1 Corinthians 6
6
Lawsuits between Believers
1Furthermore, how dare you take a fellow believer to court! It is wrong to drag him before the unrighteous to settle a legal dispute. Isn’t it better to take him before God’s holy believers to settle the matter? 2Don’t you realize that we, the holy ones, will judge the universe? # 6:2 As translated from the Aramaic. If the unbelieving world is under your jurisdiction, you should be fully competent to settle these trivial lawsuits among yourselves. 3For surely you know that we will one day judge # 6:3 The meaning of this is that believers will one day govern over and judge the angelic realm. Our position in Christ is higher than the angels. They are servants; we are sons. Sons rule over servants. angels, let alone these everyday matters. 4Don’t you realize that you are bringing your issues before civil judges appointed by people who have no standing within the church? # 6:4 The Greek verb kathizete can be interpreted as an ironic imperative instead of a question. This would change the verse to read “Appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church to arbitrate ordinary lawsuits.” However, it is more likely a question since kathizete is found at the end of the sentence. 5What a shame that there is not one within the church # 6:5 This chapter is loaded with irony. Paul here argues that the church must have someone who could discern, sift, weigh, and judge these everyday matters within the body. The irony is that the word for church is ekklēsia, which means “governing body,” similar to a senate. It was a Greek term used for the gathering of a governing body to promote the welfare of a city. To be a part of an ekklēsia (church) implies that there is wisdom and leadership among the group to govern and bring blessing to a city. who has the spirit of wisdom who could arbitrate these disputes and reconcile the offended parties! 6It’s not right for a believer to sue a fellow believer—and especially to bring it before the unbelievers.
7Don’t you realize that when you drag another believer into court you’re providing the evidence that you are already defeated? Wouldn’t it be better to accept the fact that someone is trying to cheat and take advantage of you, and simply choose the high road? At times it is better to just accept injustice and even to let someone take advantage of you, rather than to expose our conflicts publicly before unbelievers. # 6:7 Paul does not mean that we should passively acquiesce to abuse from others. Rather, he brings before us a higher principle: It is better to suffer personal injustice than to bring disgrace to Christ by bringing our conflicts before unbelievers. The Spirit of wisdom (Eph. 1:17) is one of the graces that God pours out upon his people. This anointing of wisdom will empower the body of Christ to bring justice and righteousness into our churches. Most scholars conclude that these disputes were not criminal but issues related to business, personal property, inheritances, default in loan payments to other believers, and the like. See also Matt. 5:25–26; 18:15–17. 8But instead you keep cheating and doing wrong to your brothers and sisters, and then request that unbelievers render their judgment!
Christian Morality and the Kingdom Realm of God
9Surely you must know that people who practice evil cannot possess God’s kingdom realm. Stop being deceived! # 6:9 Or “Make no mistake!” People who continue to engage in sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, sexual perversion, # 6:9 Or “catamites” or “pederasts” or “child molesters.” homosexuality, 10fraud, greed, drunkenness, verbal abuse, # 6:10 Or “slanderers.” or extortion—these will not inherit God’s kingdom realm. 11It’s true that some of you once lived in those lifestyles, but now you have been purified from sin, # 6:11 Or “washed clean.” made holy, and given a perfect standing before God—all because of the power of the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and through our union with the Spirit of our God.
12It’s true that our freedom allows us to do anything, but that doesn’t mean that everything we do is good for us. I’m free to do as I choose, but I choose to never be enslaved to anything. 13Some have said, “I eat to live and I live to eat!” But God will do away with it all. The body was not created for illicit sex, but to serve and worship our Lord Jesus, who can fill the body with himself.
14Now the God who raised up our Lord from the grave will awaken and raise us up through his mighty power!
The Body of Christ
15Don’t you know that your bodies belong to Christ as his body parts? Should one presume to take the members of Christ’s body and make them into members of a harlot? Absolutely not! 16Aren’t you aware of the fact that when anyone sleeps with a prostitute he becomes a part of her, and she becomes a part of him? For it has been declared:
The two become a single body. # 6:16 See Gen. 2:24. Paul is teaching that sexual intercourse causes an interpersonal union that goes beyond a physical relationship.
17But the one who joins # 6:17 The Greek verb kallaō means “to unite,” “to knit or weld together,” “to mingle,” or “to join together,” and “to make two into one.” himself to the Lord is mingled into one spirit with him. 18This is why you must keep running away from sexual immorality. # 6:18 Or “fornication,” which includes sexual activity outside of marriage. For every other sin a person commits is external to the body, but immorality involves sinning against your own body.
19Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. # 6:19 Or “the in-you Holy Spirit.” The Greek word Paul uses for “temple” is actually naos, “sanctuary.” See Eph. 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:4–5. 20You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, # 6:20 As translated from the Aramaic. Your soul was purchased with the bride-price of the precious blood of Christ. so by all means, then, use your body # 6:20 The Aramaic and the Textus Receptus adds “and in your spirit.” to bring glory to God!
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1 Corinthians 6: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion Translation1 Corinthians 6
6
Lawsuits Against Believers
1When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous #[Matt. 18:17]instead of the saints? 2Or do you not know that #Dan. 7:22; [Matt. 19:28; Rev. 20:4]the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4So if you have such cases, #[ch. 5:12]why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5#ch. 15:34; [ch. 4:14]I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. #[Matt. 5:39, 40]Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even #1 Thess. 4:6your own brothers!#6:8 Or brothers and sisters
9Or do you not know that the unrighteous#6:9 Or wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: #ch. 15:50; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 12:14; 13:4; Rev. 21:8; 22:15neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,#6:9 The two Greek terms translated by this phrase refer to the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And #ch. 12:2; Eph. 2:2, 3; 4:22; 5:8; Col. 3:7; Titus 3:3 such were some of you. But #Acts 22:16; Heb. 10:22; [Titus 3:5] you were washed, #See ch. 1:2 you were sanctified, #Rom. 8:30you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Flee Sexual Immorality
12 # ch. 10:23 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13#[Matt. 15:17] “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one #Col. 2:22 and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but #ver. 15, 19 for the Lord, and #[Eph. 5:23]the Lord for the body. 14And #See Acts 2:24 God raised the Lord and #ch. 15:22, 23; [John 6:39, 40] will also raise us up #Matt. 22:29; [Eph. 1:19, 20]by his power. 15Do you not know that #ver. 13; Eph. 5:30; [ch. 12:27; Rom. 12:5]your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16Or do you not know that he who is joined#6:16 Or who holds fast (compare Genesis 2:24 and Deuteronomy 10:20); also verse 17 to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, #Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:8; Eph. 5:31; Cited from Gen. 2:24“The two will become one flesh.” 17But he who is joined to the Lord #Eph. 4:4; [John 17:21-23]becomes one spirit with him. 18#2 Cor. 12:21; Eph. 5:3 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin#6:18 Or Every sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person #[Prov. 5:11]sins against his own body. 19Or #[John 2:21]; See ch. 3:16 do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? #See Rom. 14:7You are not your own, 20#ch. 7:23; [Acts 20:28; Heb. 9:12, 14]; See 2 Pet. 2:1 for you were bought with a price. #[Phil. 1:20]So glorify God in your body.
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