The Bible — World English Bible
1 Corinthians 6
In brief
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul is first astonished that brothers take one another to court before outside tribunals: it is better to suffer wrong. He reminds them that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom, but that believers have been changed. Facing a misunderstood freedom, he says that the body belongs to the Lord, that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that believers were bought with a price. Hence the call to glorify God in the body.
The chapter in 5 parts
1Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
2Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
4If then you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly?
5I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers?
6But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers!
7Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
8No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your brothers.
9Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.
11Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.
13“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power.
15Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
16Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.”
17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
18Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Key verses
Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
Paul says that having lawsuits between believers is already a defeat. He urges them to prefer suffering wrong rather than damaging the unity and the witness of the church.
Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
The verb is flee, not resist or negotiate. Paul indicates that sexual sin touches the person in their own body, which makes it a sin apart in its effects.
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
The believer's body is presented as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. This statement gives the body dignity and grounds the idea that the believer does not belong to himself.
for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The price Christ paid is the reason for the final call: glorify God in your body. Conduct flows from the identity of the redeemed, it does not produce it.
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Frequently asked questions about 1 Corinthians 6
What does “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” mean?
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that the Spirit of God lives in the believer, as God once dwelt in the temple. The body is therefore not a mere tool: it belongs to God, who bought it back. It is a call to respect one's body and to honor God by the way one lives.
Why does Paul say to flee sexual immorality?
Because in this passage he connects sexuality to the believer's union with Christ. He reminds them that believers are members of Christ and that sexual union involves the whole person. He chooses the verb flee to say that we must not play with temptation but move away from it.
Can a Christian take another Christian to court?
Paul strongly discourages it in this chapter: he asks that disputes be settled within the church, by wise brothers, or even endured. Christians have since understood this text in various ways depending on the situation, especially when it comes to crimes or protecting vulnerable people.
What does “you were bought with a price” mean?
The image is that of a slave whose freedom is paid for. For Paul, that price is the death of Christ. Believers no longer belong to themselves: they belong to the one who set them free, and that is the reason to glorify God in their bodies.
Articles quoting 1 Corinthians 6
World English Bible translation — public domain.