Judging Problems Among Christians

6 When you have ·something against [a legal dispute with; a grievance against] another Christian, how can you ·bring yourself [dare] to go before ·judges who are not right with God [or the pagan courts; ^Lthe unrighteous] instead of before ·God’s people [^Tthe saints]? ² ·Surely [^LDon’t…?] you know that ·God’s people [^Tthe saints] will judge the world. So if you are to judge the world, are you not able to judge ·small [trivial; the smallest of] cases as well? ³ ·You [^LDon’t you…?] know that we will judge angels, so surely we can judge the ·ordinary things of [or matters pertaining to] this life. ⁴ If you have ·ordinary cases [cases/legal disputes of this life] that must be judged, ·are you going to appoint people as judges who mean nothing to the church? [will you appoint judges with no standing in/whose lifestyle is rejected by the church?; or go ahead and appoint the least members of the church to judge them! ^Cin the latter interpretation, Paul speaks sarcastically.] ⁵ I say this to shame you. ·Surely there is someone [^LIs there no one…?] among you wise enough to judge a ·complaint [dispute; conflict] between ·believers [^La brother]. ⁶ But now one ·believer [brother] goes to court against another ·believer [^Lbrother]—and you do this in front of unbelievers!

⁷ The fact that you have lawsuits against each other shows that you are already defeated. Why not ·let yourselves be wronged [suffer the injustice]? Why not let yourselves be cheated? ⁸ But you yourselves ·do wrong [act unjustly] and cheat, and you do this to ·other believers [^Lbrothers]!

·Surely [^LDon’t…?] you know that the ·people who do wrong [unrighteous; wicked; unjust] will not inherit God’s kingdom. Do not be ·fooled [deceived]. Those who sin sexually, worship idols, take part in adultery, those who are ·male prostitutes [or passive homosexual partners], or ·men who have sexual relations with other men [or active homosexual partners], those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, ·lie about others [slander others; use abusive language], or ·rob [swindle]—these people will not inherit God’s kingdom. ¹¹ In the past, some of you were like that, but you were washed clean. You were ·made holy [sanctified], and you were ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ·in [or by; through] the Spirit of our God.

Use Your Bodies for God’s Glory

¹² “·I am allowed to do all things [^LAll things are lawful/permissible for me; ^Cprobably a slogan the Corinthians were using; see also 7:1; 8:1, 4; 10:23],” but not all things are ·good for me to do [profitable; beneficial]. “·I am allowed to do all things [^LAll things are lawful/permissible for me],” but I will not let anything make me its slave. ¹³ “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food, but God will ·destroy [do away with] them both [^Cprobably another Corinthian slogan (v. 12), meaning only the spirit matters, not what we do with our physical bodies; Paul disagrees].” The body is not for sexual sin but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ By his power God has raised the Lord from the dead and will also raise us from the dead. ¹⁵ ·Surely [Don’t…?] you know that your bodies are ·parts [members] of Christ himself. Should I take the ·parts [members] of Christ and join them to a prostitute? ·Never [Absolutely not; May it never be]! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that anyone who joins with a prostitute [^Cin a sexual relationship] becomes one body with the prostitute? For it is written in the Scriptures, “The two will become one ·body [flesh; Gen. 2:24].” ¹⁷ But the one who joins with the Lord [^Cin spiritual union] is one spirit with the Lord.

¹⁸ So ·run away from [flee; stay away from] sexual sin. Every other sin people do is outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. ¹⁹ ·You should [^LDon’t you…?] know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit who is in you and was given to you by God. So you do not belong to yourselves, ²⁰ because you were ·bought by God [^Lbought] for a price. So honor God with your bodies.