---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse 1 Corinthians 6:1. Dare any of you, c.] From the many things that are here reprehended by the apostle, we learn that the Christian Church at Corinth"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/1-corinthians/6"
---

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:1](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/1). ***Dare any of you***, c.] From the many things that are here reprehended by the apostle, we learn that the Christian Church at Corinth was in a state of great imperfection, notwithstanding there were very many eminent characters among them. Divided as they were among themselves, there was no one person who possessed any public authority to settle differences between man and man therefore, as one party would not submit to the decisions of another, they were obliged to carry their contentions before heathen magistrates; and probably these very subjects of litigations arose out of their ecclesiastical *divisions*. The thing, and this issue of it, the apostle strongly reprehends.
***Before the unjust, and not before the saints?*** — The heathen judges were termed δικασται from their presumed *righteousness* in the administration of *justice*; here the apostle, by a paronomasia, calls them αδικοι, *unrighteous* persons; and it is very likely that at Corinth, where such corruption of manners reigned, there was a great *perversion* of public *justice*; and it is not to be supposed that matters relative to the Christians were fairly decided. The Christians the apostle terms αγιοι *saints*, which they were all by *profession*; and doubtless many were so in *spirit* and in *truth*.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:2](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/2). ***The saints shall judge the world?*** — Nothing can be more evident than that the writers of the New Testament often use οκοσμος, *the world*, to signify the *Jewish people*; and sometimes the *Roman empire*, and the *Jewish state*; and in the former sense it is often used by our Lord. *When*, says he, t*he Son of man shall* *sit on the throne of his glory, then shall ye sit on twelve* *thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel*, [Matthew 19:28](../../../kjv/matthew/19/28). It is supposed that he refers to the same subject as that mentioned here-the saints judging the world; and that St. Paul has *his* words in view in what he says here to the Corinthians. By *judging the* *twelve tribes of Israel*, some have imagined that *having authority* *in the Church* is merely intended; but Dr. Lightfoot contends that the words referred to the coming of our Lord to execute judgment on the Jews, and to destroy their state; and that the *doctrine* of the apostles, not *themselves*, was to judge and condemn that most disobedient people. The place before us is generally understood to imply, that the redeemed of the Lord shall be, on the great day, *assessors* with him in judgment; and shall give their award in the determinations of his justice. On reviewing this subject, I am fully of opinion that this cannot be the meaning of the words, and that no such *assessorship* as is contended for ever will take place; and that the interpretation is clogged with a multitude of absurdities.
1. The *saints* themselves are to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall be judged by him, after which they shall *reign with him*; but it is never said in Scripture that they shall *judge with him*.
2. It would be absurd to suppose that *thrones* should be erected for the purpose of saints sitting on them to give their *approbation* in the condemnation of the wicked; of what use can such an approbation be? is it necessary to the validity of Christ's decision? and will not even the damned themselves, without this, acknowledge the justice of their doom? I therefore think with Dr. Lightfoot, that these words of the apostle refer to the prediction of Daniel, [Daniel 7:18](../../../kjv/daniel/7/18), [Daniel 7:27](../../../kjv/daniel/7/27), and such like prophecies, where the *kingdoms of the earth* are promised to *the saints of the* *Most High*; that is, that a time shall come when Christianity shall so far prevail that the civil government of the world shall be administered by *Christians*, which, at that time, was administered by *heathens*. And this is even now true of all those parts of the earth which may be considered of the greatest political consequence. They profess Christianity, and the kings and other governors are *Christians* in this general sense of the term.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:3](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/3). ***Know ye not that we shall judge angels?*** — Dr. Lightfoot observes that "the apostle does not say here, as he said before, the *saints* shall judge the angels, but WE shall judge them. By *angels*, all confess that *demons* are intended; but certainly all *saints*, according to the latitude with which that word is understood, i.e. all who profess Christianity, shall not judge angels. Nor is this judging of angels to be understood of the *last day*; but the apostle speaks of the ministers of the Gospel, himself and others, who, by the preaching of the Gospel, through the power of Christ, should spoil the devils of their oracles and their idols, should deprive them of their worship, should drive them out of their seats, and strip them of their dominion. Thus would God subdue the whole world under the Christian power, so that Christian *magistrates* should judge men, and Christian *ministers* judge *devils*."

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:4](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/4). ***Things pertaining to this life*** — They could examine all civil cases among themselves, which they were permitted to determine without any hinderance from the heathen governments under which they lived.
***Who are least esteemed in the Church.*** — τους εξουθενημενους, Those who were in the *lowest order of judges*; for the apostle may refer here to the *order* in the Jewish benches, as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, of which there were *five*, viz:-
1. The great *Sanhedrin*, consisting of seventy-two elders, which presided in Jerusalem.
2. The little *Sanhedrin* of twenty-five, in large cities, out of Jerusalem.
3. The Bench of *Three* in every synagogue.
4. The *Authorized*, or *Authentic* Bench.
5. The Bench *not authorized*, εξουθενημενος. This latter bench was so called because it received not its authority *immediately* from the *Sanhedrin*, but was chosen by the parties between whom the controversy depended. The apostle certainly does not mean persons of *no repute*, but such as these *arbitrators*, who were chosen for the purpose of settling private differences, and preventing them from going before the regular magistrates. The following verse makes it pretty evident that the apostle refers to this *lower kind* *of tribunal*; and hence he says,-

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:5](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/5). ***Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?*** — Have you none among yourselves that can be arbitrators of the differences which arise, that you go to the heathen tribunals?

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:6](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/6). ***Brother goeth to law with brother*** — One Christian sues another at law! This is almost as great a scandal as can exist in a Christian society. Those in a religious community who *will* not submit to a proper arbitration, made by persons among themselves, should be expelled from the Church of God.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:7](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/7). ***There is utterly a fault among you*** — There is a most manifest *defect* among you,
1. Of *peaceableness*;
2. Of *brotherly* *love*;
3. Of *mutual confidence*; and
4. Of *reverence* for *God*, and concern for the *honour of his cause*.
***Why do ye not rather take wrong?*** — Better suffer an injury than take a method of redressing yourselves which must injure your own peace, and greatly dishonour the cause of God.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:8](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/8). ***Nay, ye do wrong*** — Far from suffering, ye are the aggressors; and defraud your pious, long-suffering brethren, who submit to this wrong rather than take those methods of redressing their grievances which the spirit of Christianity forbids. Probably the apostle refers to him who had taken his father's wife.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:9](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/9). ***The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom*** — The unrighteous, αδικοι, those who act *contrary* to *right*, cannot *inherit*, for the inheritance is by *right*. He who is not a *child* *of God* has no *right* to the family inheritance, for that inheritance is for the *children*. If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, [Romans 8:17](../../../kjv/romans/8/17). There are here *ten* classes of transgressors which the apostle excludes from the kingdom of God; and any man who is guilty of any one of the evils mentioned above is thereby excluded from this kingdom, whether it imply the *Church of Christ* here below, or the *state of glory* hereafter.
Several of the evils here enumerated will not bear to be particularly explained; they are, however, sufficiently plain of themselves, and show us what abominations were commonly practised among the Corinthians.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:11](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/11). ***And such were some of you*** — It was not with the prospect of collecting *saints* that the apostles went about preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. None but *sinners* were to be found over the face of the earth; they preached that sinners might be converted unto God, made saints, and constituted into a Church; and this was the *effect* as well as the *object* of their preaching.
***But ye are washed*** — Several suppose that the *order* in which the operations of the grace of God take place in the soul is here inverted; but I am of a very different mind. Every thing will appear here in its order, when we understand the *terms* used by the apostle.
*Ye are washed*, απελουσασθε; ye have been *baptized* into the Christian faith, and ye have promised in this baptism to put off all filthiness of the flesh and spirit: and the *washing* of your bodies is emblematical of the purification of your souls.
***Ye are sanctified*** — ηγιασθητε; from α, *privative*, and γη, *the earth*; ye are *separated* from *earthly* things to be *connected* with *spiritual*. Ye are *separated* from *time* to be *connected* with *eternity*. Ye are *separated* from *idols* to be *joined* to the *living God. Separation* from common, earthly, or sinful uses, to be wholly employed in the service of the true God, is the *ideal* meaning of this word, both in the Old and New Testaments. It was in consequence of their being separated from the world that they became a Church of God. Ye were formerly workers of iniquity, and *associated* with workers of iniquity; but now ye are separated from them, and united together to work out your salvation with fear and trembling before God.
***Ye are justified*** — εδικαιωθητε. Ye have been brought into a state of favour with God; your sins having been blotted out through Christ Jesus, the *Spirit of God* witnessing the same to your conscience, and carrying on by his energy the great work of regeneration in your hearts. The process here is plain and simple:-
1. Paul and his brother apostles preached the Gospel at Corinth, and besought the people to turn from darkness to light-from idol vanities to the living God, and to believe in the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins.
2. The people who heard were convinced of the Divine truths delivered by the apostle, and flocked to baptism.
3. They were baptized *in the name of the Lord* *Jesus*, and thus took upon them the public profession of the Gospel.
4. Being now baptized into the Christian faith, they were separated from idols and idolaters, and became incorporated with the Church of God.
5. As penitents, they were led to the Lord Jesus for *justification*, which they received through faith in his blood.
6. Being *justified* freely-having their *sins forgiven* through the redemption that is in Jesus, they received the *Spirit* *of God* to attest this glorious work of grace to their consciences; and thus became possessed of that principle of righteousness, that true leaven which was to leaven the whole lump, producing that universal holiness without which none can see the Lord.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:12](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/12). ***All things are lawful unto me*** — It is likely that some of the Corinthians had pleaded that the offence of the man who had his father's wife, as well as the eating the things offered to idols, was not contrary to the law, as it then stood. To this the apostle answers: Though such a thing be lawful, yet the case of fornication, mentioned [1 Corinthians 5:1](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/5/1), is not expedient, ου συμφερει-it is not agreeable to propriety, decency, order, and purity. It is contrary to the established usages of the best and most enlightened nations, and should not be tolerated in the Church of Christ.
They might also be led to argue in favour of their eating things offered to idols, and attending idol feasts, thus:-that an idol was nothing in the world; and as food was provided by the bounty of God, a man might partake of it any where without defiling his conscience, or committing sin against the Creator. This excuse also the apostle refers to. All these things are lawful, taken up merely in the light that none of your laws is against the first; and that, on the ground that an idol is nothing in the world, there can be no reason against the *last*;
***But I will not be brought under the power of any.*** — Allowing that they are all lawful, or at least that there is no law against them, yet they are not expedient; there is no necessity for them; and some of them are abominable, and forbidden by the law of God and nature, whether forbidden by yours or not; while others, such as eating meats offered to idols, will almost necessarily lead to bad moral consequences: and who, that is a Christian, would obey his appetite so far as to do these things for the sake of gratification? A man is *brought under the power of any thing* which he cannot give up. He is the *slave* of that thing, whatsoever it be, which he cannot relinquish; and then, to him, it is sin.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:13](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/13). ***Meats for the belly*** — I suppose that κοιλια means the animal *appetite*, or *propensity* to food, c., and we may conceive the apostle to reason thus: I acknowledge that God has provided different kinds of aliments for the appetite of man, and among others those which are generally offered to idols and he has adapted the *appetite* to these *aliments*, and the *aliments* to the *appetite: but God shall destroy both it and them*; none of these is eternal; all these *lower appetites* and *sensations* will be destroyed by death, and have no existence in the resurrection body; and the earth and its productions shall be burnt up.
***Now the body*****is*****not for fornication*** — Though God made an appetite for food, and provided food for that appetite, yet he has not made the *body* for any *uncleanness*, nor *indulgence* in sensuality; but he has made it for Christ; and Christ was provided to be a sacrifice for this body as well as for the soul, by taking our nature upon him; so that now, as *human* beings, we have an intimate relationship to the Lord; and our bodies are made not only for his *service*, but to be his *temples*.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:14](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/14). ***And God hath both raised up the Lord*** — He has raised up the human nature of Christ from the grave, as a pledge of our resurrection; and will also raise us up by his own power, that we may dwell with him in glory for ever.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:15](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/15). ***Know ye not that your bodies are the members of**********Christ?*** — Because he has taken your nature upon him, and thus, as believers in him, ye are the members of Christ.
***Shall I then take***, &c.] Shall we, who profess to be members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, connect ourselves with *harlots*, and thus dishonour and pollute the bodies which are members of Christ? *God forbid*! These passages admit of a more literal interpretation. This, if given at all, I must give in a strange language.
*Membra humana, ad generationem pertinentia, vocantur* Membra Christi, *quia mysterium conjunctionis Christi et Ecclesiae per* *conjunctionem maris et faeminae indigitatur*, [Ephesians 5:32](../../../kjv/ephesians/5/32). *In Vet. Test. idem valebat de membro masculino, guippe quod* *circumcisione, tanquam signo faederis, honoratum est*. Vide Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:16](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/16). ***He that is joined to a harlot is one body*** — In *Sohar* *Genes*., fol. 19, we have these remarkable words: *Whosoever* *connects himself with another man's wife, does in effect renounce* *the holy blessed God, and the Church of the Israelites*.

Verse 17. ***Is one spirit.*** — He who is united to God, by faith in Christ Jesus, receives his Spirit, and becomes a partaker of the Divine nature. Who can change such a relationship for communion with a harlot; or for any kind of sensual gratification? He who can must be far and deeply fallen!

Verse 18. ***Flee fornication.*** — Abominate, detest, and escape from every kind of uncleanness. Some sins, or solicitations to sin, may be *reasoned* with; in the above cases, if you *parley* you are undone; *reason* not, but FLY!
***Sinneth against his own body.*** — Though sin of every species has a tendency to destroy life, yet none are so mortal as those to which the apostle refers; they strike immediately at the basis of the constitution. By the just judgment of God, all these irregular and sinful connections are married to death. Neither prostitutes, whoremongers, nor unclean persons of any description, can live out half their days. It would be easy to show, and *prove* also, how the end of these things, even with respect to the *body*, is death; but I forbear, and shall finish the subject with the words of the prophet: *The show of their countenance doth witness* *against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it* *not; wo unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto* *themselves*.

Verse 19. ***Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost*** — What an astonishing saying is this! As truly as the living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle, and in the temple of Solomon, so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls of genuine Christians; and as the *temple* and all its *utensils* were *holy, separated* from all common and profane uses, and dedicated alone to the service of God, so the bodies of genuine Christians are holy, and all their members should be employed in the service of God alone.
***And ye are not your own?*** — Ye have no right over yourselves, to dispose either of your body, or any of its members, as *you* may think proper or lawful; you are bound to God, and to him you are accountable.

Verse [1 Corinthians 6:20](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/20). ***Ye are bought with a price*** — As the *slave* who is purchased by his master for a sum of money is the sole property of that master, so ye, being bought with the price of the blood of Christ, are not *your own*, you are his *property*. As the slave is bound to use all his skill and diligence for the emolument of his master, so you should employ body, soul, and spirit in the service of your Lord; promoting, by every means in your power, the honour and glory of your God, whom you must also consider as your *Lord* and *Master*.
There are strange discordances in MSS., *versions*, and *fathers*, on the conclusion of this verse; and the clauses και εν τῳ πνευματι ὑμων, ἁτινα εστι του Θεου, *and in your spirit, which is* *God's*, is wanting in ABC*D*EFG, some others, *Coptic, AEthiopic,* *Vulgate*, and *Itala*, and in several of the primitive *fathers*. Almost every critic of note considers them to be spurious. Whether retained or expunged the sense is the same. Instead of *price* simply, the Vulgate and some of the Latin fathers, read, *pretio magno*, with a *great* price; and instead of *glorify*, simply, they read *glorificate et portate*, glorify and *carry* God in your bodies. These readings appear to be glosses intended to explain the text. Litigious Christians, who will have recourse to law for every little difference, as well as the impure, may read this chapter either to their conviction or confusion.

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