1 Corinthianschapter 6
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Speaks with:Romans 12×3Ephesians 5×31 Peter 2×31 Thessalonians 4×2Galatians 5×21 Corinthians 1×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Lawsuits before the unjust. Shame that they cannot judge between themselves. The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed, sanctified, justified. All things are lawful for me, but not all expedient. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. Wesley stresses that the gospel's indicative: "ye are washed". Produces the imperative: "glorify God."
Context
Epistle · Paul — 1 Corinthians overview
- A. 1–8 Dragging Brothers Before Pagan Judges
- B. 9–11 Such Were Some of You — and You Were Washed
- C. 12–20 Your Body Is Not Your Own: Bought at a Price
The outline
A.Dragging Brothers Before Pagan Judgesvv. 1 to 8
Read vv. 1 to 8 →B.Such Were Some of You — and You Were Washedvv. 9 to 11
Read vv. 9 to 11 →C.Your Body Is Not Your Own: Bought at a Pricevv. 12 to 20
Read vv. 12 to 20 →
The world behind this chapter
1 Corinthians 6The history
Roman civil courts were weighted toward the wealthy. A suit was normally brought by a man of standing against a social inferior, juries were drawn from the propertied, and cases were as much about publicly shaming a rival as recovering property. Litigation was a recognized tool of honour competition among the elite.
So when believers went to law against each other, the pattern almost certainly ran downhill — a richer member humiliating a poorer one in front of the city. Paul's question is why they cannot find one wise man among themselves to judge the matter, and his verdict is that having lawsuits at all is already a defeat.
Corinth was a port with two harbours, and where sailors and traders passed through, prostitution followed. Ancient writers used the city's name as a byword for it. Some of the congregation had grown up regarding a visit to a prostitute as morally unremarkable — no more significant than a meal.
That is the assumption behind the slogans Paul quotes and qualifies: all things are lawful for me, and food for the stomach and the stomach for food. He answers with the body's destiny — it is for the Lord, it is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and it was bought with a price.
What it meant to them
The list of what some of them had been, ending with "and such were some of you — but you were washed, sanctified, justified," told a congregation of former idolaters, adulterers, thieves, and drunkards that the past tense was real.
The instruction that followed was equally concrete: better to be wronged than to drag a brother before a pagan judge, and glorify God in your body, because it is no longer your own.
Sources cited
- Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 1 Corinthians 6. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.