6
Down with lawsuits!
1 How can anyone of you who has a dispute with another dare to have it judged before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints are to be judging the world?*
So if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels?† How much more the things of this life!‡ 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint those who are least esteemed in the congregation to judge!§ 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is not a single wise man among you who would be competent to judge between a man and his brother? 6 Instead, brother goes to law against brother, and this before unbelievers! 7 Actually, the very fact that you have lawsuits among you already represents a defeat for you.* Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why not rather accept being cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do the wronging and cheating, and to brothers!
How to avoid inheriting the Kingdom
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,† nor catamites,‡ nor sodomites, 10 nor the greedy, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor the abusive, nor swindlers can inherit the Kingdom of God, absolutely. 11 And that is what some of you were;§ but you were bathed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.*
Fornication is bad!
12 All things are ‘permissible’ for me, but not all things are expedient. All things are ‘permissible’ for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them.† Now the body is not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.‡ 14 Further, God both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Not ever! 16 Can you not know that the one who joins himself with a prostitute is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “will become one flesh.”§ 17 But he who is joined with the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee from fornication! Every sin that a man may commit is outside the body, but he who fornicates sins against his own body.* 19 Do you not know that your† bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 Because you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.‡
* 6:2 The question, “Do you not know?” indicates that if the person addressed does not know, he should, and his ignorance is culpable. For Paul to write in this way, his addressees had to have had a reasonable opportunity of knowing, or it would be an unfair gambit on Paul's part. On such a topic the information should be available in God's written revelation, and I believe it is. Consider Psalm 149:5-9. “Let the saints exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the nations, and punishments upon the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the written judgment. This honor is for all His saints.” Note that the saints are in their beds! So the activity that is described in the following verses must take place in the spiritual realm. I assume that the ‘kings’ and ‘nobles’ includes both men and fallen angels. It seems clear to me that the intent of the Text is that we be doing this right now, in this life. There is no lack of ‘written judgments’ to be imposed: Zechariah 5:2-4, against thieves and liars; Proverbs 20:10, against those who use diverse weights and measures; Isaiah 10:1-2, against those who make unjust laws; Romans 1:26-32, against homosexuals and a variety of others (note that verse 32 says that “those who practice such things are deserving of death”, ‘are’ not ‘were’—since Romans was written after Pentecost, within the Age of Grace and of the Church, this judgment still applies). God's moral character cannot change; Psalm 34:16 says: “The face of Jehovah is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” Presumably before wiping out the remembrance He will have to cut off the evil people themselves. Returning to 1 Corinthians 6:2, the only difference between present and future tense for ‘judge’ is the accent, and since the earliest Greek manuscripts generally do not have accents, in them the verb is ambiguous as to tense. Most, but not all, later manuscripts accent the verb as future and every version that I have seen follows suit. But if Paul is thinking of Psalm 149, then the present tense is correct—in fact, the immediately following passive form of the verb is present tense. I take Paul's point to be: if we are supposed to be judging the world, how can we possibly ask the world to judge us? To do so is illogical. † 6:3 When will this happen? I do not know, but see the note above. In any case, the implication is clear that we are superior to them. ‡ 6:3 Obviously, if we are to judge the things of this life, it has to be during this life! § 6:4 This is almost cute. In effect Paul is saying that the humblest believer will be a more competent judge than whatever is in the world! Of course, a genuine believer will have the Holy Spirit, who makes the difference. * 6:7 They are allowing themselves to be controlled by the world's values—clearly a defeat! † 6:9 Note that ‘fornicators’ and ‘adulterers’ receive separate mention, so they cannot refer to the same thing. ‘Adultery’ does not include ‘fornication’, nor vice versa. ‡ 6:9 ‘Catamites’ refers to those who fulfill the role of ‘female’ in anal sex, the ‘passive’ partner. ‘Sodomites’ refers to those who fulfill the ‘male’ role in anal sex. A catamite is someone who participates voluntarily; a victim of rape is altogether different. Please note that the Holy Spirit, through Paul, is emphatic: practicing homosexuals absolutely will not inherit the Kingdom of God—period! § 6:11 Paul makes clear that it is possible to be saved out of any of the practices mentioned, but anyone who dies while still practicing is out, ‘absolutely’. * 6:11 The Spirit is the agent. † 6:13 We have to eat to live, but anyone who lives to eat will face an angry Creator. ‡ 6:13 At first glance this seems awkward; however, that the body is not for fornication is obvious—that is not why the Creator gives us bodies. And we are to consecrate our bodies to the Lord's service, but how is “the Lord for the body”? I don't know, unless it be that ‘body’ is used with two different meanings, first referring to our physical body, next referring to the Church. § 6:16 See Genesis 2:24. * 6:18 Precisely. Verse 16 above states plainly that whoever joins himself to a prostitute becomes one flesh with her. “The two will become one flesh” is not a poetic expression; it is a medical fact. During coitus there is an exchange of enzymes, such that the participants are affected in their bodies, literally. It follows that a promiscuous person is damaging his body, progressively. But it may be worse even than that. Proverbs 6:32 says: “Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does so destroys his own soul.” Verses 33-35 describe the social consequences, but I believe the participants suffer consequences within themselves as well. I suspect that along with the enzymes goes a bit of the soul, so a professional prostitute has a seriously weakened soul, and a promiscuous male keeps on lousing up his soul, quite apart from the physical consequences. No wonder the Text says to flee!! † 6:19 In 3:16 the pronoun was plural, here it is also plural, but since ‘bodies’ is also plural, the reference appears to be to each person's body. ‡ 6:20 The eclectic Greek text currently in vogue omits, “and in your spirit, which are God's”, following 3.7% of the Greek manuscripts—this includes the earliest ones, that are of objectively inferior quality (it is followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).