1 Corinthians 6 (WEB)

1 Corinthians 6

¹ Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

² Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

³ Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

⁴ If then you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly?

⁵ I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers?

⁶ But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷ Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁸ No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your brothers.

⁹ Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,

¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

¹¹ Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

¹³ “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴ Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power.

¹⁵ Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!

¹⁶ Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.”

¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

¹⁸ Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

¹⁹ Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

²⁰ for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Around 1 Corinthians 6

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

1 Corinthians 6 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Paul is amazed at what he hears. Believers are taking one another to court before unbelievers. Surely, he says, the saints will judge the world, so can they not settle small matters among themselves? Better to be wronged than to wrong a brother.

Then he gives a list of those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God, among them the greedy, thieves, drunkards, idolaters and the sexually immoral. And he adds a sentence of hope: “Some of you were such, but you were washed.” They were also sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

He next takes up a slogan, “All things are lawful for me,” and says not everything helps. The body, he says, is for the Lord and not for sexual immorality. Bodies are members of Christ, and the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. “you were bought with a price.” So honor God with your body.

Background

The list in verses 9 and 10 includes two words, rendered in this translation as male prostitutes and homosexuals, whose exact meaning scholars and Christians debate. Some hold that they refer to same-sex behavior in general, and others that they refer to particular practices such as exploitation. Verse 11 matters for how the list is read, since Paul says the church was made up of people who had been washed. Corinth was known for its commerce and temples, which formed the setting for his warnings about sexual immorality.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 16 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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