Here is a teaching on chapter 6 of the book of 1 Corinthians. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters from now on, join our group here. Once you get added to that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and see all the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.
I did want to say a quick prayer... LORD, I pray that You lift up every person reading this right now. Please give us knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that we are reading and the wisdom to implement it in our daily lives. Holy Spirit please lead, guide, and direct us through every aspect of our lives. LORD, I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this Bible study they receive it and implement it in their daily lives. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.
1 Corinthians Chapter 6:
1 If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers!
7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. 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.
Alright, so I am going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. So in verse 1, it seems that a Christian believed that he had been wronged by another Christian and sought justice in the local courts. When Paul says here "Dare he take it to the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints," the ungodly is someone that is not a Christian and not justified before God. So as Christians we should settle disputes among ourselves and not try and have an ungodly person or someone that is not a Christian settle it for us or try to seek justice from them when they are not justified before God.
In verses 2-4, now I'm not going to lie this was a little difficult for me to comprehend because whenever I think of judging others I always think of the verses from the book of Luke and also the book of Matthew. Luke 6:37 says: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Matthew 7:1-2 says: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." So when I think about judging others I always think of those verses and I've always taken those as "if we don't want to be judged then why would we judge others?" Also, I am going to go into John 5:26-27 which says: "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man." In these verses, you can see that Jesus and God the Father have the authority to judge, so I've always thought that we have no authority to judge and there is no reason for us to be judging anyone.
After doing some research and just looking at the commentary for these different verses in 1 Corinthians ch 6, here's what I've learned: what Paul is talking about here is not judging others, like being a judgy person and judging others for the same things that you've done, but Christians should be fully able to judge their own matters because of our destiny. Our destiny is to have eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ and God the Father. As we reign with Jesus whenever we go to heaven we will, in some way or another, judge the world and even angels. We are redeemed by Jesus Christ, we are made righteous in Jesus, we are made perfect in Him, and we have a new life in Jesus Christ whenever we are saved. Only perfection can enter heaven, so whenever we have eternal life in heaven we are going to be perfect, we are going to have authority, and reign with Jesus. These Corinthian Christians were allowing these secular judges to decide disputes among them, but we are being prepared for such a glorious destiny and we shouldn't allow people that are ungodly and not believers of Jesus Christ to settle disputes that should be settled among each other as Christians.
What Paul says in verse 5, we saw about this in our Bible study in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians in verses 18-36. These Corinthian Christians had this pride in what they thought was their wisdom, but their actions showed that there was no one wise enough among them to judge a dispute between believers. In verse 6, it's important for Christians to settle disputes among themselves according to the principles of God. And this was talking about civil cases, not disputes as far as criminal cases and things like that, but things that can be settled among Christians should be.
In verses 7-8, these Corinthians, and just like people in America today, were so addicted to their own rights. By going to court against another Christian you already fail, because it would be better to accept wrong and to let yourself be cheated than to defend your rights at the expense of God's glory and the higher good of the kingdom. We have to just trust in the LORD and if the Church fails to settle disputes then Paul asked this man to trust in God and not in lawsuits, judges, or courts. We have to just completely trust in the LORD, know that He is in complete control and that He has our best interests at heart. In verses 8-11, as Christians we have to be honest. Many people have rejected the things of God because of dishonesty and cheating among Christians. This sin was serious and we have to always act with honesty, and love, serve others, and treat others the way that we want to be treated.
In verse 11, these sins characterize those who won't inherit the kingdom of God, but as Christians, we can't be unloving or uncaring towards them because we used to be in the same boat. Before asking Jesus to come into our hearts and being a new creation in Christ, we were dead in our sins and we gave into our sinful nature. As believers of Jesus Christ, we are washed whiter than snow whenever we ask Jesus to come into our hearts. We are set apart from the world by the work of Jesus on the cross. We are justified by God's grace through the work of Jesus on the cross. As Christians we are not of this world, our true home is in heaven with Jesus and God the Father. The only way to have eternal life is through Jesus Christ. The only way for that to be possible was Jesus dying on the cross to forgive us of our sins. So it's by that work of Jesus dying on the cross to forgive us of our sins that we are justified by God's grace and that we were set apart from the world.
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12 "Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"-but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Alright, those are all of the verses of chapter 6 of the book of 1 Corinthians, but I'm going to discuss these verses with you guys here. So what Paul says in verse 13, the Corinthian Christians probably used this motto to justify giving their bodies what their bodies wanted. The body is not intended for sexual immorality. In verses 15-17, as Christians we are all members of Christ and our bodies are members of Christ. So whenever a Christian commits sexual immorality, it disgraces the entire body of Christ because we are all one in Jesus. What Paul says in verse 16, in a sexual relationship a husband and wife become one flesh in a way that is under God's blessing, but outside a marriage, the partners become one flesh in a way that's under God's curse. That's why it's so important for us to not just have casual sex with other people and to save that for our husband or wife because part of your self is given to the person that you are having sex with and that means that there is less to give to the LORD and to the partner that God intends for you.
In verses 19-20, a temple is a place sacred to God and pure from immorality and our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit then our bodies belong to God and not to ourselves. Like Paul says here, "we are not our own. We were bought at a price." The Holy Spirit lives within us so God himself lives within us, and this means we have the strength and the power over the sins of the flesh living within us. Paul makes it clear that our bodies belong to Jesus just as much as our spirits do.
1 Corinthians Ch 6 Study Guide
How should Christians settle disputes with one another? Why?
What is the destiny of Christians?
What is the only way to have eternal life?
Who do our bodies belong to? Why?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible Study?
So that concludes this Bible study on chapter 6 of the Book of 1 Corinthians. Next time we're going to go into chapter 7 so make sure that you stay tuned for that.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights