The Letters · New Testament
1 Corinthians 6
1 Corinthians 6: lawsuits before unbelievers, and a body bought with a price
General context
Two subjects fill the chapter. The first is going to law: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?" Since "the saints shall judge the world" and "we shall judge angels", they should be able to judge "the smallest matters", and he tells them to set even those "least esteemed in the church" to judge. "I speak to your shame", he says, asking whether there is not one wise man able to judge between brothers. Instead "brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers", which is "utterly a fault", and he asks "Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" A list follows of those who "shall not inherit the kingdom of God", and then a turn: "such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified". The second subject is the body. A saying is quoted twice and cut back twice: "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient", and "I will not be brought under the power of any". Meats and belly will both be destroyed, yet "the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body", and God who raised the Lord will raise them. Their bodies are "the members of Christ", so joining to a harlot is refused, with a quoted line that two "shall be one flesh" set against "he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit". The instruction is short, "Flee fornication", and the reason is ownership: the body is "the temple of the Holy Ghost", "ye are not your own", "ye are bought with a price".
Cited passages: 1 Corinthians 6:1, 1 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 6:3, 1 Corinthians 6:4, 1 Corinthians 6:5, 1 Corinthians 6:6, 1 Corinthians 6:7, 1 Corinthians 6:8, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 6:10, 1 Corinthians 6:11, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 6:13, 1 Corinthians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 6:15, 1 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 6:17, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 6:20
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.
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Historical context
No lawsuit is described. No plaintiff, defendant, sum or case appears, and the courts are named only as "the unjust" and "the unbelievers", with no official, magistrate or city procedure mentioned. The vice list is applied to the readers only in the past tense, "such were some of you", and names nobody. Verse 16 quotes with the words "saith he" and no source given; Genesis 2:24 ends "and they shall be one flesh". The price in "ye are bought with a price" is not stated here or where the same phrase returns at 7:23. The chapter asserts that the saints will judge the world and angels without saying when or how, and it gives no procedure for the internal judging it recommends beyond choosing someone to do it.
Cited passages: 1 Corinthians 6:1, 1 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 6:3, 1 Corinthians 6:4, 1 Corinthians 6:6, 1 Corinthians 6:11, 1 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 6:20, Genesis 2:24, 1 Corinthians 7:23
Literary context
A single question form drives the chapter. Know ye not, and its variant do ye not know, appears six times, at verses 2, 3, 9, 15, 16 and 19, so the argument is put as a series of things the readers are told they already possess. Between them the writer inserts one flat admission of feeling, "I speak to your shame". The quoted slogan about all things being lawful is allowed to stand and then immediately limited, twice over, which lets the argument concede and refuse in the same breath. The chapter ends on ownership rather than on rules, moving from members, to temple, to not your own, to bought with a price, so the last word is about whose the body is.
Cited passages: 1 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 6:3, 1 Corinthians 6:5, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 6:15, 1 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 6:20
Key moments
- Going to law (1 Corinthians 6:1). Taking a matter before outside courts is challenged.
- I speak to your shame (1 Corinthians 6:5). The writer states his tone openly.
- Why not rather take wrong (1 Corinthians 6:7). The lawsuits themselves are called a fault.
- Such were some of you (1 Corinthians 6:11). A list of offences is followed by washing, sanctifying and justifying.
- All things are lawful (1 Corinthians 6:12). A saying is quoted and limited in the same sentence.
- Flee fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18). A short command is given with a reason about the body.
- Bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). Ownership of the body is the ground of the instruction.
For reflection
The chapter twice asks why they do not simply accept being wronged. What would that cost in a dispute you know about, and is it a question you could put to yourself?
