1 Corinthians 6:1–20

Here modern practice, or even thought, differs greatly from apostolic principle. Christians today have little conscience about appealing to a worldly tribunal. It is clear that the Holy Spirit felt it to be an outrage. No Christian who walks rightly could think of taking another believer to court before the world. It makes no difference how wrong that believer might be. He must have forgotten what God counts each to be. The world has rejected His Son. The saints are those whom grace has separated from the world to God.

Notice first how the word "unjust" works as a title that marks out those the previous chapter calls "outside." The believer is justified by his faith. The world he was called out of, the Spirit leaves under the stigma of unrighteousness. "The saints" and "the unjust" are his two opposite labels. One covers the church of the living God. The other covers the world that the church was called out of.

It is remarkable that the apostle Paul brands the judges of the law in his day as unjust. Yet for all that, God employed them. There were magistrates and judges. God called them unjust when His own people were involved, because His people had a far higher standard of righteousness. They knew Christ. The Corinthians should have settled all these disputes among themselves. So they were badly wrong to carry on like the world. The world must go to the law-court. What else could it do? It cannot settle things itself, and it does not have the authority the court has. But the children of God have quite another tribunal.

The apostle brings the light of the coming day to bear on present matters… In the kingdom of our Lord there will be a judgment of the living. That future reality acts on the apostle now. He uses it to judge the conduct of every day. How can it be a living truth if it does not work like that? Even the Corinthians did not doubt the future fact. But like all unspiritual people, they let it slip in the present, where they ought to have remembered it.

Why, then, is it pressed on the believer as an almost self-evident principle? Because the believer is not of the world. He belongs to Christ. True, he will judge the world, and judge angels, but this will be with Christ. If Christ waits for that time, so must he.

The saints are going to judge the world and angels. So they must be able to settle the far smaller affairs of everyday life. If matters about this life come up between brothers, the least esteemed in the assembly can settle them. Such matters call for no great spirituality or gift, only common sense and honesty.

He tells them they should suffer wrong rather than take each other to court before unbelievers… His aim is to avoid lawsuits between brothers. The Lord says we are not to resist evil. It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do that than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful for the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

It was also a wrong done to the world itself. What power is there in a testimony that contradicts itself, preaching the cross and yet fighting in the flesh?

Christian practice today, and even Christian thinking, differs greatly from the apostle's principle. Christians now have little conscience about appealing to a worldly court. It is clear that the Holy Spirit felt this to be an outrage. No Christian who is walking rightly could think of taking another to court before the world, however wrong that other may be. He must be forgetting what God counts each to be. The world has rejected His Son. The saints are those whom grace has separated from the world to God.

Here the apostle bases his reproof on how strange it is to seek judgment from the very people we shall judge at Christ's coming... The future judgment of the living in the kingdom of our Lord is a reality that acts on the apostle now. He uses it to judge the conduct of every day. How can it be a living truth if it does not work like this? Even the Corinthians did not doubt the fact about the future. But like all unspiritual people, they had let it slip in the very place where they should have remembered it... In the eyes of faith it was a glaring inconsistency. If the world is judged by the saints, are they unfit to judge the smallest matters? Such were and still are the questions people take to court.

"Judgment was given to them." That is, these saints receive royal authority to rule. It is the fulfilment of that grand and unqualified statement, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" (1 Cor. 6:2).

They really ought to have known that "the saints will judge the world." This fact had been stated in the Old Testament. "The Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom" (Dan. 7:22; older translations read "judgment was given to the saints"). Had they really known it, they would not have dragged one another into pagan law courts. If we really knew it, we would perhaps avoid certain things that we do.

The saints are to judge as well as reign... This refers only to the earthly judgments connected with the kingdom. Where eternal issues are in question, we read of one "throne," not "thrones" (contrast Rev. 20:4 and 11). Still, the position is a wonderful one for us. Once we dreaded the judgment of God on ourselves, because of our many sins. Now all that dread has gone. We look forward to sitting on the judge's bench ourselves in the coming day when the earth is ruled in glory.

It simply means that the saints of God were going to law before the unjust instead of before the church of God. They were told to let the saints settle the matter. Why? Because the saints are going to judge the world. Many Christians think the saints will be judged along with the world. But they will be there as judges — quite a different thing. What a wonderful honour. It is most solemn. Think of Christ coming to take His saints to glory, and coming back with us to judge the world... All saved people in this present age are saints.

He asks them whether they do not know that the saints will judge the world. That is, of course, in the coming day of the Lord's rule over it; but it is for this that we are being trained and educated now. How could those who are on their way to such a place be unfit or unworthy to judge these small matters? In the apostle's estimate they count for very little.

Paul, in 1 Cor. 6:3, says that the saints will judge angels. They will judge the world too, and that is a truth revealed elsewhere; but this passage says plainly that they are to judge angels... Scripture does assure us that the earth we live on will be put under the Lord Jesus in that day, and the saints are to reign with Him. The risen saints will share His royal authority, for that is what "judging" means here. It has nothing at all to do with Christ's final award of man. It is no small mistake to think that the saints will carry out the final judgment on men or angels. All such judgment belongs to the Son of Man alone (John 5:22, 27; Rev. 20).

The Lord Jesus receives authority to carry out judgment as Man, and this includes the judgment of angels (John 5:22, 27). Redeemed people will be fully identified with Him in this judgment. If that is so, how much more should a believer be able to judge the things of this life. Remember that "the spiritual person judges [or discerns] all things" (ch. 2:16).

There are two ways in which this Scripture may be fulfilled. "The world to come" will be put under the rule of the Son of Man, and believers will share their Lord's earthly rule. So it is quite possible that angels will be under the direction of the saints in that day. Or, as someone has said, "when Christ judges the world and pronounces the doom of the [fallen] angels, the church will be joined with Him and take part in His judgment, for she has His Spirit and His mind." Paul mentions that we are to judge angels to shame the Corinthian believers, who were going to court before the unjust.

If it were true that the reign of the saints with Christ had been revealed only once, is our judging angels any less credible or important because we have it in this single passage? Christ handing the kingdom over to the Father is recorded only in 1 Cor. 15:24. Is that truth therefore of doubtful meaning or of little value?

Verse 3 brings before us a still more astonishing fact. But here the change from "the saints" to "we" may show that only the apostles will judge angels.

What strong reasons we are given here for having no lawsuits among brothers! What a case for stopping the proceedings! Cases are pending; trials wait for the great judgment day. But they are not the cases of the saints. They are those of the world and of angels, and in them we will be the judges together with Christ!

He tells them they should suffer wrong rather than go to court before unbelievers. They were in a terrible state; they lacked no gift, and they showed no grace... The Lord says we are not to resist evil. It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do so than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful for the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

These verses open up before us a view of extraordinary authority and responsibility. In that light the things belonging to this life can only be called "the smallest matters." In keeping with this estimate, the instruction is that if the saints must judge such questions, those least esteemed in the church are to hear the case. Notice that it does not say all the saints are going to judge in the coming age. Perhaps not all are, and so those least likely to be judges then are to be judges now.

Verse 4 lays down a striking principle. For spiritual matters, the discernment of a spiritual person is plainly necessary. But if the matters belong only to this life, those "who are least esteemed in the assembly" should be expected to be competent for this. Simple honesty, not spirituality, is what such a case needs. These matters are not important enough to take the time of those who give themselves to the spiritual welfare of God's people. Let us always guard against letting such things grow so big that they overshadow what matters far more — the spiritual prosperity of the saints.

Some interpreters take verse 4 as a question, others as sarcasm. There seems no particular reason for the first. Matters of this life need no more than good sense and honesty. Having these would not create a claim to honour in the church. Believers might have both and still be little esteemed there, where the grace and power of Christ alone create such a claim. Deciding those matters in no way called for high spirituality.

See how high Paul lifts the Christian in this rebuke to the Corinthians, and how sharp that makes it. Telling them to set the least esteemed in the church to judge seems the exact opposite of Moses. Of course he does not mean it to be carried out to the letter... He would not have those judge who lacked wisdom. But he considers, on the one hand, that "the least esteemed in the Church" ought to have a raised and impartial spirit fit for such a task. On the other hand, those whose worldly matters come up for judgment should be so far above concern about things of this kind that they are ready to submit their case to any of their brothers.

The world is outside, and God will judge it in the day of judgment. But the gathered assembly is responsible to guard the Lord's character and doctrine, so it must exercise discipline. There too, some wise brother or brothers should settle difficult cases among the saints. The saints should never take their causes before the world's law-courts. The world's law-courts are the place of judgment for the world; but the assembly of God is the place of judgment for the children of God.

Suppose someone insults us or cheats us. Suppose something a brother or sister says or does affects us, and it looms so large in our minds that we decide to take it to law. Are we not stepping down from the platform of blessing God has placed us on? Should not Christian forgiveness work here, so that the matter is finished once and for all and never reaches the civil court?... We cannot be right in testimony, and we cannot be right in worship, if we are out of harmony with our brothers and sisters. Paul is saying: if such a matter exists, it is very simple, not complex. Why does not someone say "I forgive" and settle it, so that the honour of Christ and the glory of God are maintained?

If the Apostle has to speak like this, it really is to their shame. Their going to law before the world seemed to prove one thing. Despite all the knowledge and gifts they boasted about, there was not among them a wise man able to settle these little matters. And so brother went to law with brother, and that before unbelievers.

In verse 5 he speaks to their shame; the smallest — that is, in spiritual power — ought to be able to judge the things that belong to this life... They were in a terrible state: they came behind in no gift, and they came forward in no grace.

Matters of this life need no more than good sense and honesty. Surely having these would not be a claim to honour in the church. Believers might have both and still be little esteemed there, where the grace and power of Christ alone give such a claim. Deciding those matters in no way called for high spirituality. Indeed the apostle says, "I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers" — literally, "brother and brother."

It is clear that the apostle did not want such disputes taken to the assembly, at least not first. The gravest cases should be; lighter ones should not. Did they not have even one wise man to decide them? He is making light of such questions as well as rebuking them for their worldliness. Their moral state troubled him more than their lack of wisdom.

In our own cause we are not fit to be judges, and no laws anywhere would allow it; yet there is no office we take up more naturally. Self-interest pushes us to do the very thing that self-interest disqualifies us for... He would not want people without wisdom to judge. But he holds two things. First, that "the least esteemed in the Church" ought to have a raised and impartial spirit fit for such a task. Second, that people whose worldly matters come up for judgment ought to care so little about such things that they would readily hand their case to any of their brothers.

There was a double cause for humiliation here. First, the children of light and wisdom shamed their parentage by openly admitting they could not handle ordinary matters. Second, Christ's brothers were going to law with one another, and that before unbelievers, instead of living together in the unity of His peace. Among those who sat so royally on the throne of truth, was there no one who cared to be a peacemaker among his brothers?

Going to law before unbelievers was utterly disgraceful, and he allows no excuse for it at all. In fact, rather than that, a person should let himself be defrauded. And if someone did take his brother to law, he was himself guilty of defrauding his brother. He was robbing him of the right, at least, to have the matter settled by his brothers.

If the Apostle has to speak this way, it is really to their shame. They boasted of all their knowledge and gifts. Yet their going to law before the world would seem to prove that no wise man among them could settle these little matters. And so brother went to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. The Apostle is clearly speaking of matters that need not be brought before the assembly, for "a wise man" can settle them.

Matters of this life need no more than good sense and honesty. Having these would not be a claim to honour in the church.

The name given in Scripture to the class of people who do not have faith in the divine revelation of the gospel.

It is clear that the Holy Spirit felt it to be an outrage. No Christian walking well with God could think of bringing a case before the world against another, however wrong that other might be. To do it, he must forget what God says each one is. The world has rejected His Son. The saints are those whom grace has separated from the world to God.

The craft of the deceiver could devise nothing more destructive of the moral power of Christianity, as a testimony in the world, than such a proceeding… Truth had raised these people, in name at least, high above the ordinary aims of other men. If it had no power to provide for their contentment and happiness within its own circle, then from that day on truth might well seem to the natural man no better than a matter of opinion. And by taking their disputes to a worldly court, they were handing the world authority over the people of God.

How often nowadays one hears, "Well, one expects something better from a brother; he ought to suffer the consequences of his wrongdoing." That was the feeling of the Corinthian who brought the case. What, then, is the weapon the apostle uses here? It is the dignified place in glory that God designs for the Christian: "Do you not know that we shall judge the world — judge angels?" Were such people going before the Gentiles? So we see how practical all truth is. God casts the bright light of the coming day on the smallest matters of today's life.

In the assembly, some wise brother or brothers should settle difficult cases among the saints. Saints should never take their causes before the world's law-courts. The world's law-courts are the place of judgment for the world. But the assembly of God is the place of judgment for the children of God, and the Lord's table is where that assembly gathers.

He tells them they ought rather to suffer wrong than go to law before the unbelievers. They were in a terrible state. They lacked no gift, yet they showed no grace… It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do so than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful for the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

So it is quite clear. If one Christian has a charge of unrighteousness to bring against another, he must bring his case before fellow believers and not before the world. There is, however, something better than that, as verse 7 shows. Best of all is to meekly suffer the wrong, leaving the Lord to deal with it and to work repentance in the wrongdoer. Worst of all is to do the wrong and defraud even your brothers.

He tells them they ought rather to suffer wrong than go to law before unbelievers. They were in a terrible state; they came behind in no gift, and they came forward in no grace. His aim is to avoid lawsuits between brothers. The Lord says we are not to resist evil. It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do that than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful to the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

Wrong practices so often come from a wrong spirit and from not knowing God's principles. They were clearly not prepared to take wrong, or to suffer wrong, for Christ's sake... We may show a lot of temper and strong feeling when we think someone is overcharging us. That proves we are more ready to lose Christ's character than to lose our pennies.

They had better suffer wrong; they had better let themselves be defrauded. There was to be no demanding even of their rights. Grace does not exact. Someone may say, can we let the wrong go on in the assembly? That is another matter. The question here is entirely about seeking our own things. If the matter is serious enough to touch the assembly, Matthew 18 has given us the rule for it. There the first aim is the one that should mark our whole course: to gain your brother. That is what discipline aims at.

Going to law before unbelievers was a total disgrace, and he allows no excuse for it at all. Far better to let yourself be defrauded. And if a man did take his brother to law, he was himself guilty of defrauding him. He robbed him of the right, at least, to have the matter settled by fellow believers.

Suppose we are insulted. Suppose we are defrauded. Suppose something a brother or sister says or does to us affects us, and it looms so large in our minds that we decide to take it to law. Are we not stepping down from the platform of blessing God has placed us on?... If we are out of harmony with our brothers and sisters, we cannot be right in testimony, and we cannot be right in worship. Paul is saying that if such a matter exists, it is a simple matter, not a complicated one. Why does someone not say "I forgive," and get it settled? Then the honour of Christ and the glory of God are kept.

So it is quite clear. If one Christian has a charge of wrongdoing against another, he must bring his case before God's people, not before the world. There is, however, something better than that, as verse 7 shows. Best of all is to meekly suffer the wrong, leaving the Lord to deal with it and to work repentance in the wrongdoer. Worst of all is to do the wrong and defraud even fellow believers.

Failure in faith and hope, I must repeat, soon proves to involve failure in love. "But you yourselves wrong and defraud — even your own brothers!" From first to last it was a direct dishonour to God. It was a false witness to their relationship with Him, if they really were born of God. His sense of their failure as Christians does not lessen his horror at the dishonesty or other wrong which provoked the lawsuits.

It was clear they were not prepared to take wrong, or to suffer wrong, for Christ's sake. Instead, by taking one another to court, they did wrong and so defrauded one another. Where, then, was the patience and suffering for doing good? As someone has said, "They came behind in no gift, and they came forward in no grace," and again, "If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do that than keep my cloak." We may show a lot of temper and strong feeling when we think someone is overcharging us. That proves we are more ready to lose Christ's character than to lose a few coins.

They were not only refusing to be defrauded themselves; they were doing wrong and defrauding their own brothers. "Do you not know," he asks, "that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" ... Here it is no use pleading grace in any way. Grace is what breaks the rule of sin and sets the soul right to go on with God. If that is not the result, grace has never been learned at all. And no one can plead it for people who, whatever they claim, show no sign of its influence.

Taking a brother before unbelievers was a total disgrace, and he allows no excuse for it at all. Far better than this, one should let himself be defrauded. And anyone who did take his brother to court was himself guilty of defrauding him — defrauding him at least of the right to have the matter settled by fellow believers.

The Corinthians had sadly forgotten the true glory of the church. When Christians forget their proper standing, and the conduct that fits it, they stop walking even as honest men should. ... Christians were never meant to walk well except by faith. Peter could not walk on the water without looking to Christ either. When he stopped looking to Him, he began to sink at once, less safe than those who had never ventured out of the boat.

Verse 9 is no doubt intended to cut two ways. First, they had been taking their cases to the unrighteous. But the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God themselves. In that kingdom, authority rests on true righteousness. Second, the Corinthians should judge themselves. Their own actions had begun to look like the actions of the unrighteous.

The assembly — all believers together — is united to Christ. When He judges the world and passes sentence on the angels, she will stand with Him and share in His judgment, because she has His Spirit and His mind. But nothing unrighteous will ever enter that kingdom. How could anyone who takes pleasure in evil judge it?

Anyone who questions this would have to deny some of the plainest passages of Scripture. Take 1 Cor. 6:9-10, for example: what can be plainer? "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived" — and note, Paul writes this to people who call themselves Christians — "neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers," and so on, "will inherit the kingdom of God."

A true believer may fall into any of the terrible evils listed in verses 9 and 10. But none of them describes his character. He repents, and in time God restores him. Those characterized by these things have no part in the kingdom of God, either here or hereafter. So they stand completely outside the fellowship of God's assembly.

Even the truest believer can grow careless and fall into the worst sins. But you could not say he lives in them. They do not shape his life. The Spirit of God works on the believer's conscience. He admits and confesses his sin, and receives forgiveness and cleansing. Statements like this are not meant to fill believers with doubt. They test whether a person's claim to be a Christian is real.

Clearly the apostle does not stop at the one case in front of him. He lays bare the habits so common in Corinth — corruption far more than violence. He is not swinging at empty air, nor attacking sins found only somewhere else. If no one judges it, letting the body and the world have their way ends in shocking excess. Playing with a little evil is the straight road to more and worse — and nowhere more surely than in someone who calls himself a Christian.

The kingdom will take its character from the King. So God's heirs should live now in a way that fits the kingdom that is coming. Whatever can never enter that glory should have no place in our lives on earth. The future should govern the present; the future is secure in God; the present is our responsibility.

It makes it quite plain that the gospel is not intended to be an allowance of sin, but salvation from it. Where a person truly receives it, it takes him out of the sins it found him in and sets him on the path of holiness. As the apostle goes on here: "And such were some of you; but you were washed, you were sanctified"... The grace which saves makes holy.

The apostle does not limit himself to the actual case. He is exposing in strong terms the habits so common at Corinth — corruption much more than violence. He is speaking for profit and for solemn warning, as the Holy Spirit always does when He touches sin at all. He is not wasting words, and he is not condemning sins found only elsewhere. If fleshly and worldly licence goes unjudged, it will surely end in revolting excesses. Tampering with a little evil is the straight road to more and worse, and in no one so certainly as the professing Christian.

Verse 9 is no doubt meant to cut two ways. First, the Corinthians had been appealing to the judgment of the unrighteous. Those judges will not even inherit the kingdom of God themselves, a kingdom where God maintains authority in true righteousness. Second, let the Corinthians judge themselves, since their own actions made them resemble the unrighteous.

Scripture often presses the holy character of the kingdom. Evil works and fleshly activity will find no place in it… The kingdom will match the character of the King. The heirs of God should now walk worthy of the coming kingdom. What may never enter the glory should be kept out of our lives on earth. The future should govern the present; the future is secure in God; the present is our responsibility.

Covetousness. This is the selfish greed inside a person's heart. It wants to take hold of things other than those God has given him, and only what God gives is rightly his. The covetous man is called an idolater (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5), because he sets up another god inside himself, and serves that god with his whole heart.

This is a serious evil. If somebody keeps at it, it will end in their exclusion, for a reviler must be put away from among us as a wicked person (1 Cor. 5:11-13). Such a person is counted among "those outside."

A true believer may fall into any of the terrible evils listed in verses 9 and 10. But he is not characterized by any of them, and repentance restores him in the end. Those characterized by these things have no part in the kingdom of God, either here or hereafter. They are therefore completely outside the fellowship of the assembly of God.

How can anyone taught of God allow that a person born of the Spirit is to be classed among the unrighteous? Compare the rest of this verse and the verses that follow. The issue there is not failure in a believer. Paul is denouncing wholly wicked characters. Set that against his very different statement: "And such were some of you. 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."

Wonderful grace, that can take us up from the lowest place of degradation in the far country and give us a place with Christ in the highest glory of the Father's house! Having lived in such conditions, these saints were in special danger of slipping back into old habits unless they kept clinging to Christ.

This is most plain and most weighty. It makes it quite clear that the gospel is not a permission to sin, but salvation from it. Where a man truly receives it, it brings him out of the things it finds him in and sets him in the way of holiness… The grace that saves makes holy.

What a striking contrast between the two sides of the apostle's "but"! On one side is all the moral degradation of man's condition. On the other side is all the absolute perfectness of the believer's standing before God. It is a marvellous contrast. Remember: the soul passes from one side of this "but" to the other in the twinkling of an eye. "Such were some of you" — but you are now something quite different. The moment they received Paul's gospel, they were "washed, sanctified, and justified." They were fit for heaven; and if they had not been, it would have been a slur on God's own work.

When he says they are washed, the apostle is not speaking of our constant need for the word to remove the daily defilements that put us out of touch with Christ. The washing of feet pictures that daily cleansing. He means the work of the Spirit in new birth. God does this work once for all, and it gives a new nature that shrinks from the filth of the flesh.

It is very possible there is some allusion to their baptism as an outward sign of it. I am not discussing that here. But washing is not the same thing as sanctifying, and sanctifying, as all admit, is a different thing from justifying. The Corinthian believers are called "washed" because the word of God acts first on a guilty soul to deal with his impurity. It detects, judges, and removes the evil that defiles. "Sanctifying" is taken up only with the good to which the soul is set apart, and it deals with that good positively. There is an object that draws the affections and sets us apart. It is not just a cleansing from our natural evil.

Sanctification here applies from the start of an effective inward work, even before a soul knows pardon and peace. But there is also room for the practical power of the Holy Spirit. He works later in heart and conscience, separating us more and more by the truth to the Lord. So there are two distinct senses of sanctification. One is absolute: the Holy Spirit separates a person once for all from the world to God at conversion. The other is relative: it is practical, it admits of degrees, and so it differs in measure over each Christian's later life.

Washing means the deep, basic work of moral renewal that the new birth accomplishes. Sanctification is a setting apart for God, now to be for His use and pleasure. Justification clears every charge that would otherwise stand against us. It is a judicial setting right, so that we stand in righteousness before God. All three are ours in the Name of the Lord Jesus — that is, because of His sacrificial work. They are also ours by the Spirit of our God — that is, by His effective work in our hearts. We might have tied the washing only to the work of the Spirit, and justification only to the work of Christ. But that is not what Scripture says here.

These are striking statements, for the Corinthian Christians were in many ways very blameworthy. They had not gone far in practical sanctification. Yet the apostle does not hesitate to remind them: in the name of the Lord Jesus and by God's Spirit, God had sanctified them as truly as He had washed and justified them. They had been set apart for God.

"And such were some of you." This would give Satan an advantage if they looked away from Christ. Old habits then regain their power, and bad company corrupts good manners. He reminds them of the gracious power of God in Christ, in whom they believed through the action of His Spirit. He will not allow that this could all be in vain.

"All things" — and here he speaks of right things, food and natural relations — are lawful for the Christian. Even so, we have to be careful. Everything may be lawful, but it does not follow that everything is helpful. There is a danger that in using right things we come under their power.

Even so, what is perfectly lawful may not be "helpful" or "profitable" at all. And even a lawful thing can tend to enslave. We must not let anything take power over us. We should stay free instead, as the willing slaves of our Lord and Saviour. How often people say about a disputed point, "But it is not forbidden. What is the harm in it?" The reply has to be another question: is it profitable? We want things that do no harm — but we also want things that do real good.

There is another safeguard. If all things are lawful to the Christian, he still refuses to let anything take power over him. If that were not so, it would be slavery, not freedom. So he must keep caring for the good of others, and keep his freedom itself intact. The Christian is called to serve others, never to be the slave of a habit, in anything great or small.

Paul says that things which are "lawful" to him — things not against Scripture — are not all "expedient," that is, wise. About these same things he at once adds, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything" (1 Cor. 6:12). Lawful things can build up a power or influence over a person, and even Paul feared becoming their captive.

By "all things are lawful, but not all are helpful" (v. 12), he means that there is no difference to him, but he will not allow anything to have power over him. The moment a thing governs him, lust has power over him — even if it is only eating something nice… The Lord has taken up the body as well as the soul, though He has not yet redeemed it out of its present state. So the body is for the Lord, and not for its own lusts.

Someone may insist that grace has made "all things lawful." Even so, grace has a powerful voice to persuade that person that "all things are not helpful." Grace teaches us the opposite of self-indulgence (Titus 2:11-12)… If "all things are lawful," personal faith still refuses to come under the power of mere "things." The believer has a Master who is supreme. So it is only right that he should let nothing else rule him.

All things are lawful for those who are heirs of everything. But our great care should be to rule our natural desires, not to obey them. Otherwise we stop being free men and become slaves again. The apostle is our pattern here (1 Cor. 6:12). He claimed his personal freedom in the strongest terms, yet he chose to wear the chains of one bought by his Lord and belonging to Him. All things were lawful, but his rights were not his measure. His faith worked through love, and love does not count its rights; it looks for its opportunities.

Paul first applies this to food. He deals with it so briefly and dismissively that he settles the question for every godly soul. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" — and God will destroy both one and the other. The comparison he then draws is forceful and surprising, and no less true: the two suit each other, and both perish under God's dealing. They are only temporary… Put the stomach in its true and passing place, and the body rises to a position philosophy knew nothing about. It was not made for unholy or casual indulgence; it is for the Lord, and the Lord is for it.

All things are lawful for the Christian — and here he speaks of right things: food and natural relations. Even so we have to be careful. All may be lawful, but it does not follow at all that everything is helpful. There is the danger that in using right things we come under their power… It is possible to use food and the body for self-indulgence and become a glutton.

By "all things lawful, not all expedient" (v. 12) he means that there is no difference to him. But he will not let anything have power over him. The moment it governs, lust has power over him, even if it is only eating something nice.

He has taken up the body as well as the soul, though He has not yet redeemed it out of its present state. It is for the Lord, therefore, and not for its own lusts… It awaits its redemption in the sense of being taken into glory. My soul has the liberty of grace, and my body waits for the liberty of the glory, and all creation waits. Yet the body now belongs to the Lord, and He takes it for Himself, and the Holy Spirit dwells in it as a temple.

How precious too are the words, "and the Lord for the body." He has a real concern for the proper well-being of our bodies, not just of our spirit and soul. We may entrust our bodily needs to His own hand with complete confidence, instead of dwelling anxiously on our life or our body (Matt. 6:25).

There is both a responsibility and an encouragement in these words. We are to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ and use our bodies in His service. In doing so we may be sure of His grace and support, as Paul says: "and the Lord for the body." The Holy Spirit lives in the believer's body. How serious, then, to use it for unholy practices.

The honour of the body was never set in its true light until Christ came and proved it. He proved it in His own person as man, and also in ours, redeemed by His blood and indwelt by the Holy Spirit… Even now the Lord does not despise this temple of the Spirit. How much less will He despise it when it is changed into the likeness of His glory? In this body we shall have the portion of our Lord. For "God both raised the Lord and will raise up us by His power."

The resurrection has a clear moral link with the subject of the previous verse. Some at Corinth wanted to keep the loose habits of their old life. They found support for this, at least in part, in their false views about where their bodies would finally end up. Chapter 15 shows that some had "spiritualised" away the true doctrine of the resurrection. Nothing leads so directly to a false contempt for the body — which is God's workmanship — as unbelief about its coming redemption. Nothing dishonours so directly, in practice, the God who made man in His own likeness.

They were being deceived, and all evil teachings have a knock-on effect in the area of morals. If we think wrong we cannot act right. This throws light on the immorality among them, condemned in 1 Corinthians 5 and 1 Corinthians 6. Because they questioned the resurrection of the body, they had fallen more easily into sins that abuse the body.

Here the resurrection is spoken of with exclusive reference to the Father: "God raised the Lord." And this is natural. What is at stake all through these correcting sections of the letter is the glory of God. His "called" and "chosen" ones have forgotten it. He has been shamed by the disorder in His house and by the wrongdoing of His own children. Reminding them of His mighty acts and of His purpose still to be fulfilled will correct and restore them. He who raised the Lord will also raise us up by His power. Christ Himself is called the power of God, and it is through Jesus that we shall be raised up at His coming. That power works by the same "Spirit of our God" whom Paul credited in verse 11 with their present blessings: by that Spirit God will raise His chosen in that day.

The honour of the body was never seen in its true light until Christ came and proved it. He proved it in His own person as man, and in ours too — redeemed by His blood and indwelt by the Holy Spirit... Even now the Lord does not despise this temple of the Spirit. How much less will He despise it when it is changed into the likeness of His glory? In this body we shall share our Lord's portion.

It is not merely that our spirits go to be with the Lord in heaven; our bodies will be raised like His at His coming... For if death shows man's weakness, resurrection displays God's power... The immortality of the soul is easily twisted to feed man's pride; the resurrection is not. It exalts God, humbles man, and, where it is held in faith, delivers from present ease and self-indulgence.

The resurrection of the saints (the "first resurrection") takes place at Christ's coming. As it is said, "Each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ." This resurrection is completely different from the resurrection of the wicked. There will be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust, but on different principles. The just have life in Christ... The body is the Lord's as well as the soul. Christ will do for the bodies of the saints what He has already done for the soul.

You can clearly trace these seven motives to holiness — precious, powerful, and complete — in the chapter. 1. Saints are going to judge angels and the world. 2. They are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 3. They are going to be raised up. 4. Meanwhile their very bodies are members of Christ. 5. Being joined to the Lord, they are one spirit. 6. The saint's body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. 7. He is not his own, but bought with a price!

And further than this, they were proclaiming their own ignorance. Verse 2 begins with, "Do you not know?" Five times before the chapter ends we meet that question again. Like many other carnal believers the Corinthians did not know nearly as much as they thought they did. If truth governs US, we really know it. Mere intellectual knowledge does not count.

It is not merely that our spirits go to be with the Lord in heaven; our bodies shall be raised like His at His coming... Not our souls but our bodies are declared to be members of Christ. Those who talk only of the soul may claim higher ground. But it is never really so in practice or in theory. On the contrary, the immortality of the soul is easily twisted to feed man's pride. The resurrection is not like that. It exalts God and humbles man. Where it is held in faith, it also delivers us from present ease and indulgence. Of this the Holy Spirit is the pledge, who joins us to the Lord and makes our bodies members of Christ. So we can see how monstrous sexual immorality is.

What they will be in their final transformation they already are in truth. They should have known this also. For the faith which unites us to the living and ascended Lord does not separate us from ourselves. If we are redeemed, our bodies belong to our Redeemer as surely as our souls do, even though they are not yet shaped into what they will be... It was, then, a foolish idea to suppose that the soul and body could be under different rules. Both are the Lord's, though each has its proper functions and its own relation to the other... So the apostle, who stood jealously on the honour of his position as a man in Christ, exclaims, "Shall I then take the members of Christ...?" — and answers his own question with an instant and forceful denial.

The relationship the Christian now has with Christ settles the question at once. "Do you not know," says the apostle, "that your bodies are members of Christ?" This determines the whole matter. Once you see what the believer has become through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it becomes obvious how unfitting it is to use the body to indulge lusts. For "he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him" (1 Cor. 6:15-17).

Moreover, our bodies are members of Christ, and he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. The Apostle learned something of this great truth at his conversion. The Lord said to him, "Why are you persecuting Me?" To touch the bodies of the saints was to touch Christ. All sin is solemn. But sin against the body is especially solemn, for the Holy Spirit lives in that body, and it belongs to God.

Now note what these facts imply. How can we make the members of Christ the members of a prostitute? Again, how can I treat my body as if it were only my own? We are not our own. We belong to Another, spirit and soul and body. So "glorify God in your body" is the word for us. The whole idea of the unconverted is to gratify and glorify themselves in and through their bodies. Let it be ours to gratify and glorify God.

Had they forgotten that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female? He did it so that by a natural union they, though two, might be one only in His eyes. Sexual immorality is nature without God. It is therefore sin, like every other act of self-willed forgetfulness of God. But in a Christian it is doubly sin; for what he does, he does as a member of Christ's mystic body.

How terribly wrong to take the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute! In practice it denies what is true. In practice the joining of two bodies together makes them one, as God declared when He created the woman for the man.

The union of bodies is shameful outside marriage. Inside marriage God would have it honourable — honourable in all things (Heb. 13:4). Scripture urges even the married seriously, as it warns the immoral solemnly. But God uses that union, and means it, to remind the Christian of his own blessed privilege: he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him — not one flesh. This is so because he has received the Holy Spirit. So impurity is a sin not only against his own body, but against the Trinity and the price paid.

Scripture calls our bodies, not our souls, members of Christ… The Holy Spirit is the pledge of this. He joins us to the Lord and makes our bodies members of Christ. So we see how monstrous sexual immorality is. What a shameful contradiction of such closeness — indeed union — is impurity with a prostitute! It was all the more necessary to press this on a city known above every other for loose living. Beyond that, the pagan world in general treated sexual immorality as a neutral act like eating, not as a sin in itself.

The Word explains what union with Christ is: "He who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her. For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him" (1 Cor. 6:16-17). In Scripture, union is the making of two into one. Two pictures from ordinary life teach us union with Christ: marriage and the human body.

But a man cannot sin lightly and then act as if he had not sinned, especially in the way mentioned here. So he took on the duty of paying her bride price and taking her as his wife. Paul lays down the principle: "Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.'"… We are bound to obey the governing authorities where they do not conflict with the authority of God. Even so, the law of the land cannot guide the conscience of the believer or of the church.

God long ago said, "The two shall become one flesh." Now He makes a second declaration: the spiritual oneness of the Lord and His redeemed. Creation and its ordinances are a standing picture of grace. The woman is both from the man and for the man. The believer is both from the Lord and for the Lord.

That union serves to remind the Christian of his own blessed privilege: he who is joined to the Lord is not one flesh, but one spirit. This is so because he has received the Holy Spirit. So this shows that impurity is a sin not only against his own body, but against the Trinity and against the price paid. "So glorify God in your body."

Our bodies are the members of Christ. Here is another truth of great importance. If union in the flesh made two people one body, then the one united to the Lord is one spirit. The Spirit whose fullness is in Christ is the same Spirit who dwells in me and unites me to Him. Our bodies are His temples. What a mighty truth when we think of it!

Union with Christ comes by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You may search Scripture for the common thought "united to Christ by faith," but you will not find it. There is no such thought there. "He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him"; and "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God."

It is not a question of joining Him in flesh when He was here below. No doubt He took flesh and blood, but this is not the link of union. As long as Christ was here, there could not be union. Something might point forward to this high privilege, but God could not yet give it righteously. Now He can, and He has brought us into it. That is why the Holy Spirit is connected with it. It is not merely by faith, but by the Holy Spirit.

The previous verse shows that this does not point exactly to the Holy Spirit, since the term "one spirit" stands in contrast to "one body." Of course, it is by the Holy Spirit that we are one spirit with the Lord. Adopt the idea put forward in such teaching, and how close one comes to deifying the saints!

Our bodies are members of Christ, and he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. The Apostle learned something of this great truth at his conversion. The Lord said to him, "Why are you persecuting me?" To touch the bodies of the saints was to touch Christ. All sin is serious. But sin against the body is especially serious, for the Holy Spirit lives in that body, and it belongs to God.

"Flee fornication." In this one is not told to fight, but to keep far from it, as Joseph fled from the wife of Potiphar. Other sins may not involve the body in this way, but this is sin against one's own body.

Also, His way for us always makes us feel our own weakness. Our prayer can never be, "Lead us into temptation," so we must never act as if it were. Whenever we can escape without being disloyal, we are to run rather than face it. "Flee also youthful lusts." "Abstain from the passions of the flesh." Run, as Joseph ran; and there was probably no braver man.

He wanted them to avoid sexual sin with everything in them, because this sin is unlike any other. It is against the body itself, while other sins stay outside it. How dreadful then to think not merely of the body so misused, but the Christian's body, temple of the Holy Spirit as it is!

We must not treat this sin as harmless, or even as a small offence. We should dread it and avoid it like a disease, because it stains both soul and body. Other sins stain us only in part. This one stains us fully, because it takes what God has claimed for Himself and puts it to a use He condemns. So it wrongs the body itself. It strips the body of its true honour as an instrument of worship, and drags it down again into the service of sin. It is, therefore, morally, what idolatry is spiritually.

If the stomach is put in its true and passing place, the body is lifted to a height that human philosophy never knew. God did not form it for impure or careless indulgence. It is for the Lord, and the Lord is for it.

Paul calls our bodies, not our souls, members of Christ. People who talk only about the soul may claim to be on a higher level. But it is never really so in practice or in theory. In fact, the immortality of the soul is easy to twist into human pride. The resurrection is not. It lifts God up and humbles man, and where faith holds it, it frees us from soft living and self-indulgence.

Another truth linked to this matters greatly. If two people become one body by a bodily union, then the person joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. The Spirit whose fullness is in Christ is the same Spirit who dwells in me and unites me to Him. Our bodies are His temples. What a mighty truth when we think of it!

What God lives in is His, not ours. He does not rob us of the ownership that is naturally ours, but that ownership is swallowed up in the higher honour of our calling. Our bodies are His temple — ours, therefore, only as ourselves are His... So the Christian has a double duty toward his own body. He is to manage and rule it with watchfulness and godly firmness, as he would a restless and stubborn animal. And he is to hold it in honour.

The moment it rules him, it has power over him — even if it is only eating something nice.

This verse is another precious display of grace. The words "Do you not know?" repeated six times in this chapter, were meant as reminders of the great things the Corinthians had been taught, but which they were letting slip. A terrible danger for us also!

And further than this, they were proclaiming their own ignorance. Verse 2 begins with "Do you not know?" We meet that same question five more times before the chapter ends. Like many other worldly believers, the Corinthians did not know as much as they thought they did. If truth governs us, we really know it. Mere intellectual knowledge does not count.

The Spirit of God lives in our body so that His character shows in the way we live. Notice that He does not call our spirits or souls His temple, but our bodies. So "You are not your own" is not only about our spiritual life. It covers our bodies too.

The Spirit of God makes a clear difference between His living in one person and His living among believers together... Without the blood of Christ that has cleansed us, we would call it a shameful idea for the Holy Spirit to live in our poor bodies as His temple. But His testimony is to the value of that blood.

God did not live with Adam in the Garden of Eden, even before he sinned. God did not dwell with Abraham, though He visited him, and Abraham was called "the friend of God"... Now that redemption is finished, He comes to live in each believer. He also lives among His people, gathered together by the Holy Spirit. His presence in us is more than conversion. Those washed in the blood of Jesus become the dwelling place of God.

Moreover, we are not our own, but were bought with a price — the blood of Christ offered for us... Our true liberty is to belong to God. Everything we do for ourselves is stolen from the One who bought us for Himself. Everything a slave was, or earned, belonged to his master; he did not own himself. So it is with the Christian. Outside of that, he is the wretched slave of sin and of Satan.

He would have them avoid sexual sin above all, because it is unlike every other sin. It is a sin against the body itself, while other sins are outside the body. How dreadful, then, to think of any body used that way — and worse, the Christian's body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit! It is His temple not because we dedicated it to Him, but because He Himself lives in us. God gave Him to us, because Christ bought us with His blood.

Let me take hold of this truth with power, and I will shrink from sin of every kind. I will hold on to the holiness that fits a Guest like this. I will seek not to grieve Him, but to encourage Him. I am not my own.