1 Corinthians 6

1. Appointing Unbelievers to Judge

2. Purity of the Church

3. Sexual Immorality Condemned

Appointing Unbelievers to Judge
Two aspects I found interesting in this passage. First the connection between Paul's previous discussion of the immorality present in the church that has not been dealt with (the man with his father's wife). Paul gets back to the topic of immorality in verse 9, but for now takes a rabbit trail to discuss this issue of allowing the unrighteous to judge matters between Christians. At first, it would seem he has switched topics, but the root issue is actually the same. A weak doctrine of the church is the problem in both cases. There was no discipline before, now there is no one wise enough to judge. If the church is performing its duties, it takes responsibilities in both of these areas.

The second aspect of this passage was the absurdity of not judging within the church. "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" If the smallest Christian will take part in judging the world with Christ, then why can't we make decisions between ourselves? It is really pretty ridiculous that we would take a fellow believer before the civil authorities instead of pursuing a solution within the church if it is too great for us to solve.

The final thing about this passage is the final statement Paul makes, "Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?" That is the real test. If it went so far as to no solution, and you being left cheated or to go before civil authorities, would you not rather protect the purity of the church and be wronged. That goes against everything we know as americans. We have rights! We must be avenged! That is the message that everything we see cries out with, but here Paul is saying, hey if you can't take it before the church, then just be wronged and suffer loss if necessary. It is a better alternative than going before the unrighteous who are the least fit to judge. Not quite sure all of the implications for this, it seems at first reading to be applied only to decisions between believers.

Purity of the Church
Picking up with the final point of the last topic above, we began to talk about the importance of the purity of the church. This is probably a recurring theme throughout scriputure and Corinthians. But Paul emphasizes this by talking about the individual paying the price instead of the church. We are so apt to let the church have the shame and suffer the wrong to protect ourselves instead of embracing the idea that we should suffer. Paul goes on to state that we not only do not protect the purity of the Church, but we actively destroy it when we lie and cheat our fellow Christians. Then he inserts a warning. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be decieved. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor theives, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." Paul wants us to be sure we understand, that we need not be confused, those who continue in sin will not be part of the kingdom of God. We cannot serve God with our minds or confess Him as Lord and Savior and then behave in a contrary way. Paul's final words are comforting: "but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified..." We have been saved from that previous life of sin, and now we should live to God. We must not continue in a pattern of sin, but we must strive to become more holy. And these issues are one small part of that pursuit!

Immorality Judged
Paul ends the the previous passage with the statement: "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in teh name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." He is referring to the list of sins that he just put forth. He wants the Corinthian church to understand their supposed present standing. They have been set apart to be true worshipers of the true God. Paul is confident that the Corinthians are true believers, justified and sanctified, and that their present misbehavior is an anomaly that can be corrected. But it must be corrected. Persistance in widckedness would be and indication that their faith is false and that they have no place in the kingdom. This is how I need to question myself, who am I? Am I persisting in wickedness or am I repenting from the sin that so easily entangles? God leads us to repentance.

The next verse I have always thought of in a different light than what my commentary brings up. "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. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them." The commentary suggests that these may have been sayings that were common in the Corinthian church. Paul goes on to seek to correct these views that the body will be destroyed and has no present significance. There may have been those in the church who viewed sexuality as somehting inherintly evil and those that viewed it as acceptable because the body was not important. Paul wants them to see that our bodies are not our own, they were bought with a price and we are to glorify God with them. Paul focuses on this issue of sexual immorality and seeks to give the church a better understanding of sexual immorality that when we commit this sin we are actually combining the members of Christ with a harlot! He ends with the warning to FLEE SEXUAL IMMORALITY. Paul wants the church to understand that sin cannot be commited without consequence and non-chalantly like the church at Corinth was guilty of and like I am often guilty of. This is probably where the topic of antinominoism comes in, but that is a topic for another day. We must be on guard against these sins that seem so harmless, but according to Paul prohibit us from inheriting the kingdom of God.