Chapter Text
Lawsuits Among Believers
Flee Sexual Immorality
Summary
Paul rebukes the Corinthians for taking disputes against one another before pagan courts instead of resolving them within the church. He reminds them that the saints will judge the world and even angels. He warns that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, listing various sins, and reminds them that some of them were once such people but have been washed, sanctified, and justified. Paul addresses the misuse of Christian liberty, declaring that the body is for the Lord and is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Meaning
The Corinthian lawsuits reveal a church that has absorbed the competitive, litigious spirit of its surrounding culture. Paul challenges this by elevating the church's calling — those destined to judge the world and angels should surely be able to settle minor disputes among themselves.
The declaration 'such were some of you' is one of the most powerful statements of transformation in Scripture. The gospel's power is not merely to forgive but to fundamentally change. Paul then addresses sexual immorality with the profound argument that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Because believers were bought with a price, their bodies belong to God and are to be used for His glory, not for sin.
Background
Litigation was a common feature of Roman social life, often motivated by public honor and financial gain rather than justice. The vice list in verses 9-10 reflects common Greco-Roman moral catalogs. The Corinthian slogan 'all things are lawful unto me' apparently circulated as a justification for licentiousness. Paul's body theology was counter-cultural in a Greek context that often devalued the physical body.
Chapter Outline
- vv. 1-6Lawsuits among believers rebuked
- vv. 7-8Better to suffer wrong than defraud
- vv. 9-11The unrighteous and the washed
- vv. 12-14Freedom, the body, and resurrection
- vv. 15-17Union with Christ versus immorality
- vv. 18-20The body as temple of the Spirit
Key Verses
“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.”— 6:11
A concise summary of the gospel's transforming power, naming washing, sanctification, and justification together. It anchors Christian identity not in past sins but in Christ's finished work applied by the Spirit.
“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?”— 6:19
One of the New Testament's clearest statements on the sanctity of the body, grounding ethics in the indwelling Spirit. It has shaped Christian teaching on purity, stewardship, and self-denial for centuries.
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”— 6:20
Paul's redemption logic: the cross establishes divine ownership, and glorifying God becomes the believer's whole-person response. Frequently cited on discipleship, sexual ethics, and Christian stewardship.
“Know 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,”— 6:9
A sobering vice list warning that persistent unrepentant sin is incompatible with kingdom inheritance. It remains central in discussions of Christian moral theology and the seriousness of sanctification.
People & Places
People
- Paul — The apostle writing to correct and instruct the Corinthian church.
- Jesus Christ — The Lord in whose name believers are washed, sanctified, and justified.
- The Holy Ghost — The Spirit of God who indwells believers, making their bodies His temple.
Prophecy & Fulfillment
Paul alludes to Genesis 2:24 in verse 16 ('two...shall be one flesh'), applying the creation ordinance of marriage to warn against sexual immorality. He also echoes an eschatological theme in verses 2-3, anticipating that believers will judge the world and angels at the end of the age, a role rooted in Daniel 7:22 where judgment is given to the saints of the Most High. These references bind Christian ethics to both the created order and the coming kingdom.
Devotional
Paul's words cut through centuries to address how we handle conflict and how we treat our bodies. When wronged, our instinct is to demand justice; Paul suggests that suffering loss among believers may better display the gospel than winning in court.
And his vision of the body is staggering: not a cage for the soul, not merely ours to use, but a temple where God dwells. Every choice about what we do with our physical lives becomes worship. Freedom in Christ is real, but it is freedom to glorify God, never freedom to be mastered by appetite.
Literary Style
Apostolic epistle combining rhetorical diatribe and pastoral rebuke. Paul employs rapid rhetorical questions ('Know ye not?'), vice lists, Old Testament citation, and antithetical contrasts (washed/defiled, lawful/expedient) to drive ethical exhortation with forceful parallelism.