1 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 6, Verses 1-11
“Are We Christians Fit To Judge?”
[3-27-22]
Review: “What Should We Do? What Should We Do?”
1 Corinthians 5:4-5) [NAS] In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5) I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 5:9-11) I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
10) I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world.
11) But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one.
QUESTION: What is Paul teaching us here?
ANSWER: When we associate with the unbelievers we are not condoning sin, but rather hoping to be a light in the darkness of their lives. When we associate with believers who don’t care what the Word teaches, but have conscientiously decided to live contrary to its teachings, we are condoning sin.
QUESTION: Is this verse telling me that if a fellow believer slips into one of the sins mentioned above that I am forbidden to eat with them?
ANSWER: No! Paul is talking about individuals who are living in sin.
This Week’s Lesson: “Are We Christians Fit To Judge?”
1 Corinthians 6:1-11) [NAS] Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
2) Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?
3) Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life?
4) If then you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?
“The passage is well paraphrased by Farrar. “Dare they, the destined judges of the world and of angels, go to law about mere earthly trifles, and that before the heathen? Why did they not rather set up the very humblest members of the Church to act as judges in such matters?” [Vincent]
5) I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren,
6) but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
QUESTION: What were the Corinthian believers doing wrong here?
ANSWER: They were taking each other to court; they were, in effect, suing each other.
QUESTION: What does Paul tell us, as Christians, that we will do one day?
ANSWER: We will judge the world and we will judge angels.
Revelation 19:15) [GNB] Out of his mouth came a sharp sword, with which he will defeat the nations. He will rule over them with a rod of iron, and he will trample out the wine in the wine press of the furious anger of the Almighty God.
Revelation 2:26-28) [GNB] To those who win the victory, who continue to the end to do what I want, I will give the same authority that I received from my Father: I will give them authority over the nations,
27) to rule them with an iron rod and to break them to pieces like clay pots.
28) I will also give them the morning star.
NOTE: We believers will rule with Christ during His Millennial Reign, which will involve judging the nations.
Jude 1:6) [GNB] Remember the angels who did not stay within the limits of their proper authority, but abandoned their own dwelling place: they are bound with eternal chains in the darkness below, where God is keeping them for that great Day on which they will be condemned.
NOTE: We will be there with the Lord Jesus when He passes the final sentence on the fallen angels. I won’t go farther into this subject; it is above my pay grade. Suffice it to say that Paul had a revelation on this subject that he never taught us in detail.
NOTE: If there is a sense in which we will judge the world, and judge angels, then surely we are qualified to make judgments within the church. We should not be taking our problems to the courts of this world. When we do that we are airing the church’s dirty laundry before the world to see.
7) Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
8) On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.
QUESTION: What does Paul conclude from the idea of a Christian suing another Christian?
ANSWER: They are already defeated because they missed the mark of what a Christian ought to do.
NOTE: They should have been willing to have suffered the wrong done to them.
QUESTION: Why does Paul think like this?
ANSWER: Paul is more concerned with the integrity of the Gospel than he is with our comfort.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When we air our dirty laundry before the world the Gospel suffers. The Gospel is more important than our protecting our rights. We should be willing to suffer loss for the sake of the Gospel, which is the only message than can save the lost.
QUESTION: What were the Corinthian believers doing instead of their being willing to suffer loss?
ANSWER: They were inflicting loss on others by defrauding one another.
9) Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10) nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Concerning “homosexuals,” – “A man who lies in bed with another male, a homosexual” [Word Study].
Regarding “effeminate,” – “Figuratively it means effeminate or a person who allows himself to be sexually abused contrary to nature [Word Study].
“(of a man or boy) displaying characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; not manly” [World English Dictionary].
QUESTION: Who does Paul say will not go to Heaven?
ANSWER: He says that people who are fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, or homosexuals will not go to Heaven.
QUESTION: Is Paul saying that anyone who has committed one of these types of sin will not go to Heaven?
ANSWER: No! He’s saying that those who are, in very nature, one of these things, will not go to Heaven. Or, allow me to put it this way, those who die in their sin will not go to Heaven.
11) And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
QUESTION: What is Paul doing in this verse?
***ANSWER: He’s reminding believers they “were” some of these things, but not anymore.
QUESTION: Why were they no longer those things?
ANSWER: They had been “sanctified,” and “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”
QUESTION: What is his message to you and I?
ANSWER: We are born again, and as such, we are no longer those things. We are not fornicators! We are not idolaters! We are not adulterers! We are not effeminate! We are not homosexuals! We are new creatures in Christ! Old things have passed away! All things have become new!
NOTE: Believe it! Fight to believe it! That’s what the fight of faith is all about! We are bringing our thinking in line with God’s Word!
1 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 6, Verses 12-20
“As A Christian My Conduct Affects The Body Of Christ!”
[3-29-22]
Review: “Are We Christians Fit To Judge?”
1 Corinthians 6:9-10) [NAS] Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10) nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
NOTE: Paul says that people who are fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, or homosexuals will not go to Heaven. We are not effeminate! We are not homosexuals! We are new creatures in Christ! Old things have passed away! All things have become new!
NOTE: Believe it! Fight to believe it! That’s what the fight of faith is all about! We are bringing our thinking in line with God’s Word!
QUESTION: Is Paul saying that anyone who has committed one of these types of sin will not go to Heaven?
ANSWER: No! He’s saying that those who are, in very nature, one of these things, will not go to Heaven. Or, allow me to put it this way, those who die in their sin will not go to Heaven.
11) And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
QUESTION: What is Paul doing in this verse?
ANSWER: He’s reminding believers they “were” some of these things, but not anymore.
NOTE: They had been “sanctified,” and “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”
ANSWER: We are born again, and as such, we are no longer those things. We are not fornicators! We are not idolaters! We are not adulterers! We are not effeminate! We are not homosexuals! We are new creatures in Christ! Old things have passed away! All things have become new!
This Week’s Lesson: “As A Christian My Conduct Affects The Body Of Christ!”
1 Corinthians 5:12-20) [NAS] All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
(CEV) Some of you say, “We can do anything we want to.” But I tell you that not everything is good for us. So I refuse to let anything have power over me.
(MSG) Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.
QUESTION: Is everything “lawful” for me?
ANSWER: Some commentators believe that Paul is quoting some in the church who claim that since we’re under grace everything is permissible; others claim that Paul is saying exactly what the NAS makes it appear that he’s saying. The 2nd group, however, believes that he’s talking about issues that are not plainly known to be sin.
NOTE: Paul had just addressed the problem of Christians suing Christians in the courts of this world. There was no prohibition against this in the Scriptures. Consequently, one could claim that it was “lawful.” I always say, “If you want to know what it’s talking about then see what it’s talking about.” In other words, what’s the contextual setting in which the verse is found. There are some things the Scriptures don’t classify as sin, but are not “profitable,” nonetheless.
ALTHOUGH: If, indeed, we’re not under the Law then there is a technical sense in which all things are “lawful.” If that’s what Paul had in mind then even though all things are “lawful” in the sense that there is no Law condemning it, some things are still sin because they are a missing of the mark of what God intends for His people. Note the following verses:
Romans 4:15) [GNB] The Law brings down God’s anger; but where there is no law, there is no disobeying of the law.
Romans 5:13) [GNB] There was sin in the world before the Law was given; but where there is no law, no account is kept of sins.
13) Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body.
14) Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
QUESTION: Paul now addresses the subject of immorality. Is that the subject he had in mind when he said “all things are lawful for me”?
**ANSWER: It appears to me as if it is. He starts the above verse by mentioning the issue that was prevalent in the early church, which was should Christians eat meats offered to idols, and should they eat pork? That is a disputable matter because “food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.” However, immorality is not a disputable matter because “the body is not for immorality.” It is “for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body.”
15) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be!
QUESTION: What is Paul doing here?
ANSWER: He is staying with the idea that our bodies are “for the Lord.”
QUESTION: In what way is my body for the Lord?
ANSWER: Our “bodies are members of Christ.” Together, we Christians make up the body of Christ and each of us are “members in particular” [1Corinthians 12:27] (KJV).
QUESTION: What should we never do, since our “bodies are members of Christ”?
ANSWER: We should never commit immorality with a prostitute!
“take away,” – “First aorist active participle of airō, old verb to snatch, carry off like Latin rapio (our rape)” [Robertson].
NOTE: There is a sense that we “rape” the church when we do such a thing!
“harlot,” – “a woman who sells her body for sexual uses” [Thayer].
16) Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, “The two will become one flesh.”
17) But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Genesis 2:24) (GW) That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh.
WOW: Paul is showing us that the above verse in Genesis applies to sexual immorality as well as it does to marriage. In essence, someone marries, or “becomes one flesh” with anyone they have sex with.
HORRIBLE NOTE: Since we are joined with Christ, or have become one with Him through our union with Him when we commit immorality with a harlot we are raping the very body of Christ by forcibly joining it to a harlot through our union with that harlot in our act of immorality.
18) Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
19) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20) For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
QUESTION: What does verse 18 mean?
**ANSWER: My physical body is a part of the mystical body of Christ. As shown in the previous verses when I literally commit, as opposed to fantasies, a sexual sin I am involving the Church in that sin. Consequently, I am sinning against my “own body,” the Church. I’m not talking about Walk of Grace Chapel, but rather, the very body of Christ, the Church as a whole.
***NOTE: I disagree with some commentaries. Some commentaries believe this verse to refer to my physical body. However, the context speaks of my physical body as it relates to the Church. As a member of that Church, the body that I’m sinning against here refers to that Church as a whole.
THINK OF THIS: There are many sins I could engage in that are more physically destructive to my physical body than sexual sins. Smoking, though it isn’t technically a sin, but rather a bad habit, can destroy my lungs; alcohol can ruin my liver; drugs can completely wreck my physical body; and eating too much can destroy my health immeasurably. However, none of these things has the negative affect that sexual immorality has on my physical body as it relates to God’s mystical body, the Church.
A CLOSING NOTE: God is telling us that He owns our physical bodies and that we are, therefore, to refrain from sexual immorality in order to glorify God with our bodies.