1 Corinthians 6 Study Notes
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6:1 Some Corinthian believers were bringing charges against fellow members before secular judges rather than summoning them before competent arbitrators within the church (v. 5). The phrase how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous refers to bringing a legal complaint before unbelieving Roman judges at Corinth.
6:2-3 Paul called the church to an awareness of their own authority as a judicial body. He argued their competency to judge cases by drawing from two greater-to-lesser analogies: (1) being qualified to judge the world (i.e., nonbelievers) at the end of the age qualified them to judge church members in this age, and (2) being qualified to judge angels at the end of the age qualified them to judge matters of this life.
krino
| Greek pronunciation | [KRIH noh] |
| CSB translation | judge |
| Uses in 1 Corinthians | 17 |
| Uses in the NT | 114 |
| Focus passage | 1 Corinthians 6:1-6 |
The Greek verb krino means to judge and always involves the process of thinking through a situation and coming to a conclusion. The term could be used in a narrowly judicial sense, but it also has several nuances related to judging in a more general sense. In nonjudicial contexts, krino can mean to select, prefer, decide, consider.
In the NT, krino most often refers to judging something or someone in general. However, krino does occur in specific judicial settings several times, and the court can be human (Mt 5:40; Jn 7:51; 18:31; Ac 23:3; 24:21; 25:9-10,20; 26:6; 1Co 6:1,6) or divine (Jn 5:22,30; 12:48; Ac 17:31; Rm 2:16; 3:4-7; 2Tm 4:1; 1Pt 4:5; Rv 20:12-13). In two passages, krino is used with the meaning to rule. Jesus said that the twelve apostles would judge the twelve tribes of Israel “in the renewal of all things” (Mt 19:28), and here krino likely means to rule, as the verse’s reference to sitting on thrones would imply. Similarly, Paul’s statement that the saints would judge the world and angels (1Co 6:2-3) probably means that believers will rule over them both in the future kingdom (cp. Rv 2:26-27).
6:4 Paul put forward the issue of legal jurisdiction. The lesser judges (i.e., the unrighteous judges of this age) are unqualified to sit in judgment among those who judge the world. Lesser judges have not been justified, washed, or sanctified (v. 11).
6:5-6 The question in v. 5 is intentional irony, since the Corinthians were claiming to be wise.
6:7-8 Better to be wronged than to do wrong and cheat others, bringing legal disputes against one another, which is a defeat. Once again we see the theme of 3:3—believers “behaving like mere humans.”
6:9-11 Believers should not be deceived into thinking that unbelieving judges (the unrighteous) and their slap-on-the-wrist verdicts about serious sin can render justice in the church. These people have no inheritance in God’s kingdom. Only believers, who are washed . . . sanctified, and justified, can rightly judge sins (v. 1). Paul’s Corinthian readers would also take this admonition as a cause for asking themselves if their behavior matched that of “the unrighteous” or that of the “washed,” the “sanctified,” and the “justified.” Paul reminds the believers that many of them were involved in such sins before their conversion—some of you used to be like this. But they had experienced transformation so they could now live in conformity to their profession and status.
6:12-20 Paul quotes a slogan apparently put forth by the immature Corinthians (Everything is permissible for me) to introduce a series of admonitions emphasizing a dominant theme in this letter: a believer’s freedom is to be limited to that which is profitable to the Lord.
6:12-14 Paul’s reply to the slogan (v. 12) is that the Corinthian Christians are not their own; they are “bodies” belonging to the Lord (vv. 13,19-20; 1:2; 7:22-23; 10:26). Paul said a person’s body (Gk soma) is not for sexual immorality. It is actually for the Lord.
6:15-17 Paul called the believers at Corinth to remember the oneness and sanctity of their union with Christ. The words one flesh in this context refer to becoming one body through sexual relations with a prostitute. The implication in v. 17 is that because Christians are joined to the Lord, they should never be joined to a prostitute. “One flesh” recalls Gn 24 and contrasts the proper marriage relationship with an illicit sexual relationship.
6:18-20 Sexual immorality is unique among sins insomuch as it is sin against the body, thus assaulting the sanctity of a believer’s sacred oneness with Christ (sealed by the Holy Spirit who is in you) and the oneness of holy matrimony (cp. 7:2). The point is that the believer’s body is a sacred vessel, bought at a price by the Son of God. Believers thus have no business doing anything with the Lord’s body that does not glorify him.