1 Corinthians 6

₁They told me that some of you are taking other believers to court. Why do you do that? You ask the judges, who do not believe, to help you with your problems. Why don't you ask the believers in the congregation to help you with your problems? ₂You know that the believers will judge all the people of the world. So now you must be able to judge each other when you argue about things that are not very important. ₃You also know that we will judge the angels, so you must be able to help each other with these everyday problems. ₄If believers have problems with each other, why do you ask the judges of this world to help you if you do not respect them? ₅I say this so that you can be ashamed. I am sure there are some wise people in your congregation who can help believers when they have problems with each other. ₆But now one believer takes another believer to court and you ask judges who are not believers to help you.

₇If you have problems with each other and you go to court, then you have already failed and you did not live like Christians. You should be patient and forgive when someone does things that are wrong against you, or cheats you, or steals something from you. ₈But now you are the people who do things that are wrong to other people, cheating and stealing from them. And you do this to believers. This is very bad. I was shocked when I heard this.

₉You know that people who live sinfully will not go to heaven where God is King. You must understand this: People who live immorally will not go in where God is King, and people who worship_idols, or men who have sex with other men's wives, or men who have sex with other men, or people who steal, or people who always want more and more money, or people who are often drunk, or people who lie and say bad things about other people, ₁₀or people who steal from other people will not go in where God is King. ₁₁Yes, some of you have done these things, but now God has washed away your sins. He has consecrated you to Him. He has made you righteous because you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and because the Spirit of our God has worked in your hearts.

₁₂Some of you say you may do anything. Remember: Not everything is good for you. You say you may do anything, but I say: Nothing may become so important to you that it rules your life. ₁₃Some of you also say food must go to your stomach and the stomach must get food. But remember: The food and your stomach both belong to God. God will come and then He will show us that we do not need a stomach or food. It is the same with our bodies: The Lord made our bodies, not to live immorally, but to serve Him. Our bodies belong to God. ₁₄God made Jesus live again and with his power He will also raise us to live again. ₁₅You know that our bodies belong to Christ, and that is why your body may not also belong to a prostitute. ₁₆You know that when a man has sex with a prostitute, his body and her body become one body. It is written in the Old_Testament:

₁₇But if you live with the Lord, then your spirit and his Spirit are one. ₁₈Do not live immorally. All the other sins you do are outside of your body, but when you live immorally, you are doing a sin_against your own body. ₁₉You know that your body is a temple of the Holy_Spirit. God gave his Spirit to you, to live in you. You do not belong to yourselves. ₂₀God paid a very high price when He bought you to belong to Him. That is why you must praise God with your bodies.