Chapter 6

Avoid Lawsuits against Each Other.^{[a] 1} If any of you has a dispute with another, how can you seek judgment before those who are unrighteous^[b] instead of before the saints? ² Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, how can you consider yourselves as incompetent to deal with smaller cases? ³ Do you not realize that we are to judge angels?^[c] Why then should we not deal with matters of this life?

⁴ Therefore, if you have such matters to resolve, how can you seek judgment from those who have no standing in the Church? ⁵ I write this to make you ashamed. Is it really possible that there is no one among you who is wise enough to mediate a dispute between brethren? ⁶ Why should a brother go to court against another brother, seeking a decision from unbelievers?

⁷ In truth, the very fact that you engage in lawsuits with one another is a misfortune for you. Why not prefer to be wronged? Why not prefer to be defrauded? ⁸ Instead, you yourself are guilty of wronging and defrauding your own brethren.

⁹ Are you not aware that wrongdoers will never inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites,^{[d] 10} thieves, extortioners, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once such as these. However, now you have been washed clean, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

¹² All Things Are Lawful for Me!^[e]“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not allow myself to be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach is meant for food,” but God will destroy them both. However, the body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ God raised up the Lord, and he will raise us up also by his power.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I then take Christ’s members and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But anyone who joins himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.^[f]

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ You have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.