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1 Corinthians 6
So many quote the words of Jesus about judging and even the words of Paul about judging sometimes to excuse sin. I will include a few:
True so true that we do reap what we sow and if we are unfair and harsh it will return upon our own heads.
If we are forgiving of others, we will be forgiven. Avoid harsh judgmental attitudes
Now we see from scripture that there are times when we have to make judgments but....
Without fair and balanced judgment, we can't have law and order. We also can't have peace among believers.
We will be judged by the word. At the time Jesus came into the world the first time, He came to die for sins not to judge us for our sins at that time. That is future when the way of salvation is preached to the entire world first.
It is unfair and unjust judgment that is taught that we avoid. It is unrighteous judgment that will return upon our own heads, not all judgment is bad.
There is a time for judgment and a time to leave things in God's hands and timing.
So we see all these scriptures telling us not to judge and now Paul who also told us not to judge, tells us to judge. Jesus also told us not to judge but later He said to judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgments. We have to judge by the word and judge according to the spirit and not according to the flesh. The kind of judgment that is warned against is judging by outward appearance, making assumptions, judging by rumors, judging unfairly, judging with respect of persons, judging someone for something we do ourselves or judging someone for things that we may not do but do things that would be considered equally wrong. In order to have law and order in our countries, we have to judge what is wrong and infringes upon the right of a free society to live in peace. A church also can't operate if they have people running around in a disorderly fashion and there is no order in our services. Children have to behave, people have to know when to talk and when to keep silence or we can't have church services with reverence and order so that the word of God can't be presented. So there is a place for judgment but it has to be done in righteousness, not in false accusations, gossip, assumptions, petty things, and judging according to appearances. Paul is saying that we should not go to the law to sue one another, when we can go to our own brothers and sisters in Christ and let them help us discern what is right and wrong. So there is a place for judgment but it must be done in a correct manner. Favoritism, prejudice, assumptions and hate must not be among us if we have to make sound judgments. We must judge by the spirit and the word. Yet to sum up it all. If we would love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves, walk in the spirit and adhere to the word, we would be able to make righteous judgments as Christ told us to do.
Those that are "in Christ" at the day of the resurrection and Christ's return will judge the unbelievers and even the angels that sinned.
A wise person that is not influenced by respect of persons and who is wise in the word is one that should be looked to for judgment. One would be preferable who judged with compassion and forgiveness rather than harshness. It would have to be a fair-minded person not given to losing one's temper and flying off the handle when things went the least bit wrong.
He was pointing out how ridiculous it is for us to go to unbelieving judges for instruction instead of turning to our own fellow believers for judgment.
We should have such love for one another that we would prefer to lose what we had to please our brethren than to win an argument or gain the disputed items. Wouldn't it be better to be the one cheated than to be the one doing the cheating? Wouldn't it be better to suffer loss than to be the one taking from someone else? Winners are not always winners in the long run.
He is reminding us what things are of real true value and worth keeping. If we act like the world we are in danger of losing our souls. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Fornicators (sexual sin), idolaters (those that covet things) as well as those the worship idols or images, adulterers (unfaithful in marriage), effeminate from one dictionary I found (To make womanish, to unman, to weaken, to wear soft clothing to appear to be a woman if one is a man), abusers with mankind (women with women or men with men), thieves, covetous (also a form of idolatry), drunkards, revilers (trouble makers or brawlers), or extortionists (those that extort money from employers or those that cheat and deceive to gain materially). The true riches are the spiritual things that no one can take away from us. The things of this life are not worth fighting about.
This is what our goals should now be. We who have turned from sin and turned to Christ by believing in His death, burial and resurrection have been washed from sin, sanctified by the word and have received the Holy Spirit which is the living water making us justified or just as if we had never sinned. Having all that, Paul is urging us not to return to the weak, stupid stuff we use to worry about before we were saved. We have better things now. Why return to that things that use to defile us?
Paul may have the power or freedom to do as he pleases but it is not in the best interests of the gospel and the good of other believers if he indulges in the desires of the flesh.
The old body and its desires is going to be destroyed. The body is not for fornication or sexual sin, it is in use temporarily while we are still in the old body, by the Lord to spread the gospel and influence for good. We now should yield our bodies to live holy before God and walk in the spirit instead of the flesh, which desires old things that should have passed away when we first came to Christ.
Once we have been "born again" by the spirit of God, we shame ourselves if we commit fornication. Paul here could be referring to what was discussed in previous chapters about the man who was committing adultery with his father's wife.
We are now temples of the Holy Ghost. The kingdom of God is now within us. We are not to be partakers of sexual immorality and defile the temple. Normal sexual relations should be in the bounds of marriage, not outside of it. Marriage from the beginning was male and female. Fornication is sex outside of marriage, unnatural sex, perversion, sodomy, bestiality, and adultery. All these bring shame upon us who should be temples of the Holy Spirit.
Fornication cannot possibly bring glory to God. We are to live holy so that God is glorified by our lives in the body and in the spirit. Christ paid the price and a high price at that for our salvation, we now have a higher calling. Why return to that which defiles degrades and destroys the body when we can have eternal life and the living water within our souls. Spiritual fornication would be idolatry, coveting etc. or something that takes our time and love away from God. We are to glorify God in body and in spirit. If we do this we are blessed indeed. 1Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
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