Lawsuits Among Believers
- Does any of you – when he has a case against another brother – dare to bring it to court before the unjust and not before the saints?
- Or don’t you *know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy of the smallest court cases?
- Don’t you *know that we will judge angels? How much more the ordinary things of life?
- So if you indeed have judgements in the ordinary things of life, why appoint those men who aren’t *esteemed in the church to judge?
- I say this to your shame. So isn’t there even one wise man among you who will be able to judge between his brothers?
- But instead, brother goes to court against brother, and this before unbelievers!
- Therefore, it’s indeed actually already a loss for you that you have lawsuits among one another. Why not suffer wrong instead? Why not be defrauded instead?
- But you do wrong and defraud, and do this to brothers!
Fornication And The Body
- Or don’t you *know that the unrighteous won’t inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t be misled; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor men who have sex with other men’s wives,1“men who have sex with other men’s wives” is one word in Greek, usually translated “adulterers” in this verse. However, the Greek (and Hebrew) words specifically mean a man (married or unmarried) having sex with another man’s wife. Whereas the English word “adultery” means either spouse engaging in sex with someone else. The Hebrews divided sexual sins into two classes based on the marital status of the woman. A man having sex with another man’s wife (or betrothed) was adultery. A man having sex with an unmarried woman was fornication. Both are serious sins, but they are differentiated by the Greek and Hebrew words. nor effeminate men,2“effeminate men” This Greek word usually has the meaning of “soft”, but when used in a negative sense it can refer to “perversely effeminate” men. This has three possible connotations, all of which Paul likely intended. (1) Men who intentionally behaved like women, i.e. dressing in female clothing and behaving in an effeminate manner. (2) This could be an allusion to early transgenderism. We have Sumerian and Akkadian texts from ~2500 BC which document transgender or transvestite priests. There are other accounts of transgenderism scattered throughout ancient history as well. (3) It could refer to a (typically pubescent) boy who was the sexual companion – voluntary or not – of an adult man (pederasty). In this sense, the boy is “perversely effeminate” because he is serving the function of a woman during sex (being penetrated; see Romans 1:26-27 and footnotes.). This last meaning is unlikely though, especially given the next item on this list. nor men who sleep with other men,3“men who sleep with other men” is one word in Greek. It literally means “a man in bed with another man“, but is more properly “a man engaging in sexual activity with another man“. Male homosexuality is also mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:10 (using the same word in a similar list), in Romans 1:27 by description, and in Leviticus 18:22, and Leviticus 20:13.
- nor thieves, nor coveters, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor robbers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
- And some of you were these things; but you washed yourselves;4“you washed yourselves” is one word in the Greek middle voice, however virtually all modern translations change it to the passive voice (you were washed) with no justification. English doesn’t have the middle voice, but it’s similar to our active voice except the agent is more involved with the result. For example: “I sacrificed a cow” is in the active voice. “I sacrificed a cow for my benefit” or “…for myself” is the middle voice. Given that the verb here for “wash” includes the connotation of water, it could refer to baptism. Or it could refer to being washed in the “water of life” at the point of salvation. Or, more likely that the believers in question have “washed themselves” of the sins mentioned in the previous two verses. but you were made holy; but you were declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, and by the Spirit of our God.
- All things are lawful for me, but all things aren’t profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I won’t be mastered by anything.
- Foods for the stomach and the stomach is for foods, but God will nullify5“nullify” the Greek word here means to make something completely idle and/or to no effect, which can have a peripheral meaning of abolishing something (by making it of no effect). both of them.6literally “both this and these”, referring to the stomach and foods respectively. And the body isn’t for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body.
- And God both raised the Lord and will fully raise us through His power.
- Don’t you *know that your bodies are parts of the Anointed? So having taken the parts of the Anointed, should I make them parts of a prostitute? May it never happen!
- Or don’t you *know that the man joining himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For it says: the two will be in one flesh.7Quotation allusion to Genesis 2:24.
- But the man who joins to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
- Flee fornication. Every sin whatsoever that a man commits is outside the body. But the man who fornicates sins against his own body.
- Or don’t you *know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, who you have from God? And you aren’t your own,
- for you were bought with a price. So then, glorify God in your body [and in your spirit, which are both God’s]