1 Corinthians 6
1 Corinthians Chapter 6, Explained
Paul rebukes believers for suing one another before pagan courts, reminding them that saints will judge the world and even angels. Better to suffer wrong than to shame Christ. He lists sins that exclude from the kingdom, then declares the Corinthians washed, sanctified, and justified. He confronts sexual immorality: their bodies are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit, bought with a price.
Key verses from 1 Corinthians 6
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
1 Corinthians 6:11
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
1 Corinthians 6:19
What happens in 1 Corinthians 6
Paul is astonished that believers drag disputes before unbelieving judges when the saints are destined to judge the world and even angels. Surely someone wise enough to settle small matters exists among them; going to law before unbelievers is already a defeat. Better to accept wrong and be defrauded than to wound the church's witness, yet they themselves defraud their own brothers.
He warns that the unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom and names such sins, then reminds them that some of them once lived that way but are now washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit. Turning to freedom, he insists that lawful does not mean beneficial and refuses to be mastered by anything. The body is for the Lord, not immorality; joined to Christ, believers must flee fornication and glorify God in bodies that are temples bought with a price.
Where 1 Corinthians 6 sits
Corinthian believers prized personal rights, wisdom, and freedom, and slogans like all things are lawful circulated freely among them. In a litigious Greco-Roman society, lawsuits between citizens were common and very public spectacles that displayed status and power. Paul addresses both their courtroom quarrels and their loose view of the body, grounding his correction in their new identity as those purchased and indwelt by God, no longer their own.
Themes in 1 Corinthians 6
Suffering wrong for the sake of witness. Paul would rather believers absorb loss than parade grievances before unbelievers. The kingdom's future dignity, judging the world and angels, exposes how petty such lawsuits are. Love that willingly bears injury testifies more powerfully than any verdict won at a brother's expense.
Washed, sanctified, justified. Against a grim list of excluding sins, Paul sets a triumphant declaration of what they now are. The Corinthians' past does not define them; grace has cleansed, set apart, and declared them righteous in Jesus' name and by the Spirit. Identity precedes and empowers the holiness he calls for.
The body belongs to the Lord. Freedom is not license. The body is not made for immorality but for the Lord, united to Christ and indwelt as a temple, purchased at great cost. Because believers are not their own, sexual holiness becomes an act of worship, glorifying God in the body itself.
How 1 Corinthians 6 points to Jesus
Twice Paul roots the body's holiness in Christ. Believers' bodies are members of Christ himself, so uniting them to immorality is unthinkable. And they are bought with a price, an unmistakable pointing to the cross where Jesus purchased his people with his own blood. Ownership has changed hands: they are no longer their own. This is why the same list of sins that once described them no longer defines them, for they are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit. Redemption is not merely legal pardon but total belonging that reaches into the physical body. The Spirit makes the body a temple; the price paid makes it Christ's own. So the body becomes a place to glorify God.
A thought to carry
Am I claiming rights and freedoms while forgetting I was bought? My body is a temple, purchased and indwelt. Today I can honor that ownership in one concrete choice, and I can choose to absorb a small wrong rather than defend myself at a brother's expense.
A prayer. Lord, I am not my own; you bought me with a price. Make my body your temple in truth. Teach me to suffer wrong for love's sake and to glorify you in all I do. Amen.
Want to sit with this chapter for yourself? Read all of 1 Corinthians 6 in the King James Version, then open The Living Bread to ask any question about it and pray with others, free.
Questions people ask about 1 Corinthians 6
Why is going to court against a fellow believer such a serious failure?
It exposes the church's inner conflicts to unbelievers and treats those who share eternal destiny as mere adversaries. Paul says the very existence of such lawsuits is already a defeat, whoever wins. People appointed to judge the world and angels squabbling over money before pagan judges contradicts their calling. He urges them to prefer being wronged over damaging the fellowship and its witness.
What does it mean that we are not our own?
It means the body is not a private possession to use however desire dictates. Because Christ purchased believers at the cost of his life, and because the Spirit dwells within them like a temple, the body belongs to God. This reframes sexual purity not as mere rule keeping but as worship, using the very body God bought and inhabits to bring him glory.
Every chapter in 1 Corinthians
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