6:1KJV Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
B:E Project How dare any of you, when you have a dispute with a fellow believer, take it to a secular court instead of settling it among God's people?
Context: Paul opens a new practical topic - church members suing each other in public Roman courts - continuing his focus on internal community integrity from chapter 5.
Meaning: Paul is startled that believers would air internal disputes before secular judges rather than resolving them within their own community, seeing it as both a credibility problem and a failure of trust in each other.
Lesson: When you have a conflict with someone close to you, try honestly to work it out directly first, rather than immediately escalating to an outside authority or public battle. That takes more courage, but it preserves the relationship.
See Also: Matthew 5:25 (agree with thine adversary quickly); Matthew 18:15 (tell him his fault between thee and him alone).
6:2KJV Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
B:E Project Don't you know that God's people will judge the world? And if you're going to judge the world, surely you're capable of handling small disputes?
Context: Paul argues from a larger future role believers will have to the smaller, present-day matter of resolving disputes among themselves.
Meaning: Paul uses a 'greater implies the lesser' argument - if believers are destined for a significant future role, they should certainly be equipped to sort out everyday disagreements without outside help.
Lesson: Trust your own community's wisdom and character more than you do. If you're capable of handling the big things in life, you're capable of resolving small disputes with maturity too - give yourselves that credit.
See Also: Daniel 7:22 (judgement was given to the saints); Revelation 20:4 (thrones, and judgement was given unto them).
6:3KJV Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
B:E Project Don't you know that we will judge angels? So how much more the ordinary matters of this life?
Context: Paul intensifies his argument from verse 2, adding an even greater future authority, over angels, to make the present dispute seem trivial by comparison.
Meaning: This striking claim underscores just how disproportionate it is for believers to need outside courts for everyday disputes - the point is about perspective, not a literal legal detail.
Lesson: Keep perspective on what really matters. The disputes that feel huge right now are often small compared to the bigger picture of who you are and what you're capable of - don't let them consume you.
See Also: 2 Peter 2:4 (the angels that sinned, reserved unto judgement); Jude 1:6.
6:4KJV If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
B:E Project So if you have everyday disputes to settle, why put them in front of people the church doesn't even respect, to judge?
Context: Paul continues pressing the absurdity of taking internal matters to outside, secular judges rather than resolving them within the community.
Meaning: Paul highlights the irony - the Corinthians would trust judges outside their own values system with matters that should be handled by people who actually share their commitments and character.
Lesson: Think carefully about whose judgement you're trusting with important matters in your life. Seek out people who genuinely share your values and have your long-term good at heart, not just whoever happens to hold official authority.
See Also: 1 Corinthians 5:12 (judging those within the church).
6:5KJV I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
B:E Project I say this to shame you. Is there really not one wise person among you who could settle a dispute between believers?
Context: Paul expresses his disappointment directly, questioning whether the Corinthian church truly lacks anyone capable of mediating disputes.
Meaning: Paul's rhetorical question exposes a real failure - not a lack of capability, but a lack of will or humility to sort things out internally, which is arguably the deeper, more painful issue.
Lesson: Sometimes the problem isn't that we lack the wisdom to resolve conflict - it's that we lack the humility to actually try. Don't let pride keep you from doing the harder, better thing.
See Also: James 3:17 (the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable); Proverbs 20:3 (it is an honour for a man to cease from strife).
6:6KJV But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
B:E Project Instead, believer goes to court against believer - and does so in front of unbelievers.
Context: Paul states the actual scandal plainly - not just internal conflict, but airing it publicly before people outside the faith community.
Meaning: Beyond the conflict itself, Paul is troubled by the public spectacle it creates, undermining the church's credibility and witness in front of the very people it's meant to be a positive example to.
Lesson: How you handle conflict says a lot about your integrity, especially when others are watching. Airing every dispute publicly rarely reflects well on anyone, and it can damage more than just the relationship at hand.
See Also: John 13:35 (by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another).
6:7KJV Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
B:E Project The very fact that you're suing each other at all is already a failure on your part. Why not rather accept being wronged? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?
Context: Paul goes further than criticising the venue - he questions the underlying willingness to fight for personal rights at all, in this specific context of believer-versus-believer disputes.
Meaning: This is a hard teaching about preferring peace and relationship over insisting on personal rights, at least among people who share deep community bonds - not a universal rule against ever seeking justice, but a challenge about what's worth fighting over.
Lesson: Ask yourself honestly: is this fight actually worth the damage it will do to the relationship? Sometimes absorbing a loss with grace preserves something far more valuable than winning the argument does.
See Also: Matthew 5:39-40 (turn the other cheek, let him have thy cloak also); Romans 12:17-18 (live peaceably with all men).
6:8KJV Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
B:E Project Instead, you're the ones doing wrong and cheating - and you're doing it to your own brothers and sisters.
Context: Paul reveals the deeper problem behind the lawsuits - it's not merely conflict, some Corinthians are actively wronging fellow believers.
Meaning: This clarifies the issue isn't simply that conflict happens - some in the church were actively behaving unjustly towards each other, making the earlier appeal to humility and forgiveness even more pointed.
Lesson: Don't let familiarity or shared belief become an excuse to treat people close to you unfairly, assuming they'll just forgive and move on. Genuine community deserves more integrity, not less.
See Also: Leviticus 19:13 (thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour); James 5:4 (the wages kept back by fraud).
6:9KJV Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
B:E Project Don't you know that wrongdoers won't inherit God's kingdom? Don't be fooled - neither the sexually immoral, nor idol-worshippers, nor adulterers, nor those exploiting or being exploited in sexual immorality,
Context: Paul transitions from lawsuits to a wider list of behaviours incompatible with the kingdom of God, beginning a vice list similar to others found in his letters.
Meaning: This is a list of behaviours Paul saw as fundamentally at odds with a life oriented towards God. The point isn't to condemn people but to warn that persistent, unrepentant patterns of harm and self-indulgence genuinely damage a person's life and relationships. The list names patterns of conduct, not fixed identities, and Paul's real focus in verse 11 is that people can and do change.
Lesson: I care more about your direction of travel than any single moment - are you moving towards integrity and love, or further into patterns that harm you and others? No one is beyond turning around.
See Also: Galatians 5:19-21 (the works of the flesh); Ephesians 5:5 (no whoremonger hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ).
6:10KJV Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
B:E Project nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunks, nor abusive people, nor swindlers will inherit God's kingdom.
Context: Paul completes the vice list begun in verse 9, before pivoting in verse 11 to the good news that follows it.
Meaning: Notice the list includes very ordinary, everyday failings - greed, drunkenness, verbal abuse, dishonesty in business - alongside more dramatic ones. The point is that persistent harmful living, of any kind, is corrosive, not that some sins mark worse categories of people than others.
Lesson: It's easy to feel morally superior by focusing on other people's more dramatic failings while excusing your own greed, temper, or dishonesty. I see it all the same way - as things that need addressing, not comparing.
See Also: Luke 12:15 (beware of covetousness); Romans 1:29-31 (a similar list of vices).
6:11KJV And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
B:E Project And some of you used to be like that. But you were washed clean, you were made holy, you were made right with God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Context: Paul delivers the turning point after the vice list - a message of genuine hope and transformation for the Corinthians, many of whom had lived exactly the lifestyles just described.
Meaning: This is the crucial pivot: the list in verses 9-10 isn't Paul writing off certain kinds of people - he's reminding the Corinthians that they themselves were once there, and real, lasting change happened. It's a message of hope, not condemnation.
Lesson: Whatever you've done, whoever you've been, that's not the end of your story. Real change is possible, not by gritting your teeth and trying harder alone, but through a genuine, deep transformation available to anyone willing to turn towards it.
See Also: Titus 3:3-5 (we ourselves were sometime foolish... but according to his mercy he saved us); 2 Corinthians 5:17 (if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature).
6:12KJV All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
B:E Project "I'm allowed to do anything" - but not everything is good for me. "I'm allowed to do anything" - but I won't let anything become my master.
Context: Paul quotes a Corinthian slogan about personal freedom and qualifies it, opening his discussion of the body and sexual ethics that runs to the end of the chapter.
Meaning: Paul acknowledges real freedom exists but adds two crucial filters: is it actually beneficial, and could it enslave me? This reframes freedom not as 'anything goes' but as freedom used wisely, aware of what genuinely helps you thrive versus what quietly controls you.
Lesson: Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Ask yourself honestly: does this genuinely help me flourish, or is it slowly becoming something I can't do without? Real freedom means nothing owns you.
See Also: 1 Corinthians 10:23 (all things are lawful, but all things edify not); Romans 6:16 (servants ye are to whom ye obey).
6:13KJV Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
B:E Project "Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food" - but God will do away with both. The body isn't meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Context: Paul counters another Corinthian slogan, treating sex like appetite - a purely physical, inconsequential act - by asserting the body has a higher purpose and belongs to God.
Meaning: Some Corinthians argued sex was as morally neutral as eating, since both are just bodily appetites. Paul disagrees sharply - the body isn't just a disposable biological machine, it has real dignity and purpose connected to God, so what you do with it matters.
Lesson: Your body isn't just a vehicle for appetites to be satisfied however you like - it's part of who you are and it matters to me. What you do with it is never 'just physical' - it touches something deeper.
See Also: Romans 6:12-13 (yield your members as instruments of righteousness); Genesis 1:27 (made in the image of God).
6:14KJV And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
B:E Project God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us up too, by his own power.
Context: Paul grounds his argument about the body's importance in the resurrection, a theme he develops fully in chapter 15, reinforcing that the body has a future, not just a present.
Meaning: This connects the body's value to a future hope: if bodies are destined for resurrection, they're not disposable or insignificant now either. It's a foundational reason for taking how you treat your body seriously.
Lesson: You matter, body and all, not just your soul or your intentions. What you do with your physical life has real, lasting significance, because you have a future that includes it.
See Also: 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 (Christ the firstfruits of them that slept); Romans 8:11 (he that raised up Christ shall also quicken your mortal bodies).
6:15KJV Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
B:E Project Don't you know your bodies are part of Christ himself? So should I take what belongs to Christ and join it to a prostitute? Absolutely not!
Context: Paul makes his argument vivid and personal, applying the body-belongs-to-Christ principle directly to the specific temptation of visiting prostitutes, common in Corinth's culture.
Meaning: Paul's logic is startling: because believers are intimately joined to Christ, any physical union outside of committed relationship isn't a small, isolated act - it drags that deep connection into something it was never meant for.
Lesson: The intimate choices you make aren't separate from the rest of who you are - they're connected to your deepest self and relationships. Treat that connection with the seriousness and respect it deserves.
See Also: Ephesians 5:30 (we are members of his body); 1 Corinthians 12:27 (ye are the body of Christ).
6:16KJV What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
B:E Project Don't you realise that a man who sleeps with a prostitute becomes one body with her? As scripture says, 'the two will become one flesh.'
Context: Paul supports his argument by quoting Genesis directly, showing that physical union creates a real, not merely symbolic, bond - even outside marriage.
Meaning: Paul appeals to the Genesis creation account to show that sexual union was designed to form a genuine bond between two people, which is precisely why casual or purely physical sexual encounters carry more weight than the 'it's just physical' framing suggests.
Lesson: Physical intimacy actually bonds people together in a real way, whether you intend it to or not. Take that seriously before you take that step - it's not as casual an act as it can be made out to be.
See Also: Genesis 2:24 (they shall be one flesh); Matthew 19:5-6 (Jesus quoting the same verse on marriage).
6:17KJV But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
B:E Project But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Context: Paul contrasts the physical union just described with a deeper spiritual union, being joined to Christ, as the higher, defining relationship for a believer.
Meaning: Paul presents a parallel but higher-order union: just as physical intimacy creates a real bond, so does spiritual connection with God - and it's this relationship, Paul argues, that should shape and guide the other.
Lesson: The deepest, most defining connection in your life can be a spiritual one - a sense of genuine union with something greater than yourself. Let that be the anchor that shapes your other choices, not the other way round.
See Also: John 15:4-5 (abide in me, and I in you); Romans 8:9-10 (the Spirit of God dwell in you).
6:18KJV Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
B:E Project Run from sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but sexual sin is a sin against one's own body.
Context: Paul delivers his direct imperative after building the theological argument - flee, don't merely resist or reason with the temptation.
Meaning: Paul's advice here is notably practical: for this particular temptation, the wisest strategy is avoidance rather than willpower in the moment. He also notes something distinctive about how sexual sin affects the person's own body and self, not just an external relationship.
Lesson: With some temptations, the smartest move isn't to stand your ground and fight it out - it's to simply leave the situation before it escalates. There's no shame in running from a fight you don't need to have.
See Also: Genesis 39:12 (Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife); 2 Timothy 2:22 (flee also youthful lusts).
6:19KJV What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
B:E Project Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You don't belong to yourself.
Context: Paul delivers the chapter's most famous teaching, reframing the human body not as ordinary or disposable but as a sacred dwelling place, as his climactic reason for sexual ethics.
Meaning: This is a radical reframing - a person's body isn't just biology to be used however they like, it's compared to a temple, a sacred space where something greater than themselves resides. This gives inherent dignity and worth to physical life and to the person's choices about it.
Lesson: You are not just a body to be used, consumed, or discarded - you carry something sacred within you, and so does everyone else. Treat yourself, and every other person, with the dignity that deserves.
See Also: John 2:19-21 (destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up); 1 Corinthians 3:16 (know ye not that ye are the temple of God).
6:20KJV For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
B:E Project You were bought at a price. So honour God with your body.
Context: Paul's closing line of the chapter, summarising the whole argument in one compact statement of both cost and calling.
Meaning: 'Bought with a price' points to the costliness of the relationship believers have with God through Christ's sacrifice, and Paul draws the practical conclusion: because you were valued that highly, live in a way that reflects and honours that worth, in the very ordinary, physical details of daily life.
Lesson: You are worth more than you probably give yourself credit for - so much that everything, including your body, was considered worth the highest cost. Live like you believe that about yourself, and treat others as though it's true of them too.
See Also: 1 Peter 1:18-19 (redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ); 1 Corinthians 7:23 (ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men).