1 Corinthians 6

¹Does any of you, having a dispute with another, dare to go to judgment before the unrighteous rather than before the holy ones? ²Or do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest cases? ³Do you not know that we will judge angels, to say nothing of matters of this life? ⁴So if you have cases about matters of this life, do you appoint as judges people of no standing in the assembly? ⁵I say this to shame you. Is there really no wise person among you who can decide between brothers? ⁶Instead, brother goes to judgment against brother, and that before unbelievers! ⁷Indeed, it is already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits against one another. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸But you yourselves do wrong and defraud—and brothers at that!

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom? Do not be deceived: neither sexually immoral people, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who take the passive role in sex with men, nor men who have sex with men, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor abusive people, nor swindlers will inherit God's kingdom. ¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, but you were made holy, but you were declared righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God.

¹²“Everything is permitted for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permitted for me”—but I will not be brought under the power of anything. ¹³“Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food”—and God will bring both stomach and food to nothing. But the body is not for sexual immorality; it is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴And God raised the Lord and will also raise us through his power. ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ's body? Shall I then take the parts of Christ's body and make them parts of a prostitute's body? Certainly not! ¹⁶Or do you not know that the one joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For, it says, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷But the one joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality. Every sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you do not belong to yourselves? ²⁰For you were bought at a price. So glorify God in your body.

Translation notes 6

6:1–8 — Disputes and defeat. “Holy ones” means the people set apart for God. “The unrighteous” contrasts them with outside judges; verse 8 then accuses the community itself of doing wrong. Verse 4 may instead be an ironic command to appoint even those of least standing in the assembly. “Between brothers” expresses the sense of verse 5's unusually compressed Greek, literally “between his brother.” The family address includes women. The argument addresses disputes among believers; it does not specify every kind of civil or criminal proceeding.

6:9 — Two disputed sexual terms. The translation keeps two distinct Greek terms. Malakoi, literally soft, could describe effeminacy or lack of self-control; in this sexual context it is taken provisionally as men in the passive role in male same-sex intercourse. Arsenokoitai most likely refers to males engaging in sex with males, possibly specifically the active partners. The precise limits are disputed. Neither term names a modern sexual orientation, and the wording does not specify only prostitution, boys, or coercion. The first rendering is more interpretive and less certain than the second.

6:11 — Washing, holiness, and righteousness. “You were washed” can also be understood as “you washed yourselves” or “you had yourselves washed”; the Greek form allows personal participation in the washing. The repeated “but” preserves the emphatic contrast. The base says “the Lord Jesus”; other texts add Christ or our.

6:12–13 — Claims and replies. Quotation marks identify likely Corinthian claims to which Paul responds. Their extent is uncertain: the statement about God ending food and stomach may also belong to the quoted claim. “Everything is permitted” returns in 10:23. “Brought under the power” answers their claim of permission with the danger of being controlled.

6:15–17 — Bodies and union. “Parts of Christ's body” makes explicit the bodily sense of the Greek “members of Christ.” The repeated body-parts image concerns actual bodies, not only membership in an organization. Verse 16 quotes Genesis 2:24. “With her” and “with him” make the relationships explicit without defining the manner of union beyond Paul's words.

6:18–20 — Sin and the body. “Every sin … outside the body” is left in its strong form. It may repeat another Corinthian claim, or it may be Paul's contrast highlighting sexual sin's relation to the body; the text does not mark a quotation. “Your body” is singular with plural “your,” and may address each person's body within the community. The base ends with “your body”; other texts add “and in your spirit, which belong to God.”