1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 6:4

4. If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, &c.] Whenever therefore you have any debate about matters of right between man and man, which the parties cannot agree upon, if you do not think fit to trust your church governors with it, refer it to an arbitration of two or three of even the meanest of your Christian brethren. Pyle. Refer it to the meanest and simplest Christians, or even set them in the tribunal, rather than carry your controversy before the Gentile courts. Dr. Hammond.

1 Corinthians 6:7

7. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, &c.] It is not so well that you go to law at all; it were the part of a more excellent magnanimous Christian spirit, to be content to lose somewhat of his own, to bear some injuries, rather than to go to law upon every trespass. Dr. Hammond.

1 Corinthians 6:8

8. Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, &c.] But some of you are so far from this excellent Christian temper, that you are ready to injure others, even your fellow Christians. Dr. Hammond.

Some persons have condemned lawsuits as forbidden by the Gospel, and support their opinion by this passage of St. Paul. But we must so interpret the direction of the Apostle, as to reconcile it at least with his own practice. Now be often put himself under the protection of the Roman law, and claimed his privilege as a Roman citizen, and pleaded his cause before Pagan magistrates, and appealed to Cesar, to escape the hands of his wicked countrymen. When St. Paul gave this direction to the Corinthians, they, as well as other Christian societies, lived in Pagan cities, under Pagan governments, by which they were sometimes indulged with connivance and toleration, at other times hated, oppressed, and persecuted. He therefore doth not forbid them to go to law with unbelievers, and to appeal to Pagan courts of judicature; if they were grievously injured and defrauded by such persons. But he forbids them to go to law with one another, and to carry their causes to those Pagan tribunals, which would be a disgrace to them, and bring an evil report upon the religion which they professed. He exhorts them, instead of having recourse to such scandalous methods, to refer all their differences to arbitrators or judges chosen out of their own body, and to submit to their determinations. Now in these days, and in countries where

1 Corinthians 6:9

9. Know ye not that the unrighteous &c.] As if he had said, Is it possible you should be ignorant of so great a truth as this, so often and so plainly taught you by the Gospel of Christ? Certainly if you know not this, you know nothing in Christianity. God is infinitely good and merciful, and it is out of that infinite goodness and mercy, that He bestows the gift of eternal life upon any man; but God is also infinitely wise, and righteous, and holy; and therefore He will not, I think I may say He cannot, confer the rich donative upon any unrighteous or unholy person. St. Paul here seems to count it strange, that any man, who had been taught the truth as it is in Jesus, should either not know, or not believe, or not consider this. Bp. Bull.

1 Corinthians 6:11

11. And such were some of you.] Such sins as these were ordinary among you in the time of your heathen state: but now you have given up your names to Christianity, which denounce the judgment against all those: your baptism is a renouncing of them all; your sanctification by the Spirit directly contrary to it; your justification by what Christ hath suffered and done for you, utterly incompatible with such impurities and iniquities. Dr. Hammond. “Ye are washed,” that is, your former sins are washed away or forgiven at your baptism: “but ye are sanctified,” that is, made saints or members of Christ’s church, and as such ought now to follow after holiness and purity of life: “but ye are justified,” that is, put into a state of justification. Dr. Wells.

Here having been washed in Christ’s name doth, in congruity with what is said in other places, denote baptism in His name; being sanctified and justified do express the first benefits accompanying that baptism. And indeed, wherever a general remission of sins, or a full sanctification, or consecration, and justification of men’s persons in God’s sight, are mentioned; that remission of sins, that separation, or dedication unto God’s service, that reception into grace, which are consigned in baptism, are I conceive understood; there being no other season or occasion, wherein ordinarily and visibly God doth exhibit those benefits. Dr. Isaac Barrow.

1 Corinthians 6:12

12. All things are lawful unto me, &c.] The Apostle Anno DOMINI 51. Our bodies are the members of Christ. ADDED DOMINI 59. Or, prediable. but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

1 Corinthians 6:13

13. Meats for the belly, &c.] Meats are ordained for the belly, and the belly is at present ordained for the reception of meats: but as God will destroy meats, so will He destroy the belly also, as to the use it now hath: for in the resurrection men shall neither hunger nor thirst any more. Burkitt. The Apostle’s argument is, that in the next life, which is a spiritual life, the desire of meat shall be taken away; and therefore even here we should keep the flesh in due subordination to the spirit. Dr. Hammond. — Now the body is not for fornication, &c.] From this verse to the end of the chapter, the Apostle labours by sundry arguments to convince the Corinthians of the exceeding sinfulness of the sin of fornication, partly because they reckoned it among indifferent things, and also because, before their conversion to Christianity, they were notoriously addicted to this sin. Burkitt. — but for the Lord; &c.] The body is not to be prostituted to lust, but to be consecrated to the Lord; and the Lord challenges the members of the body to be the property of Himself, who is their head. Bp. Hall. And who is the benefactor of our bodies as well as of our souls. Burkitt.

1 Corinthians 6:14

14. — and will also raise up us] Since therefore our bodies are to be raised, and to be fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body, they ought not to be defiled with lust here on earth. Burkitt.

1 Corinthians 6:15

15. — your bodies] As ye are Christians, “are the members of Christ,” who is your head? 1 Cor. xii. 12, 27. Drs. Wells and Whitby. By reason of that perfect union, which is betwixt Christ and His Church, your bodies are the members of the mystical body of Christ. Bp. Hall.

1 Corinthians 6:17

17. But he that is joined unto the Lord] That is, he that keeps close to Christ’s commandments, and so cleaves to Him, Deut. x. 20, hath a spiritual union with Him. Dr. Hammond. He is “one spirit” with Him, as being partaker of His Spirit; for by one Spirit we Christians are all united to this Head, Rom. viii. 11; 1 Cor. xii. 13. Dr. Whitby.

1 Corinthians 6:18

18. — Every sin that a man doeth] That is, every other sin, “is without” any proper debasement of “the body,” and debases only the soul: “but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body,” as well as against his soul, by debasing his body, and degrading it from its proper dignity and honour; making that the member of an harlot which was made to be a member of Christ. Dr. Wells, Burkitt.

1 Corinthians 6:19

19. — your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost] Two things concur to make up the notion of a temple. The Divinity dwells in it, and it is dedicated and consecrated to His use. And because the Holy Ghost dwells in the bodies of Christians, and they are appropriated to His use and service, therefore they are called His temple. Excellent is the inference of Tertullian, that ‘since all Christians are become the temple of God, by virtue of His Holy Spirit sent into their hearts, and consecrating their bodies to His service, we should make chastity the keeper of this sacred house, and suffer nothing unclean or profane to enter into it, lest that God, who dwelleth in it, being offended, should desert His habitation thus defiled.’ Dr. Whitby.

1 Corinthians 6:20

20. For ye are bought with a price.] Even the precious blood of Christ. Dr. Whitby. This price makes purchase of our bodies as well as of our souls, and so leaves us not at liberty to dispose of them as we please, but engages us to serve and glorify God in both. Dr. Hammond. Chap. VII. The Apostle, having finished the reprehensory part of his Epistle, proceeds to resolve divers cases of conscience, about which the Corinthians had written to him; particularly concerning marriage: not about the lawfulness of marriage, for that was not in dispute; but about the expediency of it at that time, whether it were advisable in that afflicted state of the church. Burkitt.