1 Corinthians 6 Overview
Paul rebukes believers for taking disputes before unbelieving courts rather than resolving them wisely within the church. He warns against unrighteous conduct, reminds them what they had been before being washed, sanctified, and justified, and then confronts sexual immorality by teaching that the believer’s body belongs to the Lord and is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Before you read 1 Corinthians 6
Coming from
Paul confronts a case of incest so serious that even the surrounding culture would recognize its shame. The church has been proud instead of mourning. Paul commands removal of the offender from fellowship and speaks of delivering him to Satan for destruction of the flesh, while still distinguishing this severe discipline from final loss of salvation.
In this chapter
Paul rebukes believers for taking disputes before unbelieving courts rather than resolving them wisely within the church. He warns against unrighteous conduct, reminds them what they had been before being washed, sanctified, and justified, and then confronts sexual immorality by teaching that the believer’s body belongs to the Lord and is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Leads into
Paul answers questions about marriage, sexual relations, singleness, separation, mixed marriages, and serving God in one’s present calling. He honors both marriage and celibacy as legitimate gifts while giving practical counsel shaped by the present distress and by undivided devotion to the Lord.
Key understandingExplore deeper
The ‘shall not inherit the kingdom’ warning confronts the character of unrighteous living; it must be read alongside ‘such were some of you’ and Paul’s explicit statement that they are washed, sanctified, and justified.
Christian liberty is not self-ownership. ‘All things are lawful’ is immediately qualified by what is expedient and what brings bondage.
Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper
Believers should not treat fellow Christians as enemies to be defeated
The lawsuit problem exposes deeper failure in love and wisdom.
Justification changes status before God
Paul says they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit.
The body matters to Christian holiness
Fornication is rejected because believers belong to Christ and were bought with a price.
Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper
Romans 5:1
Paul elsewhere states plainly that believers are justified by faith.
1 Corinthians 3:16
The temple theme has already appeared corporately and is now applied to bodily holiness.
1 Thessalonians 4:3–7
Paul also commands believers to avoid fornication and possess their vessels in sanctification.
What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper
Do not use the vice list to teach justification by moral reform
Verse 11 grounds the Corinthians’ changed standing in what God did for them.
Do not use Christian liberty as permission for sexual sin
Paul explicitly rejects being brought under the power of anything.
Do not turn ‘bought with a price’ into fear that salvation can be repossessed
The phrase is the ground for glorifying God with the body.
Read 1 Corinthians 6 watching for…
Why lawsuits among brethren are shameful.
The difference between former identity and present standing.
The repeated phrase ‘all things are lawful.’
Why fornication is treated uniquely in relation to the body.
The temple and purchased-possession language.