1 W hy do you go to court when you have something against another Christian? You are asking people who are not Christians to judge who is guilty. You should go to those who belong to Christ and ask them.

¶ Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go unto judgment before the unjust, and not before the saints?

2 D id you not know that those who belong to Christ will someday judge this world? If you judge the people of the world as guilty, are you not able to do this in small things?

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?

3 D id you not know that we are to judge angels? So you should be able to take care of your problem here in this world without any trouble.

Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more the things that pertain to this life?

4 W hen you have things to decide about this life, why do you go to men in courts who are not even Christians?

If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set as judges the most humble who are in the congregation.

5 Y ou should be ashamed! Is it true that there is not one person wise enough in your church to decide who is right when people argue?

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 brothers?

6 I nstead, one Christian takes another Christian to court. And that court is made up of people who are not Christians!

But brother goes to judgment against brother, and that before the unbelievers.

7 T his shows you are wrong when you have to go to court against each other. Would it not be better to let someone do something against you that is wrong? Would it not be better to let them rob you?

Now therefore there is certainly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather suffer the wrong? why do ye not rather be defrauded?

8 I nstead, you rob and do wrong to other Christians. The Body Is to Be Holy

But ye do wrong and defraud and do this to your brothers.

9 D o you not know that sinful men will have no place in the holy nation of God? Do not be fooled. A person who does sex sins, or who worships false gods, or who is not faithful in marriage, or men who act like women, or people who do sex sins with their own sex, will have no place in the holy nation of God.

¶ Know ye not that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals

10 A lso those who steal, or those who always want to get more of everything, or who get drunk, or who say bad things about others, or take things that are not theirs, will have no place in the holy nation of God.

nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.

11 S ome of you were like that. But now your sins are washed away. You were set apart for God-like living to do His work. You were made right with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.

And such were some of you, but now ye are washed, but now ye are sanctified, but now ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God.

12 I am allowed to do all things, but not everything is good for me to do! Even if I am free to do all things, I will not do them if I think it would be hard for me to stop when I know I should.

¶ 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.

13 F ood was meant for the stomach. The stomach needs food, but God will bring to an end both food and the stomach. The body was not meant for sex sins. It was meant to work for the Lord. The Lord is for our body.

Foods are for the belly, and the belly for foods; 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.

14 G od raised the Lord from death. He will raise us from death by His power also. The Body Belongs to the Lord

And God, who raised up the Lord, will also raise up us by his own power.

15 D o you not know that your bodies are a part of Christ Himself? Am I to take a part of Christ and make it a part of a woman who sells the use of her body? No! Never!

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 a harlot? In no wise.

16 D o you not know that a man who joins himself to a woman who sells the use of her body becomes a part of her? The Holy Writings say, “The two will become one.”

What? know ye not that he who is joined to the harlot is one body with her? For they shall be, saith he, two in one flesh.

17 B ut if you join yourself to the Lord, you are one with Him in spirit.

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

18 H ave nothing to do with sex sins! Any other sin that a man does, does not hurt his own body. But the man who does a sex sin sins against his own body.

Flee fornication. Any other sin that a man does is outside the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.

19 D o you not know that your body is a house of God where the Holy Spirit lives? God gave you His Holy Spirit. Now you belong to God. You do not belong to yourselves.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom ye have of God, and that ye are not your own?

20 G od bought you with a great price. So honor God with your body. You belong to Him.

For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.