1 Corinthians 6

The Explanation

Paul writes to a church in Corinth, a port city with a reputation. Money, sex, and status ran the streets. And exactly there, in the middle of that culture, a community of Christians is trying to figure out what it means to belong to Jesus. In chapter 6, Paul is angry, and not the kind of anger that fades quickly. He addresses two problems.

First: lawsuits. Believers in Corinth were dragging each other into court over disagreements. Paul cannot believe it. "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" (v. 2). If you are going to be part of God's future judgment, can you not sort out a dispute about money among yourselves? Better to be wronged than to drag your brother before pagan judges and put the name of Christ to shame. It is not that justice does not matter, but that being right can cost you more than losing. "Why not rather be wronged?" (v. 7).

Then Paul shifts gears. He lists people who will not inherit the kingdom of God: the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, extortioners. It is a hard list. And then comes one of the most stunning sentences in the whole letter: "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 in the Spirit of our God" (v. 11).

Then the big theme: the body. Some in Corinth apparently had a slogan: "All things are lawful for me." Meaning: I am free, I can do what I want with my body, sex included. Paul does not deny freedom, but he refuses to accept that the body is spiritually irrelevant. "The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body" (v. 13). Your body will be raised, just as Jesus was raised. Your body is a member of Christ himself. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body" (vv. 19-20).

What Does This Mean?

Paul is dismantling a lie that the Corinthians believed, and that our culture still believes: that what you do with your body is a private matter, separate from who you are spiritually. He says the opposite. Your body is not a shell around the "real you." Your body is you. And if you belong to Christ, then your body belongs to Christ.

That is a radical claim in any century. It means sex is not just physical. It means your body is not a product to be optimized, sold, exposed, or hated. It means what you do with your hands, your mouth, your desires, matters spiritually.

But notice: Paul does not lead with the rules. He leads with identity. Washed. Sanctified. Justified. The behavior flows from who you already are, not the other way around.

The Common Thread

"You were bought with a price." That is the whole gospel in six words. Jesus did not just teach us a better way to live; he purchased us. His blood was the price. That changes the logic of everything. You are not your own project. You are not your own product. You are not your own judge. You belong to someone who died and rose so that your body, the whole of you, could one day be raised too.

This chapter connects to the empty tomb. Because Jesus' body was raised, our bodies matter. Christianity is not a religion that escapes the physical. It is a faith that says the physical will be redeemed.

For You

You live in a world that sends you two contradictory messages about your body. On one hand: your body is everything. Post it, curate it, filter it, compare it, hate it, fix it. On the other hand: your body means nothing. It is just biology, hook up with whoever, it does not touch your soul.

Paul cuts through both. Your body is not everything, because you are more than a body. But your body is not nothing, because it is a temple of the Holy Spirit. What you do with it, in private, in relationships, online, matters.

That includes sex, yes. But it is bigger. It includes how you treat your body when no one is watching. Whether you feed it or starve it. Whether you numb it with substances. Whether you use someone else's body as content on a screen. Whether you speak about your body with the contempt the world taught you.

And then verse 11. If you have already crossed lines you regret, Paul is not writing to condemn you. He is writing to remind you: "such were some of you." Past tense. Washed. Sanctified. Justified. There is a way back that does not depend on your performance but on the price already paid.

The question is not whether you are pure enough for Jesus. The question is whether you will let him have what he already bought.

Talk About It

Where do you feel the tension between "my body, my choice" and "you are not your own"? What is honestly hard about what Paul says here?

Verse 11 says "such were some of you." What does it mean to you that Paul talks about deep change in the past tense, before he talks about how to live?

Praying Together

Lord Jesus, you paid a price for me I cannot repay. My body, my thoughts, my desires belong to you. Teach me not to despise my body and not to worship it. Wash what needs washing. Heal what is broken. Help me to live like someone who has been bought back. Amen.