Judging Problems Between Christians

6 ¹When one of you has something against another person, why do you go to [the judges in the law courts]? Those people are not right with God. So why do you let those people decide who is right? You should be ashamed! Why don't you let God's people decide who is right? ²Surely you know that God's people will judge the world. So if you will judge the world, then surely you are able to judge small things [like this]. ³You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge things in this life. ⁴So if you have those disagreements that must be judged, why do you take those things to people who are not part of the church? Those people mean nothing to the church. ⁵I say this to shame you. Surely there is some person in your group wise enough to judge a complaint between two brothers (believers)! ⁶But now one brother goes to court against another brother. You let men that are not believers judge their case! ⁷The lawsuits that you have against each other show that you are already defeated. It would be better for you to let someone do wrong against you! It would be better for you to let someone cheat you! ⁸But you yourselves do wrong and cheat! And you do this to other believers [in Christ]! ^9-10Surely you know that the people that do wrong will not get God's kingdom. Don't be fooled. These people will not get God's kingdom: people that sin sexually, people that worship idols,* people that do the sin of adultery,* men that let other men use them for sex or that have sex with other men, people that steal, people that are selfish, people that get drunk, people that say bad things to other people, and people that cheat. ¹¹In the past, some of you were like that. But you were washed clean, you were made holy,* and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Use Your Bodies for God's Glory

¹²"All things are allowed for me." But not all things are good. "All things are allowed for me." But I will not let anything be my master. ¹³"Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food." Yes. But God will destroy them both. The body is not for sexual sin. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴By God's power God raised the Lord [Jesus] from death. God will also raise us from death. ¹⁵Surely you know that your bodies are parts of Christ himself. So I must never take the parts of Christ and join those parts to a prostitute*! ¹⁶It is written [in the Scriptures]: "The two people will become one." So you should know that a person that [sexually] joins himself with a prostitute becomes one with her in body. ¹⁷But the person who joins himself with the Lord is one with the Lord in spirit. ¹⁸So run away from sexual sin. Every other sin that a person does is outside his body. But the person that sins sexually sins against his own body. ¹⁹You should know that your body is a temple (house) for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in you. You have received the Holy Spirit from God. You don't own yourselves. ²⁰You were bought [by God] at a price. So honor God with your bodies.

idol(s) False gods made from wood or stone and worshiped by the non-Jewish people. adultery Breaking a marriage promise by sexual sin. holy A holy person is pure and belongs only to God. prostitute A woman paid by men for sexual sin. Scriptures Holy Writings--the Old Testament. "The two ... one" Quote from Gen. 2:24. Spirit, Holy Spirit Also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Comforter. Joined with God and Christ, he does God's work among people in the world.