The Epistles · Chapter 6 of 16
1 Corinthians 6
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.
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.
1 Corinthians 6 in context
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.
Main themes of 1 Corinthians 6
1 Corinthians 6 (KJV)
1Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 4If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. 5I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? 6But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. 7Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? 8Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. 9Know 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 mankind, 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11And 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. 12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19What? 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? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Verses to carry 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
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”1 Corinthians 6:20
Thematic connection
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.
Questions 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.
Reflection
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 from 1 Corinthians 6
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