Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 6 confronts two urgent failures in the Corinthian church: believers taking one another to court before unbelievers, and a casual attitude toward sexual sin. Paul argues that lawsuits among Christians betray the church's identity as a community destined to judge the world, and that sexual immorality is uniquely damaging because it joins Christ himself to a prostitute. The chapter pivots from a horizontal problem (disputes between brothers) to a vertical one (the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit), and in doing so, reorients the Corinthians—and us—around the stunning truth that we are not our own; we were bought with a price.

Historical context

First-century Corinth was a Roman colony known for its wealth, diversity, and moral license. The city's reputation for sexual immorality was so notorious that the Greek verb korinthiazomai (κορινθιάζομαι) meant "to act like a Corinthian," i.e., to practice fornication. The church Paul planted there (Acts 18) was a mix of Jewish and Gentile believers, many of whom had brought their cultural habits into the assembly.

Roman courts were public, adversarial, and often corrupt. For Christians to air their disputes before pagan judges was not only a practical failure but a theological scandal: it implied that the world was competent to judge God's people. Paul's argument in verses 1-11 is not merely about pragmatics but about eschatology—the church is the community of the age to come, and its internal conflicts should reflect that reality.

The second half of the chapter (verses 12-20) addresses a slogan likely circulating in Corinth: "All things are lawful for me." Paul quotes it, then qualifies it. The Corinthians had apparently applied this freedom to sexual ethics, perhaps influenced by a dualism that separated the spiritual from the physical. Paul demolishes that idea with a theology of the body that is both deeply Jewish and radically Christian: the body matters because it belongs to the Lord.

Verse by verse

• 1:

  Paul opens with a sharp question: "When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?" The word "dare" (Greek tolmaō, τολμάω) carries a sense of audacity—this should be unthinkable. The "unrighteous" are pagan judges; the "saints" are the church. Paul is not forbidding all civil litigation (Romans 13 allows for governing authorities), but he is forbidding believers from dragging one another before unbelieving courts.

• 2:

  "Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" This is eschatological shock therapy. Paul appeals to a future reality (Dan 7:22, Matt 19:28) to shame the Corinthians into present action. If the church will one day sit in judgment over the cosmos, surely it can handle a property dispute now. The logic is simple: what seems urgent in the moment looks trivial in light of eternity.

• 5:

  Paul says this "to your shame." He asks whether there is not "one wise man" among them to settle disputes. The Corinthians prided themselves on wisdom (1 Cor 1:18-25), yet they were running to pagan courts. The irony is thick: those who thought themselves spiritually mature were acting like spiritual infants. Paul's solution is not a formal church court but the simple wisdom of a mature brother or sister.

• 7:

  "To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat." Paul shifts from the practical to the heart. Even if you win the case, you have lost something more important: the witness of unity. He then suggests an alternative: "Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?" This is not passivity but the way of the cross—the willingness to absorb loss for the sake of the gospel (Matt 5:38-42).

• 9:

  "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" Paul lists ten categories of people who will not enter the kingdom: sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers. The list is not exhaustive but representative. The point is not to create a hierarchy of sin but to show that unrepentant sin—any sin—disqualifies from the kingdom.

• 11:

  "And such were some of you." This is the hinge of the passage. Paul does not leave them in condemnation; he reminds them of their identity. "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." The three verbs—washed, sanctified, justified—describe the complete transformation that has already happened. The Corinthians were not saved by cleaning up their lives; they were cleaned up because they were saved.

• 12:

  Paul quotes a Corinthian slogan: "All things are lawful for me." He immediately qualifies it: "but not all things are helpful." Freedom in Christ is not license; it is liberty to pursue what builds up. The second qualification—"I will not be dominated by anything"—shows that true freedom includes the power to say no. If a "lawful" thing enslaves you, it is not freedom at all.

• 13:

  Another slogan: "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food—and God will destroy both one and the other." The Corinthians had apparently applied this logic to sex: the body is temporary, so what we do with it doesn't matter eternally. Paul rejects this flatly. "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." The body has a telos—a purpose—and that purpose is the Lord.

• 15:

  "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" This is the theological bombshell. Paul argues that sexual union with a prostitute is not merely a physical act; it is a joining of Christ himself to that sin. The Greek word koillaō (κολλάω) means "to glue together"—the same word used in Gen 2:24 for marriage. Paul is saying: you cannot take the body of Christ and glue it to a prostitute. The thought is horrifying, and it is meant to be.

• 18:

  "Flee from sexual immorality." Paul does not say "resist" or "argue with it"—he says flee, as Joseph fled Potiphar's wife (Gen 39:12). Then he makes a unique claim: "Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body." This does not mean sexual sin is unforgivable, but it is uniquely embodied—it involves the whole person in a way that other sins do not.

• 19:

  "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" The temple imagery echoes the Old Testament (1 Kings 8:10-11) but with a stunning twist: the temple is not a building but the believer's body. The Holy Spirit dwells in each Christian individually, not just in the corporate assembly. This makes sexual sin not merely a personal failing but an act of sacrilege against God's dwelling place.

• 20:

  "You were bought with a price." This is the climax of the chapter. The price is the blood of Christ (1 Pet 1:18-19). Paul draws the logical conclusion: "Therefore glorify God in your body." Not just in your spirit, not just in your worship services, but in your body—in what you do with your hands, your eyes, your sexuality. The body is not a prison to escape; it is the instrument of worship.

Key themes

• Church unity and witness
• Eschatological identity
• The body as temple
• Freedom and enslavement
• Sexual ethics and the gospel

Application

Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 6 challenges two assumptions that are alive and well today: that our disputes are too important to entrust to the church, and that our bodies are irrelevant to our spiritual lives. The chapter calls us to a radical reorientation. Before we take a brother or sister to court, we should ask: does this action display the unity of the body of Christ? Is there a wiser, more costly way—the way of suffering wrong for the sake of the gospel?

On sexuality, Paul's teaching is not a list of rules but an invitation to honor the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. The gospel does not say "your body is bad, so deny it." It says "your body belongs to Christ, so glorify him with it." This is good news for those who have used their bodies sinfully: the same grace that washed, sanctified, and justified the Corinthians is available to you. And it is a call to those who follow Christ: you are not your own. You were bought with a price. Live like it.

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