1 Corinthians 6

Introduction

Chapter 6 marks a transition in Paul's letter as he moves from factionalism (chapters 1-4) and the case of sexual immorality within the church (chapter 5) to two related issues: lawsuits between believers in pagan courts and the misuse of Christian freedom to justify sexual sin. Both problems spring from the same root: the Corinthians have failed to grasp what their new identity in Christ requires. They are still living by the habits of the surrounding Greco-Roman culture rather than by the logic of the gospel. Paul's repeated refrain, "Do you not know?" -- appearing six times in this chapter -- suggests that the Corinthians already know these truths but have not lived by them.

The chapter falls into two halves. In the first (vv. 1-11), Paul addresses the shame of Christians suing one another before pagan judges, arguing that a community destined to judge the world and angels should be able to settle its own disputes. He then turns to a vice list that warns that those who persist in such practices will not inherit the kingdom of God, while reminding the Corinthians that their former lives have been broken by the washing, sanctification, and justification they received in Christ. In the second half (vv. 12-20), Paul takes up a Corinthian slogan about freedom ("everything is permissible for me") and shows that Christian liberty is not license, especially in matters of the body. The body is not disposable or morally indifferent; it belongs to the Lord, is destined for resurrection, and is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The chapter ends with Paul's plain conclusion: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price."

Lawsuits among Believers (vv. 1-8)

Notes

• Τολμᾷ τις ὑμῶν ("Does any one of you dare") -- The verb tolmaō means "to dare, to have the audacity, to be bold enough." It carries a note of moral offense: Paul is not simply asking a question but expressing astonishment that any believer would consider such a course. The word suggests that taking a fellow Christian to a pagan court crosses a boundary that should have been plain. The same verb is used positively in Romans 5:7 ("someone might dare to die for a good person") and in 2 Corinthians 10:12 (where Paul sarcastically says he "would not dare" to compare himself with certain self-commenders), showing that its moral force depends on context.

• ἐπὶ τῶν ἀδίκων ... ἐπὶ τῶν ἁγίων ("before the unrighteous ... before the saints") -- The word ἄδικος ("unrighteous, unjust") does more than mean "non-Christian"; it carries a moral charge. These are people outside God's covenant who do not know God's justice. Paul uses the same word in verse 9 (adikoi) for those who will not inherit the kingdom. By contrast, ἅγιοι ("saints, holy ones") is Paul's usual term for believers, those set apart by God. The irony is plain: the saints, destined to judge the world, are bringing minor disputes before the unrighteous. The preposition epi with the genitive here means "before" in the sense of "in the presence of" or "under the jurisdiction of."

• κριτηρίων ἐλαχίστων ("the most trivial cases/courts") -- The word κριτήριον can mean either "court, tribunal" or "case, lawsuit" -- the ambiguity is present in both Greek and English ("court" can mean the institution or the proceeding). The superlative adjective ἐλάχιστος ("smallest, least, most trivial") emphasizes how insignificant these civil disputes are in comparison to the eschatological judgment the saints will exercise. If believers are qualified to adjudicate cosmic matters, how can they be unfit for property disputes? Paul uses this same word elachistos in 1 Corinthians 4:3 ("it is the smallest of matters to me") to dismiss human evaluation, and in 1 Corinthians 15:9 to call himself "the least of the apostles."

• ἀγγέλους κρινοῦμεν ("we will judge angels") -- This is a difficult claim. Paul states it as established knowledge ("Do you not know?"), which suggests it belonged to his earlier teaching in Corinth. The background is likely the Jewish apocalyptic tradition in which the righteous share in God's final judgment (cf. Daniel 7:22; Wisdom 3:8). The "angels" here most likely refer to fallen angels, since good angels would not need judgment. The future tense krinoumen places this judgment at the end of the age. Paul's argument moves from the greater to the lesser (a fortiori): if you will judge supernatural beings, surely you can handle βιωτικά ("matters pertaining to daily life, ordinary affairs").

• πρὸς ἐντροπὴν ὑμῖν λέγω ("I say this to your shame") -- The noun ἐντροπή ("shame, turning inward") comes from entrepō ("to turn in upon oneself"), suggesting the self-reflection that produces embarrassment. In 1 Corinthians 4:14, Paul said he was not writing to shame them but to admonish them. Here he does invoke shame. The shift matters: these lawsuits call for it. The Corinthians, who prided themselves on wisdom (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-3:23), cannot produce even one sophos ("wise person") able to arbitrate between brothers. For a community preoccupied with sophia, the failure is pointed.

• ἥττημα ("defeat, loss, failure") -- This word appears only here and in Romans 11:12 in the New Testament. It means "loss" or "defeat." Paul's point is direct: the Corinthians think they are winning in court, but the very act of litigating against one another means they have already lost. The true defeat is not the verdict but the damage done to the community and its witness. Paul then proposes the alternative: ἀδικεῖσθε ... ἀποστερεῖσθε ("be wronged ... be defrauded") -- present passive imperatives that echo Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:39-40 about turning the other cheek and giving up one's cloak. The willingness to bear loss rather than injure the community is the Christian posture.

• ἀδικεῖτε καὶ ἀποστερεῖτε, καὶ τοῦτο ἀδελφούς ("you wrong and defraud, and this against brothers") -- The verbs ἀδικέω ("to do wrong, to harm") and ἀποστερέω ("to defraud, to deprive, to rob") repeat the same roots Paul has used throughout the passage, creating a verbal echo. In verse 1, the pagan judges are adikoi ("unrighteous"); now the Corinthians themselves are practicing adikia ("unrighteousness"). The closing phrase καὶ τοῦτο ἀδελφούς ("and this against brothers") expresses moral shock (cf. the same pattern in 5:1). The word ἀδελφός ("brother") appears four times in this brief passage (vv. 5, 6, 6, 8), underscoring the family betrayal in view.

The Wicked Will Not Inherit the Kingdom (vv. 9-11)

Notes

• ἄδικοι Θεοῦ βασιλείαν οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν ("the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God") -- The word ἄδικοι ("unrighteous") directly echoes verse 1, where Paul described the pagan judges as adikōn. Now the word takes on a broader meaning: not merely "non-Christian" but anyone characterized by unrighteous behavior. The verb κληρονομέω ("to inherit") carries the sense of receiving an allotted portion, an inheritance promised by God. In the Old Testament, Israel "inherited" the promised land; now the inheritance is the kingdom of God itself. Paul uses this language in Galatians 5:21 with a nearly identical vice list, and in Ephesians 5:5. The warning is not about isolated acts of sin but about a settled pattern of life that defines the person.

• μὴ πλανᾶσθε ("do not be deceived") -- The verb πλανάω ("to lead astray, to deceive, to wander") is in the present passive/middle imperative: "stop being deceived" or "do not let yourselves be led astray." This formula also appears in 15:33 and Galatians 6:7, each time introducing a serious warning. It suggests that some in Corinth were already being misled, likely by the same distorted view of freedom that Paul addresses in verses 12-20. They may have assumed that their spiritual status made them immune to moral consequences, and that baptism and participation in the Lord's Supper secured their inheritance regardless of behavior.

• μαλακοὶ ... ἀρσενοκοῖται ("soft/passive partner ... active partner in homosexual acts") -- Both terms have been much debated. Μαλακός literally means "soft" and is used elsewhere for soft clothing (Matthew 11:8; Luke 7:25). In moral contexts in Greek literature, it was often used for men who were effeminate or who took the passive role in homosexual intercourse. Ἀρσενοκοίτης is a compound from ἄρσην ("male") and κοίτη ("bed," with sexual connotations -- the source of English "coitus"). The word appears to draw on the Septuagint of Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13, where the two words appear together (arsenos koitēn) ("the bed of a male"). Paul uses it again in 1 Timothy 1:10. Taken together, the two terms likely refer to both passive and active partners in male homosexual acts, though the exact semantic range remains debated.

• καὶ ταῦτά τινες ἦτε ("and such were some of you") -- This is a compact and important sentence. The neuter plural ταῦτα ("these things") gathers the entire vice list into a single category of identity. The imperfect tense ἦτε ("you were") marks a clear break between past and present. The indefinite τινες ("some") is both honest and pastoral: not all the Corinthians had been involved in every vice, but some had been involved in each. Paul does not deny their past; he says it no longer defines them.

• ἀπελούσασθε ... ἡγιάσθητε ... ἐδικαιώθητε ("you were washed ... you were sanctified ... you were justified") -- The threefold ἀλλά ("but") creates a repeated contrast: "but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified." The first verb, ἀπολούω ("to wash off, to wash away"), occurs only here and in Acts 22:16 in the New Testament. The middle voice (apelousasthe) could suggest "you got yourselves washed," perhaps referring to the Corinthians' act of submitting to baptism. The order is notable: sanctification comes before justification, reversing Paul's usual theological sequence (cf. Romans 8:30). That suggests Paul is not laying out a systematic ordo salutis so much as piling up images of transformation. All three acts are accomplished ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν ("in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God") -- a trinitarian formula linking Christ's authority and the Spirit's power with the Father's saving work.

• ἐδικαιώθητε ("you were justified") -- The verb δικαιόω ("to justify, to declare righteous") is the same root as the adikoi ("unrighteous") who opened this section. The verbal echo is deliberate: those who were adikoi have now been dikaiōthēte -- the unrighteous have been declared righteous. The aorist passive points to a completed act of God. This is the language of justification (cf. Romans 3:24, Romans 5:1, Romans 8:30), used here not as abstraction but as a reminder of real change. The Corinthians who were once marked by the vices of vv. 9-10 have been redefined by what God has done for them.

Interpretations

• The meaning of malakoi and arsenokoitai remains contested translation questions in the New Testament. The traditional reading, held across Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions historically, understands these terms as referring to the passive and active partners in male homosexual acts respectively. This reading draws on the Levitical background of arsenokoitēs (from Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 in the Septuagint) and the widespread use of malakos in Greco-Roman moral literature for men who took the receptive role. The revisionist reading, advanced by some scholars (notably Robin Scroggs and Dale Martin), argues that these terms refer to specific exploitative practices -- pederasty, prostitution, or economic sexual exploitation -- rather than to all same-sex relationships. On this view, Paul is condemning abusive power dynamics, not committed same-sex partnerships, which were largely unknown in the ancient world in their modern form. The debate turns partly on lexicography and partly on how much weight should be given to the broader cultural context of Greco-Roman sexuality versus the specific Levitical background that arsenokoitēs appears to derive from.

• Vice lists and the question of salvation -- The phrase "will not inherit the kingdom of God" raises the question of whether Paul is describing those who practice these sins occasionally or those for whom such behavior is a defining, ongoing pattern of life. Most interpreters across traditions agree that Paul is describing a characteristic way of life, not isolated acts, given the use of substantive participles (identifying people by these behaviors). However, the passage has been read differently regarding its implications for the security of believers. Reformed interpreters argue that those who persist in such patterns demonstrate they were never truly regenerate. Arminian interpreters take the warning at face value as a genuine possibility for believers who fall away. Catholic moral theology distinguishes between mortal and venial sin, understanding these as mortal sins that sever the state of grace unless repented of through the sacrament of confession.

• "And such were some of you" (v. 11) -- All traditions agree that this verse affirms the reality of transformation. The debate is whether the transformation must be complete and immediate or whether it describes a new identity that is progressively realized. This has pastoral implications for how churches relate to members struggling with the sins listed.

The Body Belongs to the Lord (vv. 12-17)

Notes

• Πάντα μοι ἔξεστιν ("All things are lawful/permissible for me") -- Most scholars take this as a Corinthian slogan that Paul quotes back to them, not as his own teaching. The verb ἔξεστιν ("it is permitted, it is lawful") is impersonal and expresses what is legally or morally allowed. The Corinthians seem to have taken Paul's teaching about freedom from the Law (cf. Galatians 5:1) and pushed it toward antinomianism: if we are free from the Law, then everything is permissible. Paul does not deny the slogan outright, but qualifies it twice: first with συμφέρει ("it is beneficial, it is profitable") -- not everything that is technically permissible serves your good or the good of others; and second with ἐξουσιασθήσομαι ("I will be mastered, I will be brought under the authority of") -- a deliberate wordplay on exestin and exousia. The person who claims total freedom but is ruled by appetite has not become free; he has only entered another bondage.

• Τὰ βρώματα τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ ἡ κοιλία τοῖς βρώμασιν ("Food for the stomach and the stomach for food") -- This appears to be another Corinthian slogan, reflecting a materialist argument: the stomach and food are made for each other, and both are temporary. By analogy, the Corinthians may have argued that the body and sexual desire are likewise made for each other and are morally neutral. Paul grants the premise about food and the stomach -- God will indeed καταργήσει ("abolish, put an end to, render inoperative") both -- but he rejects the conclusion about the body and sex. The word katargeō is a favorite Pauline term (appearing 25 times in his letters) meaning "to make ineffective, to nullify, to bring to nothing." Food and stomach are transient, but the σῶμα ("body") has an enduring destiny.

• τὸ δὲ σῶμα οὐ τῇ πορνείᾳ ἀλλὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ὁ Κύριος τῷ σώματι ("the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body") -- The word πορνεία ("sexual immorality, fornication") is a broad term covering sexual activity outside marriage. The construction creates a striking reciprocity: the body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. This is not only a prohibition but a positive theological claim: the body has a Lord who cares for it, has a purpose for it, and will raise it from the dead. The body is not a prison to escape, as in Greek dualism, but something ordered toward God's purposes. The mutual "for" (dative of advantage) anticipates the language of belonging Paul develops further in chapter 7.

• ἐξεγερεῖ ("he will raise up") -- The verb ἐξεγείρω is a strengthened form of egeirō ("to raise"), with the prefix ex- intensifying the action: "to raise out" or "to raise up fully." It appears only here and in Romans 9:17 in the New Testament, where it bears a different sense. The future tense matters: Paul grounds his ethic of the body in bodily resurrection. What one does with the body matters because God will raise it. This argument points ahead to chapter 15, where Paul will defend the resurrection at length. The phrase διὰ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ ("through his power") recalls the letter's opening theme that God's power (dynamis), not human wisdom or autonomy, is the decisive force at work.

• μέλη Χριστοῦ ("members of Christ") -- The word μέλος ("limb, member, body part") refers to an actual part of a body. Paul is not speaking in a loose metaphor; he means that believers' physical bodies are joined to Christ as parts of his body. He develops this body theology more fully in chapter 12. The implication here is severe: to take the members of Christ and join them to a prostitute is a bodily profanation, as though a limb were torn from Christ's body and fused to another. The emphatic μὴ γένοιτο ("may it never be! absolutely not!") is Paul's strongest formula of rejection, appearing fifteen times in his letters, ten of them in Romans.

• κολλώμενος ("the one who joins himself to, the one who clings to") -- The verb κολλάω means "to glue, to cement, to join firmly." In the passive or middle, it means "to cling to" or "to be joined to." It appears in the Septuagint of Genesis 2:24, where the man "clings to" (proskollēthēsetai) his wife. Paul uses the same verb for both unions -- joining to a prostitute (v. 16) and joining to the Lord (v. 17) -- thereby setting them in sharp contrast. Sexual union with a prostitute creates "one body" (hen sōma), recalling Genesis 2:24 ("the two will become one flesh"), while union with the Lord creates "one spirit" (hen pneuma). The contrast is not between body and spirit as inferior and superior, but between two incompatible unions.

• Ἔσονται γάρ, φησίν, οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν ("For 'the two will become one flesh,' it says") -- Paul quotes Genesis 2:24, introduced with φησίν ("it/he says"), a present tense verb often used for authoritative citation of Scripture. The quotation follows the Septuagint exactly. In its original setting, Genesis 2:24 describes marriage. Paul's application of it to intercourse with a prostitute is theologically important: sexual union creates a real bond, not merely a physical act. In Paul's understanding, sex is never "just physical." The word σάρξ ("flesh") here refers to the embodied person as a whole, not to "flesh" in Paul's theological sense of the sinful nature (as in Romans 8:5-8).

The Temple of the Holy Spirit (vv. 18-20)

Notes

• Φεύγετε τὴν πορνείαν ("Flee sexual immorality") -- The verb φεύγω ("to flee, to run away from") is a present imperative, calling for a habitual posture of flight. Paul does not say "resist" or "stand firm against" sexual immorality, as he does with other temptations (cf. Ephesians 6:13, "stand firm"; James 4:7, "resist the devil"). To flee suggests that sexual temptation is especially dangerous: the proper response is not to test one's strength but to leave the situation. The Old Testament background is likely Joseph, who fled from Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:12), leaving his garment behind. Paul uses the same verb in 10:14 ("flee from idolatry"), treating sexual sin and idolatry as parallel dangers that call for immediate withdrawal.

• πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ("every sin that a person commits is outside the body") -- Interpreters differ over whether Paul is quoting a third Corinthian slogan or stating his own premise. Some think he is echoing another Corinthian claim ("every sin is outside the body," that is, what you do with the body does not matter spiritually) and then correcting it with "but the one who sins sexually sins against his own body." Others take it as Paul's own assertion that sexual sin is unique in how it affects the body. The word ἁμάρτημα ("sin, sinful act") is the concrete noun form, a specific act of sin, rather than the abstract hamartia ("sin" as a principle or power). The preposition ἐκτός ("outside, apart from") reinforces the spatial metaphor: other sins may use the body as an instrument, but sexual sin uniquely involves the body itself in a union that contradicts its belonging to Christ.

• ναὸς τοῦ ... Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ("sanctuary/temple of the Holy Spirit") -- Greek distinguishes two words for temple: hieron (the entire temple complex, including courts and outbuildings) and naos (the inner sanctuary, the deity's dwelling place). Paul chooses naos -- the holy place of God's presence. In 3:16, he used the same word for the church corporately as God's temple; here he applies it to the individual believer's body. Each Christian's body is the place where the Holy Spirit dwells. In the context of Greco-Roman religion, where naoi were buildings that housed cult statues, the claim is arresting: the living God now dwells not in a building but in a body, and that body must therefore be treated with the reverence due to sacred space.

• οὐκ ἐστὲ ἑαυτῶν ("you are not your own") -- This is a genitive of possession: "you do not belong to yourselves." The statement directly answers the Corinthian slogan of radical autonomy (panta moi exestin, "all things are permissible for me"). The Corinthians claimed the right to do whatever they pleased with their bodies; Paul denies the premise. In the ancient world, the language of self-ownership mattered, because the distinction between slave and free was fundamental. A free person "belonged to himself" (heautou ēn); a slave belonged to his master. Paul says that Christians are not their own masters. They belong to the Lord.

• ἠγοράσθητε γὰρ τιμῆς ("for you were bought at a price") -- The verb ἀγοράζω ("to buy, to purchase") comes from the language of the marketplace and, in the ancient world, especially the slave market. The aorist passive ("you were bought") points to a completed act, the death of Christ. The genitive τιμῆς ("of/at a price") is a genitive of price or value. The word timē itself means both "price" and "honor" or "value," creating a double sense: they were purchased at a cost, and that cost shows their value to God. Paul repeats this phrase in 7:23 ("you were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men"). The image does not specify the price, but the broader New Testament context makes clear that it is Christ's blood (cf. 1 Peter 1:18-19, "not with perishable things like silver or gold ... but with the precious blood of Christ").

• δοξάσατε δὴ τὸν Θεὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν ("therefore glorify God in your body") -- The verb δοξάζω ("to glorify, to honor, to magnify") is an aorist imperative, giving the command force and urgency. The particle δή ("indeed, therefore, so then") marks the conclusion of Paul's argument. The body is for the Lord (v. 13), God will raise the body (v. 14), the body is a member of Christ (v. 15), the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (v. 19), and believers were bought at a price (v. 20); therefore they are to glorify God in the body. The preposition ἐν ("in") indicates that the body is the sphere or instrument of glorification. A textual variant in the Byzantine tradition adds "and in your spirit, which belong to God," but this is absent from the earliest manuscripts (P46, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus) and is almost certainly a later expansion meant to balance "body" with "spirit."