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1 Corinthians 6
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1 Corinthians 6
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Key passages
Historical and literary context
Paul wrote from Ephesus around AD 54 or 55 to a church in Roman Corinth, a commercial city where litigation was a normal way for the well-off to pursue advantage and where the courts favored the wealthy, so the lawsuits were probably rich members suing poorer ones. Corinth's reputation for sexual license was old enough that "to Corinthianize" had meant to fornicate; temple prostitution belongs to the Greek city's legend more than to Paul's day, but ordinary prostitution was legal and unremarkable at dinner parties. The slogans Paul quotes in verses 12 and 13 seem to be the Corinthians' own, perhaps drawn from his teaching on freedom. Jewish communities in the empire settled disputes internally, which is the model Paul assumes.
How the chapter unfolds
Verses 1 to 8 concern lawsuits: the shame of pagan courts, the saints' future judgment of the world and angels, the absence of a wise arbiter, and the better way of accepting wrong. Verses 9 to 11 list those who will not inherit the kingdom and announce the Corinthians' washing, sanctification, and justification. Verses 12 to 14 answer the slogans with the limits of freedom and the body's destiny in resurrection. Verses 15 to 17 argue from union with Christ against union with a prostitute. Verses 18 to 20 command flight from immorality and ground it in the body as the Spirit's temple, bought at a price, to be used for God's glory.
Why this chapter matters
"Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit" and "you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God with your body" are among the New Testament's most influential statements about the body, the basis of Christian sexual ethics and of the conviction that what one does physically matters to God. "Such were some of you" in verse 11 has been a text of hope for converts of every kind. The passage on lawsuits shaped the church's practice of internal arbitration and the expectation that Christians would rather suffer loss than fight in public. The vice list of verses 9 and 10 is much debated today, especially its terms for same-sex acts, and is central to that discussion.
Interpretive tension to watch
The two Greek words in verse 9 rendered "men who submit to or perform homosexual acts" are rare and disputed, and translations differ sharply; the passage sits at the center of present-day disagreement about sexuality. The prohibition on lawsuits raises the question of whether Christians may ever use civil courts, which most traditions answer by limiting Paul's words to disputes between believers over trivial matters. "Every other sin is outside the body" in verse 18 is hard to square with drunkenness and gluttony, and readers have proposed that Paul is again quoting a Corinthian slogan before correcting it.
Questions for this chapter
- Paul says it would be better to be cheated than to take a fellow believer to court. What would that cost you, and what would it protect?
- "That is what some of you were." How does remembering what you were change how you treat people who still are?
- If your body is a temple bought at a price, what does that say about how you use it, rest it, and give it?
Study with context
Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.
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1 Corinthians 6 is about two things the Corinthians were doing exactly as their neighbors did, and Paul's question both times is the same: do you not know who you are? The first is going to court. Believers were suing each other before the city's magistrates, and Paul is astonished. You are going to judge the world; you are going to judge angels; and you cannot find one person among you wise enough to settle a quarrel about money? Even if you could, he says, you have already lost by fighting at all; why not be wronged, why not be cheated, rather than do this in front of unbelievers? Then he lists the kinds of people who will not inherit the kingdom, the immoral and the idolaters and the greedy and the drunkards and the swindlers, and turns the list into grace: that is what some of you were, and you were washed, you were made holy, you were put right, in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit. The second thing is sex. Some Corinthians had a slogan, everything is permissible, and a theory, that the body was as morally neutral as the stomach. Paul grants the slogan and denies the theory. The body is not for immorality but for the Lord, and God, who raised Jesus, will raise it. Your bodies are parts of Christ; shall I take a part of Christ and join it to a prostitute? Run from that, he says, because your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives, and you do not own it. You were bought, and the price was high. So honor God with your body.