King James Version
1 Corinthians 6
20 verses with commentary
Lawsuits Among Believers
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?</strong> Paul's sharp rebuke uses <em>tolmaō</em> (τολμάω, 'dare')—not mere courage but audacious presumption. Taking fellow believers <strong>before the unjust</strong> (<em>adikoi</em>, ἄδικοι, 'unrighteous ones') rather than <strong>before the saints</strong> (<em>hagioi</em>, ἅγιοι...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
VI.
(1) **Dare any of you.**—Having rebuked the Corinthian Christians for any attempt to judge those who are outside the Church—*i.e.,* the heathen—St. Paul now insists, on the other hand, on the importance of their not submitting their affairs for decision to the heathen tribunals. Jewish converts would have more easily understood that they should settle disputes among themselves, as the Roman po...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25-27. But now I go to Jerusalem to minister--**"ministering"
**to the saints--**in the sense immediately to be explained.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?</strong> Paul grounds church discipline in eschatology. <em>Krinō</em> (κρίνω, 'judge') appears throughout verses 1-6—the saints' future role as co-judges with Christ (Matthew 19:28, Revelation 20:4) makes present incompetence absurd. If believers will adjudicate cosmic matters, are they really <strong>unworthy to judge the smallest mat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Do** **ye not** **know . . . ?**—The knowledge which they possessed of the great future which was in store for the Church of Christ was the strongest argument against the humiliating degradation to which their conduct was subjecting it.
**The saints shall judge the world.**—The Apostle here claims for all Christians the glorious prerogative which Christ had Himself promised to His immediate ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25-27. But now I go to Jerusalem to minister--**"ministering"
**to the saints--**in the sense immediately to be explained.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Know ye not that we shall judge angels?</strong> This stunning claim escalates Paul's argument. <em>Angelous</em> (ἀγγέλους) likely refers to fallen angels (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6)—the church will participate in their final judgment. <strong>How much more things that pertain to this life?</strong> (<em>biōtika</em>, βιωτικά, 'everyday matters') uses climactic rhetoric: if believers judge supe...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **We shall judge angels.**—Many conjectures have been made as to the exact significance of the word “angels” here. Some suggest that it must signify bad angels; but this would be an unusual use of the word without any qualifying adjective. It is better, perhaps, to regard the passage as a climax arising out of the Apostle’s intense realisation of the unity of Christ and His Church triumphant—a...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25-27. But now I go to Jerusalem to minister--**"ministering"
**to the saints--**in the sense immediately to be explained.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.</strong> Paul's biting irony: even the <strong>least esteemed</strong> (<em>exouthenēmenous</em>, ἐξουθενημένους, 'despised, made of no account') in the church possess more competence than pagan judges for Christian disputes. This either means (1) literal nobodies in the con...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **If then ye have judgments. . . .**—Better, *If, however, you choose to have judgments to be given on matters of this life.* The last words show that the questions which are alluded to are purely worldly and not spiritual matters. The Apostle subsequently urges that such disputes ought not to arise at all amongst Christians, and that if they do they ought to be settled by the interposition of...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28-29. When therefore I have ... sealed--**that is, delivered over safely
**to them this fruit--**of the faith and love of the Gentile converts
**I will come--**"come back," or "return"
**by you into Spain--**(See on Ro 15:24).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I speak to your shame.</strong> <em>Pros entropēn hymin legō</em> (πρὸς ἐντροπὴν ὑμῖν λέγω)—Paul abandons subtlety. <em>Entropē</em> (ἐντροπή, 'shame') signals moral failure, not just error. His rhetorical questions pile up: <strong>Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?</strong> This devastates a church proud of <em>sophia</em> (σοφία, 'wisdom') (1:17-2:16). Not even <strong>on...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **I speak to your shame.**—Better, *I say this to cause you to feel ashamed.* From the latent irony of the previous words, the Apostle turns to ask solemnly whether it be a fact that in the whole Christian community at Corinth, which boasted of their superior wisdom, there is not to be found even one man sufficiently esteemed for his wisdom to be trusted by the brethren with the settlement of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28-29. When therefore I have ... sealed--**that is, delivered over safely
**to them this fruit--**of the faith and love of the Gentile converts
**I will come--**"come back," or "return"
**by you into Spain--**(See on Ro 15:24).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.</strong> Paul strips away legal jargon to expose relational betrayal: <em>adelphos</em> (ἀδελφός, 'brother') appears twice. These aren't neutral parties but family—siblings in Christ suing each other <strong>before the unbelievers</strong> (<em>epi apistōn</em>, ἐπὶ ἀπίστων, 'upon unfaithful ones'). The preposition <em...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **But brother goeth to law with brother.**—“It would almost seem as if it were not so. Your dragging these disputes before tribunals of the heathen would imply that it is not possible to find a Christian friend whom you can trust to settle these trivial disputes.” Thus the Apostle answers his question of the previous verse.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**30. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit--**or, "by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit"--not the love which the Spirit bears to us, but that love which He kindles in the hearts of believers towards each other; that is "By that Saviour whose name is alike dear to all of us and whose unsearchable riches I live only to procl...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another.</strong> <em>Hēttēma</em> (ἥττημα, 'defect, defeat') signifies total moral failure—not a procedural error but a spiritual catastrophe. Litigation itself, regardless of merit, constitutes defeat. Then Paul offers a radical alternative: <strong>Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **A** **fault.**—Better, *a falling short* of your privilege and dignity as Christians. It is the same word as is rendered “diminishing” in Romans 11:12. The Apostle in this verse goes one step farther, and condemns the Corinthians, not only on the ground of the tribunals to which they resorted being heathen, but further condemns the spirit of litigation itself. He reminds them of how such a t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**31. That I may be delivered from them that do not believe--**"that do not obey," that is, the truth, by believing it; as in Ro 2:8.
**in Judea--**He saw the storm that was gathering over him in Judea, which, if at all, would certainly burst upon his head when he reached the capital; and the event too clearly showed the correctness of these apprehensions.
**and that my service which I have fo...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.</strong> The accusation intensifies: <em>alla</em> (ἀλλά, 'but/rather') signals reversal. Instead of suffering wrong, they inflict it. <em>Adikeite</em> (ἀδικεῖτε, 'you wrong') and <em>apostereite</em> (ἀποστερεῖτε, 'you defraud')—the same verbs from verse 7, now active. The irony is brutal: lawsuit plaintiffs claim to seek justice, bu...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Nay, ye do** **wrong.**—Better, *No, but you yourselves do wrong.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**32. That I may come unto you with--**"in"
**joy by the will of God--**(Ac 18:21; 1Co 4:19; 16:7; He 6:3; Jas 4:15)
**and may with you be refreshed--**rather, "with you refresh myself," after all his labors and anxieties, and so be refitted for future service.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Cautions against going to law in heathen courts.(1-8)
Sins which, if lived and died in, shut out from the kingdom of God.(9-11)
Our bodies, which are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, must not be defiled.(12-20)
**Verses 1-8**
Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would p...
Read full commentary →Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?</strong> Paul pivots from litigation to broader vice with his trademark <em>ē ouk oidate</em> (ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε, 'or don't you know?'). <em>Adikoi</em> (ἄδικοι, 'unrighteous')—the same term for pagan judges (v. 1)—now describes those excluded from <strong>the kingdom of God</strong> (<em>basileian theou</em>, βασιλείαν θεοῦ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Know ye not that the unrighteous . . .?**—The force of this question comes out more strikingly in the original, where the word rendered “unrighteous” is the same as “ye do wrong” of 1Corinthians 6:8. “You do wrong, apparently forgetting that no wrongdoers shall inherit God’s kingdom.”
**Be not deceived.**—There was great danger of their being led to think lightly of sins which were daily com...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**33. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen--**The peace here sought is to be taken in its widest sense: the peace of reconciliation to God, first, "through the blood of the everlasting covenant" (He 13:20; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 3:16; Php 4:9); then the peace which that reconciliation diffuses among all the partakers of it (1Co 14:33; 2Co 13:11; and see on Ro 16:20); more widely still, that peace whi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-11**
The Corinthians are warned against many great evils, of which they had formerly been guilty. There is much force in these inquiries, when we consider that they were addressed to a people puffed up with a fancy of their being above others in wisdom and knowledge. All unrighteousness is sin; all reigning sin, nay, every actual sin, committed with design, and not repented of, shut...
Read full commentary →Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
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KJV Study Commentary
The vice catalog continues: <strong>Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.</strong> <em>Kleptai</em> (κλέπται, 'thieves') and <em>harpages</em> (ἅρπαγες, 'extortioners, swindlers') bracket economic injustice—the very sins implied in verse 8's fraud. <em>Pleonektai</em> (πλεονέκται, 'covetous, greedy') describes insatiable desire ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-11**
The Corinthians are warned against many great evils, of which they had formerly been guilty. There is much force in these inquiries, when we consider that they were addressed to a people puffed up with a fancy of their being above others in wisdom and knowledge. All unrighteousness is sin; all reigning sin, nay, every actual sin, committed with design, and not repented of, shut...
Read full commentary →And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And such were some of you</strong> (<em>kai tauta tines ēte</em>, καὶ ταῦτα τινες ἦτε)—the hinge verse, dripping with redemptive power. <em>Ēte</em> (ἦτε) is past tense: 'you were,' no longer! <em>Tauta</em> ('these things') points back to the whole sordid catalog—fornicators, idolaters, thieves, drunkards. Some Corinthian Christians were these things. The gospel doesn't attract the righte...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Such were some of you.**—The Greek for “such” is in the neuter, and implies “of such a description were some of you.”
**Ye are washed.**—Better, *ye washed them off.* referring to the fact that their baptism was a voluntary act (Acts 22:16). The words “sanctified” and “justified” as used here do not point to those definite stages in the Christian course to which they generally refer in theo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 16 Ro 16:1-27. Conclusion, Embracing Sundry Salutations and Directions, and a Closing Prayer.
**1. I commend unto you Phoebebe our sister, which is a servant--**or "deaconess"
**of the church which is at Cenchrea--**The word is "Cenchreæ," the eastern part of Corinth (Ac 18:18). That in the earliest churches there were deaconesses, to attend to the wants of the female members, there is ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-11**
The Corinthians are warned against many great evils, of which they had formerly been guilty. There is much force in these inquiries, when we consider that they were addressed to a people puffed up with a fancy of their being above others in wisdom and knowledge. All unrighteousness is sin; all reigning sin, nay, every actual sin, committed with design, and not repented of, shut...
Read full commentary →Glorify God in Your Body
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. expedient: or, profitable
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient</strong> (<em>panta moi exestin, all' ou panta sympherei</em>, πάντα μοι ἔξεστιν, ἀλλ' οὐ πάντα συμφέρει). Paul quotes a Corinthian slogan ('all things are lawful')—likely their distortion of his gospel freedom—then qualifies it. <em>Exestin</em> (ἔξεστιν, 'it is permissible') refers to things not explicitly forbidden, but <em...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **All things are lawful unto me.**—This was probably a statement which the Apostle had himself made; at all events, the freedom which it expresses was very dear to him, and it may have been misused by some as an argument for universal license. St. Paul, therefore, boldly repeats it, and proceeds to show that it is a maxim of Christian liberty, which does not refer to matters which are absolut...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. Receive her in the Lord--**that is, as a genuine disciple of the Lord Jesus.
**as--**"so as"
**becometh saints--**so as saints should receive saints.
**assist her in whatsoever business she hath--**"may have"
**need of you--**some private business of her own.
**for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also--**(See Psa 41:1-3; 2Ti 1:16-18).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. Meats: not flesh only, but food of any kind
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them.</strong> Another Corinthian slogan: <em>ta brōmata tē koilia kai hē koilia tois brōmasin</em> (τὰ βρώματα τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ ἡ κοιλία τοῖς βρώμασιν)—'foods for the stomach, the stomach for foods.' They argued: bodily functions are morally neutral, so eat what you want (cf. Mark 7:19). Paul agrees—partially. Ye...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Meats for the belly.**—The Apostle proceeds now to show that the question of eating meats offered to idols does come into that catalogue of indifferent things on which an exercise of Christian freedom is permissible, and that the question of fornication does not. Lawful matters are to be decided upon the highest principle of expediency; but fornication is an unlawful matter, and therefore t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3-5. Salute Priscilla--**The true reading here is "Prisca" (as in 2Ti 4:19), a contracted form of Priscilla, as "Silas" of "Silvanus."
**and Aquila my helpers--**The wife is here named before the husband (as in Ac 18:18, and Ro 16:26, according to the true reading; also in 2Ti 4:19), probably as being the more prominent and helpful to the Church.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.</strong> The resurrection grounds Paul's sexual ethic. <em>Ēgeiren</em> (ἤγειρεν, 'raised', aorist—completed act) refers to Christ's resurrection; <em>exegerei</em> (ἐξεγερεῖ, 'will raise', future) promises ours. The link: <strong>by his own power</strong> (<em>dia tēs dynameōs autou</em>, διὰ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Will also raise up us.**—This phrase is remarkable as one of the few which show that the Apostle, while he in common with the early Church expected the early advent of Christ, did not think that it would necessarily occur in his own lifetime. Here, as ever, the resurrection of the dead, when we shall receive our spiritual body instead of the natural body, is joined with the fact of the resu...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3-5. Salute Priscilla--**The true reading here is "Prisca" (as in 2Ti 4:19), a contracted form of Priscilla, as "Silas" of "Silvanus."
**and Aquila my helpers--**The wife is here named before the husband (as in Ac 18:18, and Ro 16:26, according to the true reading; also in 2Ti 4:19), probably as being the more prominent and helpful to the Church.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid .
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?</strong> Paul intensifies union-with-Christ theology. <em>Melē Christou</em> (μέλη Χριστοῦ, 'members of Christ')—believers' bodies are literally parts of Christ's body (12:27, Ephesians 5:30). Not metaphor: mystical union. Then the horrifying implication: <strong>shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Shall I then** **. . .?**—Having shown the great dignity which attaches to our bodies as immortal members of Christ, the Apostle asks with indignant emphasis, “Shall I take them out from that high and holy membership, and make them members of an harlot?” The double act of taking them away from their glorious union with Christ, and joining them to a base body, is implied in the Greek.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3-5. Salute Priscilla--**The true reading here is "Prisca" (as in 2Ti 4:19), a contracted form of Priscilla, as "Silas" of "Silvanus."
**and Aquila my helpers--**The wife is here named before the husband (as in Ac 18:18, and Ro 16:26, according to the true reading; also in 2Ti 4:19), probably as being the more prominent and helpful to the Church.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body?</strong> <em>Kollaō</em> (κολλάω, 'joined, united, glued') indicates permanent bond—the same word for cleaving in marriage (Genesis 2:24 LXX). Paul cites Genesis: <strong>for two, saith he, shall be one flesh</strong> (<em>esontai gar, phēsin, hoi dyo eis sarka mian</em>, ἔσονται γάρ, φησίν, οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν). <em>Mia...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **What?**—As if some one might question and resent the strength of the previous words, and wish them “watered down.” “Do you not know that my strong assertion is true? It is not merely my statement; it is to be found in the Old Testament, ‘Two shall be one flesh.’” This was originally (Genesis 2:24) applied to marriage, as showing the intimacy of that sacred union, but here St. Paul applies i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. Greet--**or "salute"
**Mary, who bestowed much labour on us--**labor, no doubt, of a womanly kind.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.</strong> The contrast to verse 16: <em>ho de kollamenos tō kyriō hen pneuma estin</em> (ὁ δὲ κολλώμενος τῷ κυρίῳ ἓν πνεῦμα ἐστίν). <em>Kollaō</em> (κολλάω) again—'joined, united'—but now to <strong>the Lord</strong> (<em>tō kyriō</em>), resulting in <strong>one spirit</strong> (<em>hen pneuma</em>, ἓν πνεῦμα). While sexual union creates on...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **One spirit.**—The union betwixt Christ and each member of His Church is a spiritual one. This explains the sense in which we are the Lord’s body, and intensifies the argument against any degradation of one who shares so holy and intimate a union.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. Andronicus and Junia--**or, as it might be, "Junias," a contracted form of "Junianus"; in this case, it is a man's name. But if, as is more probable, the word be, as in our version, "Junia," the person meant was no doubt either the wife or the sister of Andronicus.
**my kinsmen--**or, "relatives."
**and my fellow prisoners--**on what occasion, it is impossible to say, as the apostle elsew...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Flee fornication.</strong> <em>Pheugete tēn porneian</em> (φεύγετε τὴν πορνείαν)—urgent, present imperative. <em>Pheugō</em> means 'run away, escape' (like Joseph from Potiphar's wife, Genesis 39:12). Don't debate, rationalize, or linger—flee! <em>Porneia</em> encompasses all sexual immorality outside marriage. Then Paul's unique claim: <strong>Every sin that a man doeth is without the bod...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **Flee fornication.**—These last three verses of the chapter contain a solemn exhortation to purity, arising out of the previous argument.
**Without the body.**—The word “body” is still to be understood as used of the whole “human nature,” which is spoken of in 1Corinthians 6:19 as the temple of the Holy Ghost. Other sins may profane only outer courts of the temple; this sin penetrates with i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. Amplias--**a contracted form of "Ampliatus."
**my beloved in the Lord--**an expression of dear Christian affection.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?</strong> Climactic theology: <em>to sōma hymōn naos tou en hymin hagiou pneumatos estin</em> (τὸ σῶμα ὑμῶν ναὸς τοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν ἁγίου πνεύματός ἐστιν). <em>Naos</em> (ναός, 'temple, sanctuary') is the inner holy place where God dwells—not outer courts but the sacred ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19, 20) **What? know ye not . . .?**—These verses read better rendered thus: *Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? Which you have from God, and you are not your own. For you were bought with a price. Glorify God then in your body.*
There are two reasons why we are not our own. (1) The Spirit which has possession of our bodies is not our own, but given us...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9-10. Urbane--**rather, "Urbanus." It is a man's name.
**our helper--**"fellow labourer"
in Christ.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For ye are bought with a price</strong> (<em>ēgorasthēte gar timēs</em>, ἠγοράσθητε γὰρ τιμῆς)—redemption language. <em>Agorazō</em> (ἀγοράζω, 'purchase, buy') was used for slave markets; <em>timē</em> (τιμή, 'price') is singular and emphatic—the price, Christ's blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). Believers are purchased property, slaves of Christ (7:22-23), a status that paradoxically brings true fr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9-10. Urbane--**rather, "Urbanus." It is a man's name.
**our helper--**"fellow labourer"
in Christ.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-20**
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, t...
Read full commentary →