1 Corinthians 6:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

NIV: By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

NASB: Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

CSB: God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

NLT: And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

KJV: And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

NKJV: And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

Paul is commanding, persuading, and urging the Christians at the church in Corinth not to participate in sexual immorality of any kind. Some apparently believed that it did not matter what a Christian did with his or her body, in a warped approach to the idea of grace. In combatting this, Paul has refuted what appear to be clichés of that culture, such as "all things are lawful for me," and "food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" (1 Corinthians 6:12–13).

Misuse of grace, as in those examples, is rejected completely. Paul insisted in the previous verse that the body of a believer exists for a high purpose. It is meant for the Lord, and the Lord is meant for our bodies. That's why these bodies are not meant for sexual immorality.

It's true, Paul writes, that these bodies will die on this side of eternity. It's also true, that they will be resurrected, just as Jesus' body was resurrected after He died. In other words, death is not the end of even our physical bodies. They will be raised, as Jesus' body was, transformed into an eternal version of ourselves unburdened by sin and free forever from the threat of decay or death.

Why, Paul will argue, would we ever want to use these bodies for sexual immorality if that is their destiny in Christ?

First Corinthians 6:12–20 describes Paul's objections to those in the Corinthian church who had a casual attitude about sexual immorality. Beyond formal, literal laws, Paul insists the standard for Christian behavior must be whether a practice is helpful or enslaving. Sex is more than a mere bodily function; God designed it to unite two people into one body in marriage. That union with another person drags Christ, to whom we are also united, into the union with us. Our bodies will be resurrected and are meant even now to bring glory to God.

First Corinthians 6 continues Paul's confrontations of the Corinthian Christians over issues in the church. Earlier passages discussed problems of division into factions, and tolerance of heinous sexual sin. Paul is also outraged that they would take one another to court in a lawsuit over minor issues. Instead of suing each other before unbelievers, they should settle trivial issues in the church. Second, Paul urges them to live up to their new identities in Christ instead of living down to the sexually immoral standards of the culture. This sets up discussions of marriage in chapter 7.

Paul confronts two major issues happening in the church at Corinth. First, he is outraged that one of them has brought a lawsuit against a brother in Christ over a minor dispute. It is absurd to think that Christians—those who will judge the world and angels—cannot even judge a small matter between themselves. Second, Paul warns his readers to run from sexual immorality. Sex creates a powerful bond intended only for marriage. Since our bodies belong to and are part of Christ, we have no right to bring Him into a one-body union with someone to whom we're not married.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.