1 Corinthians 6

12 "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 "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. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 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." 17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

6:12 - When the Bible says things like this, it is not referring to the ability to do anything. There are many things in scripture that is clearly stated as sin. Because it is a sin, it is not beneficial for us. Even still, it can be looked at from the freedom in Christ perspective. We are now free from the law but that doesn't mean we should run around and sin as we please. Just because we are free from the law doesn't necessarily mean that we should be indolent with our obedience. This is because sin and its cousins are not beneficial to us.

Sin breeds callousness and eventually seeks to destroy the good works of the Spirit. Although we are "allowed" to do this, it may eventually lead to us becoming it's slave. You look at video games like Counter-Strike, The Sims, Diablo II; all are extremely addictive video games. The games in them selves are not sinful nor are they bad, but the time that it consumes is. By devoting so much time to a matter, you are allowing it to become your master.

This same applies with things such as smoking or alcohol. Both are would be permissible under this verse, although it is obvious they are not beneficial. The big problem with both of these is the addictive nature of the substances. Once you become addicted, you are mastered by it.

6:13 - Our body was designed for specific things, we still manage to use them for things that they weren't intended for. The stomach was designed to digest food, provide us with nourishment. Both of these are transient. In the same way, our bodies were designed to hold the Lord--the Lord to nourish us. We were designed to be in a constant bond with the Lord--a need and a desire for Him. Just like our stomach hungers and groans for food, our body hungers and groans for the Lord.

6:14 - This is the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. That we may shed these bodies that drag us through the muck of sin. That one day we will no longer have to groan and grumble for the Lord, but have a perfect relationship with Him. These bodies, even though they are just mere vessels, will one day be lifted up. For this reason, we should not be indolent about the way we treat it or the ways we subject it.

6:15-16 - At first glance, these two verses may not seem that applicable to many of us, at least in comparison to the Corinthians. But i think it is. Prostitute - One who sells one's abilities, talent, or name for an unworthy purpose. Every time we Unite - To combine (people) in interest, attitude, or action, we are becoming one flesh with them. This is probably referring to just the sexual side of this verse, but I think it can be applied to our lives in general. When we become one flesh with the rest of the world, we do what the world does. We think like the world does.

6:17 - When we turn to the Lord and unite ourselves with Him, then we will have the same interests, attitude, and actions as He does. Sure its not a perfect union, but one day it will be. As Christians, we're always seeking "the will of God". As long as we're united with Him, we will be of the same spirit, so we will be doing the will of God.

6:18 - This verse refers back to verse 13. Since we were created for the Lord, and the Lord for us, that makes our bodies very unique and special. This uniqueness and specialty is affirmed through the previous few verses. In order to feel the true impact of this verse, we must understand the ones that came before. Our lives are supposed to be in a relationship with the Lord, one day we will marry Him. In the meantime, He gives us husbands and wives as a small preview of what it would be like with Him. When we commit sexual sin, we are turning our back on God and everything that He intends. This is why the sin is against our own bodies, because these bodies were intended for the Lord.

6:19-20 - Our bodies have now become temples, dwelling places for the Spirit. Because of our salvation, we no longer own our bodies, but we rent it instead. This is why we need to keep it in good order, because a high price was paid for it. Until the new owner comes and picks it up, we have to keep it in good condition. Otherwise He may not want it anymore. This is not to say that anything can be achieved by works, rather it is He who does all the renovation.

1 Corinthians 6

1 If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother goes to law against another--and this in front of unbelievers!
7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.
9 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 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

6:1 - there are two implicatons of this verse. first, it is relating the believer to the non-believer. since we are new creations and we have new hearts, the concerns that we have and the solutions to our disputes and issues are very different than from those of the world. second, the non-believer does not know the things of god. his thoughts are tainted with sin and self motivation.

when we bring our concerns before other saints, it is just a first step to bringing them before the Lord.

6:2-3 - an interesting thought, that i would judge the world. i feel inadequate and unworthy to judge others. but i think that for "trivial cases" it would be okay. there's a lot of trivial things that we judge all the time. whether to do this or that. what to do about sin. sometimes these aren't trivial, but God has given us His competence through His word and through His spirit. we now have the ability to think the way that God thinks because of our new heart and spirit.

6:4 - not only do we have the capability to help with each others' disputes, it is the right thing to do. we are told to confront those who sin against us or those that wrong us as soon as possible. but by going through a third party mediator, it makes that quick resolution that much harder to acheive. you look at courts nowadays. a lot of these cases last for months, even years at a time. it would be beneficial not only to us that we resolve things quickly.

6:5-6 - there are plenty of wise people within the church. many faithful and godly men and women who have experiece dealing with disputes. so why would they go out and seek outside council? this is where the shame comes in. there is not reason to go to outsiders. and this is to unbelievers. what could be bad about that? it could partially be about the witness that you would bring before them. the non-believer doesn't care about your disputes. he doesn't know the things of god for you to resolve your issues. so when he sees you bickering, what will he think? "look at these christians, always fighting among themselves, where's the love?" by bringing your disputes before non-believers, you are hurting that witness.

6:7 - here is our pride switching into action. we always want to be right. we want to prevail. we want to be justified so we can continue to sin. but the christian life says that we are to be wronged. we are always talking about how we should imitate Jesus. then why don't we? why don't we lay down our souls, humble our selves, and let others abuse us. isn't this the nature of the cross? that He should suffer and die for many, but only the few come to know it?

in our narrow human perspective, this seems like a waste of His grace. i say to you, we should be in submition to the world in the same way. we should let ourselves be taken advantage of, cheated and wronged.

it's hard living that christian life. there's the internal fight that says: "i want justice!" but "i must love." it's a difficult task, one that we can not emulate perfectly.

6:8 - isn't this sad? that we cheat and wrong our own brothers in christ? isn't this the same as wronging ourselves? isn't this the same as wronging christ himself? and yet we do it.

6:9-10 - don't just believe in some words or ideas, go and change your life. i had struggled with lines like this for a while now, and i finally understand why. god calls us to obey, this isn't a work, it isn't a legalism, because we are not justifying ourselves before christ with this righteousness. rather, we are justifying ourselves before men.

this is the message of the cross, to repent, sin no more, follow and obey him. and some how, that was all lost in this idea of grace and this semblence of a free gift. yes it is free, in the sence that we can't earn it or gain it. but it still costs a lot. it costs our lives.

6:11 - since we are sactified, we are washed, we should not live like we used to. we should no longer indulge ourselves in sin. this is the power of christ's blood. this is the power of grace.