1 Corintios 6

VBL · Chapter 6/16

1¡Cómo se atreven ustedes a interponer una demanda ante jueces paganos cuando tienen una disputa con su prójimo! Por el contrario, ustedes deberían llevar este caso ante otros creyentes.

2¿Acaso no saben que los creyentes cristianos juzgarán al mundo? Si ustedes van a juzgar al mundo, ¿no estarán aptos para juzgar en casos más pequeños?

3¿Acaso no saben que nosotros juzgaremos a los ángeles? ¡Cuánto más estas cosas que tienen que ver con esta vida!

4De modo que si tienen que juzgar cosas que tienen que ver con esta vida, ¿cómo es que pueden ir ante los jueces que no son respetados por la iglesia?

5Y al decirles esto quiero que se sientan avergonzados. ¿Qué? ¿Acaso no pueden encontrar a una persona sabia entre ustedes que pueda arreglar la disputa que tienen?

6¡En lugar de ello, un creyente lleva a otro creyente a la corte y presenta el caso ante quienes no son creyentes!

7El hecho mismo de que ustedes tienen demandas interpuestas contra otros ya es un completo desastre. ¿No sería mejor aceptar la injusticia? ¿Por qué no aceptan que otros los defrauden?

8Pero sí prefieren mejor hacer juicio injusto y defraudar incluso a sus hermanos creyentes de la iglesia.

9¿Acaso ustedes no saben que los injustos no heredarán el reino de Dios? ¡No se dejen engañar! Las personas que son inmorales, idólatras, adúlteros, pervertidos sexuales, homosexuales,

10ladrones, codiciosos, bebedores, abusadores, o engañadores, no heredarán el reino de Dios.

11Algunos de ustedes eran así, pero han sido limpiados y santificados. Han sido justificados en el nombre del Señor Jesucristo, y en el Espíritu de nuestro Dios.

12La gente dice: “Yo soy libre de hacer cualquier cosa”, ¡pero no todo es apropiado! “Yo soy libre de hacer cualquier cosa”, ¡Pero no permitiré que eso tenga control sobre mí! La gente dice:

13“La comida es para el estómago y el estómago es para la comida”, pero Dios destruirá a ambos. Además, el cuerpo no debe ser usado para la inmoralidad, sino para el Señor, y el Señor para el cuerpo.

14Por su poder, Dios levantó al Señor de los muertos, y de la misma manera nos levantará a nosotros.

15¿No saben que sus cuerpos son parte del cuerpo de Cristo? ¿Debería tomar las partes del cuerpo de Cristo y unirlas con una prostituta? ¡Por supuesto que no!

16¿No se dan cuenta de que cualquiera que tiene sexo con una prostituta viene a ser “un cuerpo” con ella? Recuerden que la Escritura dice: “Los dos serán un cuerpo”.

17¡Pero todo el que se une al Señor es uno con él en espíritu!

18¡Manténganse lejos de la inmoralidad sexual! Todos los demás pecados que la gente comete ocurren fuera del cuerpo, pero la inmoralidad sexual es un pecado contra sus propios cuerpos.

19¿Acaso no saben que sus cuerpos son Templo del Espíritu Santo que está dentro de ustedes, y que recibieron de Dios?

20Ustedes no se pertenecen. ¡Alguien pagó un precio por ustedes! ¡Así que glorifiquen a Dios en sus cuerpos!

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul rebukes the Corinthian Christians for taking disputes between brothers to pagan courts instead of resolving them among themselves. He also warns against sexual immorality, reminding them that the believer's body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Explanation

Two practical issues appear here: lawsuits between believers and sexual ethics. On the matter of lawsuits, Paul argues that it is shameful for brothers in the faith, who will one day judge the world alongside Christ, to be unable to settle simple disputes among themselves without resorting to unbelieving judges. On sexuality, he teaches that the physical body is not indifferent to faith: it is a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit, so sexual union outside of God's purpose carries real spiritual weight. Today's application is twofold: seek reconciliation and mediation within the faith community itself whenever possible, and treat the body with the respect of someone who knows it belongs to God.

Fun facts

  • Civil courts in Corinth were known for favoring citizens of higher social status and wealth, which made it even more serious for a poor Christian to be dragged into court by a wealthier brother.
  • The phrase 'you were bought with a price' (v.20) uses language from the slave market of the time, evoking the idea that Christ paid the ransom to set the believer free, a metaphor repeated also in 1 Corinthians 7:23.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Corintios 6:1In Corinth, citizens sued one another before Roman judges, often over money or public honor. Paul finds it absurd that brothers in the faith would take their quarrels to these pagan courts instead of settling them among themselves.
  2. 1 Corintios 6:2Paul recalls a common Jewish idea: the saints will take part in the final judgment of the world alongside God. If that is so, the Corinthians should be able to settle small disputes among themselves without resorting to pagan courts.
  3. 1 Corintios 6:3He goes further: if even angels will be judged by believers (another idea of the time), how much more should they be able to settle simple everyday matters among brothers.
  4. 1 Corintios 6:4Ironically, Paul suggests that even the least respected members of the church would be more fit to judge these internal matters than taking everything to outside pagan judges.
  5. 1 Corintios 6:5A direct rebuke: is there really no one wise enough in the church to mediate a dispute between brothers, without having to air everything publicly in a Roman court?
  6. 1 Corintios 6:6The concrete problem: brother suing brother, and before judges who do not even share the faith — a public scandal that exposes the Corinthian church.
  7. 1 Corintios 6:7Having lawsuits among themselves is already a spiritual defeat; Paul suggests it would be better to suffer a loss or an injustice than to drag a brother into a public legal fight.
  8. 1 Corintios 6:8But in practice the problem was worse: the Corinthians themselves were committing the injustice and causing the harm to one another, not just passively suffering it.
  9. 1 Corintios 6:9The list of who “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” includes terms that translators still understand differently today, especially the words rendered here as “effeminate” and “abusers of themselves with mankind” — the exact meaning of the original Greek words is debated among scholars, and this is a reading that divides interpreters.
  10. 1 Corintios 6:10The list from the previous verse continues about who “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” — it includes thieves, the covetous, drunkards, and those who sue and defraud their brothers, tying the theme back to the lawsuits.
  11. 1 Corintios 6:11Most of the church had already lived that kind of life before believing — what matters now is the real change Christ made: washed, sanctified, justified. This is no time to go back to that old behavior.
  12. 1 Corintios 6:12“All things are lawful unto me” seems to be a phrase the Corinthians themselves had been repeating to justify their excesses. Paul repeats their saying and immediately corrects it: not everything permitted is good, and he refuses to be enslaved by anything, not even by his own freedom.
  13. 1 Corintios 6:13Paul answers another Corinthian saying (“meats for the belly, and the belly for meats”) by comparing food and sex: food is temporary, but the body was not made for sexual immorality — it was made to belong to the Lord.
  14. 1 Corintios 6:14He reminds them that the same power that raised Jesus will also raise the bodies of believers — an argument that the physical body matters to God, not something disposable, as they seemed to think in Corinth.
  15. 1 Corintios 6:15A shocking question: since the believer’s body is a “member of Christ,” would it make sense to join that same body to a prostitute, common in the port city of Corinth? Paul answers emphatically that it would not.
  16. 1 Corintios 6:16He quotes Genesis to explain why sexual union, even with a prostitute, creates a real bond (“one flesh”) — it is not a neutral act, as they seemed to think in Corinth.
  17. 1 Corintios 6:17He contrasts this physical union with the spiritual union of the believer with the Lord — both kinds of bond are real, but of very different natures.
  18. 1 Corintios 6:18A direct command: flee sexual immorality. Unlike other sins, this one affects the person’s own body in a unique way, according to Paul’s argument.
  19. 1 Corintios 6:19Unlike the collective temple in chapter 3, here “the temple of the Holy Ghost” is the body of each individual believer. “Bought with a price” uses the language of the slave market — someone paid to set this person free, so she is no longer her own to do whatever she wants with her own body.
  20. 1 Corintios 6:20He closes the chapter: believers were “bought with a price” (the death of Christ), so the body is no longer the person’s exclusive property — it must be used to glorify God.

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