1 Corinthians 6:1-20
1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
4 If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?
5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?
6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?
8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “THE TWO,” He says, “SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.”
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Paul begins addressing a propensity for reacting to perceived wrong done by going to a judge outside their body as if whatever it is could not be worked out among themselves. First of all, he indicates that maybe they shouldn’t be so sensitive and easily offended, but then he gives the reason for why self judgment is a problem. To effectively judge a transgression, there is a need for living free from transgression. How can a right decision come from a heart that is serving transgression itself? This is revealing of the state of our nation and world, where those who should be determining error and punishment are themselves so ensconced in sin that what is holy is seen as evil and visa versa. For us this need not be, for those who take seriously and passionately the residence of the Holy Spirit inside. The ability to perceive error and bring resolution to it can only come from a lifestyle that has yielded to Truth found only in honoring the presence of the Holy Spirit. Against the bent of society to call righteousness hate and submit to the judgments of transgressors, there is a great opportunity to experience a realm of freedom from error and offense in the simple acknowledgment of the Spirit that purifies and yields a loving, merciful and longsuffering fruit. In liberation from serving transgression will be an adequate capacity to effectively judge it.
Verses 9-11 in the Passion translation say,
“1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Surely you must know that people who practice evil cannot possess God’s kingdom realm. Stop being deceived! People who continue to engage in sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, sexual perversion, homosexuality,
10 fraud, greed, drunkenness, verbal abuse, or extortion—these will not inherit God’s kingdom realm.
11 It’s true that some of you once lived in those lifestyles, but now you have been purified from sin, made holy, and given a perfect standing before God—all because of the power of the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and through our union with the Spirit of our God.”
Pastor Stephen spoke on this on Wednesday, that being called to kingdom business means that you cannot be walking in unholiness. The requirement to be living in and by the spirit only grows as we dive further into who we are in Christ and His plans for our lives. The time to shrug off the old ways are now!