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Suppose one of you wants to bring a charge against another believer. Should you take it to ungodly people to be judged? Why not take it to the Lord's people? 2 Or don't you know that the Lord's people will judge the world? Since this is true, aren't you able to judge small cases? 3 Don't you know that we will judge angels? Then we should be able to judge the things of this life even more! 4 So suppose you disagree with one another in matters like this. Who do you ask to decide which of you is right? Do you ask people who live in a way the church disapproves of? Of course not! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that no one among you is wise enough to judge matters between believers? 6 Instead, one believer goes to court against another. And this happens in front of unbelievers! 7 When you take another believer to court, you have lost the battle already. Why not be treated wrongly? Why not be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong. And you do it to your brothers and sisters. 9 Don't you know that people who do wrong will not receive God's kingdom? Don't be fooled. Those who commit sexual sins will not receive the kingdom. Neither will those who worship statues of gods or commit adultery. Neither will men who sleep with other men. 10 Neither will thieves or those who always want more and more. Neither will those who are often drunk or tell lies or cheat. People who live like that will not receive God's kingdom. 11 Some of you used to do those things. But your sins were washed away. You were made holy. You were made right with God. All of this was done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was also done by the Spirit of our God.
6:1–11 The Corinthian believers disagreed with one another a lot. They took each other to court. They trusted judges who weren't believers to make wise decisions for them. Paul pointed out many problems with this. He had already begged them to stop arguing. Here he begged them to deal with their problems in a godly way. They should never cheat others or do wrong to anyone. They should do good to people even to those who do wrong to them. They should seek help from wise believers for problems that they have with one another. Paul reminded the Corinthian believers that Jesus stopped the power of sin in their life. He made them right with God. This means that they will be part of the kingdom of God. When God's kingdom comes fully Jesus will share his authority with them. Jesus had told his disciples in Matthew 19:28 that they would judge the 12 tribes of Israel. Paul explained that believers would judge the entire world and even the angels. That is the future that believers look forward to. So they should practice making wise judgements now.
12 Some of you say, ‘I have the right to do anything.’ But not everything is helpful. Again some of you say, ‘I have the right to do anything.’ But I will not be controlled by anything. 13 Some of you say, ‘Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food. And God will destroy both of them.’ But the body is not meant for sexual sins. The body is meant for the Lord. And the Lord is meant for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead. He will also raise us up. 15 Don't you know that your bodies belong to the body of Christ? Should I take what belongs to Christ and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 When you join yourself to a prostitute, you become one with her in body. Don't you know this? Scripture says, ‘The two will become one.’ (Genesis 2:24) 17 But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one with him in spirit.
18 Keep far away from sexual sins. All the other sins a person commits are outside the body. But sexual sins are sins against their own body. 19 Don't you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit is in you, and you have received the Spirit from God. You do not belong to yourselves. 20 Christ has paid the price for you. So use your bodies in a way that honours God.
6:12–20 Many Greek thinkers believed that spiritual things mattered more than physical things. They taught that people's spirits mattered more than their bodies. This led some people in Paul's time to think that their bodies weren't very important. They thought that they could do anything they wanted to with their bodies. A lot of people in the Corinthian church accepted this idea. They thought that they could have sex however they wanted to. They thought that it made no difference to God or to other believers. They thought that it made no difference to their spirits. This thinking was a result of not understanding Paul's teaching about freedom. Paul showed the Corinthians that people's bodies and their spirits matter to God. God raised Jesus' body from the dead. He will also raise up the bodies of believers who die. Those who follow Jesus are one with him in spirit because they believe in him. The Holy Spirit is always with each believer because he lives inside their body. And the body of each believer belongs to the body of Christ. This is the church. What believers do with their bodies can either help the church or hurt it. Paul had written about an example of this in 1 Corinthians 5:1–5. So believers must use their bodies to bring honour to God.