep far away from sexual sins. All the other sins a person commits are outside the body. But if a person commits sexual sins, those are sins against their own body. 19Don’t you know that together you are a body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you? You have received the Spirit from God. You don’t belong to yourselves; 20you were bought with a price. So honor God together as one body.
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