1 Corinthians 6

1 [Now another matter]: When any of you [believers] accuses another believer about some matter, he takes that matter to judges who are not believers, [for them to decide the case], instead of asking God’s people [to decide it]. (That is disgusting!/Why do you do that?) [RHQ]

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

2 [I want] you to know that [we who are] God’s people will [some day] judge those who are unbelievers. [RHQ] So, since you will be judging unbelievers, you certainly are capable of judging between [believers who disagree on] small matters! [RHQ]

Do 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?

3 (You should keep in mind that we will even judge angels!/Do you not know that we will even judge angels?) [RHQ] So we certainly should be able to judge about [matters that relate to how we] conduct our lives here on earth!

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

4 Therefore, when you [believers] have a dispute, you should certainly not choose as judges [to decide your case] people whom the congregation cannot respect [because those judges are not believers]! [RHQ]

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

5 I am saying this to make you ashamed. Surely there is someone among you who is wise enough to judge disputes between believers! [RHQ]

I 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?

6 But instead, some believers [among you] accuse other believers in a legal court. And what is worse, you let the cases be judged by unbelievers {unbelievers judge the cases}!

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

7 The fact that you have any lawsuits among you [shows that] you have completely failed [as Christians] (OR, [allowed Satan to] defeat you). You should [allow other believers] to wrong you [without taking them to court!]! [RHQ] You should not accuse them when [they] cheat you! [RHQ]

Now 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?

8 But [what is happening is that] some of you are cheating others and doing wrong to them. [That is bad]. But you are doing that to fellow believers, [and that is worse]!

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

9 (You should keep in mind that wicked people will not become [members of] the group over whom God will rule./Do you not know that wicked people will not become [members of] the group over whom God will rule?) [RHQ] Do not be deceived {Do not deceive yourselves} [by thinking wrongly about these matters]. People who are sexually immoral, or who worship idols, or who (commit adultery/have sex with someone to whom they are not married), or who happily allow others to commit homosexual acts with them, or who take the initiative in committing homosexual acts,

Know 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,

10 or who are thieves, or who desire and forcefully seize things that belong to others, or who are drunkards, or who slander others, or who are swindlers, will not enter the place where God rules.

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

11 Some of you previously did things like that. But [God] has freed/cleansed you [MET] [from your sinful behavior]. [He] has set you apart for himself. [He] has erased the record of your sins [because you trusted] [MTY] in the Lord Jesus Christ and because of what the Spirit of our God [has done for you].

And 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.

12 [Some of you may say], “God allows us to do anything [that he does not forbid].” But [I would reply], “[That is true], but not everything that God permits us to do helps us.” [Yes, as some of you say], God permits us to do anything [that he does not forbid]. But as for me, I will not let anything make me [its slave; that is, I will not do anything that will gain control over me in such a way that I will not be able to stop doing it].

All 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.

13 [Some of you may also say], “Food is just for [us to put in] the stomach, and the stomach is just for [us to put] food [in]. And since God will do away with food and stomachs [when he gives us our new bodies, what we do with our bodies sexually does not affect us any more than eating food does.” But what you have concluded is wrong, because] the Lord does not [want us to use] our bodies to do sexually immoral things. Instead, the Lord [wants us to use our bodies in ways that please him]. Also, the Lord [wants us to do what is good] for our bodies.

Meats 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.

14 God, by his power, caused the Lord [Jesus] to live again after he died, and he will cause us to live again after we die, [which shows that he is very concerned about our bodies].

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

15 You should keep in mind that your bodies belong to Christ. [RHQ] So, should I [or any other believer] [RHQ] take our body, which belongs to Christ, and join it [sexually] to a prostitute? No, certainly not!

Know 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.

16 When a man has sexual relations [EUP] with a prostitute, [it is as though] their two bodies become one body. (You should never forget that!/Do you not know that?) [RHQ] What [Moses] wrote [about people who join together sexually is], “The two of them will become [as though they are] one body.”

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

17 But anyone who is united {who joins himself} to the Lord becomes one with him spiritually.

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

18 Always (run away from/avoid) committing sexually immoral acts. Other sins that people commit do not affect their bodies, but those who commit sexually immoral acts sin against their own bodies.

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

19 (Keep in mind that your bodies are [like] [MET] temples of the Holy Spirit./Do you not know that your bodies are [like] [MET] temples of the Holy Spirit?) [RHQ] The Spirit, whom God gave you, lives within you. You do not belong to yourselves. You belong to God,

What? 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?

20 [because when his Son died for you it was as though] [MET] [God] paid a price for you. So honor God by [how you use] your bodies!

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