Paul continues to systematically deal with the sin in the church in Corinth. The Corinthians were guilty of divisions and contention, jealousy and strife, 1 Corinthians 1:11 / 1 Corinthians 3:3.
Furthermore, the Corinthians were guilty of tolerating sinful men who were named as members of their local congregation, 1 Corinthians 5:1-12. 1 Corinthians 6 examines the next problem in line. The Corinthian Christians were taking each other to human courts to sue each other.
Secondly, 1 Corinthians 6 exposes the sin of fornication that had existed among the brethren. Paul would not quit on these brethren. As a loving father, he would continue to expose all the dark deeds that may be presented before Jehovah in holiness.
We must consider this chapter in light of the cultural background of that time. The Greeks loved to go to court, and they took great pleasure in listening to court proceedings.
A very excitable people by nature, they found the cut and thrust of legal debate very exhilarating. In normal court proceedings, the two parties would select a third party, the arbitrator, for a private settlement. If this didn’t settle the matter, they would take it to court.
All persons over sixteen years of age were required by law to sit on juries. The first kind of court was known as the ‘forties’. If a case was not settled here, it went before a jury consisting of two hundred and one citizens. That is, if the sum of money involved was less than fifty.
If it were more than fifty, there would be a jury consisting of four hundred and one people. Some cases have been recorded where the jury consisted of one thousand to six thousand jury members. Thus, a person’s entire time could be taken up in the law court.
The Jews, however, did not have this problem. Their trials were held before the local elders in the Synagogues. In fact, the Jews were forbidden to use Gentile courts. If a Jew did this, he was considered guilty of blasphemy. It was because of this that the Romans permitted the Jews to settle certain matters for themselves, Acts 18:15.
Remember also that the Jews could have dealt with the case of Jesus, but because they sought the death sentence, it was necessary for them to go to a Gentile court. This reveals the depth of their hatred for the Lord.
1. The word ‘dispute’, in Greek, is ‘pragma’; this term was especially for lawsuits, 1 Corinthians 6:1.
1 Corinthians 6:2-3 is the first of six rhetorical questions Paul is going to ask: 1 Corinthians 6:9 / 1 Corinthians 6:15-16 / 1 Corinthians 6:19.
Paul stated the fact in the question. The 20th Century New Testament says, ‘Can it be that when one of you has a dispute with another, he dares to have the case tried before a heathen?’
2. Notice Paul calls them the ‘Lord’s people’, or ‘saints’, KJV, 1 Corinthians 6:1-2.
Paul is emphasising that Christians are fellow members of the Lord’s family. They do not belong to the World. Their ethical standards are completely different from those of pagans. Furthermore, in Greek Courts, lawsuits always involved oaths that were made in the name of pagan gods.
3. ‘Ungodly’, 1 Corinthians 6:1, and ‘unbelievers’, 1 Corinthians 6:6, this is the Greek word, ‘adikon’, which means ‘men not right with God’.
‘Unbelievers’, in Greek, is ‘apiston’, which means non-believer. Paul is not saying that they would not receive justice in Greek courts. He is insisting that they should not be there!
Notice in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, ‘the saints will judge the world’, ‘we are to judge angels. There are four explanations that are offered for a supposed contradiction between 1 Corinthians 6:2 and 1 Corinthians 5:12.
1. The world is first to be judged by the Lord, and then His people act as assessors.
2. Somehow, the disciples will share in giving judgement.
3. Christian conduct is itself an ongoing judgement of the world.
4. Christians to become magistrates and judges.
Perhaps Paul was quoting their own proud boast. 1 Corinthians 6:2-4 may be an appeal to the ‘knowledge’ of the Corinthians. In their conceit, maybe they had boasted of their expectation of becoming the judges of men and angels. Paul says, if you expect to do this, surely you can settle your disputes among yourselves!
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Earlier, Paul wrote that the Corinthians were judging him, 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 / 1 Corinthians 4:7, which was inappropriate in view of God’s final judgment. Now they were judging in the courts, which was inappropriate since the saints will participate in eschatological judging.’
What did Paul mean in suggesting that Christians will ‘judge the world’ and also ‘angels’? Paul introduces doctrinal questions to argue why litigation should stay within the local church. He asks the question, ‘do you not know’, 1 Corinthians 6:2. This is the first of six times Paul asks this in chapter six. Paul’s appeal in the context here is an argument to not go to court with a fellow believer.
The idea of saints judging the world refers to a future judgment. This is an argument from a major premise to a minor premise. In other words, Paul is asking, if Christians will one day judge the world, cannot Christians judge a small issue between two Christians on earth? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
The word ‘if’ means ‘if, and it is true,’ so it’s a fact that Christians will one day judge the world. The sense likely is the same as that conveyed in Hebrews 11:7, where Noah is said to have ‘condemned’, ‘pronounced a sentence on’, the world.’ That is, by his obedient example, he stood in bold contrast to the disobedient world, hence, effectually condemning those people.
Paul is saying that believers will judge the world one day in the future. If they have this massive responsibility in the future, it’s only logical that they can judge on a much smaller scale an issue between two believers. Christians have the capacity to move beyond ‘my friend, right or wrong.’ Objectivity, this goes beyond subjective friendship or politics in the local church.
This isn’t easy to figure out exactly what Paul means here, but it seems like Paul is continuing to enhance the contrast between going before a public non-Christian court and going before the local church by indicating that Christians will judge angels. How many more things in this life!
Paul continues the argument from the greater to the lesser by arguing that if Christians will judge the higher being of an angel, he most certainly can judge a lesser being of a human.
Perhaps similarly, as in the case of Noah, Paul is suggesting that those who remain faithful to Christ, by their example, will condemn evil angels, who didn’t maintain their integrity, as well as the ungodly world, Matthew 25:41 / 2 Peter 2:4 / Jude 6.
Whatever all this means, don’t miss the main point of Paul’s argument. If the church is to be employed by God in ‘judging’ on such a grand scale, surely wise Christian people ought to be able to judge between brethren who are in conflict, rather than permitting such dissensions to proceed to lawsuits, and thus damaging the church’s influence in society.
Paul is reminding these Corinthian Christians that they, who know all about judging angels in the last day, how about judging some of these petty disputes you are disgracefully airing in the courts of the pagans!
And in your practice of resolving these little earthly matters, how is it that you set the pagan judges over such trivialities, such judges being of no account at all in the church, as they’re not members of it?
And this is why Paul exclaims, in 1 Corinthians 6:5, ‘Is there no wise man among you?’ What he is saying is that Christians ought to really follow the Jewish practice instead of, as he so bluntly describes it, a ‘going to the unrighteous’, 1 Corinthians 5:6.
Bruce, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Every Jewish community throughout the Roman Empire and beyond its frontiers had its own bet-din, its own competent machinery for the administration of civil justice within its own membership; the least that could be expected of a Christian church was that it should make similar arrangements if necessary, and not wash its dirty linen in public.’
What right has the ungodly to deal with the affairs of the righteous? There is a principle that has to be borne in mind. The mention of judgement in 1 Corinthians 6:6-13 naturally leads to teachings on this subject. Believers were involved in lawsuits before pagan judges.
Why do people go to court? They do it to assert or to demand their ‘rights’. What is Paul’s solution? He asks, ‘Why not suffer wrong?’ 1 Corinthians 5:7. It is much better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. If you follow the practice of the ‘unrighteous’, you are no better than the unrighteous, 1 Corinthians 6:8.
Moffatt, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Even to have lawsuits with one another is in itself a token of defeat. Why not let yourselves be wronged? But instead of that, you inflict wrong practices and frauds and that on members of the brotherhood!’
This chapter lays down a principle that is applicable today. ‘If someone has wronged me, what do I do?’ Matthew 18:15-20.
1. Pray for him.
2. Do good to him. If he is sick, visit him.
3. Show love for love’s sake. Never let the act of wrong done to you make you do an act of wrong to him.
Pride is insisting on your rights. If a brother with whom there is a problem is spiritually immature or weak, he may need discipline to try to settle the problem as Christians. He needs to face his responsibilities. And you may have to suffer wrong, as Matthew 19:20 / Revelation 3:2 reveals.
Vindication, you want to be seen as right! But one day, if you remain faithful, people will see that you are right because you will stand at the right hand of Jesus. By the fact that you are found to be righteous and vindicated, you will be.
According to Paul, the saint who takes legal action in a court of law against fellow saints has already suffered ‘defeat’, no matter what results from the lawsuit, Matthew 5:39-41. He has suffered the failure of love, fellowship, and brotherhood.
The Greek word for ungodly is the word ‘kikol’, as in 1 Corinthians 6:1, but the word ‘wrongdoers’, the same word in Greek, applies to anyone who behaves in an unrighteous way, and there were those in the Corinthian church to whom Paul applies the word. Some at Corinth were persisting in an unrighteous warning that this could lead to final condemnation.
He then goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 6:9, ‘Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?’ Paul says they will not enter into the full or final experience of salvation, 1 Corinthians 15:50-51 / 1 Corinthians 15:53 / 2 Peter 1:5-11 / Acts 14:21-22. Therefore, behaving in such a manner puts your own soul in jeopardy.
Acro-Corinth had one thousand so-called ‘sacred’ temple prostitutes. The Emperor Constantine decreed that all the pagan temples must be handed over to the Christians, 326-327 AD. Helena, Constantine’s mother, was Christian. Constantine himself came to Britain and was in charge of the Roman army based in York.
There are many sins described throughout the Scriptures, all of which will determine our eternal fate if they haven’t been forgiven by the blood of Christ, Acts 2:38 / 1 John 1:9.
We should see sin as God sees sin. He hates sin, and He despises sin because sin separates us from Him and causes us to become spiritually dead, Isaiah 59:2 / Romans 6:23. It doesn’t matter what the sin is; if anyone hasn’t had their sins forgiven, they won’t receive eternal life.
Paul doesn’t mess around with his words here, especially when he uses the word ‘wrongdoers’, which is the Greek word ‘adikos’, also used in 1 Corinthians 6:1. Paul uses that word and applies it to anyone who behaves in an unrighteous way, 1 John 5:17.
In other words, there were some Christians in Corinth who were persisting in an unrighteous manner, and he warns those people that this unrighteous behaviour could lead to their final condemnation.
We don’t need to wonder what kind of unrighteous behaviour these Corinthian Christians were practising, because Paul now goes on to tell us exactly what is involved in unrighteous behaviour.
The sexually immoral, ‘pornos’, are those people who practice illicit sexual intercourse; this refers to all sexual sin, Galatians 5:19-21 / Ephesians 5:4-5 / Revelation 21:8.
The people who practice this sin think only of themselves; they only think about fulfilling their own sexual desires and pleasures, Matthew 5:32 / Matthew 19:9 / Acts 15:20 / Acts 15:29 / 1 Corinthians 5:1 / Ephesians 5:3 / Colossians 3:5 / 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Anyone who practices sexual immorality won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Idolaters, ‘eidololatres’ were simply those who worshipped idols. These were the Christians who created their own religion and their deities in order to fulfil their own desires, 1 Corinthians 10:14 / Colossians 3:5 / 1 Peter 4:3 / Revelation 21:8 / Revelation 22:15.
In Corinth, they worshipped Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility, and worshipping her consisted of sexual immorality. Anyone who practices idolatry won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Adulterers, ‘moichos’ were those who practised unlawful intercourse with the spouse of someone else. These were the Christians who broke their marriage vows to stay faithful to their husbands or wives by having sexual intercourse with anyone else other than their husband or wife, Matthew 5:27-28 / Matthew 5:32 / Mark 10:11. Anyone who practices adultery won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Men who have sex with men, ‘arsenokoites’, were those men who had sex with another male, homosexuals, this also includes lesbians, men who have sex with other women, and those who practice bestiality, that is, those who have sex with animals.
These were the Christians who practised unnatural sex with other people, Romans 1:24-27. Anyone who practices unnatural sex with another won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Thieves, ‘kleptes’, were those who stole from others. They were the Christians who lived in such a way that they didn’t work for a living; they lived off what they had stolen from others.
If someone steals from another person or even uses false information to gain more benefits from the government, they are a thief. Anyone who practices theft won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
The greedy, ‘pleonektes’ were those who had a materialistic spirit, Romans 1:27-32 / Colossians 3:5-7. They were the Christians who were just interested in gaining more material goods for themselves by any means, even if that meant hurting their neighbour in the process or ignoring other people’s feelings and needs, Ephesians 5:11. Anyone who practices greed won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Drunkards, ‘methusos’ were simply those who got drunk. In those days, drunkards received the Death Sentence if they were. 1. Drunk at night. 2. Drunk around the harbour, or in public baths. 3. If their wine contained less than 2 or 3 parts of water. Breakfast usually consisted of bread dipped in wine.
They were the Christians who drank alcohol simply to lose their senses. They had become addicted to alcohol and relied on it to help them through the day, rather than relying on God to help them through the day, 1 Corinthians 11:21 / 1 Timothy 3:3 / 1 Timothy 3:8. Anyone who continually gets drunk won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Slanderers, ‘loidoros’ were those who spoke against others; they were foul-mouthed people. These were the Christians who used abusive words to bring down others and raise their own personal agendas and opinions. Anyone who practices slander won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
Swindlers, ‘harpax’, were those who robbed with violence. These were the Christians who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. They make friends and see others as a means to make any kind of financial or material gain for themselves. Anyone who practices swindling won’t inherit the kingdom of God.
These are not the only sins mentioned where a person practising them won’t inherit the kingdom of God, Galatians 5:19-21 / Ephesians 5:3-5. Remember, the church began with converts from the synagogue, Acts 18:8, but Jews living in pagan countries had a high standard of morality. There were many converted pagans in the church.
1. In 1 Corinthians 6:11, Paul says, ‘some of you were’, not all, but some.
2. Now they are ‘washed’, ‘you washed yourselves clean’, but you let the Lord wash you clean, Acts 22:16 / Revelation 7:14.
3. Now they are ‘sanctified’, the word in Greek is ‘hagiazo’, and it means to set apart for God’s possession and use, saints, 1 Corinthians 1:1 / 2 Timothy 2:21.
4. Now they are ‘justified’, the Greek word is ‘dikaoo’, and it means to declare righteousness. The common legal word for ‘acquittal’.
Paul says that the church in Corinth WERE the practices of some of those people before they became Christians, 1 Corinthians 6:11. He says the same to the church in Galatia, Galatians 4:3 and Ephesus, Ephesians 5:8.
The truth is, we’re all recovering sinaholics, we’ve all got our past, and we’ve all got our baggage, and we’ve all got our struggles. Some sins are more obvious than others, but we all have them, and we all need to remind ourselves that it shouldn’t surprise us if the church is full of sinaholics; it’s a hospital for the sinfully sick.
There are a few people who want to justify and excuse their sinful behaviour by telling us that they can’t help who they are, they were born that way. We know that no one is born a sinner, we choose to sin, we learn it from others.
But to justify our sinful behaviour by saying ‘I can’t help it, that’s just the way I was born’, is as logical as saying ‘I’m going to rob a bank because I was born a thief’ or ‘I’m going to kill someone because I was born a murderer’.
The point is, if people are going to use that argument to defend their behaviour, then they can’t argue against anyone else who practices any of the sins listed above, because they will argue the same.
If people are born adulterers, drunkards and liars, etc., then Paul wouldn’t be able to tell them, they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. The sad truth is that God’s Word clearly tells us that if anyone is involved in any sin, then that sin will lock that person out of heaven forever, Revelation 22:15.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Paul’s point in this whole section, 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, was that genuine Christians should not continue in or return to the sinful practices that mark unbelievers. We should become what we are because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. This appeal runs throughout the New Testament and is latent in every exhortation to pursue godliness. It is especially strong in this epistle. Rather than assuming that believers will not continually practice sin, the inspired writers constantly warned us of that possibility.’
1 Corinthians 6:12 tells us it’s never lawful to sin. Greeks considered the body a tomb or the shackles of the soul. They believed that they should let it fulfil its appetites. If hungry, let it eat! If it experiences a sexual craving, indulge in it. In the Christian view, your body belongs to Christ.
Barclay, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Greeks always looked down on the body. There was a proverbial saying, ’The body is a tomb.’ Epictetus said, ’I am a poor soul shackled to a corpse.’
Paul moves on to discuss two subjects that were part and parcel of pagan worship. The offering of sacrifices to idols and the practice of immorality. He discusses both of these matters in the context of Christian liberty.
It is almost certain, because of the inverted commas used by the translators, that Paul is repeating something that someone else has said. Someone is saying, ‘all things are lawful.’
‘Very well!’ Paul says, ‘but not all things are helpful’, 1 Corinthians 6:12. And you are telling me now that God made food for the stomach, and the stomach for the food? That’s perfectly true, Mark 7:19. And God is going to destroy them both, the food and the stomach! 1 Corinthians 6:13.
It may even be that there were people in Corinth who were quoting something that Paul had himself said at some time, and they were now saying, ‘You taught us that! You said we are free from the law.’
Fee, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Freedom is not to be for self but for others. The real question is not whether an action is ’lawful’ or ’right’ or even ’all right,’ but whether it is good, whether it benefits. Truly Christian conduct is not predicated on whether I have the right to do something, but whether my conduct is helpful to those about me.’
They were practising the theory which is the basis of the doctrine of ‘Once Saved, Always Saved.’ This is the doctrine that, in effect, says, ‘it doesn’t matter what we do. Once in grace, always in grace!’ But even the statement itself, ‘I have the right to do anything’, is false.
There are clearly unlawful things. Those who believed this were taking the freedom that Paul preached, and declared that they were not bound to the Jewish law and were applying it to everything, even to immorality.
Paul now says, You are right in the case of eating meat. You may eat it, or you may leave it alone. But immorality is a different matter. Yes, your stomach was intended to eat meat, but your body was not intended for immorality, 1 Corinthians 6:13.
The food that you eat doesn’t make you unclean, because your system is designed to cope with food. And remember, both body and food will perish when your body dies. God will destroy both, 1 Corinthians 6:13.
But immorality is different; it is not just like taking a meal, because God did not design the body for immorality, 1 Corinthians 6:13. At the very deepest level, sexual intimacy is much more than a physical thing. It is not just like a hunger for food; it has spiritual and moral significance.
Immorality, as the psychologist knows, affects the personality of the people involved; it defiles them. While your body and the food you take in will one day perish, your person, your personality, your soul, the real you, will not perish. So there is a world of difference between eating meat and practising immorality. You may exercise your freedom of choice in one, but not in the other.
Fee, in his commentary, says the following concerning 1 Corinthians 6:14.
‘The body of the believer is for the Lord because through Christ’s resurrection God has set in motion the reality of our own resurrection. This means that the believer’s physical body is to be understood as ’joined’ to Christ’s own ’body’ that was raised from the dead.’
The problem is immorality, 1 Corinthians 6:13-18. The prohibition is previously emphatically stated in 1 Corinthians 5:9-12 / 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Paul now gives the reasons for living purer, chaste lives.
The background to the problems is immorality related to the worship of pagan deities. The one thousand prostitutes from the temple, who were maintained, kept by the city of Corinth, who came down from Acro-Corinth into the city, were always ready for sexual activity, which was claimed to be ‘worship’ offered to their gods. Paul gives us the spiritual basis for holiness of life in 1 Corinthians 6:15.
J. B. Phillips’s version of 1 Corinthians 6:15-17 says the following.
‘Have you realised the almost incredible fact that your bodies are integral parts of Christ himself? Am I then to take parts of Christ and join them as a prostitute? Never! Don’t you realise that when a man joins himself with a prostitute, he makes with her a physical unity? For God says, ‘the two shall be one flesh’. On the other hand, the man who joins himself to God is one with Him in spirit.’
Prostitution, 1 Corinthians 6:15-16, is wrong because when a Christian has sexual relations with a prostitute, he or she takes what belongs to God, Genesis 2:24, and gives it to someone else. This is stealing from God, 1 Corinthians 6:17.
Prostitution affects the person spiritually and psychologically. Bad habits are those which are unnatural. There are other sins that Paul describes as ‘outside of the body’, overeating is a sin because it is eating in excess, and immorality is inherently sinful, 1 Corinthians 6:18.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘No other sin has this result. All other sins are outside or apart from the body in this sense. ‘Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, could be another incorrect Corinthian slogan that Paul proceeded to correct, 1 Corinthians 6:12-13.’
A baby craves food, not cigarettes! Old ideas, ‘churched’, sprinkled, child of God, member of the body of Christ and an inheritor of heaven. ‘Unchurched’, a child of the devil, a member of Satan, and an inheritor of hell. Being a Christian is being married to Christ; immorality violates that union, and so is unfaithfulness to the divine husband.
We should ‘flee from sexual immorality’, from the verb ‘pheugo’, which means to flee from, 1 Corinthians 6:18. The word is the present imperative tense, which indicates something to be doing now and to keep on doing! 1 Corinthians 10:14 / 2 Timothy 2:22.
In the temple, Aphrodite’s immorality was regarded as consecration. Paul says for the Christian, this is a dreadful violation of sanctity, 1 Corinthians 6:19. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, the individual Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:9-11 / Galatians 4:6 / 1 John 3:24 / 1 John 4:13. Christian conduct should reveal the presence of the Holy Spirit. Notice, ‘the Holy Spirit within you,’ 1 Corinthians 6:19. In 1 Corinthians 3:16, the church, congregation, is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following concerning the Holy Spirit.
‘He is a gift to us from God, 1 Thessalonians 4:8. He is the best gift God has given us thus far. Consequently, we have a moral obligation to the Giver. Moreover, because He indwells us, we belong to Him.’
You are the property of Christ, 1 Corinthians 6:19, ‘bought with a price,’ 1 Corinthians 6:20. The price He paid was the death of His only Son, Romans 3:24-25 / Ephesians 1:13 / Ephesians 1:7.
The perceptive answer to immorality is to ‘flee’ from it, 1 Corinthians 6:18. The perceptive answer is to use the body for purposes the master approves, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 / 1 Corinthians 6:12.
The Christian slave cannot accept bondage to any appetite, desire or object, because he is Christ’s absolute possession, 1 Corinthians 6:20. We should honour God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.