If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? (6:1). The Roman legal system prevented those of inferior status from prosecuting their “superiors,” such as patrons and magistrates.48 Thus these disputes are likely to have been between those of the same social status within the Roman colony; no doubt they are drawn from those who would consider themselves as “powerful” (dynatoi, 1:26). Alternatively they could be cases brought by an individual with high social status against someone with a lower social status—for example, a magistrate against a freedman. The case would be initiated by taking the matter before one of the two main magistrates in the colony, one of the duovirs. The case would be heard before a judge or a jury of one’s peers.49 Jurors were selected from wealthier social groups; in Cyrenaica (North Africa) jurors had to have a property value of 7,500 denarii.50 The Cyrene edict of Augustus dating to 7/6 B.C. suggests that juries could sometimes act in an unjust way, constituting some form of cliques.51 Later sources show that Corinth itself suffered from such legal corruption.52 The word “ungodly” can also be translated “unrighteous” (or perhaps “corrupt”). Since Paul himself used the Roman legal system from time to time, it is unlikely that he is recommending a distancing from it; he is more likely drawing attention to the potentially corrupt nature of the system.
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? (6:2). Paul asks a rhetorical question that seems to draw on the LXX of Daniel 7:22, which provides the context of the Day of Judgment. This implies that some of the readers of this letter are familiar with Jewish writings and theology surrounding the end of the world.
If you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? (6:2). “Trivial cases” indicates that the disputes between the Corinthian Christians come under the aegis of civil law rather than criminal law (which would cover things such as acts of treason and murder53). Civil law included areas such as “legal possession, breach of contract, damages, fraud and injury.”54 Young men drawn from the social elite might bring “trivial cases” to demonstrate their forensic skills. Perhaps some of the social elite from the church at Corinth are bringing “trivial” civil cases against fellow Christians in order to establish their own position (and harm their opponents), and this has caused tensions within the church.
Appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! (6:4). The “men of little account” or of “small esteem” contrast with the social elite who are in fact bringing such cases and who are indeed able to judge them. The Greek word translated here as church, ekklēsia, is the same word used for the secular gathering of the citizen body. Thus, there is irony that those unable to participate in the public ekklēsia are nevertheless suitable judges in the Christian ekklēsia.
I say this to shame you (6:5). Shame was something that members of the Corinthian elite would want to avoid. It contrasts with Paul’s earlier comment that he is not writing to shame them (4:14). Shame continues to be an important aspect of Paul’s instruction to the Corinthian church (15:34).
Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? (6:5). Since the Corinthian church contains members of the social elite—the powerful and well-born (1:26)—they have been educated to judge such legal cases. Among this group should be some “capable”55 enough to have become arbitrators in the disagreements among Christians, thereby diffusing the situation before divisions occur. Those who are educated, however, would consider themselves to be wise (sophos) or sophisticated, a danger Paul earlier pointed out in the life of the church (1:27; 3:18).
One brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers! (6:6). The unbelievers refer to the civic magistrates of the Roman colony who are not part of the Christian community. This means that cases brought by Christians against fellow Christians are being heard in a public court.
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already (6:7). These words are aimed at the plaintiff, who has not seen that by taking action against the defendant, members of the Christian community are being presented as law-breakers in the colony. Such a publicly held view is detrimental to the church.
You yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers (6:8). “Do wrong” carries the meaning of “defraud.” These words are clearly aimed at the defendant and imply that there may have been some wrong-doing. Christians have an ethical imperative laid on them to abide by the law.
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders (6:9). Paul introduces a range of people whose lifestyles may have been accepted in wider Roman and Greek society, but which was defined as “wicked” by God’s standards. The “sexually immoral” (pornoi) include Christians who are sexually active before marriage; this contrasts with “adulterers” (moichoi), who have sexual partners outside marriage. In Roman elite society it was acceptable for the husband to have sexual relations outside marriage, but such standards were not to be tolerated within the Christian community.
Paul uses specialized terminology here.56 Roman law, in particular the lex Scantinia of the mid-second century B.C., legislated about homosexual behavior.57 Such laws protected Roman citizens against homosexual acts. Corinth as a Roman colony would thus consider homosexual acts with fellow citizens as illegal, but not with noncitizens (i.e., non-Romans) and slaves.
Male prostitutes (6:9). This expression translates malakoi. The Greek word malakos transferred to the Latin malacus. It means in effect “a soft person” and took on the meaning of somebody effeminate. The fact that Latin has no indigenous word for such a person may suggest that a passive participant in a homosexual relationship was not condemned by Roman law so long as he was not a Roman citizen.
Homosexual offenders (6:9). This expression translates the Greek word arsenokoitai. This may be a word derived from the LXX of Leviticus 18:22: “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” The malakos (see previous comment) is probably the passive participant, whereas the arsenokoitēs is the active participant. Thus, both stand criticized by Paul within the Christian community. Note, however, that these are but two areas of life that Paul highlights, and the church has not always had the right balance.
Nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (6:10). The “greedy” are literally those “who wish to have more”; in other words they are covetous. In spite of what God has given to them, they want more. “Drunkards” probably implies those people who regularly attend the drinking parties of the colony, whether in private homes or at public festivals. “Swindlers” are those who snatch things from others and perhaps reflects on the fact that those involved in the trading life of this busy city with its two ports were less than honest.
That is what some of you were (6:11). At the beginning of the letter Paul characterized the church as having few who “were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth” (1:26). Now it becomes clear that although a few members of the church came from elite backgrounds, a cross-section of the members of the church had morally questionable backgrounds.
But you were washed (6:11). This is clearly a reference to baptism after repentance (cf. Paul’s use of this same verb in one of his accounts of his conversion on the road to Damascus, Acts 22:16). This is a reminder that whatever our backgrounds, we are new creations in Christ.
“Everything is permissible for me” (6:12). Paul seems to be quoting a phrase used by the Corinthian church, which he repeats later in the letter (10:23).
“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body (6:13). The Roman love of food is reflected in the cookbooks that have survived from antiquity, such as that attributed to Apicius. His recipes include, “Numidian chicken,” “rabbit with fruit sauce,” “liver sausage,” “anchovy delight without the anchovies,” and “sweet and sour pork.”58 By reminding the Corinthian Christians that their bodies belonged to God, Paul counters the claim that if sexual liberty was acceptable in the colony, it could also be acceptable in the Christian community. Believers are not free to do as they please. Paul may be quoting one of the sayings of the Corinthian church.
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also (6:14). Corinthian Christians, drawing on Platonic philosophy, may have tried to separate the soul from the body so that they could partake in sexual immorality without feeling that it mattered to their soul. Paul stresses the importance of the human body by referring them to the idea of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave and our own bodily resurrection at the last day.
Never! (6:15). Paul uses the Greek words translated as “Never!” (mē genoito) in other letters (e.g., Romans, Galatians). It may be a rhetorical device, as it is a phrase used in diatribe.
Do 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.” (6:16). It has been suggested that prostitutes would have been made available at the banquet when young men came of age.59 Paul uses the LXX of Genesis 2:24 to make the theological point that sexual intercourse institutes a bond between the two people. Sexual activity outside marriage cannot be justified.
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (6:19). In the pagan urban landscape of the Roman colony, the temples on their high podia were the places where the gods—in the form of their cult-statues—were thought to dwell. In contrast, the bodies of Christians are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body (6:20). Christ’s death on the cross has “bought” the lives of Christians as it removed them from the ownership of “sin.” The Greek verb “honor” can also be translated “glorify”; earlier Paul talked about Jesus as the “Lord of glory” (2:8).