New Testament · Letter

1 Corinthians 6

Your Body Is a Temple

Lawsuits between believers, sexual immorality tolerated — Paul reminds the Corinthians that their bodies are not their own. They were bought at a price.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

1If any of you has a grievance against another, how dare he go to law before the unrighteous instead of before the saints!

2Do 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?

3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

4So if you need to settle everyday matters, do you appoint as judges those of no standing in the church?

5I say this to your shame. Is there really no one among you wise enough to arbitrate between his brothers?

6Instead, one brother goes to law against another, and this in front of unbelievers!

7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, even against your own brothers!

9Do 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 men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

11And 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.

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 intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

14By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also.

15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

16Or don’t you 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.”

17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

18Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

19Do 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;

20you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

Understand This

1 Corinthians 6, explained

What 1 Corinthians 6 is saying

Paul addresses two disorders: believers taking disputes to pagan courts rather than resolving them within the ekklesia, and the misuse of Christian freedom to justify sexual immorality. The slogan 'all things are lawful for me' is met with Paul's qualifications—not everything is beneficial, and nothing should master the believer. The body, as a temple of the Holy Spirit and destined for resurrection, has profound theological dignity.

The background behind it

Litigation before Roman magistrates was common among the Corinthian elite as a status display. The slogan about freedom likely originated from Paul's own teaching on liberation from Torah, which some Corinthians radicalized into libertinism. The dualism between body and soul reflects Hellenistic anthropology that Paul directly counters.

Themes running underneath

Bodily holiness is grounded in three theological realities: union with Christ, the indwelling Spirit, and future resurrection. Paul's soma theology directly challenges any Platonic denigration of the physical. Christian freedom is bounded by love and eschatological purpose.

Why it still matters

The claim that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit reframes every physical choice as a spiritual one. Freedom in Christ is not autonomy but purposeful belonging.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.