The holiday season is upon us already! Life is becoming hectic, so the study on Chapter 7 may not be posted until after 2012 has dawned. I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a beautiful Christmas season. During the rush to get everything bought and wrapped, please take time out to remember Christ and His love for us.
I hope you enjoy the following study on Chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians:
1If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?
As indicated by verse 7 where he talks about being wronged or cheated, Paul is talking about disputes on property here, not criminal acts.
Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
Paul tells the Corinthians to take their property disputes to qualified Christians for settlement. In Paul’s day the Romans allowed people to apply their own law in property matters, so taking these disputes to the authorities wouldn’t do a lot of good.
2Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
We, being the saints, shall reign with Christ and therefore have a hand in judging the worldly. Paul is saying Christians are fully capable to judge cases where believers have claims against each other because they view matters from a Godly vantage point.
3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
We will judge angels. When you compare our future role as judges of the world and of angels, judgments concerning things of this life are insignificant.
Jude 6 says “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
This tells us there are angels being held in ‘dungeons’ until the judgment day. These are the angels we will be judging alongside Christ on that day.
4Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church?
Paul is being sarcastic, asking why a believer would allow a pagan judge to decide on a case when he is not qualified to decide on something between two Christians. Someone who is not a Christian would not see things in a Godly way and therefore would make a decision based on material, rather than spiritual, motivation.
5I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?
Back in 1 Corinthians 4:14, we read “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children.” Paul said he was not trying to shame them, but warn them because he loves them. But here Paul says, okay NOW I’m saying this to shame you! He asks them if they are all too stupid to settle a simple dispute between two Christians. He wants them to realize how ridiculous they are being.
6But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
By choosing to go through the courts, this brings the dispute into the open for all to see. What kind of a witness are you as a Christian if you can’t even work things out with one of your brothers or sisters in Christ? The world looks at this kind of behavior and sees the Christian as being no different from everyone else. Yet, we as Christians should be set apart from the things of this world so the world can see Christ shining through us. If we act the same as the rest of the world, we are destroying our testimony for Christ.
7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.
Paul says they are defeated if they have lawsuits among them because their greed, retaliation and hatred prevents them from practicing unselfishness, forgiveness and love. This makes them act the same as the worldly, and therefore they are not set apart. Instead of allowing this to happen, a Christian attitude should make them feel they had rather be wronged or cheated than to act like this toward a brother or sister in Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:6 says “and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.
9Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men
The phrase men who have sex with men is translated from two Greek words referring to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts.
In verse 8, Paul has said these Christians are acting in the wrong, bringing to mind wickedness. In this verse he continues with his train of thought and asks if they realize the wicked will not go to heaven. He tells them not to be deceived into thinking these things are okay, because these things will prevent them from entering God’s kingdom. He then goes on to describe the kinds of wickedness he’s talking about.
Paul identifies three kinds of sexual immorality: adultery, male prostitution, and male homosexuality. Those who engage in such practices are explicitly excluded from God’s kingdom.
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Also excluded from His kingdom will be thieves, those who are greedy, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers.
Revelation 21:8 says “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 22:14-15 says “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
There is hope even for these people. God saves and sanctifies people like those described. Paul says there were Christians among them who used to be as bad as those he described, but they had been washed clean. Obviously, he is including himself.
Ephesians 2:1-5 says “ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
12“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
Here Paul is probably quoting some in the Corinthian congregation who felt because they are saved by grace, they can do whatever they want and still go to heaven. But Paul points out that although they have this ‘freedom’ from the law, they will still have to suffer the consequences of their actions and their sinful nature can cause problems, not only for them as a human being, but as a Christian. A Christian must also consider the good of others and be aware of the consequences he may inflict on others. One can become enslaved by those actions in which he ‘freely’ indulges.
1 Corinthians 10:23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive...
13You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Again Paul is quoting some Corinthians who were claiming eating and digesting food is a physical act that has no bearing on one’s inner spiritual life. Likewise, they were saying, the act of promiscuous sexual activity is also a physical act and does not affect one’s spiritual life. But Paul says the human body was intended for the Lord.
Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
We are to use our bodies to glorify the Lord and allow Christ to be seen through us. If we are doing immoral acts, we are preventing Christ from working through us. Paul is denying what one does with his body is unimportant.
14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
Paul goes on to give an illustration as to how important the body is. God holds our bodies in such high regard that he saw fit to raise Christ’s body from the grave and, eventually, the believer’s body will also be resurrected.
Romans 6:5 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
A body destined for resurrection should not be used for immorality.
15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Romans 12:5 “so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
It is not only the spirit that is a member of Christ’s body. It’s the whole person, consisting of spirit and body. This fact gives dignity to the human body. Would you present a member of Christ to a prostitute? Of course not!
The prostitutes of Corinth were dedicated to the service of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sex. (Aphrodite was the Greek name. The Romans referred to her as Venus.) She was the principal deity of Corinth and her temple was among the most magnificent buildings in the city. Kept there were a thousand priestesses (or public prostitutes) at public expense, always ready for immoral indulgence as worship to their goddess. Some of the Corinthian Christians, having been accustomed to a religion that encouraged such immoral living, were finding it difficult to adapt to their new religion which prohibited immoral living.
16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
This is taken from Gen. 2:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
In a sexual relationship, the two bodies become one.
The two will become one flesh is repeated in Matthew 19:5 ”and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
And again repeated in Ephesians 5:31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
This refers to a man and his wife and sexual relations outside the marriage bond are a gross perversion of the divinely established marriage union.
17But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
The believers spiritual union with Christ is a higher union that the bond of marriage between a man and a woman. It is the perfect model for the kind of unity that should mark a marriage relationship as described in Ephesians 5:21-33. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.22Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
Why should you flee? Because we read in verse 9 “…wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Verse 18 tells us why sexual perversion is so much worse than most other sins. All other sins man commits are outside of his body. But sexual acts actually occur on or within the body, gratifying one’s physical self in a unique way no other sin will or can.
19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which dwells within you if you are a Christian. As a Christian, you should value your body as a sacred place where God dwells and realize by the Spirit’s presence and power, we can overcome temptation.
Romans 8:9 “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Christ purchased your body with His blood when he was crucified for your sins. It now belongs to Him, not you. Therefore, you are to honor God with your body.
Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
In chapters 5 & 6, Paul has asked seven questions to emphasize seven very important principles:
1. Do you not know a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
2. Do you not know the saints will judge the earth?
3. Do you not know we are to judge angels?
4. Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
5. Do you not know your bodies are members of Christ?
6. Do you not know he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her?
7. Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?
If we know these seven principles, it should affect our behavior as Christians.
1 comment:
Such a small think. ;-) But such a great idea
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