< 1 Corinthians 6 >
1 Dare any of you, having a matter against the other, go to law before the unrighteous and not before the sanctified?
How is it, that if any one of you has a cause at law against another, he takes it before a Gentile judge and not before the saints?
2 Or know ye not that the sanctified will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy of very small legal disputes?
Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things?
3 Know ye not that we will judge agents? Then why not mundane things?
Is it not certain that we are to be the judges of angels? how much more then of the things of this life?
4 Indeed therefore whenever ye have mundane legal disputes, men who are disdained by the church, these ye seat to judge.
If then there are questions to be judged in connection with the things of this life, why do you put them in the hands of those who have no position in the church?
5 I speak shame about you. So there is not among you not even one wise man who will be able to arbitrate between his brother?
I say this to put you to shame. Is there not among you one wise man who may be able to give a decision between his brothers?
6 But brother goes to law against brother, and this before unbelievers?
But a brother who has a cause at law against another takes it before Gentile judges.
7 Now therefore it is indeed altogether a defeat for you because ye have legal disputes against yourselves. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss?
8 Instead ye do wrong, and defraud, and these things to brothers.
So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.
9 Or know ye not that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not led astray. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate men, nor homosexuals,
Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,
10 nor greedy men, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor the slanderous, nor the predatory will inherit the kingdom of God.
Or is a thief, or the worse for drink, or makes use of strong language, or takes by force what is not his, will have any part in the kingdom of God.
11 And some of you were these things, but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were made righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
And such were some of you; but you have been washed, you have been made holy, you have been given righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under control by anything.
I am free to do all things; but not all things are wise. I am free to do all things; but I will not let myself come under the power of any.
13 The foods are for the belly and the belly for foods, but God will abolish both this and these things. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will put an end to them together. But the body is not for the desires of the flesh, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body:
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will raise us up through his power.
And God who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead will do the same for us by his power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are body-parts of Christ? Therefore, having taken the body-parts of the Christ, should I make them body-parts of a harlot? May it not happen!
Do you not see that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? how then may I take what is a part of the body of Christ and make it a part of the body of a loose woman? such a thing may not be.
16 Or know ye not that he who is joined to a harlot is one body? For, The two, he says, will be in one flesh.
Or do you not see that he who is joined to a loose woman is one body with her? for God has said, The two of them will become one flesh.
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
But he who is united to the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin, whatever a man may do, is outside the body, but he who fornicates sins against his own body.
Keep away from the desires of the flesh. Every sin which a man does is outside of the body; but he who goes after the desires of the flesh does evil to his body.
19 Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, which ye have from God? And ye are not your own,
Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the Holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves;
20 for ye were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which is of God.
For a payment has been made for you: let God be honoured in your body.