Bible Commentaries
1 Corinthians 6

Verses 1-20

1 It is unfortunate that our word "judge" usually takes on the sense of condemnation. The saints are not to condemn the world but to rule it during the eons. Saints in Israel will possess the kingdom on earth. We shall administer the rest of the universe. This destroys utterly the crude conceptions of "heaven" usually entertained. We shall not be idle, but, as members of Christ's body, will direct and control the angels, including the utmost bounds of the empyrean. If, then, such a future is for the saints, how incongruous for us to appeal to the unjust to settle our differences! It is a deplorable state of affairs when brethren in Christ go to law against one another. It shows that one or the other is unjust and so is not a fit subject for the sphere of God's rule. When the kingdom is established there will be no room for those whose conduct is contrary to the strict justice which will be its chief characteristic. If a believer has a case against another believer he should never have it tried before unbelievers. If they cannot settle it between themselves, they should choose some wise man, a believer in whom there is mutual confidence, and submit their case to him, and abide by his decision. If this is impracticable, it rests with the aggrieved one to submit to the injury or loss rather than bring disgrace on the name of Christ. All that we do should be done with the single object of glorifying God, even if it entails shielding one who has wronged us, because his reputation cannot but affect the estimate with which the saints are held by the unbelievers in the world. We are not under law, but under grace. Let us use this rule in dealing with our brethren.

11 The city of Corinth was noted for its profligacy and, as the evangel makes its special appeal to sinners , some of the Corinthian saints could look back at a past of very doubtful character. But the evangel they received had cleansed and sanctified and acquitted them. In God's sight, at any rate, they no longer bore these characters, and His grace would constrain them to conduct themselves accordingly.

12 This is a necessary consequence of justification and the reign of grace. All is allowed to the one who has been vindicated by God. Nothing can ever touch his position before God in Christ. But this knowledge will not lead us to be lax in our conduct, as some might suppose.

15 The exalted honor of being members of Christ is the most powerful incentive to keep our bodies free from the gross sin which still afflicts humanity as it did in the days when this epistle was penned.

19 Wherever God dwells is the temple of God, and is hallowed by His presence. It was not the stately buildings or the sacred ritual or even the sacrifices which hallowed the sanctuary, but the presence of the glory of God in the holiest of all. The very ground of the desert was holy where Moses met Jehovah ( Exo_3:5 ). So our body, whatever its physical appearance or condition, has become a temple by virtue of the divine Spirit which indwells us. It is no longer ours, but His, and like the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem, should allow nothing that defiles to enter its precincts. God does not dwell in temples made with hands, but in the bodies of His saints. Holy conduct and loving acts are the ritual.

1 In this chapter Paul distinguishes carefully between his spiritual judgment and a commandment of the Lord. He gives the ideal, yet modifies it to suit the conditions under which the Corinthians lived. It will be noted that conduct pleasing to God always conforms to the divine activities. When God deals out justice He requires the same in His saints. When He is gracious, as in this economy, He is pleased when we deal with one another according to the higher dictates of grace. Perhaps we can carry this even further. Redeemed Israel is the bride of the Lambkin. His relation to them is figured by the marriage tie. The present ecclesia, however, is His body, a much closer and more vital union. Hence the ideal for the present time is to remain as Paul was. It was doubtless ideal, in this sense, for Peter to have a wife. Paul's celibacy is undoubtedly in accord with the great truths with which he was commissioned, which disregard all physical relationships, being spiritual conditions to be realized among the celestials, where marriage has no place. Perhaps these considerations account for the undecided tone and temporary character of this chapter.