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.

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1Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

2Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

3Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

4If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

5I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

6But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

7Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

8Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

9Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

11And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

13Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

14And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

15Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

16What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

17But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

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: King James Version — public domain.