HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1403
1 COR INTHIANS 6
page 1033
12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders,
but it certainly is your responsibility to judge
those inside the church who are sinning. 13 God
will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person
from among you.”*
Avoiding Lawsuits with Christians
When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit
and ask a secular court to decide the matter
instead of taking it to other believers*! 2 Don’t
you realize that someday we believers will judge
the world? And since you are going to judge the
world, can’t you decide even these little things
among yourselves? 3 Don’t you realize that we
will judge angels? So you should surely be able
to resolve ordinary disputes in this life. 4 If you
have legal disputes about such matters, why
go to outside judges who are not respected by
the church? 5 I am saying this to shame you.
Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise
enough to decide these issues? 6 But instead,
one believer* sues another—right in front of
unbelievers!
7 Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept
the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let
yourselves be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves
are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your
fellow believers.*
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong
will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool
yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or
who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are
male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,
10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards,
or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these
will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you
were once like that. But you were cleansed; you
were made holy; you were made right with God
by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God.
6
Avoiding Sexual Sin
12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but
not everything is good for you. And even though
“I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was
made for the stomach, and the stomach for
food.” (This is true, though someday God will
do away with both of them.) But you can’t
say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the
Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will
raise us from the dead by his power, just as he
raised our Lord from the dead.
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his
body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a
5:13 Deut 17:7. 6:1 Greek God’s holy people; also in 6:2.
6:6 Greek one brother. 6:8 Greek even the brothers.
• Discipline
1 C OR I N THI A N S 5:1-13
The church must discipline flagrant
sin among its members. Such sin left
unchecked can polarize and paralyze a
church, causing confusion and division
in the congregation. The discipline,
however, is never to be vengeful. Instead,
it should be used to bring about restoration. The Corinthian church had a specific
sin in their midst, but they refused to
deal with it. A man was having an affair
with his mother (or stepmother), and the
church members were trying to ignore
the situation. Paul told the church that
they had a responsibility to maintain the
standards of morality found in God’s
Word. God tells us not to judge others,
but he also tells us not to tolerate sin
that opposes his holiness and wields
a dangerous influence over the lives
of others.
Putting someone out of the church
should be a last resort in disciplinary
action. Paul was not expecting anyone
to be sinless; all believers struggle with
sin on a daily basis. Instead, he was
speaking out against those who deliberately sinned, felt no guilt, and would
not repent. This kind of blatant sin
requires tough action by the church;
otherwise it will jeopardize the spiritual
health of all.
• Conflict
1 C OR I N THI A N S 6:1-8
Society has set up a legal system
whereby disagreements can be solved
in the courts. But Paul says that disagreeing Christians should not have to
go to a secular court to resolve their
differences. Why not? First, the basis for
going to court is often revenge, which
should never be a Christian’s motive.
Second, lawsuits between Christians
make the church look bad, causing
unbelievers to focus on its problems
rather than its purpose. Paul says it is
far more honoring to God to let yourself
be cheated than to go to court. As
Christians, we have the Holy Spirit and
the mind of Christ, so why should we
turn to those who lack God’s wisdom?
With all that we have been given as
believers, we should be able to deal
with disputes between ourselves.