1Cor 6 | EE | STEP | Perhaps one of you does not agree with another Christian about something that matters. But you should not go for help to people who do not know God. No! Instead, you should go to God’s people. And you should ask them to decide about this thing.

1 Corinthians 6

People who do not believe Christ should not decide about your quarrels

1 Perhaps one of you does not agree with another Christian about something that matters. But you should not go for help to people who do not know God. No! Instead, you should go to God’s people. And you should ask them to decide about this thing. 2 You should know that God’s people will decide about all the people in the world one day. So, if you will decide about the world, certainly you should be able to decide about small things among yourselves. 3 You should know that we will even judge the angels one day. So certainly, we should be able to decide about things that belong only to our lives here on earth.

4 Sometimes you may not agree among yourselves about things that belong to our lives here on earth. But when that happens, do not go to people who do not belong to the church. The church does not respect such people, so do not go to them. 5 I say this so that you will feel ashamed. Certainly, there should be one person in your group who understands enough to decide about things like this between believers. 6 But instead, you have let believers go to people in the government to argue against other believers! You stand in front of people who do not believe Christ! Then you let them decide what is right!

7 When you do this, you are completely wrong. You should not go to people in the government to argue with each other. It would be better to let other people do wrong things to you. Even if people rob you, that would be better. 8 Instead, you yourselves do wrong things, and you do those things to other believers! You even rob them.

9 God has prepared good things for his own people that he rules over. But he will never let any bad person receive those good things. You ought to know this. You can be very sure that no kind of bad person will receive those good things. People who have sex with anyone other than their own wife or husband will not receive them. People who worship false gods will not receive them. Men who have sex with men will not receive them. And women who have sex with women will not receive those good things either. 10 People who rob will not receive them. Some people want more than they need. Those people will not receive them. Drunks will not receive them. People who say wrong things about other people will not receive them. People who are not honest about other people’s things will not receive those good things either. God has prepared things for his own people that he rules over. But no bad people will ever receive those things. 11 Some of you did bad things like this. But the Spirit of our God has washed you clean with the Lord Jesus Christ’s authority. He has made you God’s own people, who are separate from bad things. He has made you right with God, so that God can accept you now.

Use your bodies as God’s servants should use them

12 One of you may say: ‘I am free to do anything. I can do anything that I want to do.’ But not everything will help you. I myself could say: ‘I am free. I can do whatever things I want to do.’ Yes, but I will not let anything rule over me. 13 Someone else may say: ‘Food is there for the stomach. So the stomach is there for me to fill it with food.’ Yes, but God will destroy both the stomach and the food. The Lord gave our bodies to us. So, you should not have sex with anyone who is not your own wife or husband. You should not use your bodies like that. Instead, you should use your bodies as the Lord wants you to use them. 14 God raised the Lord Jesus. God made him alive again after he had died. And God will use his own power to make us alive again also. 15 You ought to know that your bodies are parts of Christ’s body. So, you must never take your body and make it part of a prostitute’s body. Never let that happen! 16 Anyone who makes his own body join to a prostitute becomes one body with that prostitute. You should know that. It says in the Bible:

‘The man and the woman become like one body.’ ^{▼▼6:16 See Genesis 2:24}

17 But everyone who is united to the Lord is one spirit with him. 18 So, do not have sex with anyone who is not your own wife or husband. Be careful never to do that. Any other bad thing that you do is outside your own body. But if you have sex with the wrong person, you do something wrong to your own body. 19 Your body is the home of God’s Spirit, who is completely good and separate from everything bad. You should know that. God gave his Spirit to you and he lives in you. You do not belong to yourselves any longer. But you belong to God, 20 because God bought you. He paid the price for you. So, show how great and how good God is. Use your body to show that.