1 Corinthians 6

Paul addresses the church's failure to maintain internal unity and moral integrity, contrasting their litigation before secular courts and sexual immorality with their true identity as the temple of the Holy Spirit.

• Paul confronts the Corinthians for taking legal grievances before unbelievers rather than settling disputes within the community of saints.
• He reminds them of their future eschatological role in judging the world and angels to highlight their current capacity to settle minor disputes.
• He warns that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom, distinguishing them from those who have been washed, sanctified, and justified.
• He concludes by commanding sexual purity, establishing that the believer's body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and not a tool for fleshly indulgence.

• The unjust vs. the saints
• The list of vices excluding persons from the kingdom of God
• The phrase 'bought with a price'
• The body as a temple of the Holy Ghost
• The warning against being brought under the power of any

This chapter bridges the gap between positional sanctification and daily practice, grounding moral behavior in the objective reality of the believer's union with Christ.

Because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, your entire life—including your interpersonal relationships and physical habits—must be lived to glorify God.

The argument moves from external communal disputes to internal moral definitions, culminating in the individual's sacred duty to the Lord regarding their body.

• The believer is justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).
• God will raise us up by his own power (1 Corinthians 6:14).

• Flee fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18).
• Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's (1 Corinthians 6:20).

• The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
• Do not be deceived by those who live in sin (1 Corinthians 6:9).

• Corinth was a cosmopolitan city known for its litigious nature and excessive sexual immorality, largely fueled by the cult of Aphrodite.
• The concept of the 'body' being an instrument of the Lord stood in stark contrast to the common Hellenistic philosophical view that the body was merely a temporary, unimportant shell.

• The 'unjust' referenced in verse 1 were the secular Roman courts, which believers were bypassing their internal community to use.

• This passage follows Paul's discussion of church discipline and precedes his instruction on marriage in chapter 7.

• The reference to 'one flesh' (1 Corinthians 6:16) explicitly invokes the creation account in Genesis 2:24.
• Paul's emphasis on the body as a temple prefigures his later development of the church as the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12.

• 1 Corinthians 6:16 quotes Genesis 2:24 to establish the covenantal significance of sexual union.

• krínō [G2919]: To try, condemn, or punish; used here to describe both the act of legal litigation and the future act of judging.
• hágios [G40]: Saints; literally 'sacred' or 'pure', setting apart the believer as distinct from the world.
• échō [G2192]: To hold or possess; used to describe the possession of legal grievances and the relationship of the believer to Christ.
• biōtikós [G982]: Relating to the present existence or 'life' in this world, contrasting with the eternal kingdom.
• Matthew Henry observes that the Corinthian claim 'All things are lawful' acts as a dangerous conceit that, if misinterpreted, leads to licentiousness, which he clarifies is opposed by the reality of the body belonging to Christ.

• The intensity of the rhetoric—Paul does not suggest they compromise; he uses strong language about 'defrauding' brethren and the 'shame' of the church.
• The distinction between sins committed 'without the body' and fornication, which has a unique impact on the believer's own body as a temple.